ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S 8 BEST TRAINING PRINCIPLES

A massive number of memorable quotes can be attributed to Arnold Schwarzenegger or many of the characters he's portrayed, but none speaks to his passion for bodybuilding quite like this one: "The worst thing I can be is the same as everybody else."

Arnold had no interest in being ordinary, and his lifetime achievements bear that out. But to succeed in the gym and take his physique to heights no man had ever reached, Arnold had to be even more than extraordinary. He had to consistently commit to the bodybuilding lifestyle in action, thought, and vision.

"ARNOLD HAD ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST IN BEING ORDINARY, AND HIS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENTS BEAR THAT OUT."

Through interviews and articles he wrote for Joe Weider after coming to America in 1968, Arnold made clear that his formula for success had less to do with "secrets" and more to do with hard work, sweat, and an all-consuming drive to build muscle and achieve greatness. The most important ingredient for success, Arnold wrote, is self-confidence.

In this, the first of a four-part series that examines Arnold's rise in bodybuilding and details how he built his championship physique, we explore the eight training principles Arnold used to become seven-time Mr. Olympia and so much more. You'll discover that Arnold's approach was anything but ordinary and his bodybuilding success was by no means accidental.

1

 LIFTING REQUIRES BRAIN WORK, TOO

Arnold understood and often wrote about the role of the brain in bodybuilding. When he trained, Arnold concentrated with 100 percent focus, which allowed him to reach even greater intensity levels. "The first step is to really believe that becoming massive is possible ... In the same way you can command your muscles to lift heavy weights when everything else suggests that you cannot, so you can mentally coax your muscles to grow larger and stronger."

Arnold's use of visualization techniques is well-known; he often imagined his biceps as big and peaked as mountains, and he harnessed that mental imagery to take his physique to unparalleled heights.

2

 TRAIN HARDER THAN EVERYBODY ELSE

Arnold's goal was to be better than everyone, so he knew he had to train harder than everyone. In fact, when Arnold trained, the whole gym crowd often stopped and watched. Arnold just kept on training. Such was the intensity he channeled through his ability to connect his mind to each of the muscles he worked.

"ARNOLD'S GOAL WAS TO BE BETTER THAN EVERYONE, SO HE KNEW HE HAD TO TRAIN HARDER THAN EVERYONE."

"The next step is to train very hard, concentrating on the basic movements. Rely on barbells and dumbbells instead of cables and machines," Arnold once said. For Arnold, training at anything less than 100 percent was a waste of time in the gym, but choosing the proper movements was also critical.

A NOTE ON ARNOLD'S TRAINING APPROACH

Arnold's training schedule is considered high volume by today's standards. He did as many as 26 working sets on large muscle groups such as back, chest, and shoulders. And since he broke down the legs into the quads, hamstrings and calves, he frequently did as many as 61 sets on leg day. When asked if this approach was outdated, he replied, "It's what I used and what worked for me."
Moreover, Arnold often trained each muscle group three times each week, hitting chest and back on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, and then legs later those same afternoons. Clearly that's too much volume and frequency for most trainees, but Arnold had the advantage of being a full-time bodybuilder who could spend the rest of his day eating and recuperating.

3

 CHOOSE THE RIGHT EXERCISES

The Oak didn't just train hard; he trained smart, too. "To get big, you have to get strong. Beginning and intermediate bodybuilders shouldn't be as concerned with refinement as with growth."

That meant focusing less on single-joint, isolation movements in favor of multi-joint exercises. The bench press, squat, deadlift, overhead press, bent-over row, and power clean are all examples of multi-joint exercises which require several muscle groups to work in coordination. While more difficult to master, they offer the added benefit of allowing you to train very heavy to overload the working muscle. Mastering these moves and challenging yourself with heavy weights, Arnold wrote, was the single-most critical component of gaining strength and size.

