Brandon On Arms

* In the past, I hit biceps after chest or back, but lately I’ve been training them with triceps on a separate day reserved just for arms. Pumping bi’s and tri’s together stretches the fascia, which, I believe, contributes to greater growth. If triceps are lagging, hit them before biceps so that you can blast them with intensity while your energy levels are high.”

* “I tend to train my arms pretty quickly. I don’t rest much between sets–maybe 30-60 seconds. This is because biceps and triceps are smaller muscle groups that don’t tax the heart a lot. So there’s really no reason to rest, other than to regain enough strength to perform the next set. A minute is more than enough time to accomplish that.”

Robert Burneika on Calf Training:

“Im a former strongman, so I believe in always training heavier. Get stronger and get bigger. And that includes calves. Some people train calves too light and just do high reps all the time. I think its important to stay with moderate reps and always use more weight if you can.

WORKOUT 1

WORKOUT 2

Dr. Jim Stoppani, Ph.D.

You know that creatine is among the most valuable supplements to the hard-working bodybuilder, but what you don’t know is just how it works. Let us explain…

1) The creatine pulls water from the extracellular space into the interior of the muscle cell, causing it to swell like a water balloon. This is the reason you can gain upward of 10 pounds of lean weight in as little as a couple of weeks by taking creatine.

2) The increase in water content of the muscle cell puts a large strain on the muscle cell membrane.

3) This strain sends a message to the nuclei of the muscle cell, which then sends out a signal via mRNA to increase muscle protein synthesis, triggering it to build more muscle protein and grow larger for the long haul.

source:flexonline.com

Vincent Wawryks BI Tips

I typically keep my reps at 10, but I increase the weight for each set of each exercise.
Machine preachers are done on a plate-loaded Strive machine.
My final set of concentration curls is a drop set with two drops.
For a long time I trained bis with tris together, but I now hit bis immediately after working back, once a week.

source:flexonline.com

Branch on Calves

* For calves, I alternate between a moderate-rep workout [workout A] and a high-rep workout [workout B]. I do each once a week.

* I dont think you need a lot of sets for calves. If you focus on a good stretch and contraction on every rep and push your sets to failure, six sets is plenty. More work usually means lazy work.

* Calves are used to that middle range of motion from all your walking, so to make ;em work you got to focus on the stretches and the contractions. Exaggerate those areas of the reps.

source:flexonline.com

She turned 44 last September, and 2010 was her seventeenth year competing in the IFBB Pro League, and yet last year was one of the best for the Venezuelan-born Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia. She won the Phoenix Pro and finished second to the incomparable Iris Kyle in both the Ms. International and Ms. Olympia. Now as she prepares for her eighteenth year as a pro (holy crap!) and, on March 5, her fourteenth Ms. International (holy crap!), this winner of the 2005 Ms. Olympia and 2008 Ms. International, serves up some tri tips and a typical triceps routine.

YAXENIS TRI TIPS

• For a maximum pump, keep rest between sets to less than one minute and do reps in the 15-25 range.
• Despite doing relatively high reps, always use the heaviest weight possible.
• To better bring out the shape and details of the triceps, I do only high-rep cable exercises before contests.

source:flexonline.com

He won three IFBB Pro League contests between 1999 and 2004 and finished fourth in the 2008 Atlantic City Pro Masters. Though he didnt compete last year, the Czech Republics Pavol Jablonicky, who turned 48 on January 24, may not be through yet, as he contemplates returning to the stage at the Pro Florida World Masters on December 10. His back has always been a liability, and yet Jablonicky is able to overcome this in most poses due to his tremendously capped delts, giving him a winning edge in upper body breadth despite a scarcity of lat width. We caught up with the ageless Czech to get his typical, low-volume delt routine and the key technique that made it work.

JABLONICKY ON PYRAMIDS

I like to pyramid the compound exercises, so for shoulders the behind-the-neck presses and cable upright rows are pryamided from 15 reps to 6 reps. This lets me warm up first before doing the lower reps, which is especially important as you get older.

source:flexonline.com

DEX TALKS QUADS

• I typically train quads and hams separately. Ill give quads their own workout and hit hams after shoulders.
• I dont go beyond parallel on squats. In the past, going too deep caused knee problems.
• Supersetting leg extensions and lunges brings in the deep cuts in my thighs. Those hamstring and glute tie-ins and the deep, deep cuts on the sides of my thighs–thats all from doing lunges.
• Make sure you squeeze hard at the top of leg extensions.

source:flexonline.com

Written by: Golden Muscles

After New York City policeman Vaughan Ettienne placed fifth in the light-heavy class of last years NPC Nationals, we named him one of our four Whos Up guys from that contest. Since then, hes stayed up, for in his next contest, the recent NPC/IFBB Team Universe, he not only won the light-heavy class but the overall, securing the right to compete in the IFBB Pro League. His waist-to-shoulder differentia is among the best in the sport, so in the Gym Bag section of the June issue of FLEX we featured Ettiennes unusual shoulder routine (delts and traps). In honor of his earning a pro card, we repeat it here and break down in greater detail what makes it so unique.

VAUGHANS UNIQUE SHOULDER TRAINING

* Superset of presses and laterals
Neither seated dumbbell presses nor seated dumbbell laterals are unusual, and supersetting them is hardly unprecedented. But note that Vaughan combines these two exercises after first doing seated dumbbell presses alone.

* Triple pressing
Three of his first four exercises are overhead presses.

* Trap priority
He works shoulders twice every 10 days, and every other workout he prioritizes traps by doing three types of shrugs after overhead pressing.

* Machine wide-grip rows
He does what most people think of as a back exercise as part of his shoulder workout, keeping his elbows high and wide and using an overhand grip. In this way, he focuses it on his rear delts and inner traps.

* Seated dumbbell shrugs
He prefers to shrug while seated to take his legs and back out of the movement.

VAUGHAN ETTIENNES SHOULDER ROUTINE

source:flexonline.com