Written by Ron Harris
16 May 2019

19nyp-eduardo

Brazilian Bomber!

Eduardo Correa Trains Arms

 

In just a couple days, Brazil’s Eduardo Correa will return to the stage for the first time in nearly three years to vie for the 212 title at the New York Pro. With his incredible track record (runner-up at the Olympia and third place on two occasions), along with his dense and detailed physique, he’s a heavy favorite to win. Let’s look back at his arm training from early 2012, when he was establishing himself as one of the top 202 Pros in the world – a division that had just become the 212 at the end of the 2011 season.

 

 Who the hell is this freak?

It was almost four years ago that I first laid eyes on Eduardo Correa. It was at the expo at the 2008 Arnold Classic, one of the years MD had a booth. We were also holding a 'Cyber Classic,' where finalists who had received the most votes were judged live on our small stage for the title, a cash prize, and a photo shoot with MD. Eduardo also happened to be competing that same weekend in the Arnold Amateur show, where he won the light-heavies but lost the Overall to Egypt's Tarek El Setouhi. Seeing the incredible thickness, shape, and granite-hard condition of this man at our booth, it blew my mind that he was not a pro yet. His arms in particular reminded me of Phil Heath - down to those braided cross-striations on his meaty tri's. What I didn't know then was that Eduardo had already earned his pro card the year before at the IFBB Worlds, but hadn't applied for his pro card yet (it's not an automatic thing as many assume). That weekend would be his final time on stage as an amateur, and the next would be his pro debut in the 202 class at the Pittsburgh Pro - which he won. And for two years in a row, the top three at the 202 Showdown at the Mr. Olympia was Kevin English, David Henry, and Eduardo. And then, he tore his triceps and missed an entire pro season. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's get to know more about this man who is looking to find the same success in the Open class this year that he had right out of the gate as a 202.

 

Island boy

Eduardo Correa da Silva was born on June 20, 1981, in the city of Florianópolis, Brazil. Florianópolis is an island in southern Brazil, and the capital of the state of Santa Catarina. He grew up there with his parents, Bernadete and Evilásio, and his younger brother Bruno. Eduardo loved to surf and fly kits on many of the island's 40 beaches, but it was Brazil's national pastime of soccer where he showed the most athletic promise, playing for a well-known team all over
southern Brazil. He joined a local gym at the age of 16 with the goal of improving his performanceas a soccer player, and was struck the very first day with the sight of a couple local bodybuilders posing in front of a mirror. "Part of the reason I joined the gym was also because I wasn't happy with my body," he admits. "I was thin and had a little roll of fat around my waist. These guys were muscular and lean, and immediately that's what I wanted to look like." Because his strength increased so rapidly and exercise technique came naturally, Correa was coaxed into powerlifting competitions within just a couple months by the gym owner, and he did well. But all along, what he really wanted was to get on stage as a bodybuilder. At just 19, he entered and won his first event, the Santa Caterina state championship and soon after won his age division at the Brazilian nationals.

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A quick study at bodybuilding, Eduardo goes International

In his first year of training, Eduardo did no cardio and knew next to nothing about a proper diet, yet still gained mass at a rate that local bodybuilders had never seen before. "In the first year, all the information I had was from what I heard and witnessed in the gym, and some training pictures hanging on the wall of the locker room of Dorian Yates, Arnold, Lee Haney," he tells us. He got his hands on some Brazilian magazines, which led to him seeking out American magazines like MD and surfing the Internet to satisfy his ravenous appetite for information about the sport he was starting to think he wanted to make a career out of if possible. "At my early contests, I didn't know how to diet, my posing was very awkward, but I was enjoying it all very much anyway. My friends and family came to cheer for me and that gave me confidence. I felt like a new chapter in my life was starting and it was so exciting." Looking to broaden his horizons, he traveled to England in 2002 to win the Junior division of the NABBA Mr. Universe. The following year, he was too old for that class but didn't feel ready yet to take on the older men, but another opportunity presented itself. "I had some friends in Miami that I stayed with for some time," he tells us. "My dear friend the late IFBB Pro Fannie Barrios and her husband Alex let me stay with them, as well as his current wife, IFBB Pro Rosemary Jennings. They are special people who helped me and showed me how to train and eat like a true bodybuilder." In 2003, he made the trip to Southern California to compete in the NPC Excalibur, a longstanding regional event that's been a catalyst for many up and comers, including Trey Brewer. Correa won the middleweight division, and by 2007 he had won the same division at the IFBB World Championships in Korea, which earned him the right to a pro card. "I decided to remain an amateur for the time being," he explains. "I didn't see myself being able to compete with the pro's, as I wasn't big enough."