4

 USE HEAVY WEIGHTS FOR LOW REPS

For Arnold, not only was choosing the right exercises important, but so too was choosing the right load. After all, a set of 8 reps while squatting with 365 pounds to failure elicits a far better muscle-building stimulus than a set of 135 pounds for 40 reps taken to failure. "Start with a few warm-ups [not taken to muscle failure] and pyramid the weight up from one set to the next, decreasing the reps and going to failure. Usually I'll have someone stand by to give me a just a little bit of help past a sticking point or cheat the weight up just a little."

For Arnold, while his concern was focused on feeling the weight, he wanted to make sure the load corresponded to muscle failure at a particular range.

"I make a point of never doing less than 6 repetitions per set with most movements, and nothing higher than 12. The rule applies to most body parts, including calves," Arnold said.

5

 VARY YOUR TRAINING

Arnold didn't need his business degree to know that diminishing returns applies to workouts, too. Do the same workout for too long without making significant changes and its value falls over time. That's when a bodybuilder finds himself in a rut.

"Within a basic framework, I was constantly changing my exercises. I liked to shock the muscles by not letting them get complacent in a constant routine."

"NEVER AFRAID TO EXPERIMENT WITH NEW EXERCISES OR ALTERNATIVE TRAINING METHODS, ARNOLD WAS ON A PERPETUAL SEARCH FOR NEW WAYS TO BECOME BIGGER AND BETTER AS OLD WAYS BECAME STALE."

Arnold did his homework when it came to planning his training sessions. If he found that an exercise was no longer producing gains, he'd switch it for another. Never afraid to experiment with new exercises or alternative training methods, Arnold was on a perpetual search for new ways to become bigger and better as old ways became stale.

6

 TRAIN FOR THE PUMP

Of the muscle pump, Arnold said, "If there is no muscle pump, there is no muscle growth." While Arnold famously proclaimed the pump to be as pleasurable as a sexual orgasm, he was definitely onto something when he took his sets past muscle failure and practiced tensing his muscles between sets and after workouts.

7

 PRIORITIZE WEAKNESSES

If you've got big pecs, it's only natural to want to show them off. As a result, you probably also give them a little extra effort in the gym. But Arnold took exactly the opposite approach. At one point, Arnold decided his calves had fallen behind the rest of his physique in overall development. Rather than hide the glaring weakness, he famously cut off the pant legs on his pants and wore shorts to constantly remind himself of his weakness and redouble his efforts to grow his calves. He trained calves more frequently, early in his workouts when he was fresh, and sometimes between sets for larger body parts.

8

 GAIN KNOWLEDGE AND USE YOUR INSTINCT

"The way to success, in and out of bodybuilding, is having as much knowledge as possible," Arnold said. By seeking out information and experimenting with new approaches, you're better able to discern what works from what's a waste of time. Because each individual is unique, Mr. Olympia's training routine may not work best for you.

Today there are infinite ways to find information on the web, but the various resources competing for your attention can be confusing. Your best bet is to regularly check out Bodybuilding.com and its extensive library of articles for new ideas that relate to exercise selection, weights and loads, training volume, and setting up your splits. Try new ideas and incorporate those you like. Just like Arnold, you can experiment on your own physique.

REFERENCES

• FLEX Magazine (Australasian Edition): The Summer of Arnold. May/June 2007.
• Muscle & Fitness, July 1997: Arnold Talks Training, July 1997.
• Schwarzenegger, A. & Dobbins, B. (1999). The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. Simon and Shuster: USA.

The 9 Best Exercises You're Not Doing

EXERCISE 1//

FRONT SQUAT

(lower body, core)

Why You Should Be Doing It

"Front squats have really helped my quad development, especially when I was preparing for the Ironman," says Phil Heath. "Most people don't do front squats, because they're uncomfortable and there are easier alternatives, but to really add size to the quads, they're a must."

EXERCISE 2//

CRUSH-GRIP DUMBBELL BENCH PRESS

(upper body)

Why You Should Be Doing It

"'Crushing' the dumbbells together while slowing the tempo increases the tension across the chest, shoulders, triceps, and upper back," says Jim Smith, C.S.C.S. (owner of Diesel Strength & Conditioning (dieselsc.com), member of the livestrong.com advisory board) "More time under tension will immediately increase the muscle-building and natural hormone-release effect."

