Let's talk - Natural Mr Olympia gives advice

[Natural_O]

John,

Sometimes I speculate that the reason many bodybuilders have these huge arms is
because they more or less train them the most.

I mean when you do benchpresses you are using triceps, and so on. I have also speculated
if this means that the bodybuilders could get even bigger if they trained other muscles to the same extent.

What you say about this?

The biggest muscle groups could be the ones you train most often or they could just be genetically gifted to grow. We all seem to have a couple muscle groups that grow easily and a few others that don't grow as easy.

[Natural_O]

Use a Full Range of Motion
http://www.abbperformance.com/news/t...se-form-n1878/

[Natural_O]

Tips for Increasing Your Metabolism!
http://www.abbperformance.com/news/t...abolism-n1877/

[Zenith]

Hey John good to see this thread is still going strong and your are still giving good advices to people's on how to build their muscles

You gave me some advice about a year ago, I won my last comp

James

http://pbckt.com/pQ.OTdo85

[Natural_O]

Hey John good to see this thread is still going strong and your are still giving good advices to people's on how to build their muscles

You gave me some advice about a year ago, I won my last comp

James

http://pbckt.com/pQ.OTdo85

Congratulations James! You look great in the pics, it looks like you hit your peak perfectly! Any plans for competing this year?

[Zenith]

Congratulations James! You look great in the pics, it looks like you hit your peak perfectly! Any plans for competing this year?

Thanks mate
Yeah I plan on doing the INBA states/nationals November this year. I want to be a Natural Mr O like you one day. Working with Kiyoshi at the moment and learning some new stuff

[DerekEt]

John, I have always been a fan to say the least. I purchased your book, have followed your career, and you have been nothing short of an absolute inspiration to me.

Anyways, I was just wondering your thoughts on Full-Body Training as a natural in the first few years of training.

Reg Park, Arnold, Steve Reeves, John Grimek, and tons of other famous bodybuilders in the early days began by training their entire body three times a week in a session focusing on only doing a few movements, but going hard and heavy.

Do you think this is still the best way to go about training if you have trained <3-5 years?

Example of what Arnold & Reg Park's training looked like:

Monday-Wednesday-Friday

Squats 3x6-10
Flat Bench Press 3x6-10
Incline Bench Press 3x6-10
Barbell Rows 3x6-10
Wide Grip Pullups 3x6-10
Side Lateral Raises 3x6-10
Dumbbell Curls 3x6-10
Lying Tricep Extension 3x6-10
Standing Calf Raise 3x6-10
Deadlifts 5x5 (ramped to 1 all-out set)
+ Forearms / Abdominals / Rear Deltoids done at the end

These are all working sets , besides the Deadlift which is in reality only 1 top working set.


Is this training outdated for somebody who wants to be a serious natural competitor on stage(if it's their first 1-5 years of training)?
Seems like 3on/1off, 2on/1off, and all the split-style training is the hype nowadays...even for natural bodybuilders in their early years of training, so that must surely mean it is better?

[Natural_O]

John, I have always been a fan to say the least. I purchased your book, have followed your career, and you have been nothing short of an absolute inspiration to me.

Anyways, I was just wondering your thoughts on Full-Body Training as a natural in the first few years of training.

Reg Park, Arnold, Steve Reeves, John Grimek, and tons of other famous bodybuilders in the early days began by training their entire body three times a week in a session focusing on only doing a few movements, but going hard and heavy.

Do you think this is still the best way to go about training if you have trained <3-5 years?

Example of what Arnold & Reg Park's training looked like:

Monday-Wednesday-Friday

Squats 3x6-10
Flat Bench Press 3x6-10
Incline Bench Press 3x6-10
Barbell Rows 3x6-10
Wide Grip Pullups 3x6-10
Side Lateral Raises 3x6-10
Dumbbell Curls 3x6-10
Lying Tricep Extension 3x6-10
Standing Calf Raise 3x6-10
Deadlifts 5x5 (ramped to 1 all-out set)
+ Forearms / Abdominals / Rear Deltoids done at the end

These are all working sets , besides the Deadlift which is in reality only 1 top working set.


Is this training outdated for somebody who wants to be a serious natural competitor on stage(if it's their first 1-5 years of training)?
Seems like 3on/1off, 2on/1off, and all the split-style training is the hype nowadays...even for natural bodybuilders in their early years of training, so that must surely mean it is better?

