By Julian Schmidt Flex
Nine bodybuilding legends give their best tips and training routines.
RONNIE COLEMAN: EXPLOSIVE
I don’t use ultrastrict single-muscle movements for any bodypart. As for using light weight and just squeezing a specific muscle, I never do anything like that. I try to combine explosive power and strict execution into each rep. Regardless of how heavy I go, I try to make the intended muscle work to its full capacity by putting as much of that weight as possible directly into it.
What I remember about squatting 800 pounds is that I wanted to make sure I was going down far enough and compressing that weight directly into my thighs. That’s what I examine in my videos: whether I was going down far enough, because I believe in performing every movement the right way. That’s howI was taught, to go down as far as I could, below parallel, hams on calves, then put as much power and strength as I had into the upward explosion.
I did only two reps, but both of them were good reps that I felt all the way through my thighs. Doing it that way, you have to involve more than the contraction of a single muscle; all muscles in the thighs have to work together, as well as other muscles in the body that coordinate balance. Same with biceps work. To get those puppies to work, you have to use your delts, forearms and even your abs as you tense to explode into the rep.
RONNIE COLEMAN’S BICEPS WORKOUT
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BARBELL CURLS, 4 sets, 8-12 reps
STANDING ALTERNATE DUMBBELL CURLS, 3 sets, 8-12 reps
CAMBERED-BAR PREACHER CURLS, 3 sets, 8-12 reps
STANDING CABLE CURLS*, 4×2 sets, 8-12 reps
*Coleman performs four nonstop sets, takes a brief rest and repeats the series.
JAY CUTLER: CONTROL
For a lot of pros, when they’re working a bodypart, you’ll see some motion in the rest of their bodies. When they’re pushing heavy weight, it’s almost impossible not to use a lot of muscles. I do the same, but usually with the rest-pause principle. I contract the muscle as much as I can, but I don’t do continuous repetitions at a steady pace, like a machine. My training is different from Ronnie’s in that manner. His is explosive: up, down, up, down, consistently paced, with no pause, for 10 reps. Mine pause. For squats, I go down, come up and squeeze the quads for a oneor two-count, go back down, come up and squeeze for a one- or two-count, etc.
For bench presses, I pause at the top of every third rep or so, and when I come down, I control the bar so that it stops about two inches shy of my chest; i.e., I don’t bounce it off my chest. That’s what I consider strict.
For barbell rows, I throw around 400 pounds, so there’s going to be some cushioning with my knees to get the weight up, because I don’t want to tweak something. I’m not dragging the weight up my body, though, and I’m not jerking it all over the place. When you’re moving that kind of weight, your hips and your body have to move, for balance.
For preacher curls, my body is braced in position, so I don’t use body motion. There will be some for standing barbell curls, to maintain balance and keep the weight focused in the biceps. It’s nonetheless controlled and, for some reps, I pause at the bottom and really feel the weight, to get the mind-to-muscle connection. With 70-pound dumbbell curls, it’s also pretty hard to remain perfectly erect and still. It’s not the contraction of only a single muscle fiber that’s moving that weight. The rest of the body has to continuously stabilize itself to accommodate the constant weight transfers. That’s real-world physics for you.
Even with a pullup movement, I might have to use other muscles to help bring my bodyweight all the way to the top, in order to get a peak contraction in my back. When you’re a 300-pound guy, you’re going to have some body motion.
JAY CUTLER’S BICEPS WORKOUT
BARBELL CURLS, 5-6 sets, 8-10 reps
ONE-ARM DUMBBELL PREACHER CURLS, 3 sets, 8-10 reps
INCLINE DUMBBELL CURLS, 3 sets, 8-10 reps
TWO-ARM HIGH-CABLE CURLS, 3 sets, 8-10 reps
HAMMER CURLS, 3 sets, 8-10 reps
DARREM CHARLES: FORCE
There’s a fine line between applying a little force from another muscle group, or cheating, for the purpose of moving a weight so that it places even more stress on a muscle versus going all the way across the board to where you’re doing the exercise totally wrong and missing the targeted bodypart altogether. I like to cheat just enough so I can still execute the exercise correctly; that is, feel it in the muscle I’m trying to hit. Ultra strict repetitions are what I call a Jane Fonda workout, which is using very light weight, so that nothing else moves.