How To Do It

Sit on the end of a flat bench holding a pair of dumbbells. Lie back and hold the dumbbells over your chest, arms extended, with the insides of the dumbbells touching. As you lower the weights toward your chest, press them together as hard as possible. When they reach your chest, lift the weights back up, still pressing them together. Keep the rep speed slow.

EXERCISE 3//

ARCHED BACK PULL-UP

(upper body)

Why You Should Be Doing It

"This exercise involves both a vertical and horizontal pull from the upper body—most pulling moves involve only one or the other," Martin Rooney (CEO of trainingforwarriors.comand author of Warrior Cardio: The Revolutionary Metabolic Training System for Burning Fat, Building Muscle, and Getting Fit) says. "It maximizes core and abdominal recruitment. So, the arched-back pull-up hits about as much total muscle as any lift."

EXERCISE 4//

WIDE-GRIP UPRIGHT ROW

(upper body)

Why You Should Be Doing It

"Wide-grip upright rows can be a great deltoid builder if used correctly," Justin Grinnell, C.S.C.S. (powerlifter and co-owner of State of Fitness in East Lansing, MI (mystateoffitness.com)) says. "Doing them with the wider grip will take the traps out of the movement," he says, "and you'll hit the delts better than you would if you were using a narrow grip." But if you have shoulder impingement issues, proceed with caution.

How To Do It

Stand holding a barbell in front of your thighs with your arms fully extended and your hands outside shoulder width. With your knees slightly bent, pull the bar straight up your body, bending your elbows, until it reaches chest height. As you lift the bar, don't let your shoulders shrug up; keep them depressed to maintain tension in the delts. Hold the contraction at the top for a count, then lower back down.

EXERCISE 5//

OVERHEAD SQUAT

(whole body)

Why You Should Be Doing It

"The overhead squat is not an exercise you should be skipping," Brian Strump, D.C. (owner of CrossFit Steele Creek and Premier Health & Rehab Solutions in Charlotte, NC (crossfitsteelecreek.com)) says. "It integrates functional strength, flexibility, and core and shoulder stability. With so much going on, the overhead squat elicits a hormonal response that builds muscle and burns fat."

How To Do It

Grasp a relatively light Olympic barbell in a power rack with a very wide, overhand grip (aka snatch grip), with your feet shoulder-width apart, your back flat, and your chest out.

Push-press the bar overhead so you're in standing position, arms fully extended, shoulder blades squeezed together. The bar should be slightly behind your head, not directly over or in front of it.

Maintaining this bar position, slowly squat down as if sitting on a stool, keeping your chest out, until your thighs reach parallel with the floor. Press through your heels to stand back up to the start position.

EXERCISE 6//

BICEPS LADDER

(upper body)

Why You Should Be Doing It

On top of the crazy pump you'll get, the ladder has a host of other benefits."The biceps ladder is a great mass builder," says Jim Stoppani, Ph.D. (senior science editor and host of M&F Raw! atmuscleandfitness.com) "First, it allows you to go heavier than you could with standard curls (using your own body weight). Second, you're focusing on the negative of each rep, which will further stimulate growth. And finally, the 'ladder' aspect of the lift functions like a dropset, increasing your total number of reps to maximize blood flow to the biceps. One trip up the ladder and your biceps will be screaming."

How To Do It

Set a bar in a power rack just above arm's length from the floor. Grab the bar with a shoulder-width, underhand grip with your body hanging underneath it just above the floor, in a straight line from head to toe. Starting with your arms fully extended, curl yourself up as high as possible, bringing your forehead to the bar. Do as many reps as you can, then raise the bar one setting and repeat. Keep raising the bar until you can't perform any more reps.