Thanks for the kind words Derek! To answer your question, I think the full body workout is great for beginners. That routine you listed would be perfect for beginner or intermediate bodybuilders. I don't think a lot of guys who start working out spend enough time building their foundation. They launch right into an advanced training program, only working each muscle group once a week and training as much as 5x or more a week. I think this is a big mistake. The goal for a beginner is to learn the proper form for each exercise and then slowly build your strength and muscle mass. I recommend that beginners use a full body workout 3x a week with 10-12 reps for the first couple of months. It's important to build the neurological connection and do the exercises in great form. If you start off with bad form, it's harder to correct later on. Using heavy weights isn't important in the beginning. It's much better to learn the proper form and start to feel the muscles working. Once you have that connection to the muscles, you can begin using heavier weights and building the strength. After you get stronger, you will start to develop muscles.

[DerekEt]

Thanks for that response !! I feel blessed to be able to speak with you !

So even though I have 2 years of hard training under my belt, you would suggest somebody like myself to continue carrying out Full Body training 3x a week ?

I'm down to do so, I love training that way; most people just try to convince me it's not the best thing to do but I don't know if that's just because they're brainwashed by Flex magazine, lol.

[Natural_O]

Thanks for that response !! I feel blessed to be able to speak with you !

So even though I have 2 years of hard training under my belt, you would suggest somebody like myself to continue carrying out Full Body training 3x a week ?

I'm down to do so, I love training that way; most people just try to convince me it's not the best thing to do but I don't know if that's just because they're brainwashed by Flex magazine, lol.

It all depends on how much weight you are using on the exercises and how sore you are getting. Your main goal is to keep getting stronger on the basic exercises so you can get bigger. After using the 3x a week full body workout, you can split the body up to two workouts and add more exercises for each bodypart (ex. instead of doing just squats for legs, you can do squats, leg press and stiff leg deads) and train each bodypart 2x a week and train a total of four days a week. It depends on if you are getting bigger and stronger on your current routine. If you're not, you might need to step it up a notch by doing more work for each bodypart and splitting up the body over two workouts instead of one.

[RamovicSefket]

John Hansen says hes a natural competitor and has won the natural mr. olympia and universe. Do you think he is natural? He is a very big guy, probaly the biggest claimed natural. I know Ronnie and Jay and those guys claim natural but this guy actually has competed in national natural events. I know the human body is capable of great things but getting this big naturaly is hard top concieve. Whats your thoughts?

I think if Ronnie Coleman could be as big as he was that John Hansen could get atleast 60% of that.

[HeteroticPhenom]

If you believe what he says, then this is what Coleman looked like in late 1989, as a lifetime natty -- up to that point.



edit: nevermind, I don't have 50 posts, and thus can't show an image. Suffice it to say he looks incredibly good & massive, particularly in the arms. As for whether or not to believe him, I have no idea... and don't worry about it. I've come to realize that bodybuilding is full of people who do all kinds of things, and it serves me no good to worry about what others are doing. My favorite phrase is, "oh well... beat 'em anyway."

I have noticed that guys in the gym, once they find out (to their surprise) that I'm natural, there's a sense of resentment towards me. It's not as if they dislike me for being natural... no, they dislike the fact that 'natural bodybuilding' forces the untested aspect of 'untested bodybuilding' into the limelight. -A subject that if they had their way, no one would never know about it, and no one would ever bring it up. Kind of like how it was back in the 'golden era'. But alas, natural bodybuilding is casting a shadow on them, and they don't like it.

[prodigalson22]

Hello and I read your response to the many questions about if your natural or not. I must ask for your help and i believe you maybe the one that can help me. I'm a 40 yr old man that has been skinny all my life up until a few years ago. i must admit I started to cycle of Sustanon 250. It put size on me and the animal way i was working out I looked great and still do. But since cycling off or coming off sustanon 250 a bad case of ance, pimples formed on chest, back and very bad on my face. My question is did i do something wrong when using? And what should I do if i use it again to prevent the ance forming on my face? Thanking you in advance.

Hey Guys, I saw you were talking about me so I thought I would jump in here. I appreciate the comments about how big I am. That is the natural bodybuilder's ultimate compliment, to be big enough that some people question whether you are natural or not.

I started bodybuilding at 14 years old and I was pretty skinny, 135 pounds at 5'8". I didn't have great genetics for putting muscle on very quickly as some bodybuilders do. I had a good frame (wide shoulders, big ribcage, etc) but it took me YEARS before I had built enough mass. I started competing at 16 years old and I got sort of addicted to competing in bodybuilding competitions for the next few years. I entered 10 teenage contests between the ages of 16-19 years old. The biggest I got as a teenager was about 185 pounds and I would compete at around 170-175 pounds.

