interesting bodybuilding tips from david young

[First Blood]

http://ironmanmagazine.com/blogs/fast-muscle-building-tips/page/1

[First Blood]

I’ve looked at and tried just about every type of training split ever introduced to bodybuilding. People always ask, “Which one is best?” While I don’t think any single type of split is the Holy Grail, I do think what works for you is the one that you should follow. The problem is everyone has different levels of recovery, energy and time available. These factors all need to be given consideration.

In the late 60’s almost every major bodybuilder trained 6 days a week. Then Arthur Jones came along and suggested everyone revert to 3 days a week on a total body program. I tried both with little success. Some bodybuilders where splitting their body into two groups and training 4 days a week. Personally, I finally started making appreciable progress when I learned to split the body 3 ways and followed a 3 days on one day off for rest routine followed continuously.

The split was:
Day 1 Chest/Back/Abs
Day 2 Quads/Hamstrings/Calves
Day 3 Shoulders/Traps/Biceps/Triceps
Day 4 Rest
Day 5 start cycle over

Later I added an extra day of rest after 2 workouts and found this to be more effective because you end up training body parts 2 times every 8 days.

The split was:
Day 1 Chest/Back/Abs
Day 2 Quads/Hamstrings/Calves
Day 3 Rest
Day 4 Shoulders/Traps/Biceps/Triceps
Day 5 Rest
Start cycle over

I recently started splitting my body 4 ways training 2 days on and one day off. This seems to be working well.

Day 1 Chest/Back
Day 2 Biceps/Triceps/Brachialis
Day 3 Off
Day 4 Quad/Hamstrings
Day 5 Shoulders/Calves
Day 6 off
Day 7 Start cycle over

[First Blood]

Basic Concepts for Lean Mass Gains – Concentration and Focus

If you ever get a chance to see World class bodybuilders, powerlifters or weightlifters train, you’ll notice that the workouts are very businesslike. The cell phones are either turned off or left in the locker. Conversation is kept to a bare minimum and revolves around things like “put on another quarter”, next up (name an exercise) and things of that nature.

Champions are oblivious to things going on around them because they’re focused on what they’re doing. Most of them need little if any pushing or encouragement. They get the most out of every set and every rep. People used to say that a bomb could go off next to Arnold and he’d continue doing his set until he couldn’t get another rep. Slower growing body parts or exercises need even a higher level of concentration.

There’s something very special about observing a champion train. They’re totally focused on their goal for the set, on the contraction of the muscle, on how they’re going to look. There’s a look of self-determination on their faces, in their eyes and in their attitude that can’t be missed. It’s inspiring to be around these people.

If you’re wandering around the gym talking (even during a set), texting, reading the paper, answering your cell phone, talking about the game or what happened at work today, then there’s good news… you have a tremendous opportunity to make improvements in your results.

I suggest that you make a promise to yourself that from this day forward: You’re going to turn off the cell phone and forget about the game or whatever it is that distracts your attention. Focus on the job at hand: building muscle.

Pretend that you’re fighting a life-and-death battle in which your life depends on this workout, this set and this rep. Arnold S. once told a friend of mine (true story) that he would pick a weight that he could get eight reps with, and then he would imagine that if he didn’t get 12 reps, his mother would be burned at the stake. Now that’s focus!

I assure you, you’ll be amazed at what you’ll accomplish. Ask a champion how they get in shape and more than likely the answer will be, “I think about it.”

[First Blood]

Long before the debates over High Intensity Training vs. High Volume Training, champion bodybuilders and gym owners used to cycle training over a period of months starting with lower volume gradually increasing it and then cutting it back again. With this training you’re balancing the pendulum between your body’s need for more work versus your body’s need for rest and recovery. Each movement of the pendulum brings you to a higher level.

Arnold used to start the year with 10 sets per body part. Then he’d increase it to 12 sets, then 15, then 18 and finally 20 sets. He’d also increase the frequency of training body parts from twice a week to 3 times a week. Then he’d cut back to 10 sets again and start over.

North Hollywood gym owner, the late Vince Gironda used to have his students train with two and sometimes only one exercise per body part doing 3 sets of 8 reps one month, then he’d have them go to 5 sets of 6 reps, then 6 sets of 6 reps and finally 8 sets of 8 reps––then he’d back them down to 3 sets of 8 again. He called this simplifying the workout.

I first learned to cycle my training like this on 3 week cycles from Leo Costa back in the mid-nineties. I’ve been using my own form of it ever since. Leo called it going from
the Hypo Training Zone to the Hyper Training Zone. It made sense to me since like others I noticed that the greatest progress from HIT type programs comes to people who are over-trained. That progress however, seldom continues without making changes.