202 Superstar

That all changed the following year with the introduction of the 202 class, where men of shorter stature and lighter bodyweights were able to flex on a more even playing field. "I watched those shows with great interest, and I saw that this was an opportunity for me to do well and get some exposure, because at that time I was totally unknown." Eduardo got his pro card and targeted the 2009 New York Pro for his debut. Since he was already in shape, he decided to jump into the 202 pro show in Pittsburgh two weeks before. Correa was nervous - but not so much about entering his first pro show. "I was backstage with the guest posers, and it was a pretty intimidating group!" That's an understatement, since that group included Jay Cutler, Phil Heath, Kai Greene, Victor Martinez, Ronnie Coleman, Branch Warren, and Dennis Wolf. But Eduardo won, and went on to have an excellent two seasons as a 202 that netted him two wins and two third place finishes at the 202 Olympia Showdown. But trouble was coming.

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The man known for his triceps tears - his triceps.

At seven weeks out from his win at the Orlando Europa show in 2010, Eduardo decided to have his elbow checked out to see what the cause of agonizing pain was. "The MRI showed a partial tear, but it wasn't too bad at that point," he says. Fast forward to 2011. Despite ongoing discomfort, Correa was having an excellent off-season and was making solid gains when the pain rose to new levels that made training unbearable. Another MRI showed that the rupture had doubled in size and his triceps was now fully 50% detached from the elbow. Rather than miss what he was told would be 4-5 months of training if he had undergone surgery, Eduardo opted for a procedure called PRP, which stands for "platelet-rich plasma." This involves injecting platelets from your own blood at the injury site, speeding the healing process. "I went for 45 days without training, even lower body because I could not handle the weight and could not bend that arm," he says. It was clear that he would not be able to train with his normal weights and intensity for quite a while, which meant he would have to sit out the 2011 season. "Thankfully I always had the support of my wife Carol, my friends, and my sponsor Probiotic," he notes of that difficult time. He still may have surgery to repair the torn tendon at one point, but for now he is managing the injury well with daily physiotherapy sessions, stretching and massage. And while he was out, Eduardo had plenty of time to think about his next move. He came to the conclusion that he no longer wanted to be limited to a weight class, even after he found out midway through last year that the 202 division was changing to a 212-pound limit. "I am always striving to improve, and even if I'm only a few pounds over that class, those are still quality pounds of muscle that I worked very hard to build. I want to show the best physique I can and that for me means being in the Open class with the big guys."

 

The Brazilian Gunslinger

Though obviously Eduardo's frame is packed with thick, dense muscle from head to toe, it's his amazing arms that garner the most attention. Ironically, when he first started training, his nickname at the gym was '37,' in reference to his 37-centimeter arms (14 1/2 inches), which already        had great natural shape and were relatively big compared to the rest of him. "My big goal at the time was to get them up to 40," he reveals, another inch and a half in circumference. Though Correa doesn't measure his arms, he knows they are around 53cm these days, or 21 inches. A big believer in the simple basics, they were what he relied on to build those guys. "All we really had were free weights at my first gym, so I worked very hard on those movements with perfect form." Eduardo likes to make the point that the exercises you do aren't nearly as important as how you do them. "Everyone wants to know the routines of the pro's for this or that bodypart, but seeing a list of exercises tells you almost nothing. Depending on your form and your level of mind-muscle connection, one guy can make a routine very effective while another guy might get hardly any stimulation in the muscle at all." As such, Correa does virtually the same exercises for his arms now that he did back in his teenage days. But he has mastered the various nuances that make any movement more effective. "Now I slow down the negative part of the reps more, I make an effort to keep the muscle under continuous tension during the set, and I am much better at isolating the muscle without stressing the joints or involving other muscle groups." He's a strong man, but he never worries about the weights he uses. "I think this is the biggest reason would-be bodybuilders don't see the gains they want to," he observes. "You can't train with your ego. If a lesser weight gives you the best feeling in the muscle, that's what you should use." The following are some of Eduardo's favorite exercises for blowing up his massive guns, along with his personal tips to get the most out of them.