EXERCISE 7//

SEATED REVERSE-GRIP OVERHEAD TRICEPS EXTENSION

(triceps)

Why You Should Be Doing It

"The long head of the triceps tends to get neglected," Ray Wetterlund III, C.S.C.S. (USA weightlifting coach and celebrity personal trainer in La Jolla, CA (rw3fitness.com)) says, "primarily because it responds best to heavy loads and overhead movements, which people often leave out of their arm routines. This is why the seated overhead extension is my go-to move for bringing up the long head."

EXERCISE 8//

SEATED ROTATION

(lower body, core)

Why You Should Be Doing It

"Life and sport happen in the transverse plane, like when you put on your seatbelt or swing a bat," says celebrity trainer Gunnar Peterson, C.S.C.S. (trainer to celebs such as Sylvester Stallon, Bruce Willis, and Tom Brady) "You need to train that way in the gym. Like the commercial says, 'Keep crunching,' but add in some side-to-side rotation to do everything better."

How To Do It

Sit on the floor holding a weight or medicine ball with both hands in front of you, elbows slightly bent. Start with your knees bent 90 degrees and feet on the floor (advanced trainees can raise their feet off the floor). Rotate the weight from one hip to the other in a continuous side-to-side motion, following the weight with your eyes and allowing your shoulders to rotate. Try to keep your legs from swaying side to side during the movement. It's not just difficult in terms of coordination, but it will also give your stabilizing muscles a ton of extra work.

EXERCISE 9//

GOOD MORNING

(lower body, core)

Why You Should Be Doing It

"Good mornings are a really effective exercise that most people don't do," Guillermo Escalante, C.S.C.S. (bodybuilder and co-owner of SportsPros Personal Training/Physical Therapy Center in Claremont, CA (4sportspros.com)) says. "They target the larger posterior chain muscles (glutes, hamstrings, and paraspinals), which can help you improve your strength in lifts like the deadlift and squat, as well as decrease your risk of lower-back injury."

How To Do It

Stand with feet hip- to shoulder-width apart, holding a relatively light barbell across your upper traps. Keeping your back flat and knees slightly bent, slowly bend your hips back to lower your torso toward the floor. When your torso reaches parallel with the floor, reverse the motion to return to the standing position.

Just Do It

Want to get after these nine great exercises all at once? Try this upper-body/lower-body two-day split for a full-body blitz your muscles will never see coming.

 source : http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-9-best-exercises-youre-not-doing.html

Top 10 Biggest Bodybuilders

How does a 97-pound weakling become the World's Most Perfectly Developed Man, as Charles Atlas did? Through the sport known as bodybuilding.

For most of us, lifting weights and exercising are things that we do to lose weight, gain strength and tone our bodies. Bodybuilders take it to a whole new level, following rigorous diets and exercise routines to create and maintain muscle hypertrophy, a state in which the muscle cells increase in size and create bulk.

A bodybuilder in competition is tanned and oiled, so you can see his or her muscle definition and striations (visible muscle fibers) all the better. Competitors flex different muscle groups in order to show them off in a series of poses. The pose pictured on this page is appropriately named crab most muscular.

There are two basic categories of bodybuilding: pro and natural. The main difference between the two is that natural bodybuilders are banned from using steroids, hormones and other supplements. The International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB), a pro bodybuilding organization, has been working to get bodybuilding sanctioned as an Olympic sport, but the increase in steroid use among bodybuilders has made this more difficult.

The sport still has a loyal following, however. In this article, we'll look at some of the greatest, most well-known bodybuilders to grace the stage -- starting with the man whose body fit the Grecian ideal.

source :  http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/musculoskeletal/10-biggest-bodybuilders.htm

video that Changed My Life

       

           

8 WAYS TO A PERFECT WORKOUT

Have you ever gotten home after a workout feeling like you didn't even do anything at the gym? Well, that's probably because you didn't. Sure, you lifted some weights for about an hour and a half and tried all the new exercises from your favorite fitness magazines. But the question is, how much of that hour and a half did you actually spend being efficient and doing things that give you results?

