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 COVER PHOTOGRAPH
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FEATURES
122 STRONG ARM TACTICS 180 HEIR JORDAN
Flex Lewis’ monster arms routine. Kevin Jordan inherits the crown at the 2013 NPC Nationals.

142 TAKE THE CHALLENGE 200 NPC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Transform your physique with the six-week Check out the bodies on display at the 2013
Flex-built challenge. NPC Nationals.

156 BEST OF FLEX 2013 204 A METHOD TO THE MADNESS

The editors of FLEX pick their favorite moments of the year. An insane chest and tri’s routine from Fouad Abiad.

170 NATTIE BY NATURE 218 8 WEEKS TO TREEMENDOUS LEGS

WWE’s Natalya is not just another face on E! Total Divas. Make your pencil legs pop with this routine.

16 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

 DEPARTMENTS
20 Chairman’s Letter
22 Arnold’s Page
30 King Khan Unleashed
Zack talks dolphin meat and Chinese
food. Just don’t take out your phone.
39 Hard Times
Olympia weekend DVDs, Phil Heath
retires (WTF?), the NPC Eastern USA
Nationals, and much more!
56 NPC Report
The latest industry news.
66 Extreme Muscle
Are you over- or under-trained?
68 Gym Bag
Our usual mix, including training tips,
research, H.U.G.E.®, and more.
84 Westside Rules
Use plyometrics to your advantage.
86 Only the Strong
The Strongman Q&A.
88 Big-Ass Mass
The lowdown on betaine.
92 Lift Strong
Highlights from the 2013
PoliquinStrength & Wellness
Conference.
96 Advanced Nutrition
Green tea and muscle recuperation.
104 Advanced Supplements
Our top supplement picks of the month.
108 Hardcore Nutrition
The basics of imbalance.
114 Advanced Bodybuilding
Managing the post-contest rebound.
246 The Diet Doc
Kevin Jordan’s Nationals strategy.
255 Events
Contests coming to your area.
256 The Shot
Branch Warren’s monster wheels.

230 Phil Heath

232 Kai Greene
234 Flex Lewis
236 Shawn Rhoden
238 Mamdouh “Big
Ramy” Elssbiay
240 Ben Pakulski
242 Erik Fankhouser
244 Frank McGrath
18 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

THE WELSH
DRAGON
■
Back in the November
2006 issue of FLEX,
the late Joe Weider stated that
bodybuilding didn’t seem to be
attracting enough young, fresh
talent. He was worried that the
pool of great bodybuilders was
getting smaller and smaller.
Coincidently enough, Weider/
AMI had just signed 23-year-old
James “Flex” Lewis of Wales.
Joe mentioned in his letter that
although he had just met Lewis,
he could sense he was destined
for greatness.
This past September, Flex
Lewis won the 2013 Olympia 212
Showdown title for the second
year in a row. It was a monumental
victory for Lewis and his work ethic,
because he’s now the undisputed
212 Showdown champion. There had
been much controversy regarding
Lewis’ claim to be the undisputed
212 Showdown champ in 2012, since
he’d never beaten the three-time
20 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
202 Showdown champion, Kevin
English, who didn’t compete in 2012.
There was a heated rivalry
leading into this year’s Olympia
212 Showdown. English was
making a comeback after skipping
the 2012 contest. Troy Alves, an
open-division veteran, made his
debut, as did Sami al Haddad.
And runners-up David Henry
and Jose Raymond were back
for redemption as well. Lewis
prevailed over all these talented
competitors with a combination
of size and definition that
couldn’t be matched.
I find it interesting that
legendary bodybuilder and
Gaspari Nutrition CEO Rich
Gaspari mentored Lewis
throughout his diet and
training in preparation for
the 212 Showdown. Gaspari
was nicknamed the “Dragon
Slayer” for his groundbreaking
conditioning and freakish
muscularity. Although Gaspari
wasn’t considered as genetically
gifted as many of his competitors,
he toppled nearly every giant of
his day. He attributed his success
in bodybuilding to his work ethic
in the gym, similar to the work
ethic of Flex Lewis.
In this issue of FLEX, we’re
proud to present the Gaspari-
sponsored Flex-Built Chal-
lenge, the winner of which
will be featured in FLEX
and receive a Gaspari
prize package. Be sure
to go to flexonline
.com/flexbuilt
challenge to enter.
You’ll receive weekly
videos from Flex Lewis
and Rich Gaspari, as
well as a diet and train-
ing program. FLEX
DAVID J. PECKER
Chairman, President,
and Chief Executive
Officer of American
Media, Inc.
EVP/Group Publishing Director CHRIS SCARDINO
Chairman & Chief Executive Ofcer DAVID PECKER
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EDITORIAL
Executive Editor ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
Managing Editor, Enthusiast Group/Books BRIAN GOOD
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ART
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SECRETS OF
A BIG BACK
Rowing is the route to
thick, wide lats

What’s the story

behind that
famous photo of
you doing bentover
rows barefoot and
standing on a bench?
Bodybuilders of my era
did a lot of things that
people today tend
to think of as silly or
dangerous. Certainly,
some of the clothes
we wore were outland-
ish (hey, it was the
’70s), and we didn’t
train as scientifically
as some competitors
do today, but you can’t
argue with our results.
Fans always like to rib me
about working out barefoot
or balancing on benches, but
for that particular exercise, the
bentover barbell row, I still feel
that was an essential part of it. I
hardly see the barbell row being
performed in gyms anymore.
These days, guys like to use

ZELLER, © FITNESS PUBLICATIONS, INC., COURTESY OF WEIDER HEALTH AND FITNESS

rowing machines and dumbbells
to train the back, and these are
good options. But I’ll always
prefer the old-fashioned
bentover row because it’s a
much harder exercise. When
you use a barbell, you can work
with heavier weights than you
can with any other implement.
Rowing from that bent position
trains your lower back and BAREFOOT TRAINING HELPS TO
abs at the same time, so you DEVELOP YOUR BALANCE AND LETS
develop tremendous strength
throughout your torso that YOU ROOT YOUR FEET BETTER.
carries over to other exercises
like the deadlift and squat. The Balancing on the narrow Why barefoot? Well, we were few millimeters of canvas you
only thing holding your body up benches forced us to keep by the beach! But honestly, get from a shoe would make
is its own muscle, not a bench our feet closer together, which barefoot training helps to any difference to your toes. I
or a hand or a weight machine. made the lift even harder to develop your balance and lets worked up to 315 pounds for
When my friends and I trained stabilize. It also allowed us you root your feet better. If sets of 10 or so on the row. See
at Gold’s Gym and the Muscle to get a better stretch in our you think that’s dangerous what you can do, and watch
Beach weight pit, we often lats as we lowered the weight with iron plates being dropped your back grow and thicken as
made rows even more difficult. between reps. nearby, ask yourself if the a result. FLEX

22 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

 © 2013 MUSCLEPHARM® Corp. * These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

AVAILABLE AT:
®
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THE FREAK

BY ZACK KHAN

DINNER & GUT

CHECK
ENTERTAINMENT
■ Chinese food
is awesome.
There’s nothing I
love more than a
massive self-loath-

■ Yo, yo—what’s going park where experiencing these ing binge of fried
rice and sesame
on, boys?? Hope you marine mammals could mean
chicken. But after
guys are training hard now that playing with them while eating seeing this video, it
the cold weather has arrived, some of them. makes me question
especially in the You Kay (U.K.). With guests enjoying the my choices.
I’m just in the process of getting flavor of dolphin meat while Sure, I’m order-
the underground gym extend- seeing and hearing the live ones ing Chinese food
ed…chicks love it when you get splash from a distance, one can from a reputable
extended. No mobile phones truly say it’s all about dolphins (well, presumably)
establishment in
allowed in my gym—if I see stimulating the senses the United States
any of ya boys on your phone 360 degrees. If this s— and not from a
in my gym, I’m gonna turn it happened in the U.K., we’d street vendor in
into a transformer and make it have all the animal rights China, but it’s still
go airborne like a Mars probe. activists fighting to burn enough to send
3…2…1…Liftof. the place down… your stomach into
Okay, guys here are the latest The idea may come somersaults just
thinking about it.
stories from around the globe… across as appalling and
“Gutter oil” is the
In Taiji, Japan, where whale absurd to many (you don’t name of the game
and dolphin meats are an ev- say!), but in Japan, where for some street
eryday delicacy, local Japanese whale and dolphin meats vendors in China,
ofcial Masaki Wada recently are regarded as a rich source with the by-product
announced plans to open a of protein, anything goes. of sewage and ani-
mal fat processed
into “cooking oil,”
serving as one-
tenth of all cooking
oil in China.
It likely contains
carcinogens, and its
use has led to the
arrest of a number
of people who use
it. In early October,
a man from Jiangsu
Province was given
a life sentence for
manufacturing and
selling the product.
Gutter oil has
been a problem
for years in China,
and food safety,
or a lack thereof,
has long been a
problem in the
country. If you
plan on visiting
the country, stick
to only reputable
establishments. Do
your research, and
ISAAC HINDS; ISTOCKPHOTO.COM( 3)

avoid inadvertently
consuming food
cooked in oil that
likely has its origins
in the bowels of a
very obese man.
I think I won’t be
traveling to China
anytime soon or,
matter of fact, at
all. F— that.

30 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

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FLEX EXPERT

DUNKIN’ DONUTS…IN JAIL

■ On Nov. 6, Charles T. Barry showed wallet and a caliber revolver in his front
a law enforcement sherif star badge pocket, deputies said. He was identified by

ISAAC HINDS (2); ISTOCKPHOTO.COM (3)

at a Pasco County, FL, Dunkin’ Donuts and
demanded a discount, the Pasco sherif’s
ofce said.
But when Barry was denied the discount,
he held up his firearm and said, “See? I’m a
cop!” Barry returned to the Dunkin’ Donuts
on Nov. 7 and a store manager was able to
write down his license plate, authorities
said. Then, on Nov. 12, authorities set up
surveillance video at the store and later
conducted a trafc stop, the sherif’s ofce
said. During the trafc stop, authorities
found a law enforcement badge in Barry’s
the store employees and Barry was arrested
on one count of false impersonation of
a law enforcement ofcer and improper
exhibition of a firearm. He was released on
a $5,150 bond, according to a jail ofcial.
It wasn’t immediately known if he had an
attorney. The sherif’s ofce continues to
investigate and is asking the public to come
forward if they’ve seen Barry impersonating
a law enforcement ofcer.
I’m so glad they’re going after serious
criminals and making most of their time
at work.

RODENT PARATROOPERS
■ Two thousand mice
were floated down from
the sky, wafting on tiny
cardboard parachutes over
Andersen Air Force Base in
the U.S. territory of Guam.
But the rodent commandos
didn’t know they were on a
mission: to help eradicate
the brown tree snake, an
invasive species that has
caused millions of dollars
in wildlife and commercial
losses since it arrived a few
decades ago. That’s because
they were dead. And pumped
full of painkillers. The unlikely
invasion was the fourth and
biggest rodent air assault so
far, part of an $8 million U.S.
program approved in Febru-
ary to eradicate the snakes
and save the exotic native
birds that are their snack
food. When a dead rodent
is consumed by the brown
snake, the painkiller is
fatal to the snake. “Every
time there is a technique
that is tested and shows
promise, we jump on that
bandwagon and promote
it and help out and
facilitate its implementa-
tion,” said Tino Aguon,
acting chief of the U.S.
Agriculture Department’s
wildlife resources office
for Guam. Okay, guys this
is a wrap!
Hope you guys train
insane—or you will remain
the same. Gotta love you,
leave you, and am freezing
my n—ts of. Need some
ZKK thermals. FLEX
 Work Faster
Play Harder
Be Stronger
Grab it on the go at

Follow us
Nutrex.com
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 ORDER AT IFBBTV.COM

2013 IFBB
OLYMPIA WEEKEND DVDS
■ From Phil Heath and Kai Greene’s explosive onstage battle in the action-packed
finale of the Mr. Olympia, to Flex Lewis, Kevin English, and David Henry fighting for
supremacy in the 212 Showdown, to Nicole Wilkins and Erin Stern fanning the flames of the most
heated rivalry on the women’s side, the 2013 Joe Weider’s Olympia Fitness and Performance
Weekend was not only the most exciting of all time, it was also the largest fan turnout for a body-
COURTESY OF IFBB

building event in history. And you can relive all the fireworks with these ofcial contest DVDs from
ifbbtv.com, featuring complete coverage of the Mr. Olympia, 212 Showdown, Figure, Fitness, Bikini,
and Ms. Olympia, and the inaugural Olympia Men’s and Women’s Physique Showdowns. Own a
piece of history by ordering these DVDs at ifbbtv.com.
39 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
2013 BATTLE
FOR THE
OLYMPIA
■ A time-honored
tradition dating back
to 1996, the Battle for the
Olympia series captures the
raw training intensity of the
world’s greatest bodybuilders
going beyond their limits as
they count down to the biggest
contest of their lives. In this
latest installment, defending
champ Phil Heath tears through
a grueling workout as he tries
to deny a new batch of hungry
challengers from taking his
Sandow. Superstars Dennis
Wolf, Shawn Rhoden, Roelly
Winklaar, Branch Warren, Jay
Cutler, new beast Mamdouh
Elssbiay, and others give it their
all to keep Heath a two-time
champion. Also, 212 Showdown
athletes wage their own gym
wars as David Henry, Jose Ray-
mond, Kevin English, and others
take aim at the bulls-eye on de-
fending champ Flex Lewis’ back.
Order Battle for the Olympia
2013 now at mocvideo.com.

OPEN ATHLETES
■ VICTOR
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■ EVAN CENTOPANI
■ BRANDON CURRY
■ MAMDOUH (BIG
RAMY) ELSSBIAY
■ LIONEL BEYEKE
■ DENNIS WOLF
■ JAY CUTLER
■ PHIL HEATH
COUNTER CLOCKWISE: PAVEL YTHJALL (2), GREGORY JAMES,

■ SHAWN RHODEN
■ BRANCH
WARREN
■ JOHNNIE
JACKSON
■ ROELLY
WINKLAAR

212 ATHLETES
■ GUY CISTERNINO
■ KEVIN ENGLISH
■ JOSE RAYMOND
■ TRICKY JACKSON
ALEX ARDENTI

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■ DAVID HENRY
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2013 IFBB

TIJUANA PRO REPORT

■ Mexico’s first IFBB Professional
League contest returned for
Round 2 with the 2013 IFBB Tijuana
Pro Bodybuilding and Bikini Champi-
onships. Promoter Luis Ramirez and his
team put on a fabulous show and you can
look forward to an even bigger event next
year. The festivities kicked of with the
Baja National Championships, held the day
before, which turned out the country’s fin-
est amateur talent and the best of the best
earned IFBB pro cards and made their pro
debuts Saturday night.
In men’s bodybuilding, Dexter Jackson
Martin Kjellstrom had plenty of size on
his 6-foot frame but it was the Swede’s
separation and striations that earned him
the runner-up spot, his highest IFBB contest
placing to date. Kevin Ofurum, who earned
pro status with a light-heavyweight win at the
2013 NPC USAs, grabbed the third-place spot,
followed by Mexico’s own Manuel Lomeli in
fourth. Alfredo Azpeitia (5th) and Juan Carlos
Graham (7th) both earned pro cards the night
before at the Baja National Championships
and will no doubt use their pro debuts as
MEN’S BODYBUILDING
learning experiences for future stage endeav-
ors. After the final comparison, the athletes
waded into the audience for the posedown,
treating local fans to an up-close look at IFBB
pro muscle in action.
In IFBB bikini action, Crystal Rose
Matthews had the right combination of
tone and curves to strut her way past 17
other beauties en route to her first pro win
since entering the IFBB in 2012. Jessica
James took second with Dayna Maleton
in third.
BIKINI
TIJUANA PRO:CARLOS FOTO

was the runaway favorite, and the 2008

Mr. Olympia and four-time Arnold Classic 1. Dexter Jackson* 4. Manuel Lomeli 1. Crystal Rose Mat- 4. Ashriel Osgood
champion showed why with his trademark $12,000 $2,000 thews* $6,000 $1,000
symmetry, shape, roundness, and intricate 2. Martin Kjellstrom 5. Alfredo Azpeitia 2. Jessica James 5. Lorena Bucio
detailing. The seasoned veteran now has 19 $6,000 $1,000 $4,000 $500
contest wins in his 15-year pro career and 3. Kevin Ofurum *Qualified for the 2014 3. Dayna Maleton *Qualified for the 2014
$4,000 IFBB Mr. Olympia $1,500 IFBB Bikini Olympia
shows no signs of slowing down. Monstrous

42 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

2013 BAJA
NATIONAL BREAKING NEWS!

HEATH RETIRES!
CHAMPIONSHIPS
PRO CARD WINNERS

■ On Nov. 30, reigning and

three-time Mr. Olym-
pia Phil Heath took to the
hardwood floor of the Rainier
Beach High School gym in Seattle,
WA, to hang it up for good—the
“it” being his basketball jersey.
Heath played shooting guard for
the Rainier Beach Vikings from
MEN’S BODYBUILDING 1995–1998, winning the state
Alfredo Azpeitia* championship in his senior year.
Juan Carlos Graham Heath said, “Going back to my
hometown always brings back
great memories of high school
basketball. My dream was to be in
the NBA, and although that didn’t
happen I was able to play in col-
lege and earn a degree. Thankfully
I found a new love in bodybuild-
ing, and winning the Mr. Olympia
for the third time was simply epic.
Having my jersey retired along
with former teammate Jamal
MEN’S PHYSIQUE Crawford and other pros such as
Ricardo Delgado* Nate Robinson and Terrance
Alejandro Fernandez Williams was simply an honor.”
Heath earned a full scholarship
to the University of Denver, where
he played all four years before
turning his attention to body-
building. At only 34 years old, the
Gift is only now just coming into
his prime and far from hanging
up his posing trunks. Basketball’s
loss was bodybuilding’s gain, un-
less you’re Heath’s competition.

FIGURE
Susana Ramirez*
Viviana Vaca
TIJUANA PRO: CARLOS FOTO; COURTESY OF PHIL HEATH

BIKINI
Lorena Bucio*
Nataly Banuelos
Edna Maristel

*Overall winner

44 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

 Photograph by ISAAC HINDS

HARDBODY
CONFIDENTIAL
Emily Herrington
NPC bikini competitor
Best thing to do on Guys in spandex are:
a cold day: Ballsy.
Hot tub. Grossest thing I
Best actor of ever ate:
all time: Earthworm…
Danny McBride. it was a dare.
Famous person I’d One thing on
like to have lunch my bucket list
with would be: to do is:
Adam Richman. Wingsuiting.
Best concert If you were a car
ever was: what would you be
Kings of Leon. and why?
Pet peeve: Aston Martin
Bad grammar. One-77—I’ll race you.

Go to hardbodynews.com or muscleandfitnesshers.com
46 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
 Karen “Diesel Dolls” Morel’s
first annual “Train with a Pro”
charity event, with 100% of the
proceeds donated to
the Shriners Hospital for
Children, was a huge success!

EAST COAST MECCA

MAX ROONEY
PULLING 525 AT
THE MECCA.

Victor Martinez and his lucky “Train with a Pro” rafe winner,
Matt Hagen, psyching up for a killer workout.
Rosetta
Mortati
and Mike
Fears take a
break from a
photo shoot
with 2013
NPC Team
Universe
Rooney
bikini overall has his eyes set
winner and on this June’s
Steven Marsh’s $10 “Train with a IFBB pro
Pro” rafe ticket won him some one- Carolina
NPC Atlantic
on-one time with Dana Linn Bailey. Silva. States.
50 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
 “THE REASON I BECAME
INVOLVED IN THE INDUSTRY
AND WENT ON TO WIN EIGHT
MS. OLYMPIA TITLES IS
THAT I STEPPED FOOT IN
POWERHOUSE GYM.”

Eight-time Ms. Olympia

Lenda Murray with Powerhouse
founder Will Dabash and six-time
Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates.

MS. OLYMPIA TO
micromanagement and design a gym based
on her own style and knowledge, with
complete freedom to be the queen of her

OPEN HER OWN

own castle. “Powerhouse gym is the very first
gym that I ever stepped foot in. I started as
an amateur and became a pro. The reason

POWERHOUSE
I became involved in the industry and
went on to win eight Ms. Olympia titles is
that I stepped foot in Powerhouse Gym,”
Murray said.
This is what fundamentally sets

■ The Powerhouse gym is more than

just a name; it’s a community of like-
minded and passionate people. All over the
country, Powerhouse FX has been helping
trainers open their own gym branches, giving
them the support and freedom they need to
realize their full potential. Nobody knows this
better than eight-time Olympia champion
With the right guidance and training to sup-
port her, Murray’s natural talent blossomed.
She became an undeniably dominant college
athlete and lifter, eventually winning the
1989 IFBB North American bodybuilding
championship. From there, her career skyrock-
eted as she tackled the world of professional
bodybuilding, setting a new standard for
Powerhouse FX apart from other start-
up programs: Powerhouse FX is not a
franchise—it’s an agreement between
passionate people looking to reach the
highest peaks of fitness. There’s no red tape
behind the process, no murky backdoor
dealing, just a monthly flat fee. FX gives
everyday people a chance to start their
COURTESY OF POWERHOUSE

and cultural phenomenon Lenda Murray.
Murray’s ties with Powerhouse run deep.
As a former Panthers cheerleader and track
and field star at Western Michigan University,
Powerhouse founder Will Dabish took notice
of her and invited her to come train at the
Powerhouse gym, marking the beginning of
a long and mutually beneficial relationship.
female bodybuilding.
Years later, Murray came back to
Powerhouse with a request—she wanted to
open her own gym. It made sense, of course.
She had a long history with the company,
but she also knew that Powerhouse
FX wasn’t into the soulless corporate
game. She could get the help without the
own club with the freedom to express
their own style and training method. And
with the rock-solid Powerhouse FX brand
and a prestigious international reputation
behind them, the path to success is all the
more accessible. To help others realize their
potential and start your own Powerhouse FX,
visit powerhousegym.com. FLEX

52 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

 ANGELICA NEBBIA

54 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

 From lef: promoter Will
Dabish, IFBB men’s
physique winner Anton
Antipov, and the prez, Jim
Manion , afer Anton’s win.

2013 IFBB/NPC
POWERHOUSE CLASSIC
■ It had been several years since there
was an IFBB Professional League
contest in Detroit. Bringing one back in
contest was that it was held in the host
hotel’s ballroom, and as a bonus the largest
Powerhouse Gym in Michigan was just a
2013 was the brainchild of Will Dabish, NPC 10-minute walk from the hotel.
Michigan district chairman and co-founder of IFBB pros not in the contest (but there to
Powerhouse Gym International. The contest support the contest) as well as athletes from
featured both an IFBB and NPC Professional their respective teams included Michigan’s
League contest with the pros having bikini, legendary Mr. Olympia Samir Bannout,
figure, and men’s physique, while the NPC another Michigan legend, Ron Love, Michi-
portion highlighted bodybuilding, figure,
bikini, and physique. In addition, the IFBB
competition seemed to be a neutral meeting
ground for some of the top athlete teams
to compete. There were athletes from Mike
Davies Fitness Factory, Team Bombshell,
Oddo’s Angels, and Team AFD, basically a
veritable who’s who of the top IFBB
pros in each division.
Events began on Friday evening with
the IFBB pro athlete meeting. Saturday Equal opportunity demands that I jump in with Oddo’s
morning saw the check-ins for the NPC Angels. If Kim Oddo were out of the photo it would be
Mr. Olympia Samir Bannout giving a perfect—with just me and the ladies!
contest. What I particularly liked about this thumbs-up with Cassie Manion.

