How Does it Feel?
Written by Craig Titus
25 April 2007
Yo Craig, I can't believe you're with MD now! How does it feel?
It feels great, brother! Muscular Development has a reputation for being no holds barred, no bullshit and completely uncensored. It's very in your face and confrontational, which is a reflection of Craig Titus. My personality and reputation mixes well with MD's no BS approach to bodybuilding. That's the way I like it. You know where you stand right away with me, and I always tell it like it is. For the first time, a bodybuilding magazine is actually doing the same. I'm proud of being part of Team MD because they represent my personal philosophy to the masses. We're a perfect match. It's always good to be with a publication that won't edit out what I say because it's not politically correct or it comes across too strong. MD encourages me to be me. It's very refreshing. Steve Blechman and the people at the magazine are devoted to promoting me in every single issue, which keeps my fan base growing and helps further my career. I lost that type of marketing and promotion for awhile, but now I've got it back thanks to my relationship with MD. The way things are run at this magazine tells me the sport of bodybuilding is entering a new era, and I'm going to be a part of it. I know it, MD knows it, and the fans know it, period!
Craig, it's about time you got a pro win under your belt, don't you think? This year's Night of Champions can be yours, but from what I've seen, your conditioning is either hit or miss. Would you please go over your entire preparation for the NOC, and your thoughts on the top guys- Dillett, Cicherillo and Atwood?
Paul Dillett was a great bodybuilder in his day, but I think Paul Dillett is done. He's not a factor anymore. I just don't think he has what it takes. His personal life is too messed up, he has trouble focusing and he has trouble training. I consider Art Atwood more of a factor than I would Paul Dillett. Paul may weigh 310 pounds; that's all fine and dandy. Everybody gets to 310. King Kamali is 305. He's fat. It doesn't really matter how much he weighs now. What matters is how he looks like on stage. I went up to 273 pounds this off-season, but I'm not gonna be 273 on stage. Come the Night of Champions, Paul Dillett will be behind me for sure. If anything, I'll out-pose him. The guy can't pose at all whatsoever! I don't know how he made it as far as he did, but enough about Dillett and onto my preparations.
I'm always searching for information and more knowledge about the sport. I've had the honor to work with Dorian Yates and Milos Sarcev at different points in time. They both showed me some really amazing dietary and training things. To get lean, I'm gonna do what Dorian Yates taught me. Dorian definitely taught me how to get ripped. My loading phase is gonna be a combination of what I already know and a few things that Milos taught me.
I've also been talking to Chad Nicholls a little bit this off-season, and he's been helping me put on size for the show. I'm not sure at this point if he's going to have the time to work with me up to the show as I was hoping, because he's pretty busy with the Mike Tyson thing. If I do it by myself, I'm pretty comfortable with the way I look and the outcome that will happen. As far as my dieting goes, I know exactly what I need to look like, which is a good feeling. It takes several years to learn how to do that, and I'm pretty comfortable with it now. I'm trying to bulk up my chest, back thickness and calves for the Night of Champions.
I used to do the heavy type training; heavy bench presses, heavy squats, heavy dumbbells, heavy everything. It worked for a while, then all of a sudden I stopped growing and started getting injured. I had to change my training by cutting back on the weight, upping the intensity, and going for high volume. I've been training really intense, even more intense than I have in the past. High-intensity volume training is very effective and it works really good for me. High-intensity volume training has short, short periods of rest time between sets, and many, many sets and reps. I rest just long enough to catch my breath, then I'm off again. It's really effective. Your heart rate is still up when you're doing the next set. I do 12-18 sets per body part and anywhere from 12 to 20 reps. Now, I just constantly grow. I'm putting on muscle and getting rounder, fuller and bigger. As long as I keep getting results, I'm gonna keep doing it. Volume blood training absolutely works for pre-contest training as well. Jay Cutler trains the same way. I keep the rep speed medium; not fast, not slow, right in the middle. Steady movement, like a piston, from start to finish.
This how I split up my twice-a-day pre-contest workouts over the week, Titus style:
Monday: Chest, Biceps and Abs
Tuesday: Back, Traps and Calves
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Shoulders, Triceps and Abs
Friday: Quads, Hams and Calves
Saturday: Chest, Biceps and Abs (Cycle Repeats)
Sunday: Off
Day One: Chest (AM) | Biceps & Abs (PM). The exercises are different every time. An example of what I did this week for chest is this: I'd go in the morning and warm up on a 90-degree pec deck. I go from there to a flat dumbbell press, to an incline machine press, finishing with a cable crossover and maybe superset it with dips. Very, very high intensity. The weight is still heavy, just not as heavy as max poundages. Then, I go back at night to do biceps and abs. For abs, I just like to do standing cable crunches or kneeling cable crunches. It's very effective; it works the entire abdominal from the upper cavity all the way down to the pelvis. If you get a full stretch, you don't really have to do anything else for abs.