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TRICEPS

 

Cable pushdowns

"Keep your elbows stabilized at all times, because letting them move shifts the stress away from the triceps and on to other muscles. Avoid lifting your shoulders in the eccentric phase for the same reason. In the case of the triceps, all exercises are practically extensions of the arm, and triceps extension cable is the best for this. And exercises with the bar behind the head I think are very dangerous and harmful to the elbow. I blame those in part for my injury and never do them anymore."

 

Reverse grip single-arm pushdowns

"A cool tip is to keep the elbow positioned a little further back from the shoulder, so you get more range of motion. This is not an exercise you do with a lot of weight. If you try, you will have to swing and take tension off the triceps."

 

Single-arm lying dumbbell extensions

"I don't do this movement with a bar anymore, but I still like the dumbbell version because I have more control. Keep the elbows stationary. Make a slight isometric contraction on the way up by flexing the triceps, and maintain a slow and controlled speed on the eccentric part of each rep."

 

Dip machine

"Keep your shoulders and shoulder blades rolled back and low in order to get more tension in the triceps and less in the front delts and chest. It is a good exercise to make the second in a super set, because you can isolate the triceps with an extension movement and then it's pre-exhausted so the compound nature of the dips will force them into a deeper level of exhaustion."

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BICEPS

 

Rope curls

"Hold the peak contraction phase of the rep and return slowly in the eccentric phase. This can be used on all arm exercises and even chest and other muscle groups. But really, if you aren't taking advantage of the negative part of the rep on arm training, you are missing out big-time."

 

Single arm cable curls

"Keep the elbow stable throughout the entire set, and make sure you really squeeze the biceps hard at the top. The principle of continuous tension can be exploited to its fullest when you use cables."

 

Standing alternate dumbbell curls

"Make a small turn out with the dumbbell at the top of the movement in order to recruit the fibers from the inside of the biceps as well. This supinating action of dumbbell curls is what gives them more potential to stimulate growth than barbell movements."

 

Hammer dumbbell curl

"Keep your shoulders stable and be very careful not to let them assist in the motion. The brachialis is a critical component for having huge arms, and the only exercises that isolate it are this, rope curls, and reverse curls."

 

Standing EZ-bar curls

"If you use the trunk to gain more power in the concentric phase, remember to stabilize the trunk to take advantage of the concentric phase efficiently. It's best to stay very strict with your reps until the very end of the set, and then you can use just a bit of cheating motion to take the biceps all the way to full burn and exhaustion."

 

Overhead cable curls

"Keep the elbows high and stable. This is a great movement to do at or near the end of your arm workout. Don't worry about going heavy, just focus on feeling the peak of your biceps pump up nice and high."

 

Seated concentration curls

"Keep your shoulder back, especially in the eccentric phase. This helps keep the tension longer in the biceps. Also, if you lean forward too much, you will shorten the range of motion."

 

Ready to play with the big boys in Columbus!

It would seem more than a bit optimistic for a former 202 competitor to make his Open debut at a show as prestigious and highly competitive as the Arnold Classic, but Eduardo Correa is ready for the challenge. "I'm really excited to be able to compete with the best bodybuilders and represent Brazil on one of the biggest stages the world," he says enthusiastically. "Certainly to me this is an extra motivation to be my best ever." Coming down from an all-time high off-season weight of 248 pounds, Eduardo expects to be around 215 in Columbus. "I will be the lightest man up there, but that doesn't worry me," he says. "Bodybuilding is a visual sport, and if you are in an insane condition you can beat the big guys." Eduardo has already established himself as one of the most detailed and driest pro's, and with his added mass - particularly in his legs, formerly the subject of criticism - don't be too surprised if he is just as successful in the Open class as he was in his brief stint in the 202's. One thing is certain - Eduardo's monster arms will be second to no man on that Arnold stage!

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Typical arm workout

Barbell curl                           3                        10             110

Machine curl                         3                        10             88                       

Seated concentration curl       2                         10            37

Rope cable curl                     3                         12            110

Cable pushdown                    6                         12            110

Close-grip bench press           2                         10            265

Single arm cable pushdown     2                         12             44

Dips*                                 5                        

*5 sets of 10 reps are done with only 30 seconds rest between sets.

 

 

Training Split

Day 1:              Quads and calves

Day 2 :             Chest and bíceps

Day 3 :             Hams and tríceps

Day 4:              Back and abs

Day 5:              Rest

Day 6:              Shoulders and calves

Repeat

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