56 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

gan’s favorite son, Steve Kuclo,
Shawn Ray, and two-time Figure
Olympia champion Erin Stern.
I also had assistance covering the
contest from former Michigan
pro figure champion Melissa
Frabbiele, my daughter, Cassie
Manion, and Gennifer Strobo’s
daughter, Ryleigh McCuistion.
After both the NPC and
IFBB pro pre-judging was
completed, the prez, Jim Manion,
and NPC/IFBB promoter and
judge and co-owner of Bev
Francis’ Powerhouse Gym Steve
Weinberger took a trip with
Dabish to the Powerhouse Gym
headquarters right around the
corner. The facility was huge
and impressive. Wouldn’t you
know we ran into Jerry and
Darin Montanari and Kenny At the Powerhouse Gym headquarters with (from lef)
Wallach of the Powerhouse Kenny Wallach, Darin and Jerry Montanari, the prez
Jim Manion, Will Dabish, and Steve Weinberger.
Gym—Super Gym of New
Haven, CT. Darin and Jerry
Photo bomb! Shannon Dey behind Courtney At the Powerhouse Gym
are also the NPC Connecticut
King (lef) and Cassie Manion. headquarters with (from lef)
district chairman and co- Will Dabish, the prez, Jim
chairman, respectively, and Manion, and Steve Weinberger.
also NPC promoters. They
were in town to help judge
the contests. Also helping to
judge the contests was Maz
Ali, of Powerhouse Gym of
Linden, NJ. It was definitely a
Powerhouse weekend! Steve Kuclo, What
Another person needing do you plan on doing to
Allison Frahn with that
praise for helping me during glove and holding that
the weekend is Remi Bruyninga, oil? I know you two are
the co-promoter of several NPC engaged, but come on!
Jay Cutler Classics and the NPC
Baltimore Gladiator Classic.
There was a lot of work that
needed to be done behind the
scenes, and Remi stepped
up to help—he was absolutely
my go-to guy that weekend
for the contest.
This contest would mark
Ashley Kaltwasser’s first IFBB
pro victory, a foreshadowing of
Shawn Ray, the prez, Jim
what was to come. She’d also go Manion, and Samir Bannout
on to win the IFBB Toronto Pro having a good laugh at the IFBB
Supershow Bikini and finish up pro athlete meeting.
The IFBB men’s physique competitors before the finals.
the year winning both the Bikini
Olympia and Sheru Classic Pro
Bikini. It was also Anton Antipov’s How could
first IFBB pro victory in men’s I resist not
physique. For Gennifer Strobo, jumping in
it would be her career fifth IFBB the middle
of Team
pro figure win and her second Bombshell?
of the year, having also won the You guys all
Pittsburgh Pro the previous week. know you
Once the IFBB pro contest would have
done the
finals were completed, I was same!
finished for the weekend, and

58 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

FLEX CONTEST REPORT

had Jefrey Sygo

photographing the
NPC finals for me.
That aforded me
time to conduct inter-
views and get more
fun photos before
my father, Cassie,
and I drove back to
Pittsburgh that night.
Yes, we did the four-
From lef: Will Dabish, Steve Weinberger, and
hour drive, as it was former IFBB pro Ron Love.
easier than flying into
Detroit. Many thanks I took the better route and congratulated IFBB
go out to the NPC figure winner Gennifer Strobo (lef) and IFBB
Michigan ofcials bikini winner Ashley Kaltwasser afer their wins.
who kept the event Sorry, Anton!
Team FMG is in the house! From lef: Natalie Waples, Stacey Alexander,
on track! Gennifer Strobo, Cassie Manion, Maria Annuziata, Courtney King, and
To find out more Ashley Kaltwasser before the IFBB pro athlete meeting on Friday.
about NPC body-
building and fitness
events in your area,
or to join the NPC,
contact the
NPC National
Ofce at (412)
276-5027, check
out our website
npcnewsonline
.com. and keep
an eye on this
section along
with the The prez, Jim Manion, with the Anderson
brothers, Michael (lef) and Tyler.
Events list. FLEX

2013 NPC POWERHOUSE CLASSIC BODYBUILDING,

BIKINI, FIGURE, AND PHYSIQUE CHAMPIONSHIPS & IFBB
POWERHOUSE PRO BIKINI, FIGURE, AND MEN’S PHYSIQUE
DATE: May 11, 2013 PROMOTERS: NPC Michigan district chairman Will Dabish
5
1
1 Ashley 8 Roger Bowman
Kaltwasser NPC men’s physique 2
IFBB bikini winner short class winner
2 Gennifer Strobo and masters men’s 4
IFBB figure winner overall winner
3 Anton Antipov 9 Roshanda
IFBB men’s Schmitt 3
physique winner NPC figure tall class
4 Matt and overall winner
Fitzpatrick 10 Helaina Barker
NPC middleweight NPC figure short
and overall winner class, 2nd, and
5 Chris Gastaris masters figure
NPC middleweight, overall winner
3rd, and masters 11 Amanda
overall winner Zawojsky
6 Chris Bohn NPC women’s phy-
NPC heavyweight, sique overall winner
3rd, and Grand 12 Christina Carollo
masters overall NPC bikini tall class
winner and overall winner
7 Cedrick McKinny 13 Stacey Smith
NPC men’s phy- NPC bikini tall class,
sique tall class and 6th, and masters
overall winner bikini overall

60 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

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EXTREME MUSCLE
BY CARLON COLKER, M.D. , F.A.C.N.
ARE YOU OVERTRAINED
OR UNDERTRAINED?
■ As perhaps the longest
continuously writing
author in the field of body-
building, I can tell you firsthand
that the subject of overtraining
has been, and continues to be, one
of the most frequently covered
topics. The theme of overtraining
syndrome (or “OTS,” as it’s called)
enjoys a regular, cyclical resurgence
in magazines, with near-assured
mention in some publication at
least every month. The fact is, even
yours truly covered the topic right
here in this column just last May.
But I can see from the ques-
tions I’m getting that it’s time for
some clarity.
OTS in bodybuilding is a very
real, albeit misunderstood,
phenomenon. Because so many
serious bodybuilders strive for
delayed-onset muscle soreness
(DOMS), when it
stops appearing, it’s
all too often taken to
mean that the train-
ing for a particular
muscle group wasn’t
enough. As a result,
we see hardcore gym
rats get drawn into
adding sets and reps,
doing more frequent
workouts, and taking
fewer days of, all in
the pursuit of muscle
growth.
Yet this lack of
DOMS may actually
be a sign of overtrain-
ing, not undertrain-
ing. Of course, that’s
not to say all muscles
respond the same
way. In fact, some
muscle groups get
sore much more eas-
ily than others. But
generally speaking,
you’ll find that the
more muscularly
developed areas of
your body tend to ex-
perience DOMS more
easily than those
stubborn, less-devel-
oped areas. That’s
66 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
why experienced bodybuilders
have a love afair with soreness—
if they’re sore, they feel like they
really “got to” a particular area.
That feeling of soreness is taken
as an indicator that the area has
been hit hard enough, thus the
impending recovery will result in
muscle growth.
In response to these situations,
as one reaches further and further
into training, despite an increase
in gym workload DOMS does not
result. Overtraining has occurred.
Yet the sick thing is that one is
so easily sucked into the concept
that more needs to be done in
the gym, not less. The result of
pushing even harder by adding
more time in the gym—with more
reps, more sets, and more training
frequency—is actually the very
reason the body responds nega-
tively. When formal OTS sets in, why does the subject continue to
the muscles really flatten, devel- get so much attention?
opment stalls and actually goes I surmise the answer starts,
backward, and the body becomes more than anything else I can think
more vulnerable to injury. of, with the notion that people
So, among advanced body- who come to the gym want to
builders, the signs and symptoms believe they’re training hard. With
of being overtrained often go that in mind, the very notion that
unnoticed, or are misinterpreted there’s such a thing as OTS gives
or ignored. But they’re very real. them free license to feel they just
Yet the greater reality is that true might need to cut back on what
overtraining really happens far they’re doing in order to see better
less frequently across the entire results. I mean, who wouldn’t want
gym population than my articles to get more for less? It’s actually
and those of my collegial pundits human nature to want to get a
might lead you to believe. bigger return on less efort, to get
All this begets the question: more out than you put in.
With such a small minority of the So the point of all this is to
gym population so committed to encourage you to take a step back
bodybuilding training that they and examine what you’re doing in
risk overtraining, and with only the gym, and honestly assess your
a small sub-population of that workload. Before you so quickly
group actually sufering OTS, label yourself “overtrained,” be
sure you’re not, in
fact, undertrained.
And don’t be so sure
that counting up
the number of hours
spent in the gym or
the total number of
sets completed will
give you a good
answer. I can’t
even begin to
describe how many
unfortunate souls
I’ve seen over the
years who’ve
spent countless
hours in
the gym, yet
had pathetic
development.
As I’ve always
preached, pay careful
attention to the
quality of your
training, as it’s far
more important than
the quantity. FLEX
The third edition of Dr. Colker’s book,
Extreme Muscle Enhancement: Bodybuild-
ing’s Most Powerful Techniques, is avail-
able online at amazon.com. Doc’s Whey
KEVIN HORTON
is available from proteinfactory.com, or by
calling 800-343-1803. And if you have a
question for Dr. Colker, feel free
to e-mail us!

TRAIN
YOUR
BRAIN
Weight training alters brain
GH producing gland
■ Growth hormone (also
called somatotropin)
secretion is regulated through
the anterior pituitary in
the brain. Growth hormone
is responsible for normal
growth and development as
well as metabolic efects such to baseline very shortly after
as a) increased mobilization
of fatty acids from adipose
tissue; b) decreased rate of
68 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
glucose utilization; and
c) increased rate of
protein synthesis. The
pulsatile secretion of
GH is tightly controlled
by neurotransmitters of
the brain including dopamine,
serotonin, acetylcholine, and
norepinephrine, as well as levels
of glucose, IGF-1, and estrogens.
GH is increased during high-
intensity exercise, but the efects
are short-lived, as GH returns
exercise. The anterior pituitary
gland is responsible for the
acute increases circulating levels
of growth hormone following
bouts of resistance exercise,
yet little is known about what
happens to the anterior pituitary
gland after years of resistance
training. Researchers assigned
rats random resistance exercise
protocols. The resistance training
protocol comprised climbing a
1m-long steel ladder, placed at
an 85-degree angle, with a weight
attached to a tail sleeve. The
weight attached to the tail sleeve
was increased progressively from
50 grams during the first session
to 535g at the end of the study.
This is equivalent to a human
This is the first study to show
that long-term resistance exer-
cise training produces adapta-
tions in somatotroph structure
and function within the anterior
pituitary gland.
starting to exercise with weights
and gradually adding more weight
with each workout. At the end of
the study, our furry friends had their
heads whacked of, and their GH
secreting anterior pituitary gland
was examined under a microscope.
They found that the exercising
rats led to a greater GH secretory
granule content (GH secreting cells
in the brain) than other groups.
This is the first study to show that
long-term resistance exercise
training produces adaptations
CHRIS LUND
in somatotroph structure and
function within the anterior
pituitary gland. FLEX
 RETRO ATHLETE

DON LONG
The triumphs and travails of the 1995 NPC Nationals overall champ

■ If you charted Don Long’s

bodybuilding career, it would
look like a spear spike—a rapid
birth, only one kidney had been working.
And, due to the strain of its double-duty
workload, that one was faltering. What
rise followed by a quick fade. But followed was 11 years of dialysis treat-
there’s more to his story than just a ments, interrupted only by an unsuccessful
pointed trajectory. Long was 24 when kidney transplant. Incredibly, Long made
he entered his first contest in 1991, a bodybuilding comeback and competed
and the following year he was already four times between 2006 and 2009.
posing in national shows. He went Finally, in late 2010, his wife proved to be
from fourth amongst heavyweights an unlikely kidney match, and Long had
at the 1993 NPC Nationals to third the a successful transplant. Today, at 47, Don
next year before leapfrogging to first in Long is a trainer and nutritionist in Florida.
1995, winning not just a stacked heavy Despite his travails, he still sports an
class but also the overall. Then, in 1996 impressive physique.
at age 29, Long finished
a shocking third in his
pro debut at the Night of
Champions. “That was like
a win to me,” he said. “I did
what I set out to do, which
was qualify for the Olym-
pia and make a statement
that I was ready to play.”
But Long decided not
to play anymore that year.
He sidestepped the ’96
Olympia, feeling he could
better contend for future
Olympias. Unfortunately,
in his following 12 contests
over 13 years, he never
again placed higher than
seventh. At 5'10" and 250
pounds, he had enough
muscle to hang with
almost anyone. His arms
and chest were pose-
winning strengths. His
weakness was his blurry
conditioning. And that
problem was related to a
much greater problem.
In October 1999, Long
grew sick. Only then did
he discover that since

LONG ON CHEST TRAINING

■ “When I do machine presses, I barely grip
the bar. I don’t want any stress on my
arms. I just push the handles forward with
my palms.”
■ “I like to end with some sort of flye
to isolate my pecs.”
■ “To prepare my chest for the
heavier sets, I like to pyramid most
CHRIS LUND(3)

■ “The dip is one of the best exercises ever
invented, because it’s virtually impossible
to cheat. Make sure you lean into your
stretches to focus mostly on your pecs.”
*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product
is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
of my exerc ises. I’ll start with 16
reps and then go to 12 and then to
10 and end with a maximum set
of eight.”
CHEST ROUTINE
EXERCISE SETS REPS
Incline Dumbbell Press 4 16–8
Machine Press* 4 16–8
Dip 4 15
Pec-Deck Flye 4 16–8
*Flat or incline

FLEX FACTOid
Finishing third in his
pro debut in 1996, Long
beat 28 competitors
and was bested by only
Flex Wheeler (1st) and
Ronnie Coleman (2nd).
*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product
is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Introducing new VPX® Friction® the real
one scoop hard-hitting, muscle-splitting
pre-workout concentrate!
■ Most bodybuilders think they have to be
sore to feel like they had a good workout.
Being sore is indicative of a muscle inflammatory
response to exercise. In order to grow, satellite cells
(dormant precursor muscle cells that repair injured
muscle) mediate the hypertrophic process. Inflammation
is thought to play a role in the muscle growth process.
A study put two groups of people—trained and un-
trained athletes—through an eight-week eccentric-over-
load program. Researchers measured markers of muscle
soreness and inflammation, and also took a muscle
biopsy from the subjects’ legs. At the end of the study,
the untrained group had initial symptoms of muscle sore-
ness, while the group that was trained did not.
Interestingly, both groups had similar increases in
IGF-1 expression in muscle and also had similar increases
in muscle hypertrophy. Also, the increases in muscle
strength, hypertrophy, and IGF-1 expression in muscle
were found to occur independently of blood levels of
markers of muscle damage (i.e., creatine kinase) or
muscle soreness.
The moral of the story: Muscle soreness is a poor indica-
tor of muscle damage. Trained athletes develop protective
mechanisms in the muscle to prevent further damage,
called the “repeated bout efect.” So don’t feel you
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LATS & TRAPS MUSCLE ACTIVATION
*According to the NIH’s biomedical database, a search of ‘creatine ■ If you ever walk into the
supplementation’ turns up over 1,300 plus scientific studies. gym and see guys with
terrible back develop-
ment, you know they’re
the ones who don’t do a full
be hit from many diferent
angles. In general, a wide-grip
pullup or pulldown and a
pronated-grip pulldown both
appear to produce greater
and found that the latissimus
dorsi was activated the most
in the fully contracted posi-
tion of a pullup or pulldown,
CHRIS LUND; PAVEL YTHJALL (2)

while the lower trapezius was

range of motion. They can be
seen either not bringing the
bar all the way down, or not
extending all the way
to the top.
The lat pulldown is one of
the kings of back exercises.
The back has lots of diferent
*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product
muscle groups that need to
is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
EMG activity of the latissimus
dorsi than a narrow grip or a
supinated grip.
There isn’t much research
on how the traps are activat-
ed during the lat pulldown.
Researchers examined muscle
activity during diferent
positions of the lat pulldown
activated the most in the
fully extended position of a
pulldown or pullup.
So make sure you pull
the bar all the way down
and extend the arms all the
way to the top to get
maximum activation of the
target muscles.

DON’T
FEEL YOU
HAVEN’T
WORKED
HARD
ENOUGH
JUST
BECAUSE
YOU’RE
NOT SORE.
AM vs. PM
TRAINING
■ Three-time Mr. Olympia Phil Heath
trains every day at 7 pm Four-time
Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler trains very late at
night as well.
Researchers examined the influ-
ence of a single bout of circuit
weight training on cortisol
at diferent times of day.
Ten male bodybuilders
performed a single bout of
circuit weight training in
the morning and evening.
At the end of the study,
the results showed there
were significant diferences
between the amount of
cortisol hormones secreted
in the morning and evening:
there were higher cortisol levels
before and after morning
exercise than there were after
the evening exercise session.
The findings of this re-
search indicate that cortisol
hormones are influenced by
the time of training, which
is due to circadian rhythms.
HOW
OFTEN
SHOULD
YOU
TRAIN?
■ The incredible
eight-time Mr.
Olympia Ronnie
Coleman trained
each body part
twice per week.
Many bodybuilders
will ofen train a lag-
ging body part twice a
week, but the problem
is that scientists can’t
validate that greater
training frequencies
are going to result
in greater gains in
muscle mass.
When muscles un-
dergo intense exercise,
there’s trauma to the
muscle fibers, new
proteins are used to
repair muscle tissue,
and muscle growth
occurs. When you
train a muscle group
directly only once a
week, protein synthe-
sis is raised for a day
or two afer the work-
out—but it’s back to
normal 36–48 hours
later. And simply
creating more muscle
damage doesn’t ap-
pear to make the rise
in protein synthesis
last any longer.
One study exam-
ined quadriceps and
biceps growth from
diferent training
frequencies either two
or three times a week;
it found there was no
diference between
training two or three
days a week—both
groups grew equally.
Mike Mentzer
advocated once-a-
week training for each
body part. A previous
study reported a 50%
decrease in biceps
strength immediately
afer maximal eccen- Microtabs bypass acidic environment in
tric training, and a
recovery to only 80%
the stomach and releases actives when it
explodes in the alkaline environment
of that prior to train- JOIN FORUM.VPXSPORTS.COM
in the intestines!
ing afer two weeks!
All this research
seems to suggest that
recovery from hard
training takes days,
and in some cases up
to several weeks. FLEX
VPXSPORTS.COM
*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product
is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
 THE WEIDER PRINCIPLES

HIGH-LOW
A new principle combines
high and low reps to fuel
muscle growth

■ At the beginning of
this journey through
the Weider Principles, we
said that some of them had
grown a bit musty. Over the
past 2½ years, we shined
them up and showed you how
each of the 30 tenets previ-
ously discussed can improve
your workouts today. Now,
we have exciting news—the
unveiling of a new principle to
honor the legacy of the late
Joe Weider. Fify years afer
Joe Weider developed his
initial training tenets, our new
principle builds on those rules
and all the principles that
followed. It prescribes how
you can alternate high and
low reps in the same workout,
from one set to the next or
from one exercise to the next,
to get the best of both worlds.
It’s a two-tiered attack, high
LAST TIME 29 THE WEIDER INSTINCTIVE TRAINING PRINCIPLE
Experiment with your training to determine what
works best for your physique. Then apply that knowledge to
and low, back and forth, that In the last installment of the
CHRIS LUND

is sure to generate growth, H.U.G.E.® Weider Principles your workouts. If necessary, change exercises and other factors
Weider-style. series (January 2014), during your workout. Our sample routine demonstrated some of
we examined: the ways you can easily alter a typical quad workout.

74 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

 THE WEIDER
HIGH-LOW
PRINCIPLE
■ You’ve probably heard
of high-intensity interval
training (HIIT). This is a
very effective style of cardio
that alternates periods of
higher intensity work (such
as sprinting) with periods of
lower intensity work (such
as jogging). Essentially, the
Weider High-Low Principle
applies this strategy to weight-
training, but in this case you’ll
alternate lower reps (typically
4–8 per set) with higher reps
(typically 12–20 per set). There
are two ways to do this.
The first is to alternate rep
ranges each set. For example,
follow a set of 6–8 reps with
a lighter set of 15–20 reps
(or vice versa). It’s important
to note that this pairing is
not a dropset. Rest for at
least a minute between sets.
For example, on pulldowns,
you might go: 15–20, 6–8,
15–20, 6–8. Use a weight in
each set that pushes you to
failure. (Especially when using
dumbbells, you can simply keep
both the lighter and heavier
weights handy and switch back
and forth.)
The other way to utilize
high-low is do one rep scheme
for all the sets of an exercise
and the opposite rep scheme
for all the sets of the next
exercise. So, for chest, you
might do four sets of 8 in the
bench press, then four sets
of 16 in the incline flye, then
three sets of 8 in the weighted
dip, and end with three sets of
16 in the cable crossovers.
As with HIIT cardio, the
differing pace may take some
getting used to, but that
variety is what makes high-
low training effective.

H.U.G.E. HIGH-LOW ROUTINE® H.U.G.E.® HIGH-LOW CALF ROUTINE

■ Our calf routine illustrates two methods of doing high-low training: from set to set EXERCISE SETS REPS
and from exercise to exercise. When doing standing calf raises, alternate high reps with
Standing Calf Raise 4 20, 8, 20, 8
PAVEL YTHJALL

low reps from set to set by switching the resistance from lighter to heavier. With seated
calf raises and calf presses, do all the sets of the former heavy for low reps and all the Seated Calf Raise 4 6–8
sets of the latter lighter for high reps. As always, it’s crucial, whether the weight is
heavier or lighter, to push each set to failure. Calf Press 4 18–20

76 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

 THE WEIDER
HIGH-LOW PRINCIPLE
ADVANTAGES
Here are the pluses of
high-low training.
■ WIDER REP RANGE
This is an easy method of
working your muscles over
a full spectrum of reps. The
lower-rep sets build strength
while the higher-rep sets boost
blood volumization. All the
sets combined foster growth.
■ MUSCLE CONFUSION
Your body is accustomed to
your reps-per-set staying
the same or progressing in
predictable patterns. Stacking
high-rep and low-rep sets
consecutively is a dramatic
change for most people.
Such variance will force your
muscles to adapt via growth.
DISADVANTAGES
There are two potential
pitfalls of high-low. Here’s
how to avoid them.
■ DISTRACTION For those accus-
tomed to workouts following typical
rep patterns, it can be difcult at
first to switch back and forth set
after set and push those sets to
failure. If this is your problem, use
high-low to switch your rep schemes
only from exercise to exercise until
you get a better feel for it.
■ REDUCED REST If you train alone
and switch resistance every set, much
of your rest time may be consumed
by the toil of peeling plates. For this
reason, you may want to avoid using
high-low on exercises, like leg
presses and deadlifts, in which
you can use a lot of weight.