Biceps
Straight Bar Curls - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Alternate Dumbbell Curls - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Hammer Strength Preacher Machine - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Abs
Standing Cable Crunches - 12x sets
Kneeling Cable Crunches (Alternate)
Day Two: Traps (AM) | Back (PM). I've been trying to get my traps up so I do dumbbell shrugs in the morning. A lot of people don't do dumbbell shrugs properly. They put the dumbbells in front of them, and raise their shoulders up and down to their ears. If you really want to do proper dumbbell shrugs, put the dumbbells to your sides, face your palms in, and drive your elbows behind you up to the ceiling. That works the traps from the tie-in to the lats all the way up the neck. It's about 10 sets total for traps. Very intense, very heavy. At night I go in and do back. I start with wide-grip pulldowns in front, then I go to bent-over rows with the barbell, then dumbbell rows with up to about 160 pounds. I used to do 200 pounds, but I don't get a good enough contraction. Then I do close grip pulldowns, and finish with seated cable rolls. The rep and set range is the same as everything else- 4 sets, 12-20 reps, all
high intensity.
Traps
Dumbbell Shrugs - 5x sets, 12-20 reps
Smith Machine Barbell Shrugs - 5x sets, 12-20 reps
Back
Wide Grip Front Pull downs - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Bent over Barbell Rows - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Bent over One Arm Dumbbell Rows - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Close Grip Front Pull downs - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Seated Cable Rows - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Day Three: Shoulders (AM) | Triceps and Abs (PM). I do hanging leg raises occasionally. The heart of my ab workout is standing cable crunches with weight. I can feel it from the bottom all the way to the top. It has more pull; the resistance is steady and heavy enough to get a good burn. I don't believe weighted ab exercises thicken the waist; they will thicken the squares of the abs, which is what I want. On the triceps cable exercises, I do the straight bar pushdowns for a warm-up, and squeeze really hard on the rope pulldowns for that extra intense set. Triceps are one of my better body parts- thick, complete and ripped.
Shoulders
Smith Machine Barbell Front Press - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
One Arm Dumbbell Side Laterals - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Upright Rows with Straight Bar - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Dumbbell Front Raises - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Triceps
Straight Bar Pushdowns - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Rope Pull downs - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Standing Overhead One Arm Dumbbell Extensions - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Close Grip Bench Press or Flex Tricep Machine - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Abs
Standing Cable Crunches - 12x sets
Kneeling Cable Crunches (Alternate)
Day Four: Quads and Calves (AM) | Hamstrings (PM). I always do quads first. The few times I didn't, I had knee trouble. So, I immediately did quads first on the next workout and had no trouble whatsoever. I always do leg extensions first. Then I'll go to leg press, same rep range, same set range, 12-20. I use up to 20 plates on the leg press. I used to go up to 32 plates, but I don't think it's necessary. I like the blood volume training more now. It's still heavy, just not max poundage. Then I'll go to the Smith machine squat, and because it's pre-contest training, I'll do walking lunges with 185 pound barbell on my back. I've done this for years, and you can see me doing them in my 1996 Mr. USA training video, "Craig Titus: The Video." At night I'll come back and do hamstrings. I'll start with curls, standing one-leggers, then I do lying leg curls with both legs, and then stiff-leg deadlifts. I'll do about six sets of stiff-legs starting with one plate, going up to three.
Quads
Leg Extensions - 4x sets 12-20 reps
Leg Press - 4x sets 12-20 reps
Smith Machine Squat - 4x sets 12-20 reps
Walking Lunges - 4x sets 12-20 reps
Calves
Standing Calf Raises - 4x sets to failure
Donkey Calf Machine - 4x sets to failure
Seated Calf Raise - 4x sets to failure
Hamstrings
Standing One Leg Curls - 4x sets 12-20, reps
Lying Leg Curls (Both Legs) - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
That's my split. What I do is, Mondays and Thursdays are loading days, high-carb days for me. So I always do my cardio in the morning before I eat. On the other days- Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday- I do split cardio a.m and p.m. On the two days I'm loading, it doesn't make sense for me to do cardio again if I try to load those days.
Except for Mondays and Thursdays, I do my cardio on a recumbent bike in my house in the morning and then a treadmill in the evening. I'm not eating as much protein as I used to, either. I used to eat 420 grams of protein every single day throughout the whole diet. Now, I only eat 420 grams of protein on the days I'm depleting carbs. The two days that I'm loading, I'll only eat 300 grams of protein, which is very effective. From talking to Jay Cutler and various other people, I've learned your body can only assimilate so many grams of protein, and when you're eating very low carbs, you have to take in a little more protein. When your carbs are high, it's not necessary to have high, high protein. It makes a lot of sense.
For supplements, I use glutamine and branch chain aminos in the morning before cardio, and before and after both training sessions. I'll also take the aminos before going to bed. I use Pinnacle's Juiced Protein three times a day in addition to my food on my high-protein days, and it's working excellent. I also take a general multi-mineral and vitamin supplement.
My wife, Kelly Ryan, is my worst critic, and she tells me straight up. I'm responding like you wouldn't believe. People are gonna be amazed. I'm up about 10 pounds in muscle. It's an immense improvement from the Olympia and GNC. I think San Francisco Grand Prix, where I took second to Chris Cormier, was my best professional performance to date. That's the exact look I want to achieve before the NOC. I want to be full, very separated and very, very dry. I can't wait! I really want this win. I think if I come in at my best, then it's my show to win or lose.
Why did you walk off stage at the 1995 Mr. USA? Are you a poor sport or what? I never forgot that night and it reminds me of how Jenny Worth allegedly tore her room up at the Arnold Classic because she didn't win.