When I reached my 20th birthday, I was no longer eligible to compete as a teenager so I decided to take at least a year off to get bigger. My goal when I started bodybuilding was to win the Mr. Universe and be featured in the magazines like the bodybuilders I admired when I was growing up (Arnold, Franco, Frank Zane, Robby Robinson, Lou Ferrigno, Mike Mentzer and Kal Szkalak). I wanted to bulk up to at least 100 pounds heavier than when I started bodybuilding and then work my way up the ladder from the Mr. Illinois to the Mr. Midwest to the Mr. America to the Mr. Universe.

Within 6 months after my last teenage contest, my bodyweight shot up to 205 pounds. I think this was a reaction to finally being off my pre-contest diet for awhile and letting my body grow. When I was competing so much as a teen, I was dieting every 3-4 months and I never gave myself time to grow and get big.

I thought for sure I would be 230 in another six months. Unfortunately, my body reached a sticking point and I couldn't get bigger no matter what I did. I started bulking up by eating even more food than I was eating previously. I had to eat so much food to get bigger, it was unbelievable! I actually got tired of eating so much. After awhile, it started to work. I was able to train heavier and heavier every week using the basic exercises. The more calories I ate, the more weight I was able to lift at the gym. I increased my strength by lifting really heavy. For my last couple sets, I would shoot for 3 reps on my own and have my training partner give me another 2-3 forced reps. This really helped to get me stronger (and eventually, bigger).

After six months of this bulking up program, I weighed 230 pounds. I was pretty bulky, believe me. I looked more like a football player than a bodybuilder but by doing this, I had the mass I needed to compete over 200 pounds. So, that's how I did it. It was a lot of eating good bodybuilding foods along with training heavy using the basic execises four days a week. I trained chest, delts, triceps and calves on Monday and Thursday and legs, back and biceps on Tuesday and Friday. I covered this routine in my book "Natural Bodybuilding" and in my new DVD, "Natural Bodybuilding Seminar and Competitions". Incidently, my new DVD features not only a 90 minute seminar on training and nutrition but also most of the natural bodybuilding competitions I competed in from 1991 to 2004. This is very interesting as you will be able to see the progress I make from each year in the competitions. I also have a commentary option on the DVD so you can listen to my thoughts on how I prepared for each show, what went right and what went wrong, what happened behind the scenes, etc.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to express my thoughts!

[Natural_O]

Hello and I read your response to the many questions about if your natural or not. I must ask for your help and i believe you maybe the one that can help me. I'm a 40 yr old man that has been skinny all my life up until a few years ago. i must admit I started to cycle of Sustanon 250. It put size on me and the animal way i was working out I looked great and still do. But since cycling off or coming off sustanon 250 a bad case of ance, pimples formed on chest, back and very bad on my face. My question is did i do something wrong when using? And what should I do if i use it again to prevent the ance forming on my face? Thanking you in advance.

Testosterone is a very "raw" drug. Although it will increase size and strength, you will also suffer androgenic side effects such as acne, water retention, etc. Obviously, this is not my area of expertise but that is probably why you got the acne after using test.

[gdp1989]

Ok so 3 days and 113 pages later and I'm up to date.

Firstly let me say how awesome it is that you've stuck around here for 4 1/2 years answering all these questions. Especially with some of the idiots you've had to put up with. I am 23 years old and started working out basically for the first time ever about 3 months ago. (I have joined gyms previously as a teen but never stuck at it more than about a month. I started exercising mainly to try to get off of meds for my Depression and Anxiety and within a month I was able to stop taking the pills. I was chubby my whole like (not fat but enough for kids to notice and point out. I then became extremely underweight due to undereating but still managed to have moobs and a gut due to zero muscle and a terrible diet.
I am currently cutting (slowly, basically eating at maintenance as I was sitting at 18ish BF and I put on fat easily (plus it's summer here). I figured I might as well take advantage of my ability to add muscle and subtract fat at the moment. I plan on trying to get to about 10% before going on a long slow bulk. I am already looking significantly better than I did (To myself anyway) You can see my progress pics on my Bodyspace. Is this the best way for me to go about it.