COURTESY OF WEIDER HEALTH AND FITNESS

FRESH ■ There is a third way to incorporate the high-low principle. You can do a workout of mostly low-rep sets followed by a
workout of mostly higher-rep sets. You can do this within your split, alternating high-rep and low-rep days for difer-

TAKE ent body parts throughout each week. You can also do this for each body part with a low-rep workout one week and a
high-rep workout the next. Either way, this method of high-low training minimizes the muscle confusion benefits. But
it allows you to better focus on one style of training one day and a diferent style the next. FLEX

78 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

For a limited time, get a free “pump” at www.UniversalUSA.com/ShockTherapy
FLEX EXPERT

BY LOUIE SIMMONS

SHOCK METHODS
■ Plyometrics are commonly used by
Westsiders to develop explosive
and absolute strength. Dr. Yuri Verk-
hoshansky invented this method of training,
although he referred to it as “shock training.”
This term actually covers many forms of train-
ing with resistance, including depth jumps.
An athlete must have a high level of
strength and a high degree of GPP (general
physical preparedness) before incorporating
depth jumps into a training protocol. Four sets
of 10 jumps are optimal for well-conditioned
athletes, while three sets of eight jumps are
better for a less-conditioned athlete.
To build explosive power, a drop from a box
at 30 inches to 36 inches works best, with a
short amortization phase (.2 second). The
amortization phase occurs when the athlete
absorbs some of these forces and stops
downward movement by the strong eccentric
contraction of the muscles. When muscle
contraction is sufciently great, it is able to
stop the downward movement very quickly.
To build absolute strength, much higher
boxes at 42 inches to 52 inches should be used,
which will result in a much longer amortization
phase. It’s the same type of situation when
completing a reversal phase from eccentric to
concentric. As weights grow heavier, the time
between switching becomes slower.
There are many forms of plyometrics,
such as bounding and jumping down to a
surface, then up to a second box. To build
generic jumping skills, jump up and down on
boxes at every height box. To build concentric
strength, jump from lower to higher boxes;
for eccentric strength, jump from higher to
lower boxes. Again, the amortization phase
must be short (.2 seconds is recommended).
For the upper body, drop down into push-
ups, or catch a medicine ball and immedi-
ately throw it back to a rebounder or training
partner. Bounding over hurdles or a box is a
good option, while jumping rope is also a very
simple plyometric exercise. Always warm up
the muscles used before the workout.
Let’s take a look at some additional forms
of shock training:
■ MAXIMAL ECCENTRIC This training
method involves lowering a weight 20%
greater than your best 1RM in the squat,
releasers will come of the bar, leaving you to
push up against the remaining 60% as you
work explosive strength.
■ RUSSIAN SYSTEM This training method
utilizes the technique of strong electrical
stimulation, which ultimately causes a stron-
ger muscular contraction than an athlete can
normally produce.
■ RESTRICTED RANGE MAXIMUM This
training method is power rack work where
one can lift a heavier weight than in full-
range movements. High-pin lockouts for the
bench are very common. Quarter (¼) squats
with a weight greater than your best 1RM
squat, or rack pulls from above the knees,
or standing presses can also be utilized. It’s
recommended that Olympic weightlifters never
use more than 5% greater than their best 1RM
snatch or clean. Following a similar guideline,
never exceed 10% greater than your 1RM best
power lifts. Example: a 600-pound deadlifter
should never pull more that 660 pounds.
■ CONTRAST METHODS This training
method is one of my favorites. By using
chains, the top of many lifts are much
heavier than at the bottom. One can use
from 40 to 400 pounds of chain, if desired.
In addition to the use of chains to cause an
overspeed eccentric efect, strong bands can
also cause an overspeed eccentric efect, as
well. To build a strong concentric phase by
building a strong reversal efect, use 25%
band tension of your 1RM for speed strength
(roughly .8 meter per second). For strength
speed (or slow speed), the tension must
exceed the bar weight. Weight releasers fall For further
into this category as well. information about
the “shock training
■ FORCED REPS This training method method,” read
involves one training partner assisting the Supertraining, by
other by helping to complete the execution Mel Sif.
of additional full-range lifts than would
otherwise be possible.
■ SUPER-MAXIMAL METHOD This training
method also involves using bands to add
weight to the bar that is greater than your
best 1RM with just bar weight.
Training with weights at 90% or more for
three weeks will produce negative results.
The Westside system for max-efort training
rotates barbell lifts each week (four to eight
should be cycled through). Pick lifts that
work best for making you stronger, even if
COURTESY OF WESTSIDE ARCHIVE

bench, or pull. Olympic lifters should use
slow eccentric to build strength in the squat
portion of the lift subsequent to catching a
clean. They fall into the bottom and bounce
up. For building concentric speed, use weight
releasers with a combination of weight on
the bar (bar 60%, weight releasers 20%).
After lowering a total of 80% of your 1RM
in this combination, the 20% on the weight
they may not be the lifts you like best.
SHOCK TRAINING IS NOT FOR NOVICES.
ALONG WITH ISOMETRICS, HERE ARE SOME
HELPFUL TIPS:
■ Shock methods are performed on max-efort
training day. For best results, dynamic efort train-
ing (speed strength or explosive strength) must
be performed 72 hours later.
■ Use a wide variety of bars for the bench,
squat, deadlift, snatch, and clean and jerk.
■ Change the band tension or the amount of
chain weight placed on the bar.
■ Complete three or four special exercises at
the end of your training for the muscles with
the most potential. WS rules! FLEX

84 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

FLEX EXPERT

BY BRIAN SHAW

THE STRONGMAN Q&A

■ One of the best things that happens with my FLEX column each month is the feedback I get through both my personal and MHP
Facebook pages. It’s good to know that you guys are reading the articles and, even after so many months, it’s still kind of humbling to know
I’m reaching so many lifters with training tips they can use.
So as I sat down to write this month’s column, I figured it would be a good time to answer a few of the most common questions I get on social
media, by e-mail, or in person. These apply to me directly in some cases, but in most instances they can be used by lifters across the board. And if
you have questions, hit me up on Facebook or send them to FLEX and they’ll forward them to me. Train hard!

What do you do to stay motivated for
training and competing?
People always want to know what motivates
me to keep pushing myself to the next level
in strongman contests and individual lifts.
Well, there are a lot of reasons for this, but the
simple answer is that I’ve always wanted to be
the best at what I’m doing—no matter what
it is—and for me, strongman is no diferent. I
enjoy being the best in the world at what I do
and I like having a target on my back at every
contest because everyone always wants to
beat the best.
There was a time when I was a no-name in
the world of strongman and I was only chasing
a dream. I set up my first gym in my parents’
garage so I could train. I trained by myself each
week year-round in that garage, in all condi-
tions. Whether it was 100 degrees in the sum-
mer or close to zero during the middle of winter,
I was in the garage lifting and pushing myself.
I even had to shovel snow of the driveway so
I could train the strongman events outside. It
was a big challenge, but going through that
made me want to succeed even more. I never
had anything handed to me; I had to work very
hard to get to where I am now.
One of the most important strategies I have
created is to set goals for myself. Setting goals
helps me to stay motivated and on track. If you
want to be serious about your training, get a
sheet of paper and write down your long-term
goals for the future. Also put down some short-
term goals, and sometimes even weekly or daily
goals. It’s fun to achieve the daily or weekly goals
that you set, and if you keep achieving those,
they will lead you to your longer-term goals.
Don’t get overwhelmed by occasional setbacks,
as these happen to even the best of us. But if
you have a plan and always keep pushing for-
ward, you’ll be amazed at what you accomplish!
How do I start training for strongman? a separate day by themselves. Or they can even
Well, there are a lot of diferent opinions on be included with similar traditional exercises on
how to do this. Some people believe it’s best your currently scheduled lifting days.
to build up your strength levels by training On the other hand, if you’re going full-bore
in more of a powerlifting-type of program. into strongman competition, center your
I think getting good at the big powerlifting weightlifting around the strongman events.
movements are great to give you a solid So you do various events such as the yoke,
power base. But the best way to start deadlift, or log press, and set up your training
training strongman is to just go do it. Try to accordingly. Then add in associated weight
find a good gym that has some strongman exercises on various days to help you get
equipment or you can go out and start stronger and accomplish the strongman lifts
buying or making what you need if you want more efectively. FLEX
to train at home.
Also, it’s very important to try to find To reach Brian Shaw with questions, log onto
someone who’s very knowledgeable about facebook.com/teammhp and post them there.
strongman training so that you can learn the You can also post on Brian’s personal page at
right techniques. Remember, it’s important to facebook.com/wsmbrianshaw. For information
start slow and gradually work up to heavier about MHP products, visit mhpstrong.com.
training. Overall, I
believe strongman
training is one of
the most fun and
rewarding types of
exercise programs.
It’s always great to
set a new per-
sonal best or to lift a
heavier weight!
How many days a
week do I have to
work out for strong-
man training?
If you just want
to integrate
some strongman
movements into
your overall weight
program for added
athletic benefit,
these can be done on

WHAT IS THE BEST PRE-WORKOUT SUPPLEMENT?

The product I’ve been using for about a year now is X-Fit Trainer from MHP. This is a
great product for a number of diferent reasons. For starters, it increases your energy levels
and helps you to get more mentally focused heading into a training session. I don’t need a
blast of amphetamines to get me going, but a little kick is good and X-Fit Trainer delivers
this nicely. With its clinical doses of various ingredients like beta-alanine and creatine, it also
COURTESY OF MHP

allows you to train with more intensity, plus it increases your strength and muscular endur-
ance to help you push through training like never before. In addition, X-Fit Trainer contains
a cortisol-lowering ingredient that slows muscle breakdown and helps you recover faster
between sets within your workout. It really is a great product that can help you take your
high-intensity workouts to the next level!

86 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

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FLEX EXPERT
BY BRYAN HAYCOCK, M.S.
BETAINE
An Underappreciated
Anabolic Supplement
■ Sometimes with
the hype of fancy
pseudoscientific-sounding
new ingredients, or here-
today-gone-tomorrow over-the-
counter anabolics, we forget
about the simple supplements
that have been around for a long
time without garnering much
attention yet have compelling
research behind them to
support their use as growth
promoters. Betaine is one of
those supplements.
If you’ve never heard of
betaine spoken of in any ana-
bolic context, I’m not surprised.
Betaine (pronounced beet-uh-
een) was originally isolated from
sugar beets (hence the awkward
pronunciation). Betaine is some-
times called trimethylglycine.
In fact, most betaine products
will be labeled trimethylglycine.
Betaine naturally occurs in
most living plants and animals
and is an oxidation product of
choline metabolism. Betaine’s
primary function is as a methyl
donor and as an osmolyte.
Methyl donors such as betaine
88 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
are of major importance as
anticarcinogenic nutrients. In
fact, a lack of sufcient methyl
donor nutrients such as choline,
betaine, methionine, and folate
is the only nutrient deficiency
known to be carcinogenic in and
of itself. As an osmolyte, it plays
a role similar to taurine by pro-
tecting cells from dehydration by
drawing water into the cell.
I had believed it was its ability
to draw water into the cell that
was responsible for some of the
anabolic properties reported in
animal studies and in animal
husbandry. But a recent study
done on trained subjects shows
there is more going on that just
cell swelling.
Twelve trained men under-
went two weeks of supplemen-
tation with either betaine (1.25
g twice per day) or a placebo.
Following a two-week washout
period (taking neither betaine
or placebo), subjects switched
BETAINE SUPPLEMEN-
TATION PRODUCED A
NEAR SIGNIFICANT
groups. Those that INCREASE IN GH AND
were taking betaine SIGNIFICANTLY IN-
began taking a
placebo and vice
CREASED IGF-1 LEVELS.
versa. Before and after each thing. Betaine supplementa-
two-week period, subjects did tion at about 2.5 grams per day
a workout session. Circulating enhanced both the anabolic
GH, IGF-1, cortisol, and insulin hormonal profile and the cor-
were measured. Muscle biopsies responding anabolic signaling in
were taken from the quads and muscle tissue.
analyzed for signaling proteins Betaine has been used in
(Akt, p70S6k, AMPK). Betaine animal husbandry to improve
supplementation produced a feed efciency (more muscle and
near significant increase in GH less fat) for more than 50 years.
and significantly increased IGF-1 It is inexpensive and can be
levels. Not only that, betaine added to drinking water or even
also significantly decreased a protein drink. Personally, I have
cortisol levels. There was no had “feel it” results by combin-
diference in insulin levels. As ing it with my creatine. The daily
for signaling proteins, betaine dose in the study we just looked at
increased resting total muscle used 2.5 grams per day. I’ve used
Akt (anabolic). Betaine potenti- 5 grams and am happy with the
ated phosphorylation of Akt results. I think I would use more if
CHRIS LUND(2)
(anabolic) and p70S6 k (ana- I were loading creatine after a
bolic). Phosphorylation of AMPK break from it. This should enhance
(catabolic) decreased during the fullness and favorable weight
both treatments, which is a good gain creatine can produce.
PROTEIN CYCLING FOR
COMPENSATORY GROWTH
■ Compensatory growth is rapid
growth following a period of nu-
trient deprivation. It is used as a
tool by cattle growers to increase
growth rates before slaughter.
It is also seen in humans,
particularly before full stature
is reached following a period
of food insufciency, and it
is often called “catch-up”
growth. We are obviously
not cattle, and I would as-
sume most readers have
already passed puberty, but
there is still science behind
this strategy that can make
new gains, even for adults.
The key to making this
work is strategically manipu-
lating protein intake. Carbs can
also be cycled
in somewhat,
but the most
drastic change
throughout
the cycle will
involve protein.
This strategy
actually arose
from controversy in
protein-intake studies. The results
from these studies and those focus-
ing on strength training are all over
the map. The majority show a signifi-
cant positive efect from increasing
protein intake. Nevertheless, to date
there is still no consensus about the
value or efectiveness of increas-
ing protein intake. We won’t go
into all the reasons why one study
might show athletes need more
protein and others don’t, but we
will focus on one critical factor that
has become apparent when looking
at these studies; it’s called protein
change theory.
Protein change theory states
that in order to see an impact
from increasing protein intake,
you have to increase protein to
a sufcient extent beyond what
is habitually eaten. The average
change in habitual protein intake
in studies showing higher protein
to be efective was +59.5% above
normal versus +6.5% above nor-
mal in studies showing no efect of
increased protein. In other words,
increasing protein intake by ~10%
will do nothing for you. Increase
it by at least 50%, however, and
you will see an increase in protein
deposition. Another thing that we
can gather from protein studies is
that just because you are eating a
relatively high amount of protein
already doesn’t mean you’re get-
ting all the anabolic potential from
that protein. Your body will adapt
to high protein intake by increasing
the amount of protein you lose
each night. If this were not true,
you would continue to grow and
grow just from protein alone.
So here’s the plan: For four
weeks, drop your protein intake
to .8 grams per kg of bodyweight.
Starting the fifth week, bump it up
to 2.2 grams per kg of bodyweight
(i.e., 1 gram per pound). Keep it high
for at least six weeks. Carbs can
stay relatively the same through-
out or be increased slightly with
the increase in protein. Training,
PHOTO CREDIT
like carbs, should remain relatively
constant throughout the cycle but
may bumped up a notch in volume
when protein is high. Give this a
shot and see if you don’t put on
some new muscle. FLEX
FLEX EXPERT
LIFT STRONG
BY KIM GROSS
THE POLIQUIN
PRINCIPLES
Highlights from the 2013 Poliquin Strength & Wellness Conference
■ The Poliquin Group’s 2013 Strength
& Wellness Conference brought
together the best and most innovative
people from the fields of personal training,
strength coaching, sports medicine, and func-
tional medicine today. The presenters shared
many new and scientifically proven ideas that
can take your training to the next level.
The 2013 event was so big it was held in
two locations: a pre-conference held at the
Poliquin Group headquarters in the history-rich
city of East Greenwich, RI; and the main event
held at the Westin Hotel in downtown Boston.
Among the presenters at the pre-conference
was James W. George, D.C., whose talk focused
on exercises to help prevent and rehabilitate
shoulder injuries.
One question George says he asks patients
who come to see him about shoulder issues
is, “Does the pain keep you up at night?” If it
does, George says this suggests a rotator cuf
tear as a likely cause. Pain that persists after
rotator cuf surgery followed by rehab indicates
mistakes are being made in the patient’s rehab.
George finds that the strength of the shoulder
after surgery often lags behind the pain; that
is, the shoulder may feel fine, but its strength is
nowhere near where it needs to be for optimal
performance. Specifically, because the muscles
involved in shoulder function are composed of
both fast- and slow-twitch fibers, they respond
best to a variety of training protocols.
92 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
Also presenting at the pre-conference was
Al Vermeil, the only strength coach to have
earned world championship rings in the NFL
and NBA. Vermeil focused on how athletes
can develop speed and power. He says that if
running is a component of your sport, there is
no substitute for sprinting. It’s important
to get young athletes running at an early age
because this is when the most changes can
occur. From a strength-training standpoint,
Vermeil says the lunge is a good exercise, but
the squat is a far superior exercise, and the
most undertrained muscles in athletes are
those below the knee.
Another feature of the pre-conference was
the opportunity for willing participants to
go through a German Body Comp (GBC)
workout supervised by coaches from the
Poliquin Group. The GBC workout is a weight-
training protocol designed to create maximal
decreases in fat loss while increasing muscle
mass. The GBC workout is characterized by using
weight-training protocols with higher reps and
short rest intervals, performed in a superset,
triset, and giant set fashion. The workout was
performed in the new 20,000-square-foot,
state-of-the-art Poliquin Group training facility.
At the main conference, the keynote
speaker was Chris Herren, whose struggle
with painkillers, cocaine, and heroin ended a
promising NBA career. Afer his presentation
Caroleen Jones, CEO of the Poliquin Group,
presented Herren with a check for $5,000
to support the Herren Project, a nonprofit
foundation that assists individuals and
their families struggling with addiction.
In the area of nutrition, William Davis, M.D.,
author of the No. 1 New York Times best seller
Wheat Belly, gave a summary of his work that
shows eating grains is a major cause of the
diabetes and obesity epidemic in the U.S. Davis
warned that just because a product is labeled
“gluten-free,” it may not be healthy; the
ingredients may include potato and tapioca
starches, which raise blood sugar.
Also presenting in the area of nutrition was
Seth Broheim, M.S., R.D., who discussed the
advantage of using a GMO-free cornstarch
pre-workout to stabilize blood sugar without
causing an insulin spike that can inhibit fat loss.
This type of product has become especially
popular with endurance athletes, but interest is
growing about its applications in the iron game.
In the area of psychology, neuroendocrinolo-
gist Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D., discussed how
chronic stress can compromise the immune
system and thus adversely afect your health
and athletic performance. Much of Sapolsky’s
advice has practical applications for personal
trainers. For example, he says that one of the
best ways to deal with stress is through predict-
ability; that is, you can better deal with stress if
you know exactly what you will endure and for
how long. So trainers need to let their clients
know what’s coming. He also says that if you
hate the types of exercise you’re doing, this will
create excess stress. If you’re a big man who
simply hates chinups, then do your brain a favor
and head to the lat pulldown machine.
Presenter Jud Logan competed in four Olympic
teams in the hammer throw and has become an
accomplished coach. He emphasizes the value of
keeping a logbook, writing down how you felt dur-
ing a missed lift or a personal record, and review-
ing your log on a regular basis to see what triggers
success. He also points out that one of the keys to
successful coaching is doing the things necessary
to get your athletes to believe in you.
In the area of functional medicine,
Dr. Christopher Shade discussed the health
problems associated with mercury toxicity
and practical methods to detoxify this heavy
metal. Shade says among the major sources of
mercury exposure are mercury-based dental
fillings, seafood, certain vaccines, and pollution
from coal-burning plants.
Mark Lambert, strength coach of the
Tampa Bay Lightning, shared his path to
becoming a professional strength coach.
KARIM GHONEM, POLIQUIN GROUP
Lambert discussed the challenges of working
in this field, including having to make unpleas-
ant sacrifices in your personal life and the
importance of finding practical applications
of research studies.
Building on the success of this conference,
the Poliquin Group has begun planning an
event for 2014 with more great presenters from
the leaders in the industry. FLEX
 ■ There comes a time in
all bodybuilders diets
when they break down and
have to cheat. A new study
published in the October issue
of the European Journal of
Clinical Nutrition found that
study participants eating 1.5
ounces of dry-roasted, lightly
salted almonds every day
experienced reduced hunger
and improved dietary vitamin E
and monounsaturated (“good”)
fat intake without increasing
body weight. Participants were
divided into a control group
that avoided all nuts and seeds,
a breakfast meal group and
lunch meal group that ate 1½
ounces of almonds each with
their daily breakfast or lunch,
and a morning snack group and
afternoon snack group that
each consumed 1½ ounces
of almonds between their
customary meals. All almond
snacks were eaten within
approximately two hours
after their last meal and two
hours before their next meal.
Participants were not given
any other dietary instruction
other than to follow their
usual eating patterns and
physical activity. Participant
compliance to consuming
almonds was monitored
through self-reported dietary
intake assessments and
fasting vitamin E plasma
levels. Despite consuming
approximately 250 additional
calories per day from almonds,
participants did not have weight
gain over the course of the four-
week study. The researchers
are not exactly sure how but
previous research shows that
not all calories from almonds are
being absorbed because of their
rigid cell structure.

Despite consuming approximately 250

CHRIS LUND

additional calories per day from almonds,

participants didn’t have weight gain over the
course of the four-week study.

96 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14


GREEN TEA ENHANCES
MUSCLE RECUPERATION
■ Green tea is considered one of the
world’s healthiest foods for its rich
supply of health-promoting flavonoids
(which account for 30% of the dry
weight of a leaf), including catechins and
their derivatives. The most abundant
catechin in green tea is epigallocatechin-
3-gallate (EGCG), which is thought
to play a pivotal role in green tea’s
anticancer and antioxidant efects.
Catechins should be considered right
alongside the better-known antioxidants
like vitamins E and C as potent free radi-
cal scavengers and health-supportive
for this reason. Green tea is considered
mainly as a fat burner but a new study
shows that it also enhances recupera-
tion from exercise. Mice were forced to
perform downhill running which induces
a considerable amount of muscle dam-
age. One day later, before the mice’s
98 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
muscles had had a chance to recover,
the researchers made the animals run
on a treadmill again. One group of mice
was fed the green tea mixture while the
other was not. At the end of the study,
the rodents that were fed the green
tea mixture had increased muscular
endurance but also had reduced the
amount of strength loss normally seen
afer downhill running. Furthermore
plasma creatine phosphokinase levels
(a measure of muscle damage) had
decreased by a massive 52% and other
chemical markers of muscle damage had
also decreased by around a third of their
normal levels, indicating that somehow
the catechins had protected the muscles.
The scientists who carried out the study
don’t know exactly how the catechins
work, but have suggested it might be
through their antioxidant properties.
THE POWER OF GH
It keeps you young and strong, but do
you have enough of it?
■ Growth hormone (GH) has been referred
to as the “wonder hormone,” so powerful
are its efects on everything including brain
function, skin quality, bone density, fat loss,
and muscle strength. Yet we see a steady and
rapid decline in production after puberty, and
one study shows another dip after age 45. So
the big question is, How can we keep our GH
levels high as we age?
The answer is threefold. First, studies have
shown that vigorous exercise may result in a
300% increase in growth hormone levels, and
that doesn’t mean 15 minutes on the treadmill.
At around the 40-minute mark researches
saw a spike in GH release that continued to
rise through 90 minutes. Second, low-carb
diets have been linked to higher GH levels than
ones containing high amounts of starches and
sugars. Third, a supplement we introduced
you to a year ago has been clinically shown to
increase GH. Since then the studies have been
piling up showing Novex Biotech’s Growth
Factor-9 to increase GH levels by up to 682%
in both men and women age 18 to 70 two
hours after taking the product on an empty
stomach. It also received a U.S. patent to
protect GF-9’s oral growth hormone–boosting
compound as “methods and compositions for
increasing growth hormones.” Moreover, it’s
been exhibited, accepted, and presented at 10
diferent medical conferences, including the
Obesity Society’s Annual Scientific Meeting
in San Antonio, TX; the Sleep Annual Meeting
in Baltimore, MD; and the Endocrine Society’s
Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA.
A combination of these three elements
could be your best defense against your body’s
natural decline in growth hormone production,
leaving you feeling younger and more ener-
gized, with less body fat and more muscle.
FLEX SUPPLEMENT PICK
GROWTH FACTOR-9
Novex Biotech’s clinically tested GH
supp leads the category
RALPH DEHAAN; COURTESY OF MANUFACTURES
GROWTH FACTOR
■ A clean diet and weight training that uses
compound exercises can help keep growth
hormone levels up as we age. Supplements
can also help, and Growth Factor-9 is a great
place to start. Backed by decades of research,
GF-9 enhances pituitary function, inducing
the body to naturally produce more GH.
For more information on Growth Factor-9,
go to novexbiotech.com and to read up on GH,
go to muscleandfitness.com/HGHstudy.
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 TRIBULUS
TERRESTRIS
BOOSTS LIBIDO
AND T PRODUCTION
■ The supplemental
form of Tribulus
terrestris comes from an
herb that grows in Asia
and North America,
and it has been used
to boost libido for
centuries. Tribulus
increases T production
by increasing luteinizing
hormone (LH) released
by the pituitary gland,
which then stimulates
the testicles to
produce more T. The
active ingredient is
protodioscin, a saponin.
FOR BEST RESULTS
Look for a product that
contains 80% total
saponins (naturally
sourced metabolites)
and 40% protodioscin.
Tribulus can be taken
up to three times daily
for a total of up to
1,500mg. Doses should
be spaced by a few
hours and taken on an
empty stomach. Take
one of these doses
shortly before workouts.