I don't know about Jenny Worth tearing up her room at the Arnold. It's none of my business. Even if she did, look, that's human emotion. But I gotta tell you, in 1995, when I got second to Phil Hernon, I walked off stage, and I've regretted it every day afterwards. There's a real good saying- "Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser!" Nobody likes to lose if they're a winner. I thought for sure I was the winner. I got really mad because I knew Phil Hernon wouldn't do anything in the sport, and I was right, so that was a little frustrating. When I saw the tape afterwards, he was really pretty thick and full and big, so who's to say? That just proves a point where human emotions may come in, and if you like to win and are not a good loser, sometimes it takes you over. To say I am a poor sport is absurd. I just happen to be one of the few athletes who express myself and call it like I see it. I wasn't the first bodybuilder to show my emotions on stage and I won't be the last.
You were peeled at the GNC, but Lee Priest edged you out. I had you ahead of Lee. Speaking of that guy, are you opposed to getting bulky and fat to make off- season gains?
Lee and me are good buddies, so what I'm about to say isn't directed at him. First of all, some of us work a lot in the off-season! Unlike some pros, I don't want to look like a fat pig on stage when I do guest posing. I don't think it's necessary to put on a bunch of fat to put on a bunch of muscle. You might have to put on some water, and a little bit of fat, but you can grow just as good without being a fat slob! If you look at my tour schedule on my website, craigtitus.com, I'm gone every weekend until May 3rd, so I can focus on my Night of Champions prep, and then two or three times every single month all the way to the Olympia. I'm not gonna get up to 300 pounds and be a fat slob and not be able to breathe when I walk up a flight of stairs. I'm not going to look like a tub of shit for my fans and people I do business with. I'm just not gonna do it.
I can still put on muscle without putting on a bunch of fat.
After the Night of Champions, I will shoot up to about 280, and that will be heaviest I've ever been. But I still won't be fat. I'm not into this trend whatsoever. It's absurd! It's one way for a person to be a fuckin' slob. I think there's a lot of misinformation when people are saying you can put on a lot more muscle if you're fat, fat, fat! That's not true. It's easy to eat whatever you want and be a fat slob. I'm a pro bodybuilder and want to look like a pro bodybuilder. It is hard to stay in shape and try to put on muscle and guest pose, so people want to take the easy way out, obviously. During the off-season, I eat a lot more calories and have five meals instead of six. The meals are bigger instead of smaller. I also eat a lot more sugar in the off-season. Simple sugars, like honey, raisins, bagels, bananas, oats. Contrary to what people think, sugar is very important and effective for putting on muscle.
Fuck you Titus. I'm tired of your shit. You should quit bodybuilding because you're a damned disgrace to the sport. You suck and you're not going anywhere. You are a loser, and King Kamali has forgotten more about bodybuilding than you'll ever know, you cocksucker!
What the fuck you talking about? I've taken second in the San Francisco Grand Prix, I've taken fifth in the Ironman, I've taken sixth in the Arnold Classic, I've placed 11th and 12th in the Olympia, the most prestigious show in the entire world. I placed 7th in the first annual GNC, which was a very tough lineup, and I'm moving up the ladder and I'm making a lot of money. I guess I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. Sounds to me like you need to get a life.
I love your website, man. You tell it like it is. Any news on the lawsuit with the Dymatize supplement company? Did you really tear down their poster and make a spectacle?
Dymatize used my picture on their booth at expos for five years without my written permission, and when I sent them an invoice to pay me the money they owe me, which was less than $30,000 for five years, that's was all it was, they ignored me. I had to get an attorney, and they contacted their attorneys and pleaded with them. It got to where I sent Dymatize a letter asking them to cease and desist using my picture on their booth. That was at the Arnold Classic of 2001. I saw my picture on the booth again, so I had an attorney write them a letter asking them to cease and desist. Then they show up in Dallas with my picture on their booth again in May, which was totally jeopardizing my Weider contract.
They tell me, "We don't care; we hope you get fired." That's what they tell me right to my face when I asked them to take my picture down. I walk up to the booth, gently remove my picture from the booth- it unclips and rolls up, anybody knows that- I put the picture in my room, and I gave it back to them on Sunday and told them not to use it. Dymatize made up this big story about how I destroyed the booth, which is a total lie. There's no truth to that whatsoever. So, I had a lawsuit with them, and now they want to give me $2,000 and they're threatening me, saying if I don't just take the $2,000 and leave it alone, they're going to sue me for the damage I did in the booth! Well, I never damaged anything. I have so many witnesses at the show that will testify to that, it's not even funny, including two police officers and Ed Pariso, the promoter of the show.
That's the kind of people Dymatize are. When I was signed with them back in 1992 and was using their products, I had to stop using them because I was cramping so bad. I had diarrhea all the time. I had gastrointestinal trouble the whole time I was using the products. It was terrible, disgusting; I was on the toilet all the time. I was at the doctor twice. But that's neither here nor there. I'm just saying that instead of paying me money, they threatened to lie in court and say I damaged the booth, which I did not. I just think it's really a snake move. They're a bunch of snakes over there. This is still going on, and I'm waiting to see the outcome. If they don't want to pay me, I'll just simply expose the product line on my website and let everybody know what their product line's all about.
You and me might be related because my chest refuses to grow. Any tips for a fellow flat-chested iron bro? No offense.
