In his own words, Phil Heath breaks down the back workout that helped him crash the top three in his first Mr. Olympia contest.
Having just taken third in my Mr. Olympia debut is like winning the lottery for me. Other guys who made the top three in their first Olympia include Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, Flex Wheeler and Kevin Levrone, so I’m feeling pretty good about being in that kind of company.
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After a six-year absence from the NPC national level, Freeman won the super-heavyweight class and overall at the 2002 Nationals at 249 pounds. However, that still didn’t mean he had world-class arms. In fact, the frequent speculation that he should be toting larger-caliber guns led to them progressing to become one of his showcase bodyparts today. Freeman states, "It came from all the ridicule from my first years of turning pro.
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During my bodybuilding heyday, I was known for a few bodyparts - my chest, my biceps, my back and even my calves. However, it was my abdominals to which I paid the most attention. I knew then, as I do now, that you could have the biggest arms, the broadest shoulders and the most cut thighs, but if you have poor abdominal development, you’ll look simply overgrown rather than Herculean.
Read More of Training: An Ab-solute Must »
I’ll gladly give you my best triceps workout, but the workout itself is only incidental to the story. Adding the most mass in the quickest manner is a total program comprising not merely exercises, sets and reps, but training schedules, recuperation, intensity, technique, principles, mental involvement and a host of other factors that define us as bodybuilders; however, to allay your impatience, I’ll start with the workout.
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Get ready for a fun summer season with some quick and easy grilling ideas. Grilling is a great way to eat healthy, save time and cut calories. Follow these easy tips for some flavorful and healthy meals.
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Do you want to know how to get a beach body - In 30 days? A beach body does not come easy. Success takes a combination of a healthy lean diet, consistent cardio work, and a comprehensive weight-training program. Although this may sound overwhelming, it is within your reach and you still have enough time to look your beach best. Here’s what you need to do.
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Are you ready for summer? If summer has approached and you still have a little work to do, no fear, a little hard work will take you a long way. Perform three strength-training days per week, and three high-intensity interval cardio days between your strength training, and you’ll be on your way. Follow this dumbbell beach body workout and you’ll be ready for summer.
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At the advanced level of competitive bodybuilding, you may wish to use the Weider Staggered Sets Training Principle. I'll let Ron Love tell you about staggered sets: "The closer a champion gets to a scheduled competition, the more he has to do boring sets of abdominal training each day in order to have a strong, tightly muscular midsection onstage.
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It should become obvious to you that your workouts will eventually become so long and involved when training your whole body in one session that it becomes impossible to work every muscle group with the highest possible degree of intensity. The body parts early in a full-body training session are bombed very intensely, while those toward the end of your workout receive less intensity than they could handle.
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Bodybuilders specializing on a lagging body part should be cognizant of the following 11 rules for optimum training:
• Do fewer total sets than you normally would. I suggest reducing total sets for a weak muscle group by about 30%. So if you have been doing 10 total sets for a lagging set of biceps, cut back to 7 sets.
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ARM EXERCISES - Standing Barbell Curls:
Emphasis—This is the most basic of biceps movements. It places primary stress on the biceps muscles and secondary stress on the brachialis and forearm flexor muscles.
Read More of Beginning Exercises and Routines - Part 2 »
In this section I will give you three progressively more intense midsection training schedules which you can use for 6-8 weeks each before moving up to the next level of intensity. And once you have finished 6-8 weeks on the third of these routines, you will be in sufficiently good condition to try one of the routines presented in the corncluding section of this chapter.
Read More of Developing Awesome Abdominals - Part 2 »
I don't think you need to run more than 30-40 minutes at a time to reach optimum aerobic conditioning. To work up to this level, use a gradual progression. Here is a sample program. Remember to run within your limits. If aerobic conditioning is new to you, be sure you do a lot of walking before you start a running program.
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Virtually anyone who has read this far in the book will be well past the beginning and intermediate stages of development and training experience. Still, there will be a few less experienced trainees reading this chapter, so I have included a series of routines in this section, which can be used by beginners, intermediates, and more advanced bodybuilders. Be sure to change to the next highest routine after you have spent 4-6 weeks on the current program.
Read More of Big Back Bombing - Part 3 »
There are more than 30 back exercises described and illustrated in this chapter. Counting the variations on each movement, the exercises presented in this section will give you more than 60 good trapezius, latissimus dorsi, and erector spinae movements for use in your own training programs.
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