EURYCOMA
LONGIFOLIA FREES
T TO BOOST LIBIDO

TIME TO MAN UP
■ One problem many
men encounter is a lack
of available T. This is a
different problem from
This supplemental twofer will help every guy turn back the clock low production, and
the source is known as
sex hormone binding

■ Some supplements provide temporary

benefits to help get you through your
workouts. Others help you achieve long-term goals—
increase muscle mass, and also help stave of the
more noticeable—and unwanted—signs of aging:
lower sex drive, greater body-fat accumulation, and
globulin (SHBG), which
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and a third category can aid both. Testosterone reduced lean mass. If you’re at an age when you’re it. Eurycoma longifolia,
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CHRIS LUND;COURTESY OF MANUFACTURES

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FOR BEST RESULTS
■ AndroTest from ProSource contains efficacious doses of Tribulus Look for products that
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You can take up to
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sexual activity. As with other saponin-based testosterone boosters, you can activity or workouts (or
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your goals.

104 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

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In January, FLEX editors picked
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of Jacked-in-a-Box to try
BITRATE
Ten Point One
■ Bitrate is a powerful
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that enhances energy,
intensity, and focus, and
even promotes a feeling of euphoria. Each
dose delivers three types of creatine, plus
citrulline and ornithine AKG to boost NO, and
CarnoSyn beta-alanine to help boost the
strength benefits of creatine.
SYNTHA-6
BSN
■ Syntha-6 gets its name from
the six types of protein that
comprise it: whey concentrate
and isolate, calcium caseinate,
micellar casein, and milk and egg proteins.
This blend simultaneously provides quick
and sustained delivery of protein.
XPEDITE
SNAC
■ Xpedite contains a range
of aminos that enhance
energy and focus, including
beta-alanine, taurine, citrulline, arginine,
and others. Each serving of the Raspberry
Lemonade flavor we shipped contains 45
calories from protein and carbs.
1.M.R VORTEX ASSAULT
BPI MusclePharm
■ 1.M.R Vortex contains ■ CarnoSyn amps up ATP
central nervous system production with beta-alanine
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cafeine and yohimbe. In addition, each and subsequent growth with
serving (taken 15–30 minutes before insulin activators, a performance blend,
workouts) delivers glycerol, white leadwort, energy and neuro support, and hydration
and securinega. Members were sent Fruit support. Other key ingredients include
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water powder.
CREATURE
Beast FIT CRUNCH
■ This pre-workout product Chef Robert Irvine FortiFix
contains a proprietary ■ Every member received
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of diferent types of creatine, among them bar with whey protein.
the monohydrate and alpha-ketoglutarate This meal replacement bar
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■ Troxyphen was designed
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FLEX EXPERT
BY JOHN KIEFER
AN IMBALANCED
DISCUSSION
One size never fits all, but that’s not what sells
■ I’m invited to sit on more discussion
panels than I could ever possibly
attend. Some of these excite me; others,
I decline. The rest of these invites, I accept
simply for the entertainment value of it
all, because for whatever reason, I enjoy
listening to otherwise perfectly nice, rational
people debate topics about which they don’t
have a clue.
Here, I’m referring to the role of carbohy-
drates in these nebulous “balanced diets for
athletes” that everyone’s espousing these
days. And as an athlete, what you need to re-
alize is that for all the bluster from all these
so-called “experts,” our idea of what makes
a diet balanced is vague, at best.
I’m not going to attack Paleo here, but
let’s examine this monolith as an example,
because it’s the primary topic at pretty
much every seminar, panel, and conference
I attend—even ones geared to bodybuilders.
If you’re Paleo, your notion of “balanced”
simply means you’re going to avoid grains,
artificial foods, and anything you think
you’re allergic to. The literature on it
goes a bit deeper, but that’s really all
you need to know.
WAY OFF BALANCE
As I sit on these discussion panels listening,
however, one question always occurs to
me: Who the hell ever decided that usable
carbs—starches and sugars—are part of a
“balanced” diet? This doesn’t make any
108 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
sense, because none of the diets these ex-
perts are trying to throw at you tie everything
together. In other words, there is no “bal-
anced” diet, because the only realistic option
here is a diet that’s balanced in nutrients
such that it adequately meets the needs of
the specific athlete in question.
One size doesn’t fit all, because diferent
athletes have diferent requirements, and
nothing is universal. If you’re reading FLEX,
you’re not the average person. You’re not
sedentary, your time in the gym is precious to
you, and you’re looking for performance, and
not some minimal plan that simply keeps
your body burning fat for energy. And for the
average person, stripping carbs from your
diet—with a carb splurge at the end of the
week, à la the Carb Nite Solution—will solve
most of your problems.
If you’re busting your ass in the gym every
day, however, there’s no single, correct ap-
proach to balance, because hardcore physical
activity is a force that throws us massively
out of balance on a regular basis. You’re
essentially doing far more in a day than your
body is meant to do. Although, as a species,
we’ve always done physical labor. Humans
didn’t evolve by running marathons, bench-
pressing, or doing biceps curls.
THROW IN SOME CARBS
Carbs are hell on sedentary people in terms
of making them fat, but they give athletes
the ability to repair, recover, and excel. The
harder you train, the more carbs you
need, which is the entire point of my carb
back-loading plans. When you’re construct-
ing a diet you’re going to label balanced,
athletic training needs to be taken into
account in a major way.
When you consume carbs at the appropri-
ate times, and in appropriate amounts,
they release insulin. This accelerates tissue
growth and healing, and it also acts as an
anti-inflammatory. Glucose, one of the few
nutrients that activates the TOR pathway
of growth and tissue repair, refills your intra-
muscular and liver glycogen stores, helping
your body prepare for its next bout of
intense physical activity. Brain hormones
and chemicals adjust to reduce stress,
creating a sense of well-being and pro-
moting sleep. Carbs also suppress ghrelin,
our main hunger hormone, and cause an
even bigger ghrelin spike a few hours after
eating—an eàect that can cause an acute
rise in growth hormone.
By all accounts, carbs are the magic
bullet when it comes to athletic nutrition.
Think of this in terms of cars. When you drive
your Honda Accord to and from work every
day, all you need to do is have it inspected
once a year, keep it gassed up, and change
the oil every 3,000 miles. A Formula One
racer, in contrast, requires more maintenance
over the course of an hour than your Accord
would need over a period of multiple years.
As an athlete, you’re that racer—and carbs
are your pit crew.
STARK REALITY
Research supports all of this. When your carb
intake is on the money, your performance
will always increase. When you take in carbs
post-workout, your results will accelerate,
assuming you take in some protein, too.
When you don’t, your results won’t be as
positive. These are simple facts. If you’re
an athlete, you need to add carbs into your
diet on some level. The absolute level will
depend on your goals, the way you train, and
the amount of body fat you carry.
My purpose, then, is to engage the
scientific community, the fitness industry,
and the athletic population in a conversation
about what a balanced diet” really is. This is
because it makes no sense to me to discuss
balance for bodybuilders, CrossFitters, and
sedentary ofce workers in the same conver-
sation. The only “expert” who’s wrong in this
case is the one who claims such a discussion
is a rational one.
In reality, very few of us in the fitness and
nutrition communities have experienced ex-
tensive success over a full spectrum of clients
from the morbidly obese to Olympic gold
medalists. If someone with those credentials
exists, I’d be more than happy to go work as
PAVEL YTHJALL
his or her apprentice. At this point, however—
based on what I’ve heard in these discussion
panels—I think it’s safe to say I’ll never have
to do that. FLEX
 “It takes something real special to
get a BIG GUY like me SHREDDED.”
-Zack ‘King’ Khan

Follow us
1-888-3Nutrex
Nutrex.com
 STACK OF
THE MONTH
BPI 1.M.R VORTEX
Taking a dose of 1.M.R Vortex will
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Ever Dream of Becoming a

MEET JEREMY
He’s a perfect example of why we do what we do.
“Making the choice to become a fitness professional and coach as a career has been the single
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Coming into the fitness industry with degrees in Education my business sense
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I always say, ‘I have the best job in the world’ I get to work with some many
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of the ISSA is you are always part of the family, you always have a resource to
reach out to for help with anything from training to business advice. Not many
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You ISSA for helping me turn my dream into a reality!”

Jeremy Scott, ISSA CFT

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The ISSA Your Trusted Source For Fitness Education Since 1988 ISSA’s nationally
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FLEX EXPERT
ADVANCED BODYBUILDING
BY MATT PORTER
OPTIMAL APPROACH TO
POSTCONTEST REBOUND
■ If you have been involved in
competitive bodybuilding for
any length of time, I am sure
you have witnessed what many
refer to as “the postcontest
rebound.” You may have
witnessed someone go from a
granite-hard, shrink-wrapped,
work of art to a pufy, doughy, and
water-retentive catastrophe!
It’s all too common for
competitors of any level to fall
into this dilemma time after time.
There are a few scenarios that
take place here.
SCENARIO 1 The exhausted
competitor has convinced him
or herself that afer the con-
test is over, he or she will take
a week or more of from train-
ing, perform no cardio, and eat
at free will—anything he or
she desires.
This scenario will leave you
lethargic, unmotivated, and often
depressed. By the time you decide
to “regroup,” it will be well past
that initial “week-of” plan and
will leave you in a poor position.
Body fat will have accumulated
and deposited in your stubborn
“sweet spots” and water flooded
your extracellular subcutaneous
space (beneath your skin).
SCENARIO 2 The overzeal-
ous competitor is more amped
up about eating pure junk food
than he/she is about training
hard or eating diligently to
make improvements for the
next contest. The good news is
that he/she does plan on training
while foraging for exuberant
amounts of food all day that is
not conducive to muscle growth
or nutritious. The problem is,
he/she will sternly regret
this unhealthy act of glut-
tony as he/she experi-
ences chronic high blood
pressure, lethargy,
muscle cramps, and
edema so severe his/
her ankles blend into
the person’s knees!
SCENARIO 3
The wise competitor
understands the pitfalls
114 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
of the two scenarios above
and the ramifications that
coincide. Now let me explain to
you what Scenario 3 is all about:
As you close in on the final contest
of your season, you should have
meticulously mapped out a game
plan of actions to take immedi-
ately postcontest. Remember,
you have been strictly embedded
in a nutritional program for more
than 20 weeks that has taken your
body-fat percentage to “abnor-
mal” levels! Your body’s checks and
balances are skewed, hormones
have shifted, and these matters
need to be considered.
Ghrelin is a gastrointestinal
hormone that is heightened to
extreme levels when calories are
deprived and body-fat levels are
dissipated. Your hunger signal is
soaring, and this devious little gut
hormone can make or break you
come postcontest.
Leptin is an appetite-suppress-
ing hormone found in fat cells that
is severely decreased from calorie
restriction and depleted fat cells.
Carbohydrates have the greatest
impact on regulating leptin
levels—fat and protein,
not so much.
Postcontest time,
these two polar-
opposite hormones
will be your weapons.
Once the contest is finished, you
will need to be extremely cautious
about ramping up calories too
high, too quickly. Since you are low
in body-fat reserves, your ability to
efciently process carbohydrates
is magnified. Less insulin is needed
from your pancreas to push
glucose into cells.
Being sensitive to insulin is
great, but that doesn’t mean you
should go from 180g of carbohy-
drates to 1,000g the first week!
Instead, you will increase the
carbohydrate allotment you are
accustomed to by 100%. So, if you
had been eating 180g of carbs in
the final stages of your prepara-
tion, you will now eat 360g.
The increase in carbohydrates will
increase leptin levels and slightly
simmer down ghrelin production.
Hunger will still be taunting you
regardless of the increase in carbs,
but you will be rewarded for your
dogged discipline when overcom-
ing these ghrelin-induced cravings.
As the weeks progress, you will
slowly ramp up carbohydrates
little by little—around 25g
per week until you reach
your optimal level.
After several months,
an annoying phenom-
enon called homeo-
stasis happens. Your body fat will
be at higher levels, and leptin,
ghrelin, and thyroid hormones will
be stable. This is the time I will
recommend some dietary manipu-
lations—whether it is carb cycling
or performing a “mini diet.”
Dietary fats should be con-
trolled tightly and be restricted
to what is naturally occurring in
animal protein sources, with the
exception of essential fatty-acid
supplementation. Adipocytes are
primed and ready to store when
excess dietary fats are float-
ing around in the bloodstream.
Whereas “de novo lipogenesis”
(the process of converting glucose
into triglycerides) is a rather com-
plicated process when it pertains
to a heavily muscled athlete
expending adequate energy.
Proteins need to remain
around the same amounts as the
last phase of your competition
diet to ensure satiety and that
hunger isn’t overwhelming (to
stave of ghrelin). As you increase
carbohydrates gradually during
the several weeks postcontest,
you will then lower protein intake.
Higher carbohydrates will not
necessitate high protein—as in
“precontest amounts.”
Following this simplistic and
disciplined procedure come post-
contest will allow you to make the
leanest muscle gains possible.
Gradually bringing body weight
up will facilitate anabolism
in a much healthier way than
Scenarios 1 and 2. So instead of
planning out all the junk food you
anticipate annihilating postcon-
test, plan your postcontest transi-
tion into a stellar of-season
to make the leanest muscle
gains possible. FLEX
Matt Porter is a sponsored
athlete for truenutrition
.com and also an accom-
plished NPC competi-
tor, title holder, contest
prep coach, and
CHRIS LUND
nutrition guru. Matt
can be reached via his
Q&A page in the forums
at truenutrition.com.
 BY GREG MERRITT PHOTOGRAPHS BY JASON BREEZE

■
It wasn’t always like this. When I first met 20-year-old Flex Lewis in the autumn of 2004,
the Welsh Dragon was undefeated in physique contests in his native United Kingdom. But
all the focus was on his pro-caliber legs (those calves!) and pleasing structure. His arms
were his most glaring weakness. Cut to the autumn of 2012 when he won his first Olympia 212
Showdown title. His biceps and triceps had completed their improbable journey from debilitating
weakness to pose-winning strength. In fact, they were so large that he rarely trained them in 2013
on his way to his repeat Olympia 212 Showdown victory.
Flex Lewis turned 30 on Nov. 15. People still talk about his calves. But they’re no longer all people
talk about. Because he so ofen flexes his arms in photos for fans, they now garner much of the at-
tention. If observers remember him when he first burst onto the bodybuilding scene nine years ago
in the March 2005 pages of FLEX, they surely wonder how the Welsh Dragon could’ve transformed
his weakness into a strength and what he does to maintain arm superiority.

122 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

FLEXonline.com 123
Over and over again when I
hear bodybuilders speak of
bringing up weak points, the
most important factor is the
mind-to-muscle connection.
It’s as if at some point the pro-
verbial light bulb went of and
they forgot about the weight
and started truly focusing on the
muscle. Typically, they’d spent
too much time hoisting ever-
heavier metal, and they never
truly connected with the body
part. Then, when they reduced
the resistance and learned
how to feel their targeted flesh
working from stretch to contrac-
tion on every rep, their gains
increased substantially. “I’ve
just recently learned how to
really hit my chest so my front
delts don’t take over,” Lewis
states. “Arms were the first area
where I really learned how to
focus on them in a way I was
missing before.
“Before, my forearms would
always take over. And then
I started doing certain exer-
cises and really squeezing, and
I became less concerned with
the weights. And over time I
taught myself to squeeze and
get connected with the muscles,
and the weights obviously came
back up with time. That mind-
to-muscle connection was the
most important thing. Another
thing I did was I trained biceps
on their own days, and I trained
triceps on their own days. So I
gave a lot of time to my arms
each week, and I hit biceps and
triceps alone to really focus on
each muscle.”

124 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

 TRICEPS BICEPS
EXERCISE SETS REPS EXERCISE SETS REPS
Rope Pushdown (wide)* 3–4 20 Standing Alternate Dumbbell Curl 3–4 10–20
Rope Pushdown (narrow)* 3–4 20 Standing Dual Dumbbell Curl 2 10–15
EZ-bar Pushdown (overhand)* 3–4 20 EZ-bar Curl 4 12–20
EZ-bar Pushdown (underhand)* 3–4 20 Two-arm Cable Curl 3–4 21 + 3–5**
Cable Triceps Extension* 3–4 20 Hammer Curl 3–4 12–20
Smith Machine Close-grip Bench Press 4 15–8 *First five triceps exercises are performed in 3–4 giant sets with no rest
between exercises.
Dip 3–4 20+ **21 curls with 3–5 additional rest-pause, peak-contraction reps.

FLEXonline.com 125
 “I GAVE A LOT OF
TIME TO MY ARMS EACH
WEEK, AND I HIT BICEPS
AND TRICEPS ALONE
TO REALLY FOCUS ON
EACH MUSCLE.”
Today, Lewis trains triceps
and biceps together, begin-
ning with the former. But he
relies on a technique he adopted
years ago to make certain his
triceps are warmed up, isolated,
and maximally pumped. By
utilizing the Weider Giant Set
Principle, he attacks his tri’s with
five isolation exercises in rotation.
Giant sets can be difcult to
perform if you need to rush from
one station to the next. However,
Lewis can do all five of his exer-
cises in the same spot with the
same overhead cable. He starts
with rope pushdowns, spreading
126 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
the rope ends as wide as possible
at contractions. Then come rope
extensions, keeping the ropes
together throughout each rep.
(Because this pushdown method
is easier than the first, he can use
the same weight for both exer-
cises.) Then he replaces the rope
with an EZ-bar handle. He does one
set of pushdowns overhand and
another set (with a lighter weight)
underhand. Finally, he turns around
and faces away from the weight
stack, grabs either the EZ-bar or the
rope, leans forward, and presses the
bar out, parallel to the floor, crank-
ing out cable triceps extensions.
Lewis tallies 20 reps of each
exercise, only halting the toil
long enough to shift his posi-
tion or switch in a diferent
handle. He pauses for two
minutes between giants sets.
“I always do a warmup giant
set,” he states. “And then I do
three or four working giant
sets. So, all told, including
warmups, I’m doing either
400 or 500 reps in short or-
der. Afterward, my triceps are
already fully pumped, and
I’ve spent a lot of reps target-
ing strong contractions to
really focus on my tri’s.”
© Gaspari Nutrition, Inc. 12/13R1.
†When combined with a proper exercise and nutrition program. 1.888.742.7727 | gasparinutrition.com
*These statements have not been evaluated by the food and drug administration.
This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. ®
Afer doing five isolation ex-
ercises in 100-rep rotations,
Lewis has pre-exhausted
his triceps. So next up he thor-
oughly toasts his tri’s with two
compound exercises: close-grip
bench presses and dips. Both of
these also hit the chest and front
deltoids, but after his 400- or
500-rep cable barrage, his arms
are going to give out long before
he taxes anything else.
“With close-grip
benches, I pyramid, using
heavier weights and
fewer reps. I go to no
fewer than eight reps,
and I may get forced
reps on the last two. I
tend to use the Smith
machine. I flip an
incline bench (set
in the flat position)
around. And I angle
the seat part up,
and that’s where I
put my head. That
way, I can more easily
watch what’s happen-
ing. My grip is set by
touching my thumbs. So
I take a grip that is about
two thumbs apart. Some
people who are taller than me
may have two inches between
thumb-to-thumb, but anything
more than that I think hits the
chest more and the triceps less.
And if I use the Smith machine, I
come down to the lowest part of
my pecs. I just feel that gives me
the best stretch for my triceps.”
Of his other compound triceps
exercise, Lewis avers: “I love dips.
I do these with just my body
weight. I try to get high reps, and
I go to failure on every set. I try to
eliminate my chest as much as I
can. I use dips on chest day, but
then I dramatically lean forward.
For triceps, I keep my body as
upright as possible. If I don’t do
body-weight dips, I’ll do machine
dips. Again, I keep my rep-range
to 20-plus. But I tend to squeeze
a lot more on these, especially
on the final two or three reps
of sets. I’ll hold and squeeze as
hard as I can.”

128 FLEX | FEBRUARY Õ14

 AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY AT
© Gaspari Nutrition, Inc. 12/13R1.
†When combined with a proper exercise and nutrition program.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the food and drug administration.
This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. 1.888.742.7727 | gasparinutrition.com

“I love dumbbell curls,” the
Welsh Dragon opines. He
begins his biceps routine with
standing alternate dumbbell
curls. “A lot of people just throw
the weight up. Myself, I try to
get a full range of motion, and I
130 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
turn my hand as much
as I can, and hold for a
second and squeeze.”
The turning of the wrist
from palms facing the
body’s center plane to
palms facing backward
and then tilted slightly outward
is known as supination. In addi-
tion to elbow flexion, this is the
other key function of the biceps.
Doing a dumbbell curl without
supination is like eating cake
without the icing, because that
wrist twist is the greatest ad-
vantage of dumbbell curls over
two-arm curls. After three
or four sets of alternate dumb-
bell curls, Lewis follows with two
sets of curling the dumbbells
simultaneously.
The world’s best 212-or-under
bodybuilder performs two other
free-weight basics for biceps:
EZ-bar curls and hammer curls.
When doing the EZ-bar curls, he
is cognizant of always getting a
slight squeeze at contractions.
The hammer curls are done
seated and alternating his left
and right arms. Hammer curling,
which works the brachioradialis
of the lower arms in addition to
the biceps and brachialis of the
upper arms, is as close as the
Welsh Dragon gets to training
his forearms—which are among
the best of all time. As with most
arm exercises, he keeps the reps
relatively high—in the 12–20
range—on both EZ-bar curls and
hammer curls.
 THIS WAS THE
STYLE OF TRAIN-
ING—HIGHER REPS,
GREATER INTEN-
SITY, A FOCUS ON
CONTRACTIONS,
AND STAYING
CONNECTED TO
THE MUSCLES—
THAT BROUGHT
HIS ARMS UP SO
MUCH HE RARELY
NEEDED TO WORK
THEM IN 2013.
CHARLESLOWTHIAN.COM

132 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

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Between the EZ-bar and
hammer curls, Lewis is
likely to switch it up, doing
a non-free-weight exercise
with an unorthodox rep
range. He likes two-arm cable
curls with an EZ-bar handle.
But there are two factors that
make these unique. First,
he makes them 21 curls:
seven reps that go from full
stretches to halfway up,
134 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
followed by seven reps that
go from halfway up to full
contraction, topped off by
seven full reps. This intense
rep scheme is enough for most
bodybuilders. But the two-
time Olympia 212 Showdown
champ doesn’t stop there.
He tops it off with several
rest-pause reps. These are
performed by pausing just long
enough after each rep to regain
the strength for another
rep. “I may get three, may
get five, may get more,”
he states, “but every one
of those reps is exploded
up and then squeezed
at the top, and I get a
semi-negative on the way
down. I lower as slow as
I can, but after the 21s
my arms are spent, so it’s
hard to go real slow.”

