Many thought Arnold should not have won the 1980 Mr. Olympia in Australia because he wasn’t at his best. Here’s his condition—and face as he realizes kangaroo dung does not smell like a scented candle… [Read more…]
Chest: Ideal Exercise Update
I’ve mentioned that cable chest presses and dumbbell decline presses are the two ultimate exercises for chest. [Read more…]
Ideal Mass Exercise Change to Gain?
Q: I know you train at home, so you have limited exercise choices. But I train in a commercial gym with many alternatives. Should I ever change ideal exercises? Like for chest, there are some cool decline press machines and even dip machines that seem to be ideal. Should I change to gain? If so, how often? [Read more…]
New Ideal-Only Mass Workout
Q: I know you use add-on exercises in addition to the ideal. But do you ever use only the ideal exercise and nothing else, like Doug Brignole?
A: First, I’m absolutely onboard with Doug in that his ideal exercise is the single best move for a muscle. He analyzes each one as well as all the ideal-qualifying factors in his 400-page book The Physics of Resistance Exercise (highly recommended reading). [Read more…]
Energy Cost: Lousy vs. Ideal Exercises
A few newsletters back I discussed energy cost and how multi-joint exercises that don’t optimally load the target muscle can take from your hypertrophy gains in exchange for some strength…
However, I also mentioned that you can focus on barbell squats at one leg workout and the ideal quad exercise at the next. Just keep in mind that it’s not the most efficient muscle-building strategy… [Read more…]
Ideal-Move Mass Workouts?
Q: I know you praise multi-angular training for mass, specifically your three-way Positions-of-Flexion method. But you also seem sold on the ideal exercise for each target muscle. Do you ever do workouts with just the ideal exercises, no other ancillary movements?
A: Not very often, but I do on occasion to shake things up. As you probably know, Doug Brignole only does the ideal exercise for each muscle; however, his genetics are better than mine… [Read more…]
Ideal Exercises = Fast Muscle Gains + Slash Gym Time
“What are these ‘ideal exercises‘ of which you speak?”
I get that a lot—maybe not in those exact words; more like, “WTF you talkin’ ‘bout?”
Biomechanics expert and Mr. Universe Doug Brignole lays out 16 factors that exercises should meet to be in the ideal category. [Read more…]
More Muscle: Stop making it so hard…
As an older bodybuilder, there’s a silver lining—and I’m not just talking about my hair…
When you’re older, you can’t recover as quickly or easily, so you don’t have to kill yourself in the gym as often… [Read more…]
How Drug-Free Mr. Universe Trains at Age 62
This incredible studio shot of Mr. America and Drug-Free Mr. Universe Doug Brignole was taken by Robert Reiff. Doug was 54 years old… [Read more…]
1 Workout a Week for a Freak Physique?
Q: I saw a study by Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., that showed training a muscle twice a week produced more mass gains than training a muscle once a week. I like training each muscle once a week and seem to make good gains, but I want to build mass as fast as possible. Should I switch to a different split to hit each muscle twice a week?
A: It was a “meta-analysis,” which means the researchers looked at multiple studies to come to their conclusion. Schoenfeld was one of the authors, and he is a favorite of ours because [Read more…]