The short list below will be golden to most and might just act as a reminder to some. You may be familiar with some of these. Either way, you should read it, absorb it, and apply it. Follow these simple tips and you'll get more out of your workouts than ever before.

1

 RAMP UP THE INTENSITY

Whatever their goal might be, people always ask me which workout routine is best. My response every single time: It doesn't exist.

There's no one "best routine." No matter how they look on paper, you can make any workout either really good or really bad depending on the intensity you apply.

Some tips: lift heavy, shorten rest periods, keep your workouts to an hour or less, cut back on socialization or eliminate it altogether, and strive to break new personal records every week. If you don't look like you're in any discomfort (keyword "discomfort," not "pain"), then you're not working out at all.

2

 PERFORM HEAVY COMPOUND EXERCISES

The majority of your workouts should include compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, rows, presses, chin-ups, and pull-ups. There's nothing wrong with isolation exercises like dumbbell curls, but they're an accent to bigger moves. Build a good foundation with your strength and physique first, and then incorporate isolation exercises.

In addition to performing compound exercises, lift with relatively heavy weights to stimulate muscle growth. Focus on heavy compound exercises will allow you to see better results in less time.

"FOCUS ON HEAVY COMPOUND EXERCISES WILL ALLOW YOU TO SEE BETTER RESULTS IN LESS TIME."

3

 PRACTICE PROPER FORM INSTEAD OF HEAVY WEIGHT

Remember, lifting heavy isn't everything. Whether your goal is fat loss or muscle gain, proper form is essential for success. Not only does it help to stimulate muscle growth, but performing exercises with proper form also ensures that your body stays healthy. The last thing you want is an injury. Take the time to learn proper form and technique for all the exercises you want to do in the gym.

Always be aware of the mind-muscle connection when doing a movement. Although lifting heavy weights stimulates muscle growth, it only does so if the muscles are under constant tension. Control the weight—don't let it control you.

4

 COMMIT TO MENTAL STRENGTH

Mental toughness is just as important as physical toughness. Your strength isn't defined by how much muscle you have or how much weight you can lift. It's defined by how well you can manage your emotions.

Imagine getting ready to do your last set of deadlifts. You're attempting a new one-rep max. You step toward the bar, but your mind starts messing with you, telling you that you won't be able to complete the lift because the weight is too heavy. The moment this thought starts to take over, the game is over. Even before you try, you've failed.

Always have the right mindset. Always stay focused. Visualize what you want out of every set, and don't let self-doubt get the best of you.

"ALWAYS HAVE THE RIGHT MINDSET. ALWAYS STAY FOCUSED. VISUALIZE WHAT YOU WANT OUT OF EVERY SET."

5

 INCORPORATE BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES

Bodyweight exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, and dips belong in your training routine. Yep, it's that simple.

These exercises aren't just for beginners. If they're too easy for you, do other variations that give you more of a challenge. If you can do push-ups with ease, then try doing decline push-ups. If you can do pull-ups for reps, then try doing archer pull-ups . These compound movements help build strength and size like no other.

6

 AVOID WORKING OUT IN GROUPS

If you don't like training by yourself, it's perfectly fine to have a workout buddy. Some people train better with someone else because it allows them a challenge throughout the workout. Training with a group, however, can be a different story. There's a higher chance that you'll be socializing more than you're lifting. Group training sometimes backfires.

Train with only one other person, if needed.

"SOME PEOPLE TRAIN BETTER WITH SOMEONE ELSE BECAUSE IT ALLOWS THEM A CHALLENGE THROUGHOUT THE WORKOUT."

7

 LISTEN TO MUSIC

Listening to music will help you stay focused during your workouts. Research has suggested that listening to music while working out can make physical exertion less exhausting while helping you set a better pace.

Just make sure that you make your workout playlist at home so you don't waste any time looking for songs to listen to during your lifting session. As an added bonus, wearing headphones will deter people from talking to you—at least 90 percent of the time.