As evidenced by the preced-
ing routine, when Flex Lewis
would hit arms over the past
year, he put his everything
into those workouts. And this
was the style of training—higher
reps, greater intensity, a focus
on contractions and staying
connected to the muscles—that
brought his arms up so much he
rarely needed to work them in
2013. “I didn’t really train triceps
or biceps much going into the
last Olympia,” Lewis states.
“They were being hit with chest
and back. They got a pretty
good pump on those days. But
I didn’t want them to get too
big. They’ve come up so much
that they’re now a strong point.
So this was the first year that I
focused a lot less on arms.
“In the past, there was a time
when I was focusing extra on
them, because they were consid-
ered a weak point. But now I’ve
reversed that. I don’t really want to
be walking around with ridicu-
lously oversize arms. My thing is all
about proportion. I could probably
put another inch on my arms in a
year if I trained them as much as
my chest, but I would rather focus
more on my chest and less on my
arms and keep things in propor-
tion. But I remember it wasn’t that
long ago when I put extra efort
into arms. And whenever I train
them, I still train that same way.
Arms were the body part that I
busted my ass to build up—and
it worked.” FLEX

“IT WASN’T THAT

LONG AGO WHEN I PUT
EXTRA EFFORT INTO
ARMS…ARMS WERE
THE BODY PART THAT
I BUSTED MY ASS TO
BUILD UP—AND
IT WORKED.”

136 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

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■ Do you have what it takes to be featured right here in the pages
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142 FLEX | february ’14

†
These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease.
 Thighs and Hamstrings Back and Biceps
EXERCISE SETS REPS EXERCISE SETS REPS
Leg Extension 4 15–20 Lat Pulldown 4 15–20
(plus warmup) 4 8–12 (warmup)
Squat 2–3 15–20 Lat Pulldown 3 8–12
(plus warmup) 4 8–12
T-bar Row 3 8–12
Hack Squat 3 8–12
Low Pulley Row 3 8–12
High-stance 3 15–20 (wide grip)
Leg Press
(plus warmup) 3 12–16 Rack Pull 3 8–12

Lying Leg Curl 3 8–12 Standing Barbell Curl 4 15–20

(warmup)
Barbell Stif-leg 3 8–12
Deadlift Standing Barbell Curl 4 8–12
EZ-curl Bar Preacher 4 8–12
Chest and Triceps Curl (narrow grip)
Incline Smith 4 15–20
Machine Press Shoulders and Calves
(warmup) Standing Power Press 4 15–20
Incline Smith 3 8–12 (warmup)
Machine Press Standing Power Press 3 8–12
Seated 3 8–12 Single-arm Raise 3 8–12
Machine Press
Standing Lateral Raise 3 8–12
Incline Flye 4 8–12
Lying Incline Rear 4 8–12
Y3T Seated EZ-curl 4 15–20 Lateral Raise
Bar Extension
WeeK 1

(warmup) Leg Press Calf Raise 4 15–20

(warmup)
Seated EZ-curl 3 8–12
Bar Extension Leg Press Calf Raise 4 8–14

V-Bar Cable 3 8–12 Seated Calf Raise 4 8–14

Pushdown
Kickback 3 8–12

Tauseef asri; pavel yThjall

144 FLEX | february ’14

 Thighs and Hamstrings
EXERCISE SETS REPS
Leg Press (warmup) 4 15–20
Leg Press 3 14–18
Hill Squat 3 14–18
Lunge 3 14–18
Lying Leg Curl (warmup) 4 15–20
Lying Leg Curl 4 14–18
Single Leg Curl 4 14–18

Chest and Triceps

Barbell Flat Bench Press 4 15–20
(warmup)
Barbell Flat Bench Press 3 14–18
Flat-bench Dumbbell Flye 3 14–18
Incline Machine Press 3 14–18
Straight-bar Cable 4 15–20
Pushdown (warmup)
Y3T Straight-bar 4 14–18
WeeK 2

Cable Pushdown
Weighted Dip 2 14–18
Bentover Machine 2 14–18
Extension

Back and Biceps

Seated Hammer Row, both 4 15–20
arms together (warmup)
Seated Hammer Row, both 2 12–18
arms together
Low Pulley Cable Row 2 12–18
Standing Barbell Row 3 12–18
Deadlift 3 12–18
V-bar Low Pulley Cable Curl 4 15–20
(warmup)
V-bar Low Pulley Cable Curl 3 12–18
EZ-curl Bar Lying Incline Curl 3 12–18
Single-arm Standing Incline 2 12–18
Bench Preacher Curl

Machine Shoulder Press 4 15–20

(warmup)
Machine Shoulder Press 4 14–18
Seated Side-to-front Raise 4 14–18
Standing Lateral Raise 2 14–18
Machine Rear Delt 4 14–18
Seated Calf Raise 3–4 15–20
pavel yThjall (2)

(warmup)
Single-leg Calf Raise 3 16–20
Seated Calf Raise 4 16–20
(calves together)

146 FLEX | february ’14

 MAXIMIZE
MASS
&
STRENGTH ™
™

Team Beast Athlete

TM

Brandan Fokken

AVAILABLE AT

/BEASTSPORTS
/BEASTSPORTS
© 1995 - 2014 Beast Sports Nutrition. All Rights Reserved
Y3T
WeeK 3

Back and Biceps

EXERCISE SETS REPS
Standing Dumbbell Row, both 4 15-20
hands, arms together (warmup)
Thighs and Hamstrings
Standing Dumbbell Row 2 (dropsets) 18–25 per drop
EXERCISE SETS REPS
Lat Pulldown (wide-grip) 2 18–25
Squat (warmup) 3 15–20 superset with Lat Pulldown
(narrow-grip)
Squat 3 20–25
superset with Leg Extension 3 14–18 Rack Pull 2 20–25
Leg Press (wide stance) 3 40–50 Hammer High-lever Pulldown 2 20–25
superset with Lunge 3 20–25 per leg
Seated Dumbbell Curl (warmup)
Lying Leg Curl (warmup) 3 15–20
Seated Dumbbell Curl 3 (dropsets) 20–25 per drop
Lying Leg Curl 3 20–25 per drop
Standing EZ-curl Bar Curl 3 (dropsets) 20–25 per drop
Stif-leg Deadlift 3 (dropsets) 15–20 per drop
Shoulders and Calves
Chest and Triceps
Seated Dumbbell Press (warmup)
Incline Dumbbell Press (warmup) 4 15–20
Seated Dumbbell Press 3 20–25
Incline Dumbbell Press 3 15–20 superset with
superset with Incline Dumbbell Flye Dumbbell Lateral Raise

Cable Crossover 3 (dropsets) 15–20 per drop Wide-grip Upright Row 3 18–25
pavel yThjall; Tauseef asri

superset with
Smith Machine Press 3 (dropsets) 15–20 per drop Standing Straight-arm Plate Raise
Seated Dumbbell Extension (warmup) 3 15–20 Dumbbell Bentover Lateral Raise 3 (dropsets) 18–25 per drop
Seated Dumbbell Extension 3 20–25 per drop Standing Calf Raise (warmup) 3 15–20
Lying EZ-curl Bar Skull Crusher 3 20–25 Standing Calf Raise 2 (dropsets) 20–30 per drop
superset with EZ-curl Bar Press As many reps as
(close-grip, and with the same weight) possible Seated Calf Raise 2 (dropsets) 20–30 per drop

148 FLEX | february ’14

FLeX LeWis MeAL PLAN & sUPPLeMeNTATiON PrOTOCOL

MEAL 1 (45 MINUTES BEFORE TRAINING) MEAL 3 MEAL 5

4 oz oats (dry weight) 1.5 scoops SuperPump Max (30-45 MINUTES AFTER 8 oz turkey
1 whole egg, 5 egg whites POST-WORKOUT SHAKE) 8 oz sweet potato
1 scoop Myofusion Elite 10–15 MINUTES 1 whole egg 3 oz green beans
100g low-fat bio (live) yogurt BEFORE TRAINING 5 egg whites
100g banana 1 serving Aminolast 3 oz turkey MEAL 6
½ serving SizeOn 8 oz baked potato 1 serving Gaspari Anavite
10–15 MINUTES AFTER MEAL 1 1 serving Gaspari Anavite 3 oz green beans 1 slice whole-grain toast
1 serving Anavite 1 serving Gaspari Detonate XT 4 walnuts 1 tsp peanut butter
Omelet (9 egg whites)
MEAL 2 IMMEDIATELY POST-WORKOUT MEAL 4
pavel yThjall

8 oz salmon 2 scoops Glycofuse 8 oz lean steak MEAL 7

8 oz sweet potato 1 scoop Aminolast 2 oz rice (dry weight) 2 Scoops Myofusion Elite
3 oz broccoli 2 scoops Isofusion 3 oz broccoli 2 oz oats (dry weight)
2 oz pineapple ½ serving SizeOn 3 walnuts FLEX

150 FLEX | february ’14

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 BY DAVE LEE

Our most memorable moments from last year

PAVEL YTHJALL(3)

■ Fresh off his runner-up fnish at the 2012 Mr. Olympia, Kai Greene offers 10 tips on how to build a
championship-caliber back. Greene explores every conceivable factor, from warming up and exercise
selection to performance and his unique mental approach to training. With so many tools in his box, it’s no
wonder the Predator has a back that many consider to be one of the best in the world.

156 FLEX | february ’14

 ■ Striking the same pose made famous
by eight-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney,
then-two-time Mr. O Phil Heath turns
it into one all his own. Heath defended
his title with perfect scores, making the
perceived onstage closeness of his battle
with runner-up Kai Greene a moot point
when all was said and done.

MARCH
■ Ben Pakulski goes
down deep in the
hole with 585 pounds
on his back, and
this is the day aſter
competing in the 2012
Mr. Olympia! In the
months following that
shoot, Pak-Man made
huge strides in upper-
body size to match his
massive lower half,
and in March 2013, he
would go on to place
second at the 2013
Arnold Classic, his
highest contest
placing to date.

FLEXonline.com 157
 ■ Yeah, it’s Heath again. Get used to it! Shot approximately two weeks out from the 2012 Mr. Olympia, Heath is
PAVEL YTHJALL

full and massive with unbelievable width and thickness. There were several to choose from in this one feature
alone, and with more than a few cover-worthy options, it was a tough decision arrived at aſter much back-and-
forth debate among the staff (and a few choice expletives hurled around for good measure).

158 FLEX | february ’14

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Please consult a physician before beginning any diet/ exercise program, particularly if you have a pre-existing medical condition.
 MAY
■ All right, so it didn’t rate a full page and
the centerpiece is, of all things, calves—
surely a muscle that is least likely to be at
the top of anybody’s hit list—but damned if
this isn’t unforgettable. The man attached
to those alien lower limbs is Erik “House”
Fankhouser, famous for his “cows,” even
as an amateur. House spent 2013 working
on improvements for the coming IFBB Pro
League season, so look for his return to
competition soon.

JUNE
■ In the years before Joe Weider, bodybuilding—with all the
negative connotations attached to it—was something you just
didn’t talk about, no matter how much you liked working out.
But Joe believed in his vision of a world, and the people in it,
made better by daily exercise and adherence to his principles
for clean, healthy living—and he had the work ethic to see it
through. Thanks to Joe, gym memberships are now like library
cards (or rather, what library cards used to be before the Inter-
net). The man who started it all passed away on March 23, 2013,
but the Master Blaster’s legacy will continue far into the future,
and for that, we are eternally grateful.

TAUSEEF ASRI;KEVIN HORTON

JUNE
160 FLEX | february ’14
 JULY
■ With the inaugural
212 Olympia Show-
down crown atop his
head, Flex Lewis had
fnally achieved his
dream of ruling
bodybuilding’s lighter
division, a dream that
began when he earned
his pro card at the
2007 British Cham-
pionships. The Welsh
Dragon overcame his
share of trials, most
notably falling to fſth
at the 2009 Olympia
202 Showdown (his
lowest ever in a pro
202 contest) and a
heart-wrenching
loss to Kevin English
in 2011. In this shot,
Lewis shows the
details and den-
sity that helped him
secure his place in
bodybuilding history.

AUGUST
■ Yes, that’s a real dumb-
bell, all 310 pounds of it,
which Matt Kroczaleski
does for double-digit reps!
A former world-class
powerliſter, Kroc turned
his sights to bodybuilding,
hoping to earn a pro card at
last year’s NPC Nationals.
But that didn’t stop him
from heaving Herculean
TAUSEEF ASRI; CARMINE GROE

amounts of weight
for this shoot, courtesy
of MuscleTech.

162 FLEX | february ’14

 2005

2007
2009

2011

PAVEL YTHJALL; INSETS: KEVIN HORTON(3); BILL COMSTOCK

■ Again, with so many to choose from, this decision took some deliberation, but we fnally arrived at
this one because not only does it show the incredible back that won the Mr. Olympia, it also shows the
progression Heath made from an amateur to his current status as the best bodybuilder in the known
universe. As evidenced by the photos, Heath’s back went from shallow and narrow to thick and wide, with
unparalleled detail and separation (not to mention his deeply carved hamstrings, glutes, and calves). His
rear double biceps pose is now among the best the sport has ever seen, and with Heath only 34 years old
SEPTEMBER here, it’s frightening to see what he has in store for the future.

164 FLEX | february ’14

 ER
OCTOB
■ 2013 proved to be
a breakthrough year
for Roelly Winklaar.
The Beast parted
ways with longtime
coach Sibil Peeters
(Grandma) and did
his own contest prep.
The result was a win
at the Chicago Pro (his
third pro title) and a
seventh-place fnish
at the Mr. Olympia,
his highest to date.
In this shot, Winklaar
shows off the chest
striations, delt round-
ness, and inhuman
arm development he
is known for.

NOVEMBER
■ Elder statesmen
Dennis “The Menace”
James and Toney “The
X-Man” Freeman have
competed in a combined
total of 90 IFBB contests
(at the time of this arti-
cle). Both 47-year-olds
show they still have what
GREGORY JAMES; CHARLES LOWTHIAN.COM

it takes in this photo

shoot the day aſter the
2012 Masters Olympia
(Freeman fnished sec-
ond; James, third). James
is a trainer-nutritionist
to several IFBB pros,
and Freeman, well, he’s
still going strong, most
recently having placed
seventh at the Arnold
Classic Europe and sixth
at the EVLS Prague Pro.

166 FLEX | february ’14

168
FLEX | february ’14
■ With so many great physique shots to choose from (all the mandatory poses, comparisons, the posedown, etc.), we went with the one that captured the exhilara-
tion of victory—and the pain of defeat—as the winner of the 2013 Mr. Olympia was announced to the largest audience to ever attend a pro bodybuilding contest. The
Heath vs. Greene rivalry erupted onstage, with both combatants hurling words at each other and trying to elbow the other out of position. Make no mistake about
it, the animosity between these two is real and their over-the-top display electrifed the already-frenzied crowd, making this one of the most exciting and memorable
DECEMBER Mr. Olympias in history. FLEX

ISAAC HIND
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©2013 CytoSport, Inc. Benicia, CA 94510 USA or diagnose any disease.
BY NICOLE ADAMO
PHOTOGRAPHS BYPER BERNAL
170 FLEX | february ’14
 Heir to the Hart dynasty,
WWE Diva Natalya is
undeniably a tough girl,
but with her new
reality role on E! Total
Divas we’ve come to
know that what really
makes her so fascinat-
ing is her powerhouse
skills in the ring—which
prove that she’s not just
another pretty face

BY NATURE
FLEXonline.com 171
 A WhoLe
LoT oF hART
With a powerhouse
combination of
brains, beauty, and
undeniable skill, this
diva not only hails
from a long line of
WWE superstars
but also holds her
own in the ring. The
frst girl to prove
she can hang with
the big boys in the
famous “Dungeon,”
Natalie Neidhart
came out of the
womb dropping her
signature move, the
Sharpshooter, on
the world. She was
the middle child and
defnitely the enter-
tainer of the three
girls in her family.
Her grandfather,
uncle, and father
set the standard for
what it meant to be
a part of the Hart
dynasty and she has

certainly done everything to far exceed those

“I think that experience
made me a survivor. It
taught me who I am…Only
the strong survive the
dungeon. It was literally all
blood, sweat, and tears.”
expectations. “Being in the WWE is part of
my blood,” she says. “It’s very important to
me. It’s very much a part of who I am.” As
a young kid she knew her life’s goals. “I re-
member when my dad won his frst tag-team
championship, he brought the title home,
and my sister and I grabbed it and had our
own wrestling match with it, she recalls. “It’s
so funny to think about those times. Growing
up around it made me want to do it.”

172 FLEX | february ’14

The Dungeon
If you don’t know about the Hart dungeon,
it’s exactly what it sounds like. It was a dark,
damp, and dreary room with one tiny little
window in the basement of Naty’s grandfa-
ther’s (the iconic Stu Hart) house. Before he
owned that home it was a hospital, and the
dungeon was the crematorium. After it be-
came the Dungeon it was notorious for being
the most intense training room in the world
of athletics. Natalya wrestled
grown men down there during
her training. There were no ropes,
just walls. Only the greatest in
wrestling history went through
the Dungeon, and Naty was
the frst female to ever do so.
“I think that experience made
me a survivor. It taught me who
I am. I knew that if I could survive
down there with all men, and
persevere, there was nothing in
my life I couldn’t get through. Only
the strong survive the dungeon. It
“I’m never was literally all blood, sweat, and
going to be tears,” she recalls of her experi-
a Barbie doll ence. Basically, unless you’ve got
a really good chiropractor, you
and I don’t do not want to get near Naty in
want to be.” the ring, because once she’s got
you in her signature Sharpshooter
move, it’s game over.
FLEXonline.com 173
nATTie BY
nuMBeRS
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 135 lbs
Age: 31
Place of Birth:
Calgary, Alberta
Current Residence:
Tampa, FL
WWE Debut:
April 4, 2008
Signature Move:
Sharpshooter
Career Highlights:
Divas Champion

174 FLEX | february ’14

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noThing BuT nATY
As one of the most popular, if not the most
popular WWE Diva, Naty believes that what
makes each individual girl beautiful is being
comfortable in her own skin. What makes her
a knockout and a standout among
her competition is her
security in who she is
and the confdence she
emits both in and out of
“Everything
the ring. I have, I’ve
“For me, I’m never
going to be a Barbie
earned it.
doll and I don’t want to I go in the
be,” she proclaims. “My
legs are strong because
ring with
I’ve worked hard for confdence
them. Everything I have,
I’ve earned it. I go in the because I
ring with confdence
because I know that
know that
I can go in to kick ass, I can go
take names, and not
have to apologize for
in to kick
it.” Sure, she believes ass, take
it to be situational for
each diva, and with
names, and
such a diverse group of not have to
girls the competition
is tough, but what she apologize
says separates her from
the rest is knowing not
for it.”
only what makes her
special but also her imperfections and being
able to accept and own them: “I like knowing
that people around the world look at me and
say, ‘You know what? I’m not perfect either,
that’s why I like Naty. She’s not perfect nor
does she pretend to be.’ ”

176 FLEX | february ’14 ’11

WWe DiVAS
Never having thought she would ever see
herself on a reality show, Naty says that E!
Total Divas was a way for her to really let all
of the walls down. The show was a game
changer for her, and knowing that people
would fnally get to see it all was what made
it so easy to allow cameras into her everyday
life. Everybody has a story and the experi-
ences the girls go through on this show teach
them the most valuable of life lessons. Being
a part of the cast was a really great form
of motivation, and her family and husband
inspired her more than ever, but Naty found
true inspiration in WWE superstar Triple H.
His balance between family, running the
company, and having a personal life has
helped her to stay hungry for success. “Triple
H reinforced that just because I’ve been in
the industry doesn’t mean I’m an old dog
that can’t learn new tricks,” she says. “He
reminded me to keep having new goals—and
just when you think you’ve done it all, you
have to keep going and fnd new things to
take on.”

ChASing SuCCeSS
Constantly pushing herself to grow, Naty
feels that her defnition of success is
something that changes daily. The goals she
had 10 years ago, fve years ago, or even six
months ago are so diferent from the ones
she has today and will have in the future,
although she says a few standards remain:
“I’m always fnding ways to continue to move
forward in my life. My career is a huge part
of my life. Balance is a huge part of my life.
Challenging myself is a huge part of my life
as well. My happiness is centered around
never accepting less than my personal best
and that’s something that I’ll never change
about myself.” Her constant need to outdo
herself in every aspect of her life is what
makes her the powerhouse diva we’ve all
come to know, love, and respect. FLEX

“My happiness
is centered
around never
accepting
less than my
personal best
and that’s
something
that I’ll never
change about
myself.”

178 FLEX | february ’14 ’11


The torch is passed to Kevin Jordan when
he wins the 2013 NPC Nationals
n There are two types of
overall NPC Nationals
winners: those who go on to
great success in the IFBB Pro
League (examples: Lee Haney,
Shawn Ray, Kevin Levrone)
and those whose bodybuilding
careers peaked the night they
won the ultimate American
amateur title (examples: Paul
DeMayo, Aaron Maddron, Chris
Cook). The jury is still out re-
garding recent champs, but the
last Nationals overall winner to
make the Olympia top six was
Toney Freeman, who won the
Nats in 2002. In terms of quan-
tity, the USA Championships
victors have fared even worse.
Only one of the last 14 has made
an Olympia top six: three-time
Mr. O Phil Heath.
All of which is to say there’s
a daunting, and for most
insurmountable, distance
between the summits of
amateur bodybuilding and
the highest reaches of the pro
ranks. Most who climb to the
former never approach the
latter, even if they have long
and admirable pro careers.
And yet, each November at the
Nationals, hope springs eternal.
180 FLEX | februArY ’14
by GreG Merritt
isaac HiNDs
photographs by
Of the 173 male competitors at
the 32nd NPC Nationals in Fort
Lauderdale, FL, on Nov. 22–23,
14 of them (the top two fnishers
in all seven weight classes)
earned the right to advance to
the IFBB Pro League. But only
one of them took home the
biggest trophy.
After a convincing
heavyweight win, 32-year-old
Kevin Jordan defeated the six
other class victors for the overall
title. Afterward, he was unsure
when he’d make his professional
debut as he acknowledged the
giant leap in quality he’ll face.
“I’m starting right back at the
bottom, so I’m ready to get
back working,” Jordan stated.
“I’m more motivated now than
ever. My legs are a weak part
I need to bring up. I want to
pound my legs and back. I want
to be competitive. I don’t want
to compete as a pro just to be
onstage. I want to be able to
make my mark.” Kevin Jordan
is heir to a tradition of amateur
excellence. But whether his
Nationals title is the peak of
his career or just an early step
toward a much higher summit is
yet to be determined.
BANTAMWEIGHT
n “Great balance”—that’s
the note I wrote beside
David Nguyen’s name
at the 2013 USA
Championships
when he was
smooth and placed
a distant ninth in
the bantamweight
contest. It’s a rarity
in a class that tops off
at 143 pounds to see a
competitor with proportional
development. Most have
lagging legs or backs or
both. But Louisianan
Nguyen is the rare
bantam with the
top-to-bottom
proportions of
a winning light-
heavyweight. He was
too smooth at the BANTAMWEIGHT
USA, but at the Nats
he brought in enough DAvID
cuts for an easy NguyeN
victory in the 12-man 1. David Nguyen
bantam division. 2. James Shumpert
Grabbing the second 3. Carlos Rodriguez
pro card after five 4. Martin Burger
years of trying was 5. Rafael Campuzano
Washingtonian James
Shumpert, who
sported impressive ab
and quad separation.

2 | JaMeS ShuMpeRt 3 | CaRloS RodRiguez 4 | MaRtin BuRgeR 5 | RAFAeL CAmPUzAno

182 FLEX | februArY ’14

LIGHTWEIGHT

DAmIoN
RicKetts

2 | mARTAe RUeLAS 3 | LeoN DozIeR

LIGHTWEIGHT

4 | LUIS moReNo 5 | WAyNe SALAS

1. Damion Ricketts
2. Martae Ruelas n The difference between the 12 bantams and the 22 lightweights seemed greater in terms of
3. leon dozier added density than the 11 pounds of the respective class limits. Case in point was winner Damion
4. luis Moreno Ricketts. This Georgian had sweeping quads, vertical blind hamstrings, and high-def delts. Back width was
5. Wayne Salas his only deficiency. In contrast, Phoenix’s Martae Ruelas had the widest back in the class and the densest
calves, as well. He lacked the quad quantity and fine detailing of Ricketts, but he nevertheless held off 20
competitors to punch his ticket to the Pro League.