In bodybuilding, though, you have to go a little bit heavier, so other muscles help lift the weight in a manner that places more stress on the muscle than can be applied only by that muscle’s contraction. Don’t, however, cross the line. I’ve seen guys do T-bar rows with weight so heavy that they have to stand straight up. That’s a deadlift, not a row — a totally different exercise. T-bar rows should be done with the back at about a 45-degree angle. With shoulder presses, you have to recruit the upper back, traps and even the upper pecs as you start the movement.
DARREM CHARLES’ DELTS WORKOUT
BARBELL PRESSES, 3 sets, 4-10 reps
DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISES, 3 sets, 4-10 reps
BENT DUMMBELL LATERAL RAISES, 3 sets, 4-10 reps
UPRIGHT ROWS, 3 sets, 4-10 reps
BARBELL SHRUGS, 3 sets, 4-10 reps
CHRIS CORMIER: PRESSURE
I use a combination of both power and strictness. Let’s say I’m doing arm curls: I try my best not to swing my body back and forth, but I do use my body in whatever manner is required to get the most out of my biceps. Mostly, it’s concentration. I don’t think of reaching a certain number of reps but, rather, of feeling that muscle stressed throughout its range of motion. Most people don’t allow their arms to extend. They lower them only to the point where they remain in an L-shape, then rock them back up.
Instead, you have to let your arms extend all the way down, then contract them all the way to the top. That’s the proper range of motion, and that’s strict, but if you’re using enough weight to do yourself some good, you’ll also have to correct the balance of your body to get a full range of motion, even if you have to lean into the movement. For legs, it’s the same thing — you have to call the secondary muscles into play to put maximum pressure on the thighs. You couldn’t get the most out of leg presses if you didn’t get your hams involved. In fact, it would be impossible to do leg presses and keep your hams out of it.
CHRIS CORMIER’S QUADS WORKOUT
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LEG EXTENSIONS, 4 sets*, 15 reps
SQUATS, 5 sets, 8-20 reps
LEG PRESSES, 4-5 sets, 12-20 reps
HACK SQUATS, 4-5 sets, 8-15 reps
LEG EXTENSIONS, 4-5 sets, 15-25 reps
*Perform with light weight as warm-up sets.
VICTOR MARTINEZ: INTENSITY
I use strict reps, but with high intensity.
You can’t look at me doing dips and wonder Is he training his triceps or his elbows? No, I’m training my triceps.
Doing overhead presses, you might ask, Is he training his shoulders or his armpits? No, I’m training my shoulders.
I’m definitely using a lot of power, but it’s all going into the focal-point muscle. I’m not using any other muscles at all. Nothing is sloppy, but it’s not slow. It’s high impact.
VICTOR MARTINEZ’S TRICEPS WORKOUT
CLOSE-GRIP BENCH PRESSES, 4 sets, 10 reps
WEIGHTED DIPS, 4 sets, 10 reps
PUSHDOWNS, 4 sets, 10 reps
GÜNTER SCHLIERKAMP: POWER
I have an all-in-one workout, in which I put power into my strict reps, in the sense that I’m exploding through the arc of most resistance, rather than squeezing consistently through it. An example of this would be my power press, which is a Smith machine bench press, where I lock the bar about six inches above my chest and do partial presses up to a ******* from there, for five or six reps to failure. This gives me isolated strict continuous tension in the top of my pecs, with heavier weight than I would be able to use for a normal bench press.
I also have a program of two different workouts: one in which I use very controlled and isolated repetitions that focus on a single muscle and another in which repetitions are very explosive, employing assistance muscles, as well. These workouts will alternate: I use one for two weeks, then the other for two weeks, or I might alternate them every workout.