None taken. I don't know exactly why my chest hasn't grown like it should have. I just think that it's because of so many years of doing basic bench press, which really, to me, doesn't do anything but make you stronger, and also, not enough isolation exercises. Now I'm paying for it. I've been doing a lot of isolation exercises this year, and it's coming into par now. I don't think it's a weak body part of mine any longer. My shoulders are big and full, and my wife keeps telling me that I put my shoulders into chest exercises too much. There's some truth to that. I'm learning to keep shoulders out of it and keep my pecs contracted. To isolate my pecs, I do dumbbell presses, and cable flyes where I turn my palms forward at the bottom. That's really effective. I'll start my routine with a 90-degree pec deck. What you have to do is isolation, contracting movements for the pecs so the shoulders aren't doing the work.
Your wife is the bomb, Craig! I think she's been screwed many times over at the Fitness Olympia, but one day I know she'll get her due. No one can match Kel, and you're one lucky bastard! Personally, it pissed me off to see people jump your ass online and give you a hard time about how big bad Craig never wins a show but his wife does. Fuck those assholes! How do you feel about Kelly and the fitness and figure controversy? Susie Currie is a great gymnast, but has no ass! Kelly should have beaten her by now.
I've heard people make these idiotic remarks that it must be hard to be married to her because we both compete and she wins all the time and I don't. I'm as proud as anybody could be- just like a father for his daughter or a husband for his wife in that she's a champion in what she does. We're a team. I get her ready for her shows. When she wins, I win. I'm more nervous watching her on stage than competing myself. I fuckin' love it when she wins her shows. I wouldn't have it any other way. I think anybody in sports who's married and the female is a champion and the husband resents that is ridiculous. There's a lot of husbands like that but I just happen not to be one of them. I'm very proud of her and the only reason people talk this shit is they like to antagonize. Most men would be way too insecure to be married to a woman that's better at what she does than they are at what they do. I'm not. I love the fact that she's awesome at what she does. It breaks my heart when I see her do the Fitness Olympia because I know in my mind she's won. I can see it, and I feel it! I try to judge the shows as unbiased as possible, but they gave her second place. I just think it's absurd. I think Kelly Ryan dominates fitness.
The figure thing is a good division for girls that aren't athletically inclined. It's definitely good for the sport because it draws more people in, but it's never gonna overshadow fitness. It's not exciting enough. Fitness can be fun to watch.
I gotta tell you, when she took second to Mary Yockey, that was absurd! She won that show very easy. There are certain rules these girls go by. They were supposed to have a series of three or four music changes when they competed. Mary Yockey won the Olympia with no music changes in her routine. It was all the same song! They honestly don't think Kelly is a good as Susie Curry and I think it's absurd. I think Kelly has been Ms. Olympia three times already but everybody has their favorite physiques. Susie Curry probably has the best physique in fitness because she has a very small waist and has a good V taper. But that's just one placing out of two rounds. In my opinion, if they were to judge the rounds the way they're supposed to be judged, Susie wouldn't be winning the Fitness Olympia. I like Susie and she's a great champion. I don't want to take anything away from her. I just think if Kelly is a third or fourth-placed physique and she wins her routine, which she always does, then that means she wins the show. They aren't placing these girls in their routines where they should be placed.
Susie's been dissed for not being as attractive as other girls and for not having any ass, but Susie's got a pretty good butt. I've always thought she's been way too thin, though. One thing I can say about Susie is she's a sweetheart and represents her sport well. Out of the four second places Kelly has taken, I think she has won two of those Fitness Olympias without a doubt. But by the same token, some of these judges think Susie dominates. I just don't see it. When somebody's trying to become Ms. Fitness Olympia and is second place over and over again, it gets very discouraging. I'm not whining about Kelly, but she's my wife and I support her unconditionally, period!
Some people say Susie Curry wins because of her relationship with JM Management. Your thoughts?
People speculate Susie Curry wins because JM Manion manages her. I'm good friends with JM and Jim Manion. I honestly don't think there's any truth to that. Jim Manion would not consciously let anything like that go on with his judging panel. That's the way I see Mr. Manion. He is the head judge. He controls what's going on. I would never think otherwise because Jim Manion is a stand up guy with old school ways. I think they honestly think that Kelly has been placed where they thought she should have been placed. Many of the girls say it has something to do with JM because these paticuliar athletes need excuses why they don't do as well as they think they should.
I checked out your photos of the GNC Pro in Flex magazine. I've never heard of tying for the same place. That was strange, but not nearly as strange as Gunter beating Ronnie. Do you think Gunter should have won?
I don't know how a person goes from 15th at the Olympia, to not qualifying the following year, to getting a special Olympia invite and placing fifth, and then beating Mr. Olympia within a 24-month period. That's absurd! I can't explain it. I don't understand it. I never will. Should Gunter beat Ronnie Coleman? Ronnie Coleman is untouchable. It's not even a comparison between Gunter and Ronnie. Ronnie's muscle mass, symmetry- it's crazy. I don't know what the heck is going on.
Fortunately, that decision won't affect me any. It's not gonna take any money out of my pockets. I wasn't really too upset about it. I would be if I was Ronnie Coleman, that's for damn sure! If I were Ronnie, the first thing I would have asked is how did Gunter achieve it all in such a short period of time? How does it happen? I'd want somebody to show me where they're good enough to beat Mr. Olympia. Gunter wasn't even getting called out with the bottom echelon guys the year before. Now he's possibly heir apparent? It's crazy! If I was Ronnie, and I was Mr. Olympia, I would have probably just took it on the chin and come in my very best at the following Olympia. If Ronnie comes in like he did at the 99 Olympia, no one's touching him. I'm happy for Gunter, he's a helluva nice guy, but I just don't see it.