8

 LOG YOUR WORKOUTS

Writing down your numbers allows to know (and remember) where you stand so you know what you have to aim for next time. Always try to improve on your lifts—whether that means adding more weight or increasing the number of reps. That's what "progressive overload" means. You increase the demands on your musculoskeletal system enough that you continually make gains in muscle size, strength, and endurance.

FROM POWERLIFTER TO BODYBUILDER

Training as a powerlifter under the great Rick Hussey at Big Iron Gym was one of the greatest opportunities in my life. Rick built powerlifters like a mechanic built fast, powerful engines. As a powerlifting coach, he knew how to get you to move weight from A to B using all of the power and explosion your body could release, and to do it time after time in that same sweet groove. It was like your body was a piston, performing each rep the same way every time.

Rick taught me that the way to keep increasing your strength was to always train the weaker parts of your lifts. In return it would improve your entire lift. The weak areas might move around in time, but if you adjust your training to your weak spots, you can keep getting stronger.

While powerlifting, we trained heavy every workout, five days per week, and we always handled heavy weight on all of our movements. Most of our reps were doubles and singles on squats and bench press. On deadlift it was a bit different. I trained with more volume at the beginning of my training cycle and tapered down the closer I got to a meet. We always tried to lift explosively because the faster you can get the weight from A to B, the more power you have.

"AS A POWERLIFTING COACH, HE KNEW HOW TO GET YOU TO MOVE WEIGHT FROM A TO B USING ALL OF THE POWER AND EXPLOSION YOUR BODY COULD RELEASE."

I love powerlifting and always will, but when Rick passed, I just didn't have the same desire to do it anymore. It just didn't feel the same without him, and I had been getting injured quite a bit in those last two years. I felt then that I was almost lifting for Rick. I know how much powerlifting meant to him, and he once told me he was living through me. If he were still here today, I'm sure I'd still be doing it.

Then there was bodybuilding—a new adventure! It was something I'd always wanted to try. I've focused on bodybuilding now for almost three years. This is my journey.

EATING FOR COMPETING

My diet while powerlifting was pretty much to eat as much as I want of whatever I want, but make sure to get as much protein as possible every day. There wasn't a strict routine. I knew where I wanted to keep my bodyweight and I tried to keep it in that range, depending on which weight class I was trying to make. I got to eat all the goodies. Ice cream was always at the top of my list.

So when I decided to do a show, I started dieting for it. I stuck with the diet for about a month, but it was clear that I was dropping weight too fast. I was losing muscle, I felt flat, and I just wasn't eating enough. At that point, I got in touch with a friend of Rick's named Todd Smith. He had been Mr. Natural Olympia several times, so I jumped at the opportunity to work with him. Todd took me under his wing and shared a lot of his training and diet knowledge with me.

Todd's way of dieting was mainly about food choices. He wants your stomach to do a lot of the work. A lot of people have you start out eating clean and doing cardio, but Todd likes to get your stomach and your body working for you so you don't have to do as much cardio and so you can keep as much muscle as possible.

He set up a baseline diet for me, which included all of the typical bodybuilding foods. For protein, he had me eat steak, chicken, fish, eggs, and ground turkey. Carb sources were oatmeal, cream of wheat, sweet potatoes, and brown rice. And of course, I ate all kinds of greens: broccoli, asparagus, spinach, etc. These foods are staples in my diet, both in the offseason and going into a show; Todd simply adjusts the amounts.

"TODD LIKES TO GET YOUR STOMACH AND YOUR BODY WORKING FOR YOU SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO AS MUCH CARDIO AND SO YOU CAN KEEP AS MUCH MUSCLE AS POSSIBLE."

Under Todd's guidance, I started eating more food and my muscles filled back out, and at the same time I was getting leaner. I'd never eaten so much food before. I had to work up to eating that frequently and in those portion sizes so my body could recover from workouts and put on muscle. I was eating a lot of food every couple of hours, so my stomach was always working and burning lots of food. The eating is the hardest part about bodybuilding.