GÜNTER SCHLIERKAMP’S CHEST WORKOUT
SMITH MACHINE POWER PRESSES, 4 sets, 5-6 reps
FLAT BARBELL PRESSES, 4 stes, 3-15 reps
INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESSES, 4 sets, 3-15 reps
HAMMER STRENGTH INCLINE PRESSES, 4 sets, 3-15 reps
INCLINE DUMBBELL FLYES, 4 sets, 10-12 reps
TROY ALVES: STRICT
I use a combination of power and strict form, but together, in each repetition. When I say power, I don’t do half reps, or use my back to swing the bar up, or bring my hips off the bench. When I say strict, it’s not a negative; instead, it’s tensed over the entire range of motion just enough so I can apply power. If you stabilize the limb in a stationary position, so that only one muscle fiber is allowed to contract, you can’t use enough weight to put on a lot of mass.
At the same time, your movement has to be strict enough to remain aligned with the bodypart you’re working. For instance, for triceps, I use heavy weight, but I’m not sloppy with it. I don’t swing my arms and entire torso all over the place, in order to shift the weight so my back or chest takes over. It stays in my triceps.
If I’m doing dumbbell lateral raises, they’re strict but heavy, maybe using my legs for a little momentum off the bottom. That allows me to handle heavy weight and get the dumbbells up and into the arc of maximum power, where my deltoids can then take over through their full range of motion. I do not involve my back in the momentum, only my legs. At the top, my shoulders and arms do all the work.
For dumbbell presses, it’s a controlled movement down, using a two-second count, then an explosive punch for the upward movement.
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The rules: maybe a little momentum from your lower body, to get the movement started, but no partial range of motion. Get that weight all the way up.
TROY ALVES’ TRICEPS WORKOUT
CLOSE-GRIP BENCH PRESSES, 6 sets*, 12-15 reps
SEATED CAMBERED-BAR FRENCH PRESSES, 4 sets, 12-15 reps
PUSHDOWNS, 4 sets, 12-15 reps
superset with
DUMBBELL KICKBACKS, 4 sets, 12-15 reps
*Drop sets
MELVIN ANTHONY: TENSION
I power my reps, but I concentrate mostly on keeping tension in the muscle, and I do that with slower reps, where the speed or pace is more controlled. I don’t go to the bottom of a movement and shoot up. Instead, I go down slower and power through it, but I won’t bounce, especially on squats.
The same with dumbbell rows: I execute a controlled pull and descent, not a jerky up and down where the dumbbells move through their own momentum. I squeeze through the rep, emphasizing continuous tension on the lat muscles. It’s strict form until I reach failure; then I get in some final partial reps. You have to bounce out a couple and get that cheat factor in there to induce mass-building power.
My normal reps, though, follow this pattern: the descent is a lot slower than the press. I don’t bounce, but I still put a lot of explosion into it. I use the descent to build tension in the muscle and, at the bottom, I don’t relax and restart the press to get to the top; rather, the muscle remains under maximum tension, and I use that to propel the weight back to the top. That allows me to stay with compound movements for what I still consider strict reps. It also helps prevent joint injury.
MELVIN ANTHONY’S BACK WORKOUT
FRONT PULLDOWNS, 5 sets, 15 reps
superset with
SEATED CABLE ROWS, 5 sets, 15 reps
T-BAR ROWS, 5 sets, 15 reps
superset with
ONE-ARM DUMBBELL ROWS, 5 sets, 15 reps
CLOSE-GRIP OVERHAND PULLDOWNS, 5 sets, 15 reps
DEADLIFTS, 5 sets, 15 reps
JOHNNIE JACKSON: HEAVY
To gain mass, the work has to be spread over an entire muscle group, not just a single muscle in a group. That means you have to lift so heavy that the weight cannot be moved by the contraction of a single muscle.
The more muscles that have to be called into play, the more mass you will gain.
You can’t squat 500 pounds the same way you squat 135 pounds, and you can’t curl 90-pound dumbbells as strictly as you can 40-pounders.
Stabilizing and balancing forces change with the weight you’re lifting.
JOHNNIE JACKSON’S LEG WORKOUT
LEG EXTENSIONS, 5 sets, 15-20 reps
SQUATS, 5 sets, 1-15 reps
LEG PRESSES, 5 sets, 15-20 reps
HACK SQUATS, 3 sets, 15 reps
LYING LEG CURLS, 4 sets, 20 reps
SEATED LEG CURLS, 3 sets, 30-40 reps
DONKEY CALF RAISES6 sets, 30 reps
Source: http://www.flexonline.com/training/legendary-workouts