184 FLEX | februArY ’14

n edward Foster
had been entering
pro qualifers for
eight years. Finally,
at 46, he came out
on top of a weight
division. It was an
easy call, because
the 5'4" Foster was
the leanest com-
petitor in Fort Lau-
derdale. His arms,
quads, and inner
traps were snaked
with veins, and his
spinal erectors were
like stacked domi-
noes. In contrast to
Foster’s graini-
ness, Alfredo
Prince ap-
peared slightly
smooth.
Nevertheless,
Prince sported
an aesthetic
collection of
round parts. His
front lat spread 1. edward Foster
stood out, 2. alfredo prince
displaying an 3. armando aman
X-frame of 4. denver Smith
broad shoul- 5. theodore atkins Jr.
ders, narrow
hips, and curved
outer quads.

186 FLEX | februArY ’14

 n on paper, this 30-man class
looked to be a battle of the USA
runner-ups. Both Danny Hester
(welterweight) and Chuck Williams
(middleweight) had been second
1. thomas Anderson
at the USA four months earlier. But
2. danny hester
this time, the compact Williams
3. Fraijan texidor
was a bit off, especially from
4. Chuck Williams
behind. That allowed the wider,
5. Michael Mannai
leaner newcomer Fraijan Texidor to
move ahead of him in third. A pro
card had been a long time coming
for 44-year-old Hester. How long?
188 FLEX | februArY ’14
Twenty-one years ago, he was
the fourth-place lightweight at
the NPC Nationals. Appropriately,
his classical physique, which he
displays with artful poses, still
looks like one from a much earlier
era. He stands out in today’s
bodybuilding lineups by valuing
aesthetics over shock value. Now,
after toiling so long in the NPC,
this Californian wants to see if he
can get noticed in Pro League 212
contests, as well.
Unlike Hester, no one had
noticed Thomas Anderson before
this weekend. He had failed to
crack the top 15 in his only other pro
qualifier. That said, Anderson was
the biggest surprise of the contest.
He sported the best wheels and
abs among the middlemen, and his
conditioning was crisp. Anderson
will need more delt and back meat
for the 212 division, but he proved in
Fort Lauderdale he can deliver the
cuts and upset expectations.
LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT ChRIS
tuttle
n There was a lot of potential
on display in this division.
Newcomers Kyle Wheeler (fourth)
and Devin Farrow (ffth) need to
keep flling out, and thus may grow
into the heavy class. Wheeler, in
particular, has an excellent frame
to build on. His front lat spread was
superb. In his second year at this
level, Georgian Arthur Reed also
seems a safe bet for a future pro
card. He needs more delts and a bit
more overall density, but his quads
were deeply separated and his
hands-on-hips most muscular was
the best in the class.
At the top, the light-heavy
division was a two-man race with
just one point separating the
winner from the runner-up. This
was Lorenzo Jones’ seventh
Nationals dating back to
2002. The conditioning
of the 46-year-old was
a bit blurry and his left
biceps looked torn,
but he had enough
size, especially in
his quads, to fnally
exit the NPC. In LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT
contrast, this was
Chris Tuttle’s frst year
trying to qualify for the
pro league. His pleasing
shape got noticed fast, 1. chris tuttle
especially when he struck 2. lorenzo Jones
his wide-shouldered front 3. arthur Reed
lat spread. He’ll need 4. Kyle Wheeler
more mass to impact 5. devin Farrow
the 212 division. But that
prescription doesn’t
include Tuttle’s delts—
they’re already pro quality.

2 | LoReNzo JoNeS 3 | ARThUR ReeD 4 | kyLe WheeLeR 5 | DevIN FARRoW

190 FLEX | februArY ’14

HEAVYWEIGHT
KeviN
JoRDAN
n With 36 competitors, the heavy class was
the largest of the contest. In four previous
Nationals over the past decade, Jermaine
HEAVYWEIGHT Bell had never even cracked a top 10. But the
35-year-old displayed enough density this time
for the top five. Like Bell, Erik Ramirez competed
for a long time without making an impact
1. Kevin Jordan nationally. His conditioning was on point, and
2. Brad Rowe he was properly rewarded with an attention-
3. Matt Burzacott grabbing fourth. Coming off his second-place
4. erik Ramirez finish at the USA, many figured Iowa’s Matt
5. Jermaine Bell Burzacott would go pro this time. But he wasn’t
as crisp as he was four months earlier, and with
his large frame and full muscle bellies he may
fare better filling out and joining the super-
heavies next time.
192 FLEX | februArY ’14
Two physiques stood out in this class. Brad
Rowe had suffered several disappointing
placings since his third at the 2011 Nats. His
legs have long outshined his upper body. This
time, his two halves looked to be in balance,
and he delivered the cuts, as well. His front
and rear lat spreads were particularly strong.
If he chooses to come down to the 212 division,
Rowe could have an impact at the next level.
Kevin Jordan makes a striking first impression.
Standing relaxed, he showcases one of the best
shoulder-to-waist differentiae in bodybuilding.
His arms and delts have been pro quality since
he won the 2011 Jr. Nationals. He’ll need to
bring his legs and back up for the Pro League,
but his potential remains immense.
 n The biggest story in the
unlimited division was who
wasn’t there. Going into the show
Nick Trigili was the overwhelming
favorite. He had even engaged in
an online battle of words with
Kevin Jordan regarding who would
take the overall. But with only two
weeks to go, 26-year-old Trigili
pulled out because of “unforeseen
circumstances.” Coupled with
the fact that there were only 19
1. Ryan Pateracki competitors (15 fewer than in
2. Joel thomas 2012), Trigili’s absence opened up
3. Matthew evans the super-heavy class top fve to
4. Franklin Stinson some fresh faces. That quintet was
5. Sven Maldonado a tale of two halves, with only one
point separating the top two from
each other and, clearly on a lower
echelon, only three points separat-
ing third place from ffth.
196 FLEX | februArY ’14
Sven Maldonado displayed a lot
of thickness in the front and side
shots, but his back lagged and he
needed to be drier. Similarly, Franklin
Stinson was thick but lacked the
separation and fne details that
stamp a bodybuilder pro-card-
worthy. In contrast, Matt Evans
delivered enough cuts to (barely)
distinguish himself from Maldonado
and Stinson on score sheets, and his
abundant delts, lats, and abs won
him some shots. Still, Evans will
need to fll out his long legs to join
his training partner, Brad Rowe, in
the Pro League.
After a couple of disappointing
years as a heavyweight, Joel Thomas
wisely moved up to the unlimited
division. Of the 173 male bodybuild-
ers, he displayed the most mass from
calves to traps. With his full arms and
legs, his side tri was the strongest in
the show. Thomas surely would’ve
erased the one-point defcit to Ryan
Pateracki if he could’ve matched the
latter’s conditioning. But he couldn’t.
Pateracki was that rarest of big-
game sightings: a shredded super-
heavy. In the crucial rear double bi,
his spinal erectors splintered into a
Christmas tree, his inner traps were
like spaghetti, and his hamstrings
divided with deep ravines. He carried
an impressive display of density, as
well, with one exception: his torn
right biceps. His arm asymmetry
previously held him back, but in the
best shape of his life, he got the one-
point decision over Thomas. Look for
a future rematch between these two
Floridians on a pro stage. FleX
 PHOTOGRAPHS
BY ISAAC HINDS

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Class E
1. Janet Layug
Overall Winner
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FOUAD ABIAD
IS HIS OWN
BIGGEST CRITIC.
■ You’ll never catch him
resting on his laurels or
grumbling about how much
better he looked than the
competition. On the contrary,
he picks apart his poses from
every angle and dissects every
weakness. Most people would
consider placing second behind
top Olympia contender Victor
Martinez a pretty good showing.
But second place at the 2013 To-
ronto Pro Supershow crushed his
spirits so badly that he decided
to wrap up his 2013 competition
plans and instead devise a plan
of attack for his of-season. “I’m
pretty honest about how I look.
I’m not a delusional bodybuilder.
I’m hard on myself,” he admits.
His goal this of-season: to add
quality muscle. “I normally
compete at about 250 pounds,
but to really make an impact I
need to compete at 265. When I
go back to the Olympia I’ll be in
the Top 10,” he declares.

204 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

 BY ANITA NIKOLICH
PHOTOGRAPHS BY GUY CAMERON

FLEXonline.com 205
SCIENCE OR BRO-SCIENCE?
The Windsor, Ontario, native espouses the
virtues of experience and self-awareness
over the latest nutrition and training trends,
with scientific bases that require evidence.
“As your bodybuilding career progresses,
you have to employ some techniques based
on science; but these guys who are just be-
ginning are really overthinking things,” Abiad
says. “My advice to people just starting out is
to train heavy, eat every two to three hours,
and see where your body goes in the first six
months. But they want a magic formula to
get around hard work.”
bodybuilders have done as they refine their have an understanding that their workout
diets and training.” needs constant focus. “Whomever I lift
In the same vein, Abiad trains by instinct. with knows what we’re doing that day—we
It’s a skill well honed after 15 years of lifting don’t need to talk a lot,” he says. Listen-
and competing. If he’s feeling particularly ing to music allows him to focus on the
energetic, he might do giant sets. If he’s tired, muscle contraction. He contends that the
he’s cautious about not pushing himself and mind-to-muscle connection is particularly
risking injury. He listens to his body. important for chest, which can easily
However, he’s quick to point out that devolve into more of a shoulder workout
when starting a training plan, you sometimes if not done properly—something he points
have to push beyond your self-imposed out several times as he describes how to
limits. His average chest workout takes no execute the movements.
more than an hour,
or an hour and 15 ■ Abiad’s workout split changes throughout the year. If he
THE SPLIT

One of his pet peeves is the buzz around minutes if he adds notices a lagging body part, he trains it twice a week. However,
the latest fashionable diet movement in triceps that day. he cautions against going all out on that lagging body part two
bodybuilding, IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros), His workouts are times in a week because you’ll do more harm than good. Though
which is based on eating a set amount of fast but extremely he doesn’t think there’s such a thing as overtraining, that body part
calories per day regardless of the number of intense, with little may not recover in time for the next workout, thus defeating the
purpose of the split.
meals. “These guys are telling me it’s a myth room for socializing. Instead, he advocates doing either one heavy day and one
that you need to eat every two to three hours Even if he trains with isolation day, or one free weight day and one cable day if you’re
because some study told them so,” Abiad a partner (often trying to bring up a weak point. Writing down your exact plan for
says. “There have been days where I’m not fellow Canadian pro the month is advisable,
hungry and have eaten only two to three Frank McGrath or up- because that way you can
and-coming national balance the types of exercises ABIAD’S TRAINING SPLIT
meals. I can tell you that my workout the
next day sufers.” competitor Dorian you do for that split and assess MONDAY Back and Hamstrings
whether or not it worked as TUESDAY
He recites several techniques bodybuilders Hamilton), both Triceps
planned.
use that have been adopted by mainstream wear headphones In preparation for the 2014 New WEDNESDAY Shoulders
dieters but aren’t yet proven scientific fact: and get right down York Pro, Abiad currently trains THURSDAY Legs
eating smaller meals several times a day, to business after chest and triceps on separate
FRIDAY Chest
such as doing cardio on an empty stomach stretching out. days once per week. He talked
first thing in the morning, eating more pro- Abiad and his me through the proper technique SATURDAY Biceps and Calves
tein for weight loss. “Science is based on trial longtime training for some of the exercises and SUNDAY Of
and error,” he says, “which is exactly what partner Paul Lauzon explained why he chose them.

206 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

■ One of Abiad’s go-to mass
builders, this is always done first
in his chest routine. Because he
goes extremely heavy, he advises
doing at least two warmup sets
with high reps—up to 20—to
get the blood flowing into the
triceps, chest, and shoulders,
all of which are used in this
exercise. Once warmed up, he
does three sets of 8–10 reps,
maintaining careful control both
up and down. This is one exercise
where he advises using a training
partner or spotter to help you
go heavy while still remaining in
control of the weight.

ABIAD’S CHEST WORKOUT NO. 1

EXERCISE SETS REPS
Flat Dumbbell 2 (warmup) 20
Press* 3 8–10
Hammer 1 (warmup) 20
Strength 3 6–8

HAMMER STRENGTH Incline Press*

Smith 1 (warmup) 20

INCLINE PRESS
■ “I see people—even pros—doing this wrong all the time. You have to sit down on the
Machine
Bench Press
with Bands
3 8–10

seat and not arch your back,” Abiad stresses. Although it’s a machine, the little adjustments Decline Bench 4 8–10
can quickly shif it from a chest exercise to one for the shoulders. “Guys put the seat really Press
low, slide their butt forward, arch their back, then come of the seat to press—doing all that
is a really bad combination,” he says. Proper form entails keeping your back flat up against Cable 4 12–15
the pad, moving the seat up a little higher than you think, keeping your butt on the seat, and Crossover
incorporating your abs to start pressing using only the chest. NOTE: Abiad rests 60 seconds between sets.
*Pictured

208 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

PEC DECK
ABIAD’S CHEST WORKOUT NO. 2
EXERCISE SETS REPS
■ This is another exercise Bench Press 2 (warmup) 20
for which Abiad stresses 5 8–20
impeccable form. “The most
important thing is to avoid
Decline 3 8
leaning forward like you’re do- Bench Press
ing a ‘most muscular.’ Keep your
back flat and chest up, take a Pec Deck* 4 12–15
deep breath, and only move NOTE: Abiad rests 60 seconds between sets.
*Pictured
the machine using your chest,”
he advises. Move the seat up or
down and change the handle
position to where you can go
back as far as comfortable, with
the chest stretched to its limit
but not to where it’s straining
the shoulders. Your hands need
to have a medium grip—
neither too high nor too low on
the handles or, again,
you risk working the shoulders
or triceps versus the
chest. The arms should be as
straight as possible. On
the last set or two—once he’s
burnt out on perfect form—he’ll
have a partner help him with
cheat reps to failure,
leaning forward to keep the
weight moving.

■ One of the few powerlifing techniques Abiad’s employed is

■ Abiad has never given up this standard
chest exercise, despite what’s said about it
harming your shoulders—which he believes is
a myth. “It’s stupid to not do these,” he says.
“You can get injured on any exercise if you
don’t do it right.” He warms up for two sets,
then does descending sets of 20 down to 8,
always wrapping his hand fully around the
bar, never doing a thumbless grip. He never
benches powerlifting-style, with the back
arched and butt of the bench; and he does
at least six reps with good form.
the use of resistance bands on various exercises. Periodically he
adds them to bench presses and close-grip bench presses on the Smith
machine.
As with the rest of his training, good form is critical. He describes
how he loops each end of the band on either side of the bar and under
the bench, creating more resistance as he pushes through the exercise.
Powerlifters use them to build lockout strength; as you move down
there’s less resistance, but trying to hold the top of the exercise requires
more strength than does just lifting the weight alone.
As a bodybuilder, Abiad uses the increased resistance to create
constant tension on the muscle while pushing up. It’s virtually impossible to cheat on this and
it makes even a plate or two seem heavy. “I don’t use superheavy ones,” he says. “The ones I
use are almost like a rehab band, rated to about 30 pounds of resistance, which is more
than enough.”
Since not every gym has the proper bench setup for adding bands, the alternate way is to
do bench presses on the Smith machine with bands.

210 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

 CLOSE-GRIP
■ This is one of Abiad’s least favorite exercises, but one that’s put a lot of size on
his arms. “I get a better feel for my triceps on this, even though I’m not a big fan of it,”
he says, reiterating his principle that sometimes the best exercises for you are the ones

BENCH PRESS you like the least. He also uses the Smith machine and resistance bands—a technique
he definitely isn’t a fan of, but one he’s found to build mass like no other.

SKULL
CRUSHER
■ Abiad varies his grip and posi-
tion for this exercise. He alternates
between performing the exercise
on a flat bench, a decline bench, an
incline bench, and even standing
up. Asked whether this hurts his
elbows—a claim you hear from
many pro bodybuilders who’ve
done this for years—he says, “If I do
them lying down, I make sure the
bar comes down behind my head. If
I bring the bar down to my nose, my
elbows are strained too much.” He
really likes doing them on a decline
bench with a spotter handing him
the bar because it puts the stress
right where he wants it—solely on
the triceps.

212 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

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 ABIAD’S TRICEPS WORKOUT
EXERCISE SETS REPS
Skull Crusher 3 12
Close-grip 3 12
Bench Press
Cable Pushdown 4 10
NOTE: Abiad rests 60 seconds between sets.

■ Don’t get stuck doing just the exercises you like.

■ Asked about what constitutes good form on these, he
admits that it depends on the person. “Jay Cutler does them with
his elbows out,” he says. “I have to keep my elbows in and my
nose behind the cable while I push straight down.” The one thing
in common for everyone doing this exercise is the importance of
keeping the shoulders back. Hunching over trying to do heavy
weight will make it an exercise for shoulders, not triceps. FLEX
If there’s an exercise you like doing, you’ve probably
already maxed out on it and need a new one.
■ Hit as many angles as possible for a muscle group:
declines, inclines, flat, standing.
■ Train weak body parts twice a week, but make only
one a heavy day.
■ Eat every two to three hours whether or not you’re hungry.
■ Write down your workout plan before hitting the gym.

214 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

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 CHRIS LUND

218 FLEX | february ’14

 BY DAVID SANDLER

Punish your puny pencil legs and promote wheel size

■ are you tired of making excuses for your lagging legs? Are you the
guy wearing track pants in the gym when it’s 100 degrees and not because
you’re trying to burn excess fat? Don’t answer that. It’s time to stop whining
and man up. Give those pins some much-needed attention like you do your
chest. You can’t build freaky quads if you don’t work them. Those tiny little
branches connected to your knees need to ripen and flower, rather than continually
be referred to as a delivery system for sushi (aka chopsticks). It’s time to get raw, to
go back to basics, and do some old-school, heavy-duty leg work.
a little kinesiology muscles, not including your ankles, stop there. Since many lower-body
There’s a lot to understand as to feet, and lower back, and you have muscles span two joints, they play a
why you may be having trouble a pretty large task facing you to role on each joint and are involved in
building solid legs. The biomechan- activate, train, and enlarge every- both isolated and multijoint move-
ics of lower-body movement in thing down there in a specific way to ments. For example, your main quad
terms of efciency, strength, speed, make your legs look huge. There’s a muscle, the rectus femoris, works
and power production come in to lot of competition between muscle across the hip and knee on the front
play along with the physiology groups and individual muscles for (anterior) side of your body. This
of activation to get the muscles activation bragging rights. You need partially explains that they some-
actually growing. There are simply to corner the melee and build some times don’t fire during certain por-
some mechanical things that you team unity. tions of the squat movement and
just can’t get around, and when Quads have four muscles, hence why some good leg extensions may
you do, you take the emphasis of the name. The hamstrings and help your ailing legs. Several muscles
the targeted muscles, making an glutes have three if you’re count- in the body need to be attacked in
exercise pointless. Thus the specific ing, and your calves have two. Who a few diferent exercises to ensure
technique for each exercise may cares? You should. That means they’re completely blitzed. And this
vary by your desired outcome. The that you need at least four good is just the beginning. But rather then
rules of engagement need to be fully quad building exercises, three good send you to school or have you read
understood to maximize mechani- hamstring exercises, a couple of the umpteen thousands of scientific
cal potential. Bring in the anatomy calf variations, and, if you care journals that, sufce it to say, I have,
of 41 plus (it’s a long story but not about your glutes, well you need to we take this in to account for you,
everyone is truly identical) pairs of isolate them as well. But it doesn’t and deliver this program.

FLEXonline.com 219
Want mass?
Build strength,
then shape
If I had a dime for every time
someone said, “You have to
squat,” I would be…well, you
know. Hell, I practically invented
the saying “Squats are king,” as
I have been saying it since the because your entire body needs designed to concentrate on mass mass, and then shapes it out so
’80s (OK, it was probably coined to brunt the load during the and shape after strength is built. that you can actually see a few
some time in the ’70s, during the beastly movement. But for build- Without a solid strength base, cuts: the three S’s: strengthers,
Arnold era; you get my point). ing big quads, they alone, are mass and size are merely words sizers, and shapers, and the ex-
But I bet my reasoning for squats not the best exercise. They’ll be of pleasant platitude that few ercises are broken up by the end
is diferent than most. It is king required in the long run to help actually reach. result. You’ll need all three to
because it requires the sum of you hoist the monster weights For big legs, and matching get a leg up on your competition.
all the mighty forces needed you’ll use in some of your other calves—I only really consider The table below will help you
to be strong. And thus, it is the exercises though, and thus once legs that possess big quads and organize your lifts and match
strength exercise. But most guys again, they are king in my pro- calves as true mass monsters— them up to your program. This is
CHRIS LUND

would have you believe that you grams. But the meat of the issue you need to stage your training not an exhaustive list but should
need them because they make lies in some of the other fne- over a period time that builds give you an idea of where the
you big. Sure they do, big all over, tuning exercises, so this routine is strength, adds the heavy-duty rest of the exercises could ft.