It feels great, brother! Muscular Development has a reputation for being no holds barred, no bullshit and completely uncensored. It's very in your face and confrontational, which is a reflection of Craig Titus. My personality and reputation mixes well with MD's no BS approach to bodybuilding. That's the way I like it. You know where you stand right away with me, and I always tell it like it is. For the first time, a bodybuilding magazine is actually doing the same. I'm proud of being part of Team MD because they represent my personal philosophy to the masses. We're a perfect match. It's always good to be with a publication that won't edit out what I say because it's not politically correct or it comes across too strong. MD encourages me to be me. It's very refreshing. Steve Blechman and the people at the magazine are devoted to promoting me in every single issue, which keeps my fan base growing and helps further my career. I lost that type of marketing and promotion for awhile, but now I've got it back thanks to my relationship with MD. The way things are run at this magazine tells me the sport of bodybuilding is entering a new era, and I'm going to be a part of it. I know it, MD knows it, and the fans know it, period!
Craig, it's about time you got a pro win under your belt, don't you think? This year's Night of Champions can be yours, but from what I've seen, your conditioning is either hit or miss. Would you please go over your entire preparation for the NOC, and your thoughts on the top guys- Dillett, Cicherillo and Atwood?
Paul Dillett was a great bodybuilder in his day, but I think Paul Dillett is done. He's not a factor anymore. I just don't think he has what it takes. His personal life is too messed up, he has trouble focusing and he has trouble training. I consider Art Atwood more of a factor than I would Paul Dillett. Paul may weigh 310 pounds; that's all fine and dandy. Everybody gets to 310. King Kamali is 305. He's fat. It doesn't really matter how much he weighs now. What matters is how he looks like on stage. I went up to 273 pounds this off-season, but I'm not gonna be 273 on stage. Come the Night of Champions, Paul Dillett will be behind me for sure. If anything, I'll out-pose him. The guy can't pose at all whatsoever! I don't know how he made it as far as he did, but enough about Dillett and onto my preparations.
I'm always searching for information and more knowledge about the sport. I've had the honor to work with Dorian Yates and Milos Sarcev at different points in time. They both showed me some really amazing dietary and training things. To get lean, I'm gonna do what Dorian Yates taught me. Dorian definitely taught me how to get ripped. My loading phase is gonna be a combination of what I already know and a few things that Milos taught me.
I've also been talking to Chad Nicholls a little bit this off-season, and he's been helping me put on size for the show. I'm not sure at this point if he's going to have the time to work with me up to the show as I was hoping, because he's pretty busy with the Mike Tyson thing. If I do it by myself, I'm pretty comfortable with the way I look and the outcome that will happen. As far as my dieting goes, I know exactly what I need to look like, which is a good feeling. It takes several years to learn how to do that, and I'm pretty comfortable with it now. I'm trying to bulk up my chest, back thickness and calves for the Night of Champions.
I used to do the heavy type training; heavy bench presses, heavy squats, heavy dumbbells, heavy everything. It worked for a while, then all of a sudden I stopped growing and started getting injured. I had to change my training by cutting back on the weight, upping the intensity, and going for high volume. I've been training really intense, even more intense than I have in the past. High-intensity volume training is very effective and it works really good for me. High-intensity volume training has short, short periods of rest time between sets, and many, many sets and reps. I rest just long enough to catch my breath, then I'm off again. It's really effective. Your heart rate is still up when you're doing the next set. I do 12-18 sets per body part and anywhere from 12 to 20 reps. Now, I just constantly grow. I'm putting on muscle and getting rounder, fuller and bigger. As long as I keep getting results, I'm gonna keep doing it. Volume blood training absolutely works for pre-contest training as well. Jay Cutler trains the same way. I keep the rep speed medium; not fast, not slow, right in the middle. Steady movement, like a piston, from start to finish.
This how I split up my twice-a-day pre-contest workouts over the week, Titus style:
Monday: Chest, Biceps and Abs
Tuesday: Back, Traps and Calves
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Shoulders, Triceps and Abs
Friday: Quads, Hams and Calves
Saturday: Chest, Biceps and Abs (Cycle Repeats)
Sunday: Off
Day One: Chest (AM) | Biceps & Abs (PM). The exercises are different every time. An example of what I did this week for chest is this: I'd go in the morning and warm up on a 90-degree pec deck. I go from there to a flat dumbbell press, to an incline machine press, finishing with a cable crossover and maybe superset it with dips. Very, very high intensity. The weight is still heavy, just not as heavy as max poundages. Then, I go back at night to do biceps and abs. For abs, I just like to do standing cable crunches or kneeling cable crunches. It's very effective; it works the entire abdominal from the upper cavity all the way down to the pelvis. If you get a full stretch, you don't really have to do anything else for abs.
Biceps
Straight Bar Curls - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Alternate Dumbbell Curls - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Hammer Strength Preacher Machine - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Abs
Standing Cable Crunches - 12x sets
Kneeling Cable Crunches (Alternate)
Day Two: Traps (AM) | Back (PM). I've been trying to get my traps up so I do dumbbell shrugs in the morning. A lot of people don't do dumbbell shrugs properly. They put the dumbbells in front of them, and raise their shoulders up and down to their ears. If you really want to do proper dumbbell shrugs, put the dumbbells to your sides, face your palms in, and drive your elbows behind you up to the ceiling. That works the traps from the tie-in to the lats all the way up the neck. It's about 10 sets total for traps. Very intense, very heavy. At night I go in and do back. I start with wide-grip pulldowns in front, then I go to bent-over rows with the barbell, then dumbbell rows with up to about 160 pounds. I used to do 200 pounds, but I don't get a good enough contraction. Then I do close grip pulldowns, and finish with seated cable rolls. The rep and set range is the same as everything else- 4 sets, 12-20 reps, all
high intensity.