Charles Poliquin now also recommends changing training cycles every three weeks. Charles calls the high volume workouts the Accumulation Phase and the cycles of high intensity the Intensification Phase. Each cycle, develops different muscle fibers and Charles says, “for maximum muscle mass, both Type IIA (fast twitch with endurance characteristics) and Type IIB (pure fast twitch) fibers need to be trained.”

Whatever you call it cycling between high and low volume is an effective way to train when building muscle is your goal.

[First Blood]

I talked about postulates in an earlier post. Now I’m going talk about how they work and how to change them. To recap, a postulate is a prediction—a self-created truth. It’s a conclusion, decision or resolution made by the individual to resolve a problem or to set a pattern for the future or to nullify a pattern of the past.

A postulate can be negative or positive. Don’t confuse postulates with simply positive or negative thinking. They are not. They are your “core” thoughts. They are what you actually believe without putting up any “fronts.”

Let’s revisit our example. A person says, “I’m a hardgainer; I don’t build muscle or gain weight easily.” Not consciously aware of this postulate, he will wonder why he is having so much trouble gaining muscle; it’s because he has made an earlier promise to himself. In order to change, he has to change that postulate.

How did it form?

Maybe he started training and didn’t have a great routine, didn’t know the proper sequence of exercises, didn’t know that he needed to eat six times a day. He tries something, and it doesn’t work. He makes a mental note: “No progress.” Now he tries something else. Again he misses the target. He makes another mental note. Then comes another change—and still no progress. Now he says to himself, “I’m a hardgainer; I don’t build muscle or gain weight easily.” The postulate is set.

Later he learns proper training; nutrition; use of nutritional supplements; ideal exercise tempo, or the speed of the repetitions; the length of the workout; the optimal amount of rest between sets and exercises; and all the other training factors involved.

The problem is the postulate of “I’m a hardgainer; I don’t build muscle or gain weight easily” has been etched in the person’s beliefs.

Now let’s go back to the statement from Arthur Jones who said, “Next to intensity of effort, confidence may very well be the most important factor for the production of the best rate of training progress; without confidence in his ability to produce good results, a trainee will seldom produce them—and never in proportion to the efforts expended.”

Do you see the significance of the postulate? In order for this person to change his results and gain muscular weight, he has to change that postulate.

How?

You must enter into a mindset that your goals are certain to be attained. You make a statement just knowing, with absolute unshakable certainty/belief, that it WILL be executed despite ANY contrary appearances. There is no counter (opposing, or negative) thought expected, anticipated or anything else.

You go for a walk or go into a quiet place, and you make a series of positive postulates in THAT frame of mind. And you make the statements over and over and over for 30 minutes two times a day.

It’s resetting your governor. A governor on a car is a device for automatic control or limitation of speed. When you change your postulates, it’s like opening the governor to set you at warp speed. Imagine if your governor was set for building muscle. That is the state you want to be in when you are reviewing and reciting your postulates. It’s like you’re ready to knock down all obstacles.

Here are some positive postulates you may consider. You decide, this is the way I think about things, and I’m going to think about these things in spite of everything that comes up:

• I build muscle easily at a blistering pace!

• I make steady and significant improvements in size, strength and weight!

• I am able to conquer the gym and my workout poundages!

• I am strong, powerful and unconquerable!

• Nothing can stop me from achieving my goals and I know it!

• I accomplish all my goals!

• I am very capable in anything I do, and I do it in a very smart manner!

• I’ve turned my muscle-building governor up—it’s at warp speed—so I conquer everything in the gym. It’s a very simple mechanism working for me. It’s like a turbocharger hooked up to make gains come easy and training successful for me. It’s a like a conspiracy determined to bring my goals!

• My governor brings me up to muscle-building warp speed.

• I fully recover from each workout and grow stronger each and every training day.

[First Blood]

When people talk about workout intensity they are often referring to taking each set to momentary completion. Performing every possible rep you can in a given set. This was popularized by Arthur Jones around 1970. Many trainees fail to realize that there’s another factor responsible for intensity.

Jones as well as advocates of higher volume training programs like Vince Gironda, Larry Scott, Bill Pearl, Steve Michalik, John Defendis and yes Arnold favored quick-paced workouts with little to no rest between exercises or sets. Jones and Darden called it the rush factor. Gironda called it “training over your head” – probably due to the feeling like you are under water gasping for air!

Jones didn’t limit the importance of rushing to training each body part. He considered it critical to the intensity of an entire workout. Work divided by time equals intensity, and that equation applies as much to the whole workout as it does to a particular muscle.

There are many benefits of speedy workouts. Cardiovascular endurance is the first. Safety is another, moving quickly will limit the poundages you can use. This is especially important for those over 35. Your muscles will be working at their limit, the poundage doesn’t matter. Another benefit is that of efficiency—you can spend less time in the gym and get more done.