220 FLEX | february ’14

 PurPose: strength
EXERCISE TARGET MUSCLES
Squat Glutes, quads
Deadlift Quads, glutes,
lower back
Lying Hamstrings, glutes
Leg Curl
Standing Calves (gastrocs)
Calf Raise

PurPose: siZe
EXERCISE TARGET MUSCLES
Leg Press Glutes, quads
Smith Quads
Machine
Squat
Straight-leg Hams, glutes,
Deadlift lower back

“you need to Donkey

Calf Raise
Calves (gastrocs,
soleus)
stage your
training over a PurPose: shapers
period oF time EXERCISE TARGET MUSCLES
that builds Hack Squat Quads
strength, adds Leg Quads
the heavy- Extension

duty mass, then Seated

Leg Curl
Hamstrings

shapes it out Seated Soleus (calves)

so that you can Calf Raise
actually see a Glute Glutes
few cuts.” Extension
PAVEL YTHJALL
 “you’ll be
hitting legs twice a
week on their own.
Just the legs, no abs,
nothing else. that
means if you want
the rest of your body
to grow, work it in
around your legs.”
leg up
You may have heard me say this
before: target training is key. Not
just isolating a particular body
part, or trying to isolate a specifc
head of the muscle, but having
a plan that completely attacks
your legs and leaves nothing on
the table, is a must. It takes more
than just doing a few squats to
make your legs grow. And doing
a couple sets of calves at the end
of your workout, while seemingly
earnest in attempt, at least to
yourself, will not allow you to
use the “I am genetically limited”
excuse. You have to squat deep.
You have to vary your stance. You
have to add some isolation ex-
ercises. And you have to up your
volume and intensity, session
after session. This program takes
into account that you have other
body parts, but obviously you
have that solved if your lower
body is your weakest link. Oh,
and you need to have some guts.
Or, I mean that you need to have
strong will as you may become
intimate with your guts, or at
least what’s inside them. It’s not
uncommon on this program to
need a trash can, as just when
you think it is time to quit, it
begins to get fun—for all those
watching, that is.
PAVEL YTHJALL; KEVIN HORTON

222 FLEX | february ’14

prioritiZe the legs
This may go without saying, but I
cannot tell you how many times I
am approached and asked how to
make X muscle bigger, only to fnd
that person is training X muscle the
last day of the week as the last ex-
ercise. While legs can hardly be clas-
sifed as a single muscle, if you’re
training your upper body six days a
week, and trying to squeak out your
legs on a double day, it simply ain’t
gonna cut it. For this program to
work, you will be hitting legs twice a
week on their own. Just the legs, no
abs, nothing else. That means if you
want the rest of your body to grow,
work it in around your legs. Below
are three general ways to split up
your weeks to keep the rest of your
body growing while speeding up
your gains made by your wheels.
Series 1 is your best bet. Series 2 for
the full eight weeks could cause
some overtraining, unless you
curbed the volume and intensity on
your Friday and Saturday routines.
Man up, dude, and get yourself in
the weight room!

series 1
Monday Leg Workout 1
Tuesday Chest/triceps
Wednesday Back/biceps
Thursday Leg Workout 2
Friday Shoulders
Saturday Arms

series 2
Monday Leg Workout 1
Tuesday Chest/triceps/abs
Wednesday Back/biceps
Thursday Leg Workout 2
Friday Chest/triceps
Saturday Back/biceps/abs

series 3
Monday Leg Workout 1
Tuesday Chest/triceps
Thursday Leg Workout 2
Friday Back/biceps
Saturday Abs at home

the program
The fastest way to leg growth
is to train them like it’s your job.
This program is designed to take
a full eight weeks, splitting it in
two 4-week segments. During
each phase, you’ll be using two
diferent workouts each week,
attacking the three S’s—strength,
size, and shape. The frst phase is
decidedly more strength-based,
with an additional focus on size,
where the second phase is all size,
leaving you absolutely trashed
and crawling out of the gym on
Thursday evening. Trust me, if you
have a stick-shift car like me, you
may consider buying something
new, borrowing a friend’s, or bet-
ter yet, catching a ride with your
training partner.
224 FLEX | february ’14
In Phase 1, we build that
strength base with the frst day
similar to that of a powerlift-
ing routine. The second leg day
of the week brings in a body-
building-centric workout, which
increases the overall volume
through more sets/reps and
fnishes with a punishing sub-
routine. Phase 2 is all about size.
Both workouts in the week are
littered with hypertrophy-styled
volume, sets, and reps, although
the frst workout in the week
will have some hints of strength
to ensure that nothing is lost.
“the first phase is decidedly
more strength-based, with
an additional focus on size,
where the second phase
is all size, leaving you
absolutely trashed and
crawling out oF the gym
on thursday evening.”
During each workout, you’ll In my books, leg training is not
notice some techniques being complete without ending the
employed such as forced reps, workout with either a Domina-
rest-pause reps, and a slightly tor sequence or a Destroyer
diferent tempo on specifc sequence, two punishing fnish-
exercises. Also within workouts, ing exercise sequences I created
emphasis will be placed on almost two decades ago that
CHRIS LUND
specifc foot positions and bar still has athletes calling me from
placements to maximize the time to time saying “Do you
efect on targeted muscles. remember when…”
 the dominator
It’s a play on time under tension
using the principles of sixes. Each
single set is performed for 6 reps,
using a 6, 6, 6, 6 pattern of lower-
ing, holding, raising, pushing for 6
seconds each. So, Rep 1 takes 6 sec-
onds to lower to the bottom, 6 sec-
onds to hold at the bottom, then
push it back up slowly counting to
6, and holding it JUST SHORT OF
LOCKOUT for 6 more seconds. Then
do it again for 5 more reps. Oh, and
then the other 6 in the mix, is that
reps eccentric hold
6 per set 6 sec. lower 6 sec. hold 6 sec. raise
COURTESY OF WEIDER HEALTH AND FITNESS
ZELLER, © FITNESS PUbLICATIONS, INC.,
you’ll do 6 sets of this as your last
exercise. But I’m nice. I give you 60
seconds before you start again. My
advice, if you start with anything
more than 50% of your normal rep
weight (not your max but normal
lifting weight), bring a trash can
and place it next to your station.
And truthfully, don’t even consider
6 full sets until you have your feet
frmly planted in this routine. A
more realistic approach is to shoot
for 3 sets, then up it to 6 by the end
of the phase.
Concentric hold rest
6 sec. hold 60 sec.
the destroyer
While the Dominator is about
time and a lighter load, the
Destroyer verges on stupidity
with an aroma of delayed onset
muscle soreness (DOMS), and an
execution of ridiculous. This sub
routine or exercise sequence is a
combination of pyramiding sets
and reps with the drop or strip
method of extending sets. I use a
fve-step process for the pyramid,
but of course you can adjust up or
take it to
the psyCh Ward
If you make it through this
program unscathed and you
don’t see a serious change in
your leg size, then your problem
is not your legs, it is your ap-
proach. “Mind over matter,”
“No pain, no gain,” and the list
could continue, and they all
226 FLEX | february ’14
down as needed. Each drop that relates to the number of drops. sets, but you may increase that
follows a completed set will be For the frst set you perform only over the subsequent sets. And
20% of the previous weight lifted one additional drop all the way you may need to start with less
(this of course, doesn’t have to be until failure. The second set has weight on each subsequent set.
exact). The kicker here is that you two drops, the third set has three Don’t be surprised if you’re lifting
only drop once you’ve hit failure drops, up to the ffth set having air on the last drop as even the
on each extended set of reps. fve drops. I ofer a generous weight of the empty machine
Of course it should go without two-minute rest period between may crush you.
saying, the only
rest taken between set reps drop 1 drop 2 drop 3 drop 4 drop 5
drops is the time 1 12 to failure 20% less to fail (LTF) — — — —
to strip the weight.
2 12 to failure 20% LTF 20% LTF — — —
The pyramid portion
3 12 to failure 20% LTFw 20% LTF 20% LTF — —
4 12 to failure 20% LTF 20% LTF 20% LTF 20% LTF —
5 12 to failure 20% LTF 20% LTF 20% LTF 20% LTF 20% LTF
apply in this case. This program
is designed to supercharge your
training, give you new goals, and
provide the discipline lagging
legs really need. I leave you with “this program is designed to
a comment that I am stealing
from a popular commercial, and
supercharge your training,
applying to our world—I may not give you new goals, and
KEVIN HORTON
always train my legs, but when
I do, I do this program. Stay
provide the discipline
strong, my friend. FleX lagging legs really need.”
 day 1 monday: squat (Eccen., Hold, Conc.)
Exercise Sets Reps Rest Tempo
Warmup 1–3 6–10
Squat

Squat 5 6 2–3
min.
2,0,1 deep,
strong reps
8 weeks to treemendous legs
Front 4 8 2–2½ 2,0,1 worKout weeKs 1 through 4
Squat min. day 4 thursday: DeaDlift (Eccentric, Hold, Concentric)
Deadlift 4 6 2–2½ 2,0,1 Exercise Sets Reps Rest Tempo
min.
Smith Machine Squat 4 8–10 2–2½ min. 2,1,1 standard squat stance, not hack squat
Lying 5 8 2 2,1,1 squeeze
Leg Curl min. butt tight Hack Squat 4 10 2–2½ min. 2,1,1 can be done on smith or other machine
Donkey 5 8 2 2,1,1 Lying Leg Curl 4 10 1½–2 min. 2,1,2
Calf min.
Raise Standing Calf Raise 4 10 1½–2 min. 2,1,2

Leg 4 8 2 2,1,1 Leg Extension 4 8–10 1½–2 min. 2,1,2

Press min. Stif-leg Deadlift 4 8–10 1½–2 min. 2,1,2
Seated 4 8 2 2,1,1 Seated Calf Raise 4 8–10 1½ min. 2,1,2
Leg Curl min.
Destroyer Leg Press 5 12 2–3 min. 2,0,1 as per the Destroyer sidebar

8 weeks to treemendous legs day 4 thursday: DeaDlift

worKout weeKs 5 through 8

(Eccentric, Hold, Concentric)
Exercise Sets Reps Rest Tempo
day 1 monday: squat (Eccentric, Hold, Concentric) Lying 4 10–12 2 min. 2,1,1
Exercise Sets Reps Rest Tempo Leg Curl

Warmup Squat 1–3 6-10 Deadlift 4 10 2 min. 2,1,1

Squat 5 8 2 min. 2,1,1 deep reps Hack Squat 4 12 2 min. 2,1,1

Wide-stance Squat 3 10 2 min. 2,1,1 deep reps, practice Standing 4 10 1½ 2,2,2 if

balance and depth Single- min. available, if
leg Curl not, lying or
Narrow-stance Squat 3 10 2 min. 2,1,1 deep reps, practice balance seated one
and depth leg at time
Single-leg Curl 3 10–12 2 min. 2,1,2 lying or standing Standing 4 10 1½ 2,2,2
Calf Raise min.
Leg Extension 6 10 1½ min. 2,1,2 2 sets with toes pointed
out, in, and straight Lunge 4 12 1½ 2,2,2
min.
Lying Leg Curl 6 10 1½ min. 2,1,2 2 sets with toes pointed
out, in, and straight Seated 4 12 1½ 2,2,2
Calf Raise min.
Standing Calf Raise 4 10–12 1½ min. 2,1,2
PAVEL YTHJALL

Dominator 6 6 1 min. 6,6,6,6 as

Seated Calf Raise 3 10–12 1½ min. 2,1,2
Leg Press per the
Single-leg Squat 3 10 1½ min. 2,1,1 using dumbbells with trail Dominator
leg on bench sidebar

228 FLEX | february ’14

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■ No matter how much I
squat, my legs lag
behind my upper body.
What can I do to bring my
legs up?
Don’t confuse squatting with leg growth.
I see guys in the gym all the time who squat
more than I do, but their legs are nowhere
near the size of mine.
The key is learning how to focus your
exercises on the targeted muscles. So you
may need to squat less weight in order to
focus enough tension on your legs. This year
I did 20 reps in every set of squats. Of course,
I was using less weight than if I’d been doing
10 reps; but the intensity was of the hook.
Try pushing every set of squats to 20 and
you’ll know that higher reps are the hard
way, not the easy way.
You might also find that other exercises
work better for you than regular back squats.
Maybe it’s back squats you feel more in
your legs—or maybe it’s front squats, or leg
presses. No one said you had to squat to get
big legs. Do what works best for you.
Another thing to examine is how much

Pavel Ythjall (2); Chris sorenson/the vlaDar CoMPanY

work you’re doing for legs. You might not
be doing enough. Quads, hams, glutes, and
calves together form a huge area. If you
picture dividing yourself at your waist,
your lower body is a full half of your
body. So a lot of people just don’t do
enough work to grow legs. They
do 15–20 sets for quads and
hams together, and think
that’s enough.
But each of those
body parts can take that
much work. In my prep for

NO ONE SAID
YOU HAD TO
SQUAT TO GET this year’s Olympia, I trained legs twice every
six days. Everything else got trained once.
couple of years, and I wanted to make sure my
legs stayed in balance.
BIG LEGS. DO So I hit legs every third day, and double-split I think even intermediate bodybuilders
WHAT WORKS them: quads in the a.m., and hams and calves
in the p.m. I wanted them round and full. My
can benefit from hitting quads and hams in
separate workouts, to give each area at least
BEST FOR YOU. upper body’s been growing really fast the past 15 sets. FLEX

230 FLEX | JANUARY ’14

 mr. o TWEETS
■ Funny when people tweet
me pics of these amazing
bodybuilders getting ready
for the @MrOlympiaLLC.
They all look gr8 & I respect
their hard work.
■Shout out to my brotha
@mrojaycutler for sending
me some sugar-free Crush
powder. I couldn’t fnd this
in Colorado so he hooked
me up. What a classy guy.
#ThankYouJay #ClassAct
#FriendsFirst. FLEX

■ What was it like seeing yourself

onscreen for the frst time in
Generation Iron?
It was a dream come true. It was so
much fun watching it in a theater
at the New York and Los Angeles
premieres. What kid doesn’t grow up
dreaming of being in a movie? A lot
of amazing things have happened
to me because of bodybuilding, and
starring in Generation Iron is one of the
most incredible ones. It’s another goal
I’ve reached. And I want to thank the
Vladar Company and Weider/AMI for
making it happen.
■ What’s the
most important
factor for muscle
growth?
What is it? What’s that thing
that certain people have, and
others just don’t?
With some people, every time
you see them, they’re lost in the
work. They can barely say hello,
they’re so focused. Then months
go by and they’re reaping results.
And you’re like, “Hey, excuse me,
what did you do?” They become
the people you want to talk to,
because you think they have the
secret. Well, what the hell is it?
Whatever it is, it comes from
within. It’s that drive that says, “I
want this so bad, I’m going to do
everything I can—all day, every
day—to get closer and closer to
making my dream a reality.” The
secret is always part of you. It’s
part of all of us.
Anyone can have that drive:
It’s not something you have to
buy. It’s not somewhere you have
to go. It’s not even something you
have to do. It’s just something
you need to bring out in yourself.
You need to find that drive and
grow that drive and use that drive
to push yourself through every
workout and give you the disci-
pline you need to eat right and
sleep right and do all the things
you need to do to grow day after
day, year after year.
The real secret is this: We all
possess that secret thing that
drives us on. We just need to find
it in ourselves, then develop the
habits to use it successfully.

■ Do you keep a log of all your meals and nutrients consumed?

No. There’s something to be said for just doing the damn thing. There are people out there who want to focus on every little detail, every gram of
sodium and protein and carbs and whatever. It’s like they want to one-up the professional bodybuilders and say they know more about nutrition than
PAVEL YTHJALL

the people onstage. Maybe they do. I’m not where I am because I know more about nutrition than everyone else on the planet. The top bodybuilders
onstage are not there because they know more about training science and nutrition than the average person sitting in the audience. A lot of times the
diference between the person onstage and the person in the audience is their use of the knowledge. The people onstage have the discipline; they put
in the work. So don’t overthink things that shouldn’t be that complicated. Just do the damn thing. FLEX

232 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

 DRAGON TWEETS
■ RESPECT for the amazing
Floyd Mayweather, one of
sport’s best-ever athletes!
■ So this morning I set out to
do my road walking. 10 mins
in and the FL weather decided
to open up the Heavens
on me, this didn’t stop my
remaining 20 mins. #BringIt
#NoRainNoPainNoGain

FLEX LEWIS

THE WELSH
DRAGON’S LAIR
■ Iside
noticed in one of your pre-Olympia videos at FLEXonline that you stop your dumbbell
laterals halfway up. Why do you do that?
I do side laterals the conventional way, too, getting full reps. But the half reps are a favorite of my trainer, Neil Hill. There are only so
many ways to work the medial delts, so the half reps are a method of doing something diferent with side laterals and working
just the bottom sections of reps. You can go a little heavier with these. Focus on bringing the dumbbells out as far as possible
with your arms perfectly straight, stop at about the halfway point, and keep your delts tense the whole time. The key is to make
sure your arms don’t relax at your sides at the beginning of reps. You want to keep constant tension on the medial delts.

■ When you first As with anything else, you have to you to mentally and physically focus and back only once every other
started getting press, work at it. My legs, especially my more on the other areas. If you week. You need to be really
all anyone talked calves, grow easily when compared don’t have to go through a hard leg honest about your strengths and
about were your legs. with my chest or back. So there workout on Monday, you’re going to weaknesses to keep everything
How were you able to was a time when I barely trained be able to give more to your chest in balance. Unfortunately, people
get your upper body legs at all, and I focused instead workout on Tuesday. tend to train their strongest
in balance with your almost entirely on my upper body. Depending on your own areas the hardest and neglect
lower body? Rarely training a body part over an strengths and weaknesses, you their weaker areas, and that
I never wanted to extended period does two things. may want to train your strongest only makes things worse. So
PAVEL YTHJALL

be known for just my First, that area isn’t going to grow. areas less and your weakest areas sometimes the best way to
legs. Having a balanced Depending on how much you train more. Maybe your legs are weak change this is to just not train
physique has always been it and with how much intensity, it and your back is strong. So you your strengths for a while until
really important to me. may even shrink. Second, it allows might try hitting legs twice a week things get back in balance. FLEX

234 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

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■ I have a bunch of
questions about
your off-season
plans. Do you have
an off-season diet?
Do you do any cardio
then? Do you take
many weeks off from
the gym?
I’m going to have a very short
of-season this year because
I plan on doing the Arnold
Classic so I can qualify for the
2014 Mr. Olympia. If and when I
qualify for the Olympia, I want
to improve upon my seventh
place I got this year by coming
in bigger and tighter. I said last
year I’d improve for 2013, and
I did. I know I surprised a lot of
people with how I looked. In the
past year that I’ve done my own
diet and training, I’ve learned a
lot about how my body works
and what food is best for me.
I’m going to take what I learned
and apply that in my short of-
season to get bigger. In terms of
nutrition, I don’t count calories in
the of-season or weigh my food,
because I need to grow properly
and to do that you need a lot of
calories. However, I keep my diet
very clean and don’t eat a lot of
junk food because it makes it
that much harder to get back on
a strict diet. I do zero cardio of-
season and one reason I can get
away with it is that I don’t indulge
in a lot of junk.
I will never take time of from
the gym, even during the holiday
time between the Arnold Classic
Europe and the Arnold in Ohio.
I feel if I stay away I won’t want
to hit it as hard when I get back ■ I enjoyed watching you in Generation Iron. What did you think of
the movie? Will you try to do any film roles once bodybuilding is
into the swing of things. But
over for you?
instead of going twice a day, I’ll
ALEX ARDENTI; ISAAC HINDS

usually go only once per day. Oc-
casionally, I skip a day but never a
week at a time. Even if I’m sick, I
try to go to the gym and do a light
workout. There is only so much
time in the of-season—I need to
use it all to my advantage. FLEX
I thought the film was very good, and I very much enjoyed it. It gives a
diferent picture of bodybuilding and shows fans what really happens
behind the scenes. I was lucky enough to go to the premiere in Los Ange-
les, and that was a really cool experience. The reaction from my fans has
been very positive. What I liked about the movie is that it showed how
us bodybuilders tease one another onstage during the posedown, but
afterward we’re still friends. I haven’t really thought about what I will do
after my bodybuilding career, but films are a possibility. FLEX

236 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

 MAMDOUH ELSSBIAY

BIG RAMY
■ Were you disappointed you didn’t place higher at the Olympia
[Elssbiay placed eighth]? What are you going to do to place
higher next year?
I wasn’t disappointed at all! Those guys I competed against are all my idols. Standing next to them was
just unreal. I’m young; I have a long career ahead of me, so I don’t want to get angry or wonder why I didn’t
place higher. I will place better next year, believe me. Of-season, my plan is to continue what I did last of-
season—eat, train, sleep, and focus on winning. I will increase my of-season calories by adding one more meal
at night. I already train hard, but you can always add more calories, whether by a shake or a whole-food meal.

■ What do you like doing for cardio, and how much
do you have to do before a show?
Like most bodybuilders, I hate doing cardio. It’s boring
but something we need to do. My mentality is to just
get in there and get it done. One good thing about my
gym is that it has TVs mounted all over and it plays
■ What are your favorite exercises? Do you like free
weights or machines?
Unlike most bodybuilders, I really prefer machines.
I used a lot of free weights when I first started, but I’ve
grown to like the machines for a couple reasons. First, I
believe you can feel the muscle contraction a lot better
ALEX ARDENTI; BILL COMSTOCK

bodybuilding DVDs like Ronnie Coleman or Dennis James
getting ready for the Olympia. That keeps me motivated
because I can look up there and remember why I’m do-
ing this. I only use the StepMill. If I’m going to do a cardio
session, I want to make it as efective as I can. I’ve found
that by going a little slower on the StepMill and squeez-
ing with each step, you can make
it a really good workout. I work my way up as I diet,
and the most I’ll do is about 45 minutes in the morning. I
don’t like doing cardio after my workout.
on a machine because you can hold the weight and
control it down so that you’re squeezing the entire time.
Second, I don’t like using a spotter and I don’t have a
workout partner, so using machines is a lot better for my
workout style. (Only the last few weeks before a show
do I use a spotter to help me because
I’m low on energy then.) My favorite exercises are the
Hammer Strength chest press and the preacher curl.
Both machines allow me to go heavier than I would with
free weights. FLEX

238 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

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 BEN PAKULSKI
PAK-MAN
■ THE 20 DUMBEST THINGS EVER SAID
BY BODYBUILDERS
Chicken, egg whites, rice, and rice
cakes only…if you want to get
shredded.
Please do not do this! Your body
needs micronutrients and vitamins.
I know of so many aspiring body-
builders and people who just want
to better their physique who hire
people who tell them to follow this
diet. Fire them!
Close-grip bench works my
inner chest.
No exercise for that matter can work
your “inner chest.” I actually had a
fight with another pro about this. To
improve development of your inner
chest, it is simply necessary to fully
shorten your pec muscles. Much like
a biceps curl “for peak” forces your
muscle to be fully shortened and
thereby grow upward, same idea
goes for inner chest.
Fats make you fat.
Fats are essential for countless es-
sential body processes. All fats are
good (trans fats excluded) in some
proper ratio.
You’ve gotta lif heavy to grow.
C’mon, people! If you’ve ever read
anything I’ve written, you know
this is not true. You’ve got to lift
properly, and maximize tension to
grow! Don’t worry, it’s easier than it
sounds once you get it.
A calorie is a calorie (all calories
are created equal).
Sounds like meathead math to me!
Even when trying to get as big as
possible, the worst thing you can do
is eat indiscriminately. This will set
you up for insulin resistance and less
muscle growth.
Preacher curls work my
lower biceps.
Oh, boy! We’ve all done this at
some point, myself included. But
thankfully I know better now. As
much as it would be nice to work my
lower biceps or lengthen my biceps,
preacher curls do not do this, and
neither do any other exercises. They
may overload the lower portion of
the strength curve, thereby making
you stronger in that part of the
range, giving you the misperception
that you’re lengthening your biceps.
In reality, you’re just getting overall
thickness in your biceps.
240 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
I’m trying to work my “tie-ins.”
I still laugh when I read this. What
the hell is a tie-in? There is no such
thing, people. A muscle is a muscle,
and its structure is what it is. Where
two muscles tie together is simply
where two muscles tie together. You
can’t train that. You can certainly
train a muscle’s entire length, but
not the space between two muscles.
Fasted cardio burns more fat.
Nope! Never been proven. Ever.
In fact, it has been shown that
cardio (or any exercise) done after
consuming calories has a greater
thermogenic efect, that is, more
calories are burned.
When you stop working out, all
that muscle turns to fat.
Clearly, every bodybuilder who
stops training will turn to a massive
fat slob. All that muscle has to go
somewhere, right? Well, no. Fat and
muscle are two completely diferent
entities. It’s like turning chicken
breasts into donuts. Although it
might be cool, I don’t see it being
likely anytime soon unless you
can track down Doc Brown and his
flying DeLorean.
Taking glutamine and whey
protein together is bad. They
compete.
In fact, they can help with increased
protein synthesis when combined.
I’m training to stretch my fascia.
Umm, fascia does not stretch! It’s
a proven fact that fascia has the
tensile strength of steel. It may
expand, much like muscle does
when it gets warm, and become
more pliable, but as soon as it cools,
it’s right back to where it started.
Fascia grows in much the same way
muscle does. You may break fascial
adhesions, which gives the illusion
of expansion or greater range (this
is a great thing!), but unfortu-
nately it’s not stretching to allow
for muscle growth, peeps. Volumize
your muscle via training, and the
fascia will see a need to adapt and
expand or grow.
Narrow-grip T-bar rows work my
inner back.
A-mazing! No, they do not! Narrow
grip on back simply impedes ranges
and forces you to use greater internal
rotation of the shoulder joint
rotator muscles).
I don’t want to “overtrain.”
Listen, an hour or two five days a
week is not overtraining…ever…
period. Unless you don’t eat and
don’t sleep, in which case, overtrain-
ing is the least of your worries.
Low-intensity cardio is best for
fat burning.
Hopefully, by now, most of you know
that this is a big load of BS and that
low-intensity cardio does in fact
burn a greater percentage of overall
fat while doing the exercise but does
nothing for your basal metabolic
rate (BMR, aka calorie burning) for
the rest of the day.
I must touch the floor on
stif-leg deadlifs for a full range
and to maximize stretch in my
hamstrings.
Cool, you can touch your toes. That
doesn’t mean that you’re getting a
greater range in your hamstrings. It
often means you’re achieving a greater
range via putting your spine in a com-
promised position. Go only as far as
your hamstrings’ flexibility will allow.
Saturated fat is bad.
Actually, there has never been
any proven correlation between
saturated fat and all the negative
things the media might have you
believe (i.e., that it leads to heart
disease, etc.). When it does
become bad is when it’s combined
with sugars! Saturated fat on its
own actually has many positive
benefits in the body, including
hormone production.
I’m going to diet and lose body
fat before I start weight training.
Okay, maybe not said by a lot of
bodybuilders, but I still hear this idio-
cy all the time. Listen, people: Weight
training is the best way to lose body
fat and change composition.
Can I get a lifof?
If you hear somebody say this before
they start, walk away! If you can’t
lift it on your own, you have no
business lifting that weight. The
only exceptions would be the crappy
old shoulder and incline presses that
make you reach four feet behind
your head to grab the bar.
Creatine causes cramping and
muscle tears.
Nothing even close to that has
ever been proven, but the media
love to tell stories that sensation-
alize everything.
CHARLESLOWTHIAN.COM
I just can’t build up my lagging
body part.
Yes, you can. They might never be
the best in the world, but you can
bring up any lagging body part to
match the rest of your body. FLEX
 LEG TRAINING FROM HELL
Week 1
Exercise Sets Reps
MONDAY: QUADS
Leg Extension 4 12
Squat 4 12
Lunge 4 12
Leg Press 4 12
WEDNESDAY: HAMS
Seated Leg Curl 4 12
Reverse Leg Curls 4 12
Stif-leg Deadlift 4 12
FRIDAY: CALVES
Seated Calf Raise 4 12
Leg Press Calf Raise 4 12
Reverse Calf Raise 4 12
Week 2
MONDAY: QUADS
One-leg Leg Press 4 15
One-leg Leg Extension 4 15
One-leg Smith Machine Squat 4 15