Traps
Dumbbell Shrugs - 5x sets, 12-20 reps
Smith Machine Barbell Shrugs - 5x sets, 12-20 reps
Back
Wide Grip Front Pull downs - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Bent over Barbell Rows - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Bent over One Arm Dumbbell Rows - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Close Grip Front Pull downs - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Seated Cable Rows - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Day Three: Shoulders (AM) | Triceps and Abs (PM). I do hanging leg raises occasionally. The heart of my ab workout is standing cable crunches with weight. I can feel it from the bottom all the way to the top. It has more pull; the resistance is steady and heavy enough to get a good burn. I don't believe weighted ab exercises thicken the waist; they will thicken the squares of the abs, which is what I want. On the triceps cable exercises, I do the straight bar pushdowns for a warm-up, and squeeze really hard on the rope pulldowns for that extra intense set. Triceps are one of my better body parts- thick, complete and ripped.
Shoulders
Smith Machine Barbell Front Press - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
One Arm Dumbbell Side Laterals - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Upright Rows with Straight Bar - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Dumbbell Front Raises - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Triceps
Straight Bar Pushdowns - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Rope Pull downs - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Standing Overhead One Arm Dumbbell Extensions - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Close Grip Bench Press or Flex Tricep Machine - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
Abs
Standing Cable Crunches - 12x sets
Kneeling Cable Crunches (Alternate)
Day Four: Quads and Calves (AM) | Hamstrings (PM). I always do quads first. The few times I didn't, I had knee trouble. So, I immediately did quads first on the next workout and had no trouble whatsoever. I always do leg extensions first. Then I'll go to leg press, same rep range, same set range, 12-20. I use up to 20 plates on the leg press. I used to go up to 32 plates, but I don't think it's necessary. I like the blood volume training more now. It's still heavy, just not max poundage. Then I'll go to the Smith machine squat, and because it's pre-contest training, I'll do walking lunges with 185 pound barbell on my back. I've done this for years, and you can see me doing them in my 1996 Mr. USA training video, "Craig Titus: The Video." At night I'll come back and do hamstrings. I'll start with curls, standing one-leggers, then I do lying leg curls with both legs, and then stiff-leg deadlifts. I'll do about six sets of stiff-legs starting with one plate, going up to three.
Quads
Leg Extensions - 4x sets 12-20 reps
Leg Press - 4x sets 12-20 reps
Smith Machine Squat - 4x sets 12-20 reps
Walking Lunges - 4x sets 12-20 reps
Calves
Standing Calf Raises - 4x sets to failure
Donkey Calf Machine - 4x sets to failure
Seated Calf Raise - 4x sets to failure
Hamstrings
Standing One Leg Curls - 4x sets 12-20, reps
Lying Leg Curls (Both Legs) - 4x sets, 12-20 reps
That's my split. What I do is, Mondays and Thursdays are loading days, high-carb days for me. So I always do my cardio in the morning before I eat. On the other days- Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday- I do split cardio a.m and p.m. On the two days I'm loading, it doesn't make sense for me to do cardio again if I try to load those days.
Except for Mondays and Thursdays, I do my cardio on a recumbent bike in my house in the morning and then a treadmill in the evening. I'm not eating as much protein as I used to, either. I used to eat 420 grams of protein every single day throughout the whole diet. Now, I only eat 420 grams of protein on the days I'm depleting carbs. The two days that I'm loading, I'll only eat 300 grams of protein, which is very effective. From talking to Jay Cutler and various other people, I've learned your body can only assimilate so many grams of protein, and when you're eating very low carbs, you have to take in a little more protein. When your carbs are high, it's not necessary to have high, high protein. It makes a lot of sense.
For supplements, I use glutamine and branch chain aminos in the morning before cardio, and before and after both training sessions. I'll also take the aminos before going to bed. I use Pinnacle's Juiced Protein three times a day in addition to my food on my high-protein days, and it's working excellent. I also take a general multi-mineral and vitamin supplement.
My wife, Kelly Ryan, is my worst critic, and she tells me straight up. I'm responding like you wouldn't believe. People are gonna be amazed. I'm up about 10 pounds in muscle. It's an immense improvement from the Olympia and GNC. I think San Francisco Grand Prix, where I took second to Chris Cormier, was my best professional performance to date. That's the exact look I want to achieve before the NOC. I want to be full, very separated and very, very dry. I can't wait! I really want this win. I think if I come in at my best, then it's my show to win or lose.
Why did you walk off stage at the 1995 Mr. USA? Are you a poor sport or what? I never forgot that night and it reminds me of how Jenny Worth allegedly tore her room up at the Arnold Classic because she didn't win.