Research is showing that there are also favorable benefits on growth hormone as well as testosterone levels. Pick up the pace and pick up more muscle!

[Marty Champions]

just add a set to each then its the most perfect routine ever

also grease up the bar with petroleum jelly to make it more difficult to grip

[First Blood]

The champions I trained with taught me that while the proper training information is important, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll build all the muscle you’re after. You must have that fire-in-your-gut desire to get the physique you desire. Training information is absolutely worthless if you don’t have the motivation to succeed.

When I talked with these champions, I discovered that they were all relentless in their pursuit of their goals. They all had a strategy for setting goals, and they set their total focus on sticking with our programs no matter what. They were all willing to step over the line in their training into a level of intensity others fear.

Motivation is having and pursuing a goal as if we had already achieved it, no thought or consideration is given to failure, discouragement or any appearances contrary to our desired outcome. We have the intention to succeed, and we achieve out intended reps or weight because we intend to. It’s a–– flat out––intense desire to succeed no matter friggin’ what! Intense desire fuels our inner drive and catapults us to tap into our true genius potential.

If you want to build muscle then decide right now, that you’re going passionately pursue it with all your might! That means pushing yourself further than you ever thought possible. That means staying on your eating plan even though your friends are having pizza, drinking beer, staying out late, missing meals and training like pansies.

Your training will put you to the test over and over again, and only through intense desire will you overcome the obstacles before you and reach your full potential.

You MUST get absolutely fed-up with the way you look. THAT will kick-start your inner drive to finally get what you’re after. Become determined that no matter what the challenges, you will get the muscle you’re after. Are you ready to make that commitment and tap into your true potential? Say YES!

[First Blood]

3 Steps to Slash Muscle Building Barriers

Opening the door to the muscle-building vault can be a struggle. Without the right combination, the door gets locked. You find yourself standing outside, looking in. If you’re still looking for the combination of training and recovery techniques that garners uninterrupted results—listen up!

It happens to all of us––we follow the standard rules of muscle building, we train heavy on basic exercises but progress comes slowly—if at all. Can you end the confusion, frustration and jolt your progress? Yes…

How? Heavy training covers one factor responsible for muscle growth. To slash through training barriers and open the vault to the muscle growth zone, you need a radical approach. Can you relate to one of the following scenes?

Scene one: You’ve been training for a while and made good gains and them bam… your progress hit the brakes like you’ve been super-glued to the tracks. That was six months ago, and you haven’t made appreciable progress since.

Scene two: You’ve made good progress throughout ‘most’ of your physique, even built a good amount of size but one or two body-parts are lagging way behind the rest of your physique. You don’t get a good pump in those muscle groups, and you don’t feel the muscle working very well.

Scene three: You find building muscle nearly impossible no matter how hard or heavy you train. You classify yourself as a ‘hard-gainer’ or someone who got short-changed when they handed out the muscle building genetics.

The Secret Bag of Tricks: Muscle Building Made Easy

So what’s missing? For optimal progress you also need to: develop the capillary network to give you an explosive pump; ignite the nerve supply so you can feel your training better and contract each muscle more forcefully; amplify you’re body’s natural anabolic mechanisms, namely testosterone and growth hormone. Standard approaches to building muscle work the muscle fibers. That’s a good base but not optimal.

To enter the muscle growth zone, you need more control over the muscle and the capillary network to transport nutrients more effectively for muscle growth and repair. Pull the trigger on new muscle growth and unleash a surge of new gains. Here are 3 techniques to fire-up muscle growth factors that may have been lying dormant for years.

First up–shock supersets! This is a crazy type of superset done to shock new muscle growth.

Here’s how to apply it: Let’s take back training as an example. After a week or two of heavy training for your back, you’re primed for growth. A week of shock sets is the ‘tip of the day’. Perform shock supersets by doing a set of 15 to 25 reps of close-grip pulldowns and with no rest go directly into dumbbell pullovers. Rest only 30-seconds, then do another cycle of those two exercises. Perform three supersets. Now take wide grip pulldowns and shock superset them with two-arm bent dumbbell rows again for 3 sets of 15-25 reps each.

Next on the agenda, 10 sets of 10. This one has been responsible for even seasoned trainees gaining 10-15 pounds of muscle in 2 to 3 months. It causes a crazy pump, floods nutrients into the muscle and causes a release of growth hormone and testosterone.

How to apply it: Take one exercise on a body part and try to pick a weight that allows you about 20 reps. Instead, perform 10 sets of 10 reps with only 30 seconds rest between sets. Do the same for all body parts.