Also I am currently following Allpro's Beginners Program and wondered what you think of it.
Basically it goes like this:

Squat
Bench Press
Bent Over Row
Overhead Press
Stiff-Leg Deadlift
BB Curl (I'm using EZ bar)
Calf Raise (I'm using smith machine)

It runs in 5 Week cycles and each week is split like this: Heavy Day, Rest, Medium Day(10% Less), Rest, Light Day(10% Less Again), Rest, Rest
You use the same weight for the 5 weeks and increase your target reps each week from 8x2 - 9x2 - 10x2 - 11x2 - 12x2
On Week 5 heavy day if you complete 12 Reps on the second set of an exercise you start the next cycle with 10% heavier weight. If not you repeat the same weight.
I have added in EZ Bar Skullcrushers as I do my Bench with the same form you use (I really hate my chest) and therefore don't feel my triceps really being worked.
I noticed you consistently recommend 6 - 10 reps throughout the thread. I was wondering if I should alter the program to this instead of 8-12?

Sorry for the life story but you have given me a huge boost of inspiration. I must admit I'd never heard of you until I discovered this thread (No interest in Bodybuilding until now) but you are such a humble down to earth dude that it's impossible for some of your obvious love of and passion for the sport not to rub off. I'd never even considered something such as competing and a year ago the thought of getting up on a stage almost naked to be judged would have probably given me a panic attack but now I find myself thinking that maybe one day I will.

If you have managed to read all that then I'm impressed.
Thanks Man.

[Natural_O]

Ok so 3 days and 113 pages later and I'm up to date.

Firstly let me say how awesome it is that you've stuck around here for 4 1/2 years answering all these questions. Especially with some of the idiots you've had to put up with. I am 23 years old and started working out basically for the first time ever about 3 months ago. (I have joined gyms previously as a teen but never stuck at it more than about a month. I started exercising mainly to try to get off of meds for my Depression and Anxiety and within a month I was able to stop taking the pills. I was chubby my whole like (not fat but enough for kids to notice and point out. I then became extremely underweight due to undereating but still managed to have moobs and a gut due to zero muscle and a terrible diet.
I am currently cutting (slowly, basically eating at maintenance as I was sitting at 18ish BF and I put on fat easily (plus it's summer here). I figured I might as well take advantage of my ability to add muscle and subtract fat at the moment. I plan on trying to get to about 10% before going on a long slow bulk. I am already looking significantly better than I did (To myself anyway) You can see my progress pics on my Bodyspace. Is this the best way for me to go about it.

Also I am currently following Allpro's Beginners Program and wondered what you think of it.
Basically it goes like this:

Squat
Bench Press
Bent Over Row
Overhead Press
Stiff-Leg Deadlift
BB Curl (I'm using EZ bar)
Calf Raise (I'm using smith machine)

It runs in 5 Week cycles and each week is split like this: Heavy Day, Rest, Medium Day(10% Less), Rest, Light Day(10% Less Again), Rest, Rest
You use the same weight for the 5 weeks and increase your target reps each week from 8x2 - 9x2 - 10x2 - 11x2 - 12x2
On Week 5 heavy day if you complete 12 Reps on the second set of an exercise you start the next cycle with 10% heavier weight. If not you repeat the same weight.
I have added in EZ Bar Skullcrushers as I do my Bench with the same form you use (I really hate my chest) and therefore don't feel my triceps really being worked.
I noticed you consistently recommend 6 - 10 reps throughout the thread. I was wondering if I should alter the program to this instead of 8-12?

Sorry for the life story but you have given me a huge boost of inspiration. I must admit I'd never heard of you until I discovered this thread (No interest in Bodybuilding until now) but you are such a humble down to earth dude that it's impossible for some of your obvious love of and passion for the sport not to rub off. I'd never even considered something such as competing and a year ago the thought of getting up on a stage almost naked to be judged would have probably given me a panic attack but now I find myself thinking that maybe one day I will.

If you have managed to read all that then I'm impressed.
Thanks Man.

Thank you very much for all the nice words and especially for reading all 113 pages of this forum. LOL
I think your routine is really good for a beginning stage. The important thing is that you are making it progressive
and that is the key to making progress. You can change the reps to 6-10 and that will allow you to use more weight
and get stronger, which is important. Eventually, you can add more exercises and split your workouts to two workouts
instead of one. You could train chest, back and delts one workout and do legs and arms the next workout. You would then
reduce working each muscle group to twice a week instead of three times a week but you would be doing four workouts
a week instead of three workouts. Give that a try after a good 6-10 months of consistent training on the routine you are using
now. I'm sure we'll be seeing you onstage in the next year or so!

[gdp1989]

Thank's for that. Every minuscule change I see in my body is motivation to try even harder. Especially stoked that I actually have shoulders separate from my upper arms for the first time ever. Cheers for your time. Watch this space.