I don't know about Jenny Worth tearing up her room at the Arnold. It's none of my business. Even if she did, look, that's human emotion. But I gotta tell you, in 1995, when I got second to Phil Hernon, I walked off stage, and I've regretted it every day afterwards. There's a real good saying- "Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser!" Nobody likes to lose if they're a winner. I thought for sure I was the winner. I got really mad because I knew Phil Hernon wouldn't do anything in the sport, and I was right, so that was a little frustrating. When I saw the tape afterwards, he was really pretty thick and full and big, so who's to say? That just proves a point where human emotions may come in, and if you like to win and are not a good loser, sometimes it takes you over. To say I am a poor sport is absurd. I just happen to be one of the few athletes who express myself and call it like I see it. I wasn't the first bodybuilder to show my emotions on stage and I won't be the last.
You were peeled at the GNC, but Lee Priest edged you out. I had you ahead of Lee. Speaking of that guy, are you opposed to getting bulky and fat to make off- season gains?
Lee and me are good buddies, so what I'm about to say isn't directed at him. First of all, some of us work a lot in the off-season! Unlike some pros, I don't want to look like a fat pig on stage when I do guest posing. I don't think it's necessary to put on a bunch of fat to put on a bunch of muscle. You might have to put on some water, and a little bit of fat, but you can grow just as good without being a fat slob! If you look at my tour schedule on my website, craigtitus.com, I'm gone every weekend until May 3rd, so I can focus on my Night of Champions prep, and then two or three times every single month all the way to the Olympia. I'm not gonna get up to 300 pounds and be a fat slob and not be able to breathe when I walk up a flight of stairs. I'm not going to look like a tub of shit for my fans and people I do business with. I'm just not gonna do it.
I can still put on muscle without putting on a bunch of fat.
After the Night of Champions, I will shoot up to about 280, and that will be heaviest I've ever been. But I still won't be fat. I'm not into this trend whatsoever. It's absurd! It's one way for a person to be a fuckin' slob. I think there's a lot of misinformation when people are saying you can put on a lot more muscle if you're fat, fat, fat! That's not true. It's easy to eat whatever you want and be a fat slob. I'm a pro bodybuilder and want to look like a pro bodybuilder. It is hard to stay in shape and try to put on muscle and guest pose, so people want to take the easy way out, obviously. During the off-season, I eat a lot more calories and have five meals instead of six. The meals are bigger instead of smaller. I also eat a lot more sugar in the off-season. Simple sugars, like honey, raisins, bagels, bananas, oats. Contrary to what people think, sugar is very important and effective for putting on muscle.
Fuck you Titus. I'm tired of your shit. You should quit bodybuilding because you're a damned disgrace to the sport. You suck and you're not going anywhere. You are a loser, and King Kamali has forgotten more about bodybuilding than you'll ever know, you cocksucker!
What the fuck you talking about? I've taken second in the San Francisco Grand Prix, I've taken fifth in the Ironman, I've taken sixth in the Arnold Classic, I've placed 11th and 12th in the Olympia, the most prestigious show in the entire world. I placed 7th in the first annual GNC, which was a very tough lineup, and I'm moving up the ladder and I'm making a lot of money. I guess I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. Sounds to me like you need to get a life.
I love your website, man. You tell it like it is. Any news on the lawsuit with the Dymatize supplement company? Did you really tear down their poster and make a spectacle?
Dymatize used my picture on their booth at expos for five years without my written permission, and when I sent them an invoice to pay me the money they owe me, which was less than $30,000 for five years, that's was all it was, they ignored me. I had to get an attorney, and they contacted their attorneys and pleaded with them. It got to where I sent Dymatize a letter asking them to cease and desist using my picture on their booth. That was at the Arnold Classic of 2001. I saw my picture on the booth again, so I had an attorney write them a letter asking them to cease and desist. Then they show up in Dallas with my picture on their booth again in May, which was totally jeopardizing my Weider contract.
They tell me, "We don't care; we hope you get fired." That's what they tell me right to my face when I asked them to take my picture down. I walk up to the booth, gently remove my picture from the booth- it unclips and rolls up, anybody knows that- I put the picture in my room, and I gave it back to them on Sunday and told them not to use it. Dymatize made up this big story about how I destroyed the booth, which is a total lie. There's no truth to that whatsoever. So, I had a lawsuit with them, and now they want to give me $2,000 and they're threatening me, saying if I don't just take the $2,000 and leave it alone, they're going to sue me for the damage I did in the booth! Well, I never damaged anything. I have so many witnesses at the show that will testify to that, it's not even funny, including two police officers and Ed Pariso, the promoter of the show.
That's the kind of people Dymatize are. When I was signed with them back in 1992 and was using their products, I had to stop using them because I was cramping so bad. I had diarrhea all the time. I had gastrointestinal trouble the whole time I was using the products. It was terrible, disgusting; I was on the toilet all the time. I was at the doctor twice. But that's neither here nor there. I'm just saying that instead of paying me money, they threatened to lie in court and say I damaged the booth, which I did not. I just think it's really a snake move. They're a bunch of snakes over there. This is still going on, and I'm waiting to see the outcome. If they don't want to pay me, I'll just simply expose the product line on my website and let everybody know what their product line's all about.
You and me might be related because my chest refuses to grow. Any tips for a fellow flat-chested iron bro? No offense.