That was the baseline diet. From here, Todd made small adjustments as the show approached, lowering fats and carbs. He didn't lower protein too much; he just opted for different sources. For example, he had me switch from steak to chicken and then to fish. A lot of times people make drastic changes, but Todd believes in making the smallest amount of change in the diet to yield the greatest amount of change in the body. This allowed me to lose fat, but fill out at the same time.

He threw in cardio toward the end as a final step for getting ready for the show. That's another thing: When people do cardio all the time, it loses its effectiveness. When they stop doing it, they gain weight. By saving cardio until the end, it's more effective.

DIALING IT IN

I dieted for a total of 20 weeks for my first show. I came in as a light heavyweight, weighing in at 190 pounds, 7 below the upper limit. I placed first in my weight class, but I didn't win the overall. Over the course of the diet I was able to put on muscle while losing fat, mainly because I was eating so much.

I did a second show where I dieted down to the middleweights, weighing in at the upper limit of 176 pounds. I did have to lose some muscle to do it, but I still won my weight class. I just wanted to see if I could do it because I knew I wouldn't be able to get down to middleweight again, since my body would keep growing due to the way I'm eating.

"LOOKING BACK TO MY POWERLIFTING CAREER, I NEVER REALIZED HOW MUCH EATING CORRECTLY COULD HAVE HELPED ME."

Looking back to my powerlifting career, I never realized how much eating correctly could have helped me. It helps your muscles recover faster because they get the nutrients they need. I could have held more muscle and less fat. I weigh about 220 right now, which is about the biggest I ever was while powerlifting, but I look like a different person. As a 220-pound powerlifter, I was bloated and I have no idea what my body fat percent was. Now at 220, I'm probably 9 or 10 percent body fat, and I look like a bodybuilder.

Because of the kinds of food I eat now, I feel healthier. When I was powerlifting, my blood pressure was high. All I kept track of was my protein. I'd eat anything, including a lot of bad things—like sugar and ice cream. When I first cleaned up my diet, my body craved all the bad foods I used to eat. After a short period of eating healthy, I didn't crave the bad stuff anymore.

When I did have cheat meals, I couldn't eat that much bad food or I would feel sick. I remember eating so much junk after my first bodybuilding show that I was up puking all night. I just couldn't stop eating because it tasted so good. That didn't happen again after my next show! Don't get me wrong, I have cheat meals, but I'm consistent Monday through Friday. Overall I feel much healthier and it has become a part of my lifestyle.

MAKING THE TRAINING TRANSITION

One of the hardest parts of the transition was learning how to train to failure. I was used to moving weight from A to B, as opposed to focusing on keeping all of the tension on my muscles the entire lift until I couldn't do any more reps, then using a spotter to do forced reps. I did some isolation movements when I was powerlifting, but the focus was always on moving as much weight as I could. I've learned that bodybuilding is all about bringing as much blood into the muscle as possible so it can grow.

I slowed down. I focus not just on pushing the weight up, but on controlling it down, flexing the muscle as I push weight up, and then squeezing at the top, always keeping tension on the particular muscle I'm trying to develop. Most people don't realize how important the up, down, and squeeze of each rep are. Before, I'd go as heavy as I could and aim for a certain number of reps, but I've since learned that I can make just about any weight effective by doing the rep strictly and by flexing throughout the entire movement.

For powerlifting we did singles, doubles, and triples. Now I do reps from 10-to-12, and up to 20 for leg movements, but the reps are performed differently. I'll use the leg press as an example. The key is to not lock the legs out at the top because that takes tension off the quads. I'll lower it under control, use my muscles to stop the weight, then push it up under control, and stop three-quarters of the way up. When I work my quads, I want the tension on my quads the whole time. You have to fill up the muscle with blood and stretch out the fascia. It has to hurt. I do this with all my isolation movements.

"FOR POWERLIFTING WE DID SINGLES, DOUBLES, AND TRIPLES. NOW I DO REPS FROM 10-TO-12, AND UP TO 20 FOR LEG MOVEMENTS, BUT THE REPS ARE PERFORMED DIFFERENTLY."