[Natural_O]

Advice on Building a Big Chest -
http://www.abbperformance.com/news/t...e-chest-n1892/

[Blackjackcat]

John, question for you. Most of the time I have done the one body part per week split. I have made solid progress(I have not updated my pics), but not overwhelming, in the last year, after a long layoff. Do you think hitting each body part twice per week is something I should consider? The only really lagging bodypart I have is my chest, it is just way slower than my other body parts in responding to training stimulus. I am open to changes, but do currently like the one body part per week spilt(I am worried about recovery and overtraining, doing the Upper/lower twice a week split. You would think a natural would be training less(as far as hitting the same muscle more than once per week), where the "enhanced" would be hitting body parts more often. Great thread BTW!

[Blackjackcat]

I forgot to add, I do pretty high volume right now, and the only body part that gets really sore for me is after leg day. I can feel some soreness after upper body work, but nothing like after leg day(it hurts to walk for 2 days and general soreness for 4). Which of your DVD's would you suggest buying, if I wanted to learn more about your training protocol for natural bodybuilders? I am always open to learn when it comes to this sport.

[Natural_O]

John, question for you. Most of the time I have done the one body part per week split. I have made solid progress(I have not updated my pics), but not overwhelming, in the last year, after a long layoff. Do you think hitting each body part twice per week is something I should consider? The only really lagging bodypart I have is my chest, it is just way slower than my other body parts in responding to training stimulus. I am open to changes, but do currently like the one body part per week spilt(I am worried about recovery and overtraining, doing the Upper/lower twice a week split. You would think a natural would be training less(as far as hitting the same muscle more than once per week), where the "enhanced" would be hitting body parts more often. Great thread BTW!

It really all depends on how fast you recover. When I was 20-21 years old, I could recuperate very fast and my joints were not hurting like they are today. That's why I could train heavy twice a week. That was a tough routine because I was splitting my body into only two workouts and I was doing a lot of muscle groups in one workout. It made it easier to do three workouts for the whole body (legs by themselves). I found that as I got older, I needed more rest and recuperation. So, it all depends on you and how fast you recover. You could try doing two days on, one day off, two days on, one day off to train your whole body. That would give you 6 days a week of recuperation for each bodypart.

[Natural_O]

I forgot to add, I do pretty high volume right now, and the only body part that gets really sore for me is after leg day. I can feel some soreness after upper body work, but nothing like after leg day(it hurts to walk for 2 days and general soreness for 4). Which of your DVD's would you suggest buying, if I wanted to learn more about your training protocol for natural bodybuilders? I am always open to learn when it comes to this sport.

You could try training your chest twice a week and doing everything else once. This works great for lagging bodyparts. Do one heavy workout and then train it lighter with more reps and volume about 2-3 days later.

[Blackjackcat]

You could try training your chest twice a week and doing everything else once. This works great for lagging bodyparts. Do one heavy workout and then train it lighter with more reps and volume about 2-3 days later.

Yeah, I was thinking of doing that, training Chest twice a week and everything else once. So to be clear, do you recommend training a bodypart twice a week or once? Also, which of your DVD's explain your training concept the best? I want to learn more about your training style, so I thought I would buy a DVD from you.

It really all depends on how fast you recover. When I was 20-21 years old, I could recuperate very fast and my joints were not hurting like they are today. That's why I could train heavy twice a week. That was a tough routine because I was splitting my body into only two workouts and I was doing a lot of muscle groups in one workout. It made it easier to do three workouts for the whole body (legs by themselves). I found that as I got older, I needed more rest and recuperation. So, it all depends on you and how fast you recover. You could try doing two days on, one day off, two days on, one day off to train your whole body. That would give you 6 days a week of recuperation for each bodypart.

So your split would be something like this:

M-Chest,Shoulder, Tris
T-off
W-legs, abs
T-off
Friday-Back, Bi's
S-Off
S-repeat

The only problem I have with that split would be a issue with Wednesdays and some Saturdays getting in the gym with my schedule. I mainly have M, T, Thurs, F and Sunday and every other Saturday, open to train. Thanks for the help.

[Natural_O]

Yeah, I was thinking of doing that, training Chest twice a week and everything else once. So to be clear, do you recommend training a bodypart twice a week or once? Also, which of your DVD's explain your training concept the best? I want to learn more about your training style, so I thought I would buy a DVD from you.