Okay, last technique, Constant Tension. Wow, I can’t understand why this technique fell out of favor. Probably because some exercise purists didn’t understand that time under tension has a profound effect on natural anabolic mechanisms. The technique was popular in the ’60s and ’70s among trainees with freaky development.

How to apply it: Let’s say you’re doing incline bench presses. Stop the bar about a half an inch before it touches the chest on the downward motion and press up stopping again about an inch or even 2 inches short of locking out. This keeps the tension on the chest muscles throughout the set and eliminates the short rest that you get at the top and bottom of a movement. It’s effective for any kind of press, pull, squat, curl or extension. Warning: This fast muscle building technique causes a burn like you’ve been poked with a branding iron. The results are worth it.

Try cycling these techniques into your workouts for about 2-to 3 weeks each and set yourself up for a surge in muscle growth.

[First Blood]

Hello!

If you look in the mirror and want to improve what you see…. this blog is written for you. Thank you for tuning in. This blog is yours, not mine. People all over the internet have been asking me to write about my incredible journey through the world of fitness, bodybuilding and motivation. The purpose of this blog is to help you sift through the maze of useful training and nutritional information and what is pure utter bunk out on ‘the street’.

Success leaves a goldmine of evidence and forges a path for others!

It’ll be a reinvention of tried and true ‘forgotten’ principles as well as a productive ‘spin’ on new techniques that I learned from highly recognizable role models and other very knowledgeable and successful experts. Assuming you want… no wait, you crave a better physique… more muscle… increased strength… less fat… better athletic performance and more confidence––keep your eyes super-glued right here––this blog will help get what you want.

How? Because you’re going to benefit from the knowledge I’ve learned from role models and heroes who took the time to offer me (and now you) their experience and knowledge. Many of these people are legends in the world of fitness and bodybuilding. My journey started from humble beginnings… as a freshman in high school, I was the last kid to be picked on any team. I was smaller than everyone, didn’t move as fast and wasn’t very strong. Worse yet, my parents and sibling were grossly overweight. I was a skinny kid who also had the genetics to become overweight. I didn’t have good role models for building an ideal physique or athletics. That would soon change.

Instinctively, I knew right from the start that if I was going to get anywhere, I needed to study from the best. That started a journey of one door after another opening for me. When I learned the principle of role modeling from motivational speaker Anthony Robbins (I staffed his seminars for 7 years), I realized I had practiced role modeling most of my life. I’ve had the opportunity to train with and oversee the training of 5 Professional and 1 National-level bodybuilder, witness the training of about 2 dozen more, develop the training for a well-known actor/martial artist, train with law enforcement personnel and interview over 4 dozen additional champions. Now their wisdom will be offered to you with no holding back, no secrets held close.

The results for me have been amazing… that’s what I wish for you. Stay tuned and subscribe to my RSS feed right now.

[Master Blaster]

this is not gh15 approved

[First Blood]

I agree with Doug Brignole (who also has an excellent blog here) that the Push-Pull Split Routine is a mistake. Most readers will be familiar with the method. All the pushing exercises are done one day, such as Chest, shoulders and triceps. Then day 2 consists of back and biceps and day 3 is legs. Some people split this routine 4 ways by doing chest and triceps on day 1, back and biceps on day 2, rest on day 3, quads and hamstrings on day 4, shoulders and calves on day 5, rest on day 6 and repeat.

The logic behind this routine is to minimize “overlap” training of body parts thus providing increased recovery. Following the line of thinking behind this routine, triceps get worked doing chest work (flat, incline and decline bench presses), triceps also get worked during shoulder work (overhead pressing) therefore if you train them all in one day there is a longer rest and recovery period than other types of splitting your routine. The next overlap avoided is that biceps get worked when doing any back work, such as rows, chins or pull-downs.

Why it’s a mistake!

One problem with this routine is that working triceps after chest means they’ve already gotten a fair share of work and once you get to them they are already “compromised’ so you don’t have the strength or energy left to put full intensity into them. The same is true with training biceps after training back.

Another challenge with this split is that shoulders come into play with chest and with back work so you still get an overlap with this training.

What’s the preference?

As Doug, I much prefer grouping chest training with back, and shoulders with arms or an arm only day. I trained this way with Danny Padilla. Arnold trained this way. So did Sergio Oliva. You can gain the benefit of super-setting chest and back, super-setting biceps with triceps, super setting quads and hamstrings and shoulders with calves. The super-sets save you time as well as provide a cardio-vascular effect and incredible pump.

[First Blood]

When I first landed in Los Angeles in 1980 I immediately started training at Gold’s Gym in Santa Monica. One of the guys who I became friends with was Samir Bannout who had already done well on the Pro Circuit. I had the opportunity in 1981 to train with Samir and his training partner Steve White and I eventually became the third training partner and trained with them for about 5