My body has always responded well to heavy lifting. I still need and want to handle heavy weight on my main movements like squat, bench press, and deadlift. I'll still do some of those in a powerlifting way, moving weight from A to B, but my reps are between 5 and 10. This keeps the density of my muscles and it helps me keep separation in my muscles. Of course, after I do those lifts I do lots of higher volume sets on isolation exercises in order to drive blood into the muscles and force them to grow. By combining training aspects from both powerlifting and bodybuilding, I'm able to get full, dense, separated muscles.

It's hard to compare my strength levels now to what they were when I was powerlifting because I never really max out. I don't train as heavy as I did when I was powerlifting. I don't use any gear. I don't go as heavy because I don't need to—although with deadlifts, I still pull heavy enough. I've done 735 for a triple, whereas with powerlifting, my best was 780 in a meet. But when I train heavy now on squat and bench, I'll do 5-10 reps. I'll try to go as heavy as I can, but it's not as heavy as I could do for one to three reps. So I can't really compare.

STAYING CONNECTED TO STRENGTH

I recently started doing some raw bench meets. My good friend Rob Luyando introduced me to the Relentless powerlifting meet, which is a meet to raise money to support kids with life-threatening illnesses. When he asked me to do this meet, I couldn't say no. For me it is all for the kids and putting smiles on their faces for the short time we get to interact with them, and letting their families know that there are people who care about them and their situations. At the same time, I can't help but think of my great friend and coach Rick Hussey who passed away three years ago from cancer. I know he is smiling down on us as we lift for a great cause, and I will always lift for him when I get up on the platform.

Relentless Detroit was in November. I only trained for a month for it. Before then, I'd been retired from powerlifting. I fared decent—I weighed in around 216 or 217 and ended up benching 540 raw. Next up, I did the Relentless meet in Minneapolis. I had longer to train for this one, so I hoped to bench closer to 570. My raw bench is almost as strong as it was before

As I mentioned before, I was getting injured a lot in my last two years of powerlifting. Now that I'm bodybuilding, I still get injured because I still train hard, but it's different. When I was powerlifting, every day when I got out of bed my muscles had a deep, bad, hurt feeling, like I'd been hit by a truck. I felt deep, to-the-bone sore, like tendons. But now, my muscles just feel sore normally (except when I tear them). Now, I feel exhausted when I leave the gym and it's my muscles that feel sore, but not my bones and tendons (except when I push it too far). I need to get better at listening to my body and not doing that crap.

GAINING PERSPECTIVE

Even with all I've learned about training for bodybuilding, I don't know that I'd change anything with how I trained for powerlifting. What we were doing worked—it just beat the hell out of you. It's like playing in the NFL. No matter how you train, after 10 years you're going to be beat up. My goal at the time was to be the best, and my training got me what I wanted. I'd like to say that I would have taken more down weeks, but what if I hadn't accomplished what I did? My training worked, and I continually got stronger from year to year. But the heavier you go, the more beat up you'll get, and that's a fact. Especially considering that I was a smaller guy, I wasn't a 300-plus-pounder.

"MY GOAL AT THE TIME WAS TO BE THE BEST, AND MY TRAINING GOT ME WHAT I WANTED."

For me, all of this is about more than just powerlifting or bodybuilding. When you commit to something and you say you're going to do something, you need to finish it. I don't care what happens, you need to follow through. Case in point, about two or three weeks out from my first show, I tore part of my quad while squatting 550 for reps. My leg was all black and blue, from the top of my leg down to my calf. I had them paint over it so you couldn't tell, but unfortunately my leg didn't have any definition because it was swollen. No matter. If you tear one quad, show the other! And that's what bodybuilding is all about: hiding your weak spots and showing your good ones. It worked, because I still won.

When it comes to competing, you'll never be satisfied with where you are. You want to be at your best, but you'll never be there. You still need to do it.