THE HOUSE
WEDNESDAY: HAMS
One-leg Leg Curl 4 15
One-leg Stif-leg Deadlift 4 15

ERIK FANKHOUSER One-leg Reverse Leg Curl

FRIDAY: CALVES
4 15

■ I’ve been around the game for a

long time now, and I always have
people coming up to me and asking what
saying putting in the time is unnecessary,
but sometimes overdoing it will not get you
results. Once you lose your pump, I believe
One-leg Smith Machine
Standing Calf Raise
4 15

One-leg Donkey Calf Raise 4 15

they can do to get bigger. They always tell you should end your workout. As for reps and
me how much time they’ve been putting in sets, for small muscle groups you only need One-leg Reverse Calf Raise 4 15
at the gym, how many sets, and what reps 9–12 working sets and larger muscle groups, Week 3
they are doing. I think that one of the biggest 15–18 working sets. I have seen people doing
problems for some people who are really 20-plus sets and wondering why they are not MONDAY: QUADS
dedicated is that they put in too much time recovering and growing. Also, the best gains Squat 3 12
and they don’t get the results because they I have ever had came after I took time of. superset with Leg Extension
are doing too much. They will ask me how After every three months of hard training, Leg Press 3 12
much time I spend in the gym and always I always take a week of. This helps my body superset with Lunge
comment that I must live in the gym. recover, and when I come back after that
Most people are amazed that I only spend week of I feel refreshed and ready to train Hack Squat 3 12
superset with Front Squat
about one hour on strength training five days hard again. I challenge everyone to try this
a week. I have talked to some younger col- if you are not seeing results and watch how WEDNESDAY: HAMS
lege-aged guys, who tell me they are training you grow. My recommendations to grow Seated Leg Curl 3 10
two hours a day, seven days a week and would be to train five times a week for one superset with Reverse Leg Curl
wondering why they are not seeing results hour each session and take one week of (bodyweight)
with all the time they are putting in. I am not after every three months.
Lying Leg Curl 3 10
superset with Stif-leg Deadlift
FRIDAY: CALVES
TRAINING UPDATE Calf Raise 3 10
PAVEL YTHJALL

■ Training during the holidays is great if you want to gain size. I love all the extra carbs! My superset with Reverse Calf Raise
weight is doing great—I got it back up to 250. I might try to do a 212 contest next year. What do you Standing Calf Raise 3 10
guys think about that? Give me some feedback on that idea. Hit me up on Twitter or Facebook and superset with Donkey Calf Raise
let’s see if we can get that idea going. Thanks, guys! Hope everyone had great holidays. FLEX

242 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

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 FRANK MCGRATH

THE WRATH
■ A lot of guys at my I’ve heard about it—you have to eat like a caveman, nothing processed, nothing refined
because cavemen didn’t have Tim Hortons or Hot Pockets. Our ancestors hunted and gathered
gym are really into all day—they didn’t sit at a computer. So I’m not really sure how a diet made for humans who spent
this new Paleo diet. Have all day foraging for food applies to our modern society, but it’s probably not a bad idea if it makes
you heard of it and what the average person take a closer look at their diet. I don’t think Paleo is good for a bodybuilder,
though, because it’s too restrictive. It doesn’t allow for peanuts, oatmeal, dairy, beans, and several
do you think about it for other foods that are essential for building muscle. I’m gonna stick to what has worked for body-
a bodybuilder? builders for the past 70 or so years. If it’s not broken, don’t change it!

■ I see a lot of guys using those foam roller things at the gym. Is that
something you’d recommend for bodybuilders?
I never believed in them until I tried it. It hurts like a son of a bitch but it works.
I have religiously been using the foam roller on my lower back and
legs, and it’s made a huge difference. It’s helped alleviate my lower-back
pain and also helped my legs grow by loosening the muscles so I can
recover quicker and keep squatting heavy. I’m having less pain in my
knees as well, probably because my quads are feeling better. The foam
roller breaks up the muscle adhesions almost as good as a deep tissue
■ When you tore your triceps, then had your car accident, what
were the biggest things you learned about how to recover and
come back from an injury?
I started back at the gym slowly and had to patiently learn to train
smarter, not harder. Everyone thinks you need to go as heavy as you can all
the time. It’s ingrained in us bodybuilders. I still believe in heavy weights,
but I learned that there are benefits to training a little lighter and getting
the muscle pumped with a lot of blood from very high reps. FST-7 was one
technique that helped in that case. I also get a lot of work done on my
PAVEL YTHJALL

massage and for a lot less money, except you have to be disciplined body now, something I never did before. I was never big into deep-tissue
and do it a lot for it to work well. I think all athletes should do it, even massage or foam rollers but those things help a lot. The biggest thing I
bodybuilders. Breaking down the muscle tightness promotes growth and learned is how to listen to my body. If it hurts, don’t do it. There is always a
helps you stay injury-free. way to work around it. FLEX

244 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

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 ■ Going into the 2013 NPC
Nationals, I knew Kevin Jordan,
who had competed as a heavyweight,
could very easily land in the super-
heavyweight division. We knew this
was risky, but we didn’t want to add
the pressure of making a certain
weight on top of everything else;
we opted to see what direction his
physique would take us.
There were two athletes that
would be Kevin’s main com-
petition in the heavyweight
division, and because of social
media, we were able to pull up
progress pics that they had just
posted to see what type of phy-
siques they would be bringing
to the stage. After seeing these
photos and knowing that we could
get Kevin to heavyweight without
“I WAS POSITIVE THAT BY MAKING
THE HEAVIES, KEVIN WOULD NOT
ONLY DOMINATE THE HEAVYWEIGHT
CLASS WITH A COMPLETE AND TOTAL
PACKAGE BUT THAT HE COULD ALSO
POSSIBLY SWEEP THE NATIONALS.”
sacrificing fullness, I was positive that by
making the heavies, Kevin would not only
dominate the heavyweight class with a
complete and total package, but that he
could also possibly sweep the Nationals.
By going all in for the heavies, we had
a lot of work to do in a short period
of time. In approximately 13 hours,
we needed to drop nine pounds to
make the class, and we would then
have to fill Kevin back up so he
wouldn’t appear flat onstage.
I made the changes to Kevin’s
plan so that he would have only
two lighter meals before weighing
in at 1 p.m. on Thursday, keeping his
protein light: 4 ounces of steak at the
first meal and 4 ounces of chicken
at the second meal, but still with
around 60 grams of carbs per meal.
At midnight, we had shut his water com-
pletely off so he would continue to flush
his system throughout the night and next
day, knowing we would have plenty of
time to put fluids back in and fill
him back up after making weight.
Since he had ingested a gallon or
so of water that day, after shutting
off his water I knew that overnight he
246 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
could naturally flush around four to six
pounds of water; leaving only a couple
more pounds to deal with before weighing
in. We pulled the excess water and arrived
at weigh-ins. Kevin was around 1½ to two
pounds over. I wanted him to do a light
workout that day—so by wearing sweats
and flushing more fluids during a quick
workout, when he returned to the scale,
Kevin weighed in right on the money. We
made the heavies! Now, the next chal-
lenge came in filling him back up to make
certain we didn’t sacrifice fullness by
making the class.
The primary mistake most make
when trying to hit a specific weight class
is trying to fill back out after dropping
weight. If you lose too much weight,
having only a day or so is simply not
enough time to fill out when you are in an
over-depleted state. I immediately put
water back into his
system (almost
1½ gallons) after
he made weight,
throughout the
rest of the day
Thursday. We also
immediately began
to put food back
into his system. His first meal after
weigh-ins was simple steak and rice. The
next meal was a heavy-carb meal (push-
ing it to about 400 grams) with only
around 9 ounces of chicken. From there
we went to a basic meal to allow the
system to settle down (steak and potato)
and the meal after that, we pushed the
carbs again. We continued following the
plain small meal with the higher-carb
meal all night long.
Once Kevin got to his final meal on
Thursday, we shut his water intake
down. On Friday, we put small amounts
of water back into his system—never
completely shutting his water off. The
plan worked out great, as we went
from 225¼ at the weigh-in Thursday back
up to 234 by the end of the night. He
woke up Friday morning at 231. On Friday,
we kept putting small meals into his sys-
tem, and he was able to go back up to
around the 234–235 range, and once
he balanced out, I introduced some
simple sugars prior to the Friday night
pre-judging. This plan led us not only to
ISAAC HINDS
a heavyweight-class win but also to the
2013 Nationals overall win and an IFBB
pro card! FLEX
250 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14
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you’ve ever imagined and Muscle Size and Vascularity are at levels you’ve never seen before. Side effects such
as acne, hair loss, prostate issues are not a worry with Maxsterone. Nothing is More Anabolic!

FUROSTAN™ 1 BOTTLE $79.95 OR BUY 2 GET 1 FREE $159.90

Furostan is responsible for helping create Ripped, Sculpted physiques, like those of today’s top pros. It is an
excellent cutting agent and is a great choice to use during dieting while maintaining strength and size. Competitive
bodybuilders will use it prior to competitions for that dry, shredded look. Athletes focused on getting lean but
less interested in bulk will be very pleased with the results on this product. Strength gains are excellent and most
will notice an increase in stamina almost immediately. A favorite for those that wish to increase strength and
endurance while staying within certain weight parameters. THE PATH TO RIPPED, SHREDDED MASS!

LIPOPRO® 1 BOTTLE $49.95 OR BUY 2 GET 1 FREE $99.90

LipoPro™ has a 5 way effect that helps you shed adipose (fat) tissue fast. The formula also has a distinct thermo-
genic effect that you will experience within less than an hour of use. You will feel a bit warmer than usual with
higher energy levels. LIPOPRO also helps support thyroid function to allow for maximum thermogenesis and also
aids in keeping blood sugar levels stable to prevent food cravings between meals. Retaining water is no longer a
problem with LIPOPRO as it contains 2 natural diuretics that helps your body from accumulating excess water.
*For best results always apply proper training and diet.

What Is Pharmapro About?

The Pharmapro Mission is to bring you The Most Powerful Legal Anabolics You Can Buy Anywhere.
All formulas are created based on the latest scientic research. Every Pharmapro product is manufactured TO ORDER ONLINE
with the nest ingredients and quality assurance is maintained throughout the manufacturing process. VISIT PHARMAPRO.NET
Very few companies test their products using the same rigorous protocols as Pharmapro. OR SCAN HERE
Every bottle of Pharmapro products are tested for:
• Assay - using HPLC and other advanced methods to assure products meet or exceed label claim.
• Microorganisms – to screen for bacteria including salmonella and e.coli as well as yeast and molds.
• Heavy Metals – to screen for lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and other toxic metals.

What We Are NOT About

No Legal Versions of Illegal Steroids (These just don’t exist), No Bogus Chemical Names,
No Hiding Our Supplement Facts, No Gimmicky Holograms, No Hype, No BS,…..JUST RESULTS
 MAXITEST™ 1 BOTTLE $79.95 OR BUY 2 GET 1 FREE $159.90
Maxitest contains the cutting edge compound D-Aspartic Acid (DAA). DAA has been shown to increase
Testosterone in a study published in October 2009 (Topo & Soricelli 2009). That study concluded that
supplementing with just 3 grams of DAA daily, increased luteinizing hormone (LH) levels by as much as 33%
and testosterone levels by as much as 42%. MAXITEST contains the same therapeutic amount of DAA to
send your TEST levels through the roof. Maxi-Test also contains a high dose of Mucuna pruriens to assist in
keeping prolactin levels in check. MAXITEST is the best Test booster available.

SERMADEX® 1 BOTTLE $64.95 OR BUY 2 GET 1 FREE $129.90

SERMadex is our next generation Anti-estrogen/Test booster. SERM is an acronym and stands for Selective
Estrogen Receptor Modulator. SERMadex uses 3 cutting edge compounds to help your body control estrogen
by reducing the estrogen hormone’s ability to bind with its corresponding receptor. SERMadex also helps
boost Test levels which make it ideal to take at the end of any cycle. The gains you can derive from SERMa-
dex are dry gains so you can expect excellent vascularity without the bloating factor. You can use SERMadex
as a primary supplement for estrogen maintenance and as a powerful test booster. Make SERMadex your
primary component to your Post cycle regimen.

HARDCORE STACK RIPPED STACK TEST STACK

Mass • Strength • Density • Recovery Shredded Mass • Vascularity • Denition • Fat Loss Max Testosterone • Mass • Strength • Sex Drive

Contains Maxsterone, Sterodrol, Furostan, LivR Clear Contains Furostan, Sermadex, LipoPro Contains Furostan, Sterodrol, Maxitest
$199.95 $99.95 $154.85
OR BUY 2 GET 1 FREE $399.90 OR BUY 2 GET 1 FREE $199.90 OR BUY 2 GET 1 FREE $309.70

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254 FLEX | FERUARY ‘14
 IFBB PRO LEAGUE
FEBRUARY
1 LEGENDS PRO CLASSIC BIKINI AND
MASTERS BIKINI
Las Vegas, NV. Contact Jon Lindsay,
(866) 370-3011, musclecontest.com.
28/1 ARNOLD CLASSIC BODYBUILDING, 212,
FITNESS, FIGURE, AND BIKINI
Columbus, OH. Contact James Lorimer,
(614) 431-2600, slorenz@arnoldexpo.com,
arnoldsportsfestival.com.
MARCH
7/8 AUSTRALIA PRO GRAND PRIX XIV
BODYBUILDING, FIGURE, AND BIKINI
Melbourne, Australia. Contact Tony Doherty,
613-9388-0866, promuscle@dohertysgym.com,
dohertysgym.com.
8 ST. LOUIS PRO FIGURE, BIKINI, AND
WOMEN’S PHYSIQUE
St. Louis, MO. Contact Jack Titone, (314) 686-3828,
titonej@aol.com, npcmidwest.com.
MUSCLECONTEST.COM PRO BIKINI AND
MASTERS BIKINI
Culver City, CA. Contact Jon Lindsay,
(866) 370-3011, musclecontest.com.
15 NEW ZEALAND PRO 212 AND BIKINI
Auckland, New Zealand. Contact Moes Elmoussawi,
(642) 156-7212, moesmuscle@yahoo.com.
29 CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S CUP PRO FIGURE
AND MASTERS FIGURE
Sacramento, CA. Contact Ted Williamson/John
Tuman, tedwm@aol.com/bbspy@aol.com.
APRIL
11/12 EUROPA SHOW OF CHAMPIONS
BODYBUILDING, BIKINI, AND PHYSIQUE
Orlando, FL. Contact Ed and Betty Pariso,
(817) 498-3631, bettypariso@aol.com,
europagamesexpo.com.
12 PRO GRAND PRIX PHYSIQUE
AND MASTERS PHYSIQUE
Culver City, CA. Contact Jon Lindsay,
(866) 370-3011, musclecontest.com.
25/26 ARNOLD CLASSIC BRASIL BODYBUILDING
AND WOMEN’S FITNESS
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Contact Rafael Santonja/
Robert Lorimer, arnoldclassicbrasil.com.
26 EMERALD CUP PRO FIGURE
AND WOMEN’S PHYSIQUE
Bellevue, WA. Contact Brad and Elaine Craig,
(425) 949-7320, emeraldcup@aol.com.
28/29 BATTLE ON THE BEACH PRO BIKINI
AND MASTERS BIKINI
Fort Lauderdale, FL. Contact Shannon Dey, sales
.npcflorida@gmail.com, npcbattleonthebeach.com.
MAY NPC NATIONAL
3 PITTSBURGH PRO FIGURE, BIKINI,
AND MEN’S PHYSIQUE JUNE
Pittsburgh, PA. Contact Jim Manion, (412) 276-
5027, npcfirst@aol.com. 20/21 USA WHEELCHAIR NATIONALS
3/4 MOZOLANI PRO CLASSIC 212 AND FIGURE Metairie, LA. Contact Luke Tesvich, (504) 439-
Zilina, Slovakia. Contact Andrej and Anna 6224, npclaoffice@aol.com, npcggs.com.
Mozolani, nutrition@mozolani.com,
mozolani.com/classic. MAY
9/10 EUROPA DALLAS BODYBUILDING, 212,
FIGURE, BIKINI, AND PHYSIQUE 24 JUNIOR USA BODYBUILDING, FITNESS,
Dallas, TX. Contact Ed and Betty Pariso, FIGURE, BIKINI, AND PHYSIQUE
(817) 498-3631, bettypariso@aol.com, Charleston, SC. Contact Tres Bennett,
europagamesexpo.com. (843) 270-4373, tresb@comcast.net, npcjrusa.com.
16/17 BODYPOWER PRO 212 AND FIGURE
Birmingham, U.K. Contact Ollie Upton, NPC LOCAL AND REGIONAL
01926-485423, o.upton@bodypower.tv,
bodypowerexpo.co.uk.
FEBRUARY
17 NEW YORK PRO BODYBUILDING, 212,
FIGURE, BIKINI, AND PHYSIQUE 1 LEGENDS CLASSIC BODYBUILDING, FIGURE,
New York, NY. Contact Steve Weinberger, BIKINI, AND PHYSIQUE*
(516) 933-1111, info@bevfrancis.com. South Las Vegas, NV. Contact Jon Lindsay,
24 CALIFORNIA PRO FIGURE (310) 796-9181, musclecontest.com.
AND MASTERS FIGURE 8 GOLD COAST MUSCLE CLASSIC
Culver City, CA. Contact Jon Lindsay, BODYBUILDING, FIGURE, BIKINI, AND
(866) 370-3011, musclecontest.com. PHYSIQUE*
OPTIMUM CLASSIC PRO Culver City, CA. Contact Jon Lindsay,
WOMEN’S PHYSIQUE (310) 796-9181, musclecontest.com.
Shreveport, LA. Contact Robert Blount, MUSCLE EVOLUTION BODYBUILDING,
(318) 347-2208, bfitforlife@aol.com. FIGURE, BIKINI, AND PHYSIQUE*
30/31 TORONTO PRO SUPERSHOW MEN’S AND San Jose, CA. Contact Steve O’Brien/
WOMEN’S BODYBUILDING, 212, FIGURE, George Jackson, (408) 384-9039,
BIKINI, AND MEN’S PHYSIQUE musclesportproductions.com.
Toronto, Canada. Contact Ron Hache, 15 CAPSTONE CLASSIC BODYBUILDING,
(705) 561-0775, ronhache@unitz.ca, FIGURE, BIKINI, AND PHYSIQUE*
torontoprosupershow.com. San Diego, CA. Contact Jon Lindsay, (310) 796-9181,
31 DENNIS JAMES CLASSIC BIKINI musclecontest.com.
Phoenix, AZ. Contact Dennis James,
(602) 363-0149. MARCH
MILE HIGH PRO PHYSIQUE
Denver, CO. Contact Jeff Taylor, (303) 668-8578, 8 MUSCLECONTEST.COM BODYBUILDING,
jtnpc@comcast.net. FIGURE, BIKINI, AND PHYSIQUE*
Culver City, CA. Contact Jon Lindsay,
(310) 796-9181, musclecontest.com.
JUNE MIDWEST CHAMPIONSHIP BODYBUILDING,
6/7 PRESTIGE CRYSTAL CUP PRO BIKINI FITNESS, FIGURE, BIKINI, AND PHYSIQUE*
AND MEN’S PHYSIQUE St. Louis, MO. Contact Ann and Jack Titone,
Boca Raton, FL. Contact QC-BB Promotions, (314) 686-3828, titonej@aol.com, npcmidwest.com.
(561) 376-9849, qcbbproductions@gmail.com 15 SAN DIEGO BODYBUILDING, FIGURE, BIKINI,
7 OMAHA PRO WOMEN’S BODYBUILDING AND PHYSIQUE*
AND PHYSIQUE San Diego, CA. Contact Jon Lindsay, (310) 796-9181,
Omaha, NE. Contact Jack Titone, (314) 686-3828, musclecontest.com.
titonej@aol.com, npcmidwest.com. NATURAL OUTLAW BODYBUILDING,
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA PRO BIKINI FITNESS, FIGURE, BIKINI, AND PHYSIQUE
TBA. Contact Ted Williamson/John Tuman, Tucson, AZ. Contact Miles Nuessle, (602) 326-3473,
(951) 687-9366/(209) 480-1798, npcmilesproductions.com.
tedwm@aol.com/bbspy@aol.com, PHIL HEATH CLASSIC BODYBUILDING*
spectrumfitnessproductions.com. Houston, TX. Contact Lee Thompson,
20/21 GREATER GULF STATES PRO BIKINI, (281) 435-8804.
PHYSIQUE, AND MASTERS PHYSIQUE 21/22 NATURAL WESTERN USA BODYBUILDING,
New Orleans, LA. Contact Luke Tesvich, FITNESS, FIGURE, BIKINI, AND PHYSIQUE*
(504) 439-6224, npclaoffice@aol.com, npcggs.com. Mesa, AZ. Contact Miles Nuessle, (602) 326-3473,
npcmilesproductions.com. FLEX

*A national qualifier event

■ For additional local event listings, information on entering these contests, and more,
go to npcnewsonline.com and ifbbpro.com.

FLEX (ISSN 8750-8915) Vol. 31, No. 2 is published monthly by Weider Publications, LLC, a division of American Media, Inc., 4 New York Plaza, 4th Fl, New York, NY 10004. Periodical Rates Postage
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255 FLEX | FEBRUARY ’14

 n In this shot from FLEX April 2006, Branch Warren wraps his monster truck–size wheels for
a backbreaking set of squats. Even as an amateur, Warren’s legs were already legendary for
their sheer mass, separation, crisscrossed striations, and anaconda-thick vascularity. But a single
outstanding body part, no matter how impressive in the gym, doesn’t translate to success on contest
stages. So the hardest-working bodybuilder in the sport worked even harder to bring his upper half
into proportion. The end result? Seven contest wins, including two Arnold Classics, plus runner-up at
the 2009 Mr. Olympia. Still, as demonstrated here, legs will always be Warren’s legacy. FLEX

CHRIS LUND