So your split would be something like this:

M-Chest,Shoulder, Tris
T-off
W-legs, abs
T-off
Friday-Back, Bi's
S-Off
S-repeat

The only problem I have with that split would be a issue with Wednesdays and some Saturdays getting in the gym with my schedule. I mainly have M, T, Thurs, F and Sunday and every other Saturday, open to train. Thanks for the help.

If you are going to split up the body over three days, I would do this -
Monday - Workout 1
Tuesday - Workout 2
Wed - Off
Thurs - Workout 3
Fri - Workout 1
Sat - Off
Sun - Workout 2
and so on, just keep going through the schedule. You basically are doing 3 days on (Sun-Tues), 1 day off, 2 days on (Thurs-Fri) and Sat off.
For training information, my Real Muscle DVD would be the best one to purchase -
http://www.naturalolympia.com/index....eal-muscle-dvd

[Blackjackcat]

If you are going to split up the body over three days, I would do this -
Monday - Workout 1
Tuesday - Workout 2
Wed - Off
Thurs - Workout 3
Fri - Workout 1
Sat - Off
Sun - Workout 2
and so on, just keep going through the schedule. You basically are doing 3 days on (Sun-Tues), 1 day off, 2 days on (Thurs-Fri) and Sat off.
For training information, my Real Muscle DVD would be the best one to purchase -
http://www.naturalolympia.com/index....eal-muscle-dvd

Thank you very much, for all the info. I just bought the DVD, really looking foward to it.

[Blackjackcat]

Just by reading some of your posts in this thread, I see where you have different training protocols(depending on age, recovery, ect). I am a older BB'er(46), so maybe doing the 4 day split might be too much for recovery. This is how I am going to do, just to change it up from just once week training for each bodypart:

M-Chest, Shoulders, tri's
T-Off
W-Off
T-Back, Bicep, abs
F-Chest, Shoulders, Tri's
S-off
S-Legs(I am only going to hit these hard once a week, as I usually need the whole week for recovery on my legs)

M-Back, Bicep ect. I will just flip the workouts from the previous week. So one week it will be twice every 5 days and then the following week I will get a extra day of rest on those body parts. Its a tweener between twice a week and once a week bodypart training. I figure I will go heavy compound movements one of the workouts and lighter isolation(and some compound) movements using more time under tension. Thanks for all your help. I may be doing my first show, this year, at the age of 46. I have always wanted to do one and I have finally put in the commitment to get it done. I am pretty lean already, so I would not need a ton of dieting to get down to the bodyfat level I need to be at.

[domcreates]

nice

[Natural_O]

Just by reading some of your posts in this thread, I see where you have different training protocols(depending on age, recovery, ect). I am a older BB'er(46), so maybe doing the 4 day split might be too much for recovery. This is how I am going to do, just to change it up from just once week training for each bodypart:

M-Chest, Shoulders, tri's
T-Off
W-Off
T-Back, Bicep, abs
F-Chest, Shoulders, Tri's
S-off
S-Legs(I am only going to hit these hard once a week, as I usually need the whole week for recovery on my legs)

M-Back, Bicep ect. I will just flip the workouts from the previous week. So one week it will be twice every 5 days and then the following week I will get a extra day of rest on those body parts. Its a tweener between twice a week and once a week bodypart training. I figure I will go heavy compound movements one of the workouts and lighter isolation(and some compound) movements using more time under tension. Thanks for all your help. I may be doing my first show, this year, at the age of 46. I have always wanted to do one and I have finally put in the commitment to get it done. I am pretty lean already, so I would not need a ton of dieting to get down to the bodyfat level I need to be at.

That sounds good. Do the routine like that and see how it works.

[Natural_O]

John, you don't think that there's anything glaringly wrong about ^this...? I thought there were really only 2 'hard & fast rules' when it comes to training splits (schedules), and it just so happens that he's breaking both of them.

Yes, those being; that you should always take the next day off, after you've trained legs, or back. -Because those two workouts in particular are so taxing on the body. Even the most 'unnatural' BBers (the Jay Cutlers, etc.) still abide by these rules.

Unless he's just training 'casually' (AKA killing time in the gym, for fun)... in which case it doesn't matter. But I assume we're all training our butts off, here.

I wouldn't say that is a rule. I like taking a day off from training after legs and back but I've also done workouts the day after doing back and even legs because my schedule was messed up that week. I think it's more important to take a day off from training after 2 consecutive days of working out. Training without a rest day for 4, 5, or 6 days in a row is not good if you are training hard and heavy.

[gloochmagnet33]

ass like leslie neilson's lower abdomen after pancriatic surgery #oletsdoit