None taken. I don't know exactly why my chest hasn't grown like it should have. I just think that it's because of so many years of doing basic bench press, which really, to me, doesn't do anything but make you stronger, and also, not enough isolation exercises. Now I'm paying for it. I've been doing a lot of isolation exercises this year, and it's coming into par now. I don't think it's a weak body part of mine any longer. My shoulders are big and full, and my wife keeps telling me that I put my shoulders into chest exercises too much. There's some truth to that. I'm learning to keep shoulders out of it and keep my pecs contracted. To isolate my pecs, I do dumbbell presses, and cable flyes where I turn my palms forward at the bottom. That's really effective. I'll start my routine with a 90-degree pec deck. What you have to do is isolation, contracting movements for the pecs so the shoulders aren't doing the work.
Your wife is the bomb, Craig! I think she's been screwed many times over at the Fitness Olympia, but one day I know she'll get her due. No one can match Kel, and you're one lucky bastard! Personally, it pissed me off to see people jump your ass online and give you a hard time about how big bad Craig never wins a show but his wife does. Fuck those assholes! How do you feel about Kelly and the fitness and figure controversy? Susie Currie is a great gymnast, but has no ass! Kelly should have beaten her by now.
I've heard people make these idiotic remarks that it must be hard to be married to her because we both compete and she wins all the time and I don't. I'm as proud as anybody could be- just like a father for his daughter or a husband for his wife in that she's a champion in what she does. We're a team. I get her ready for her shows. When she wins, I win. I'm more nervous watching her on stage than competing myself. I fuckin' love it when she wins her shows. I wouldn't have it any other way. I think anybody in sports who's married and the female is a champion and the husband resents that is ridiculous. There's a lot of husbands like that but I just happen not to be one of them. I'm very proud of her and the only reason people talk this shit is they like to antagonize. Most men would be way too insecure to be married to a woman that's better at what she does than they are at what they do. I'm not. I love the fact that she's awesome at what she does. It breaks my heart when I see her do the Fitness Olympia because I know in my mind she's won. I can see it, and I feel it! I try to judge the shows as unbiased as possible, but they gave her second place. I just think it's absurd. I think Kelly Ryan dominates fitness.
The figure thing is a good division for girls that aren't athletically inclined. It's definitely good for the sport because it draws more people in, but it's never gonna overshadow fitness. It's not exciting enough. Fitness can be fun to watch.
I gotta tell you, when she took second to Mary Yockey, that was absurd! She won that show very easy. There are certain rules these girls go by. They were supposed to have a series of three or four music changes when they competed. Mary Yockey won the Olympia with no music changes in her routine. It was all the same song! They honestly don't think Kelly is a good as Susie Curry and I think it's absurd. I think Kelly has been Ms. Olympia three times already but everybody has their favorite physiques. Susie Curry probably has the best physique in fitness because she has a very small waist and has a good V taper. But that's just one placing out of two rounds. In my opinion, if they were to judge the rounds the way they're supposed to be judged, Susie wouldn't be winning the Fitness Olympia. I like Susie and she's a great champion. I don't want to take anything away from her. I just think if Kelly is a third or fourth-placed physique and she wins her routine, which she always does, then that means she wins the show. They aren't placing these girls in their routines where they should be placed.
Susie's been dissed for not being as attractive as other girls and for not having any ass, but Susie's got a pretty good butt. I've always thought she's been way too thin, though. One thing I can say about Susie is she's a sweetheart and represents her sport well. Out of the four second places Kelly has taken, I think she has won two of those Fitness Olympias without a doubt. But by the same token, some of these judges think Susie dominates. I just don't see it. When somebody's trying to become Ms. Fitness Olympia and is second place over and over again, it gets very discouraging. I'm not whining about Kelly, but she's my wife and I support her unconditionally, period!
Some people say Susie Curry wins because of her relationship with JM Management. Your thoughts?
People speculate Susie Curry wins because JM Manion manages her. I'm good friends with JM and Jim Manion. I honestly don't think there's any truth to that. Jim Manion would not consciously let anything like that go on with his judging panel. That's the way I see Mr. Manion. He is the head judge. He controls what's going on. I would never think otherwise because Jim Manion is a stand up guy with old school ways. I think they honestly think that Kelly has been placed where they thought she should have been placed. Many of the girls say it has something to do with JM because these paticuliar athletes need excuses why they don't do as well as they think they should.
I checked out your photos of the GNC Pro in Flex magazine. I've never heard of tying for the same place. That was strange, but not nearly as strange as Gunter beating Ronnie. Do you think Gunter should have won?
I don't know how a person goes from 15th at the Olympia, to not qualifying the following year, to getting a special Olympia invite and placing fifth, and then beating Mr. Olympia within a 24-month period. That's absurd! I can't explain it. I don't understand it. I never will. Should Gunter beat Ronnie Coleman? Ronnie Coleman is untouchable. It's not even a comparison between Gunter and Ronnie. Ronnie's muscle mass, symmetry- it's crazy. I don't know what the heck is going on.
Fortunately, that decision won't affect me any. It's not gonna take any money out of my pockets. I wasn't really too upset about it. I would be if I was Ronnie Coleman, that's for damn sure! If I were Ronnie, the first thing I would have asked is how did Gunter achieve it all in such a short period of time? How does it happen? I'd want somebody to show me where they're good enough to beat Mr. Olympia. Gunter wasn't even getting called out with the bottom echelon guys the year before. Now he's possibly heir apparent? It's crazy! If I was Ronnie, and I was Mr. Olympia, I would have probably just took it on the chin and come in my very best at the following Olympia. If Ronnie comes in like he did at the 99 Olympia, no one's touching him. I'm happy for Gunter, he's a helluva nice guy, but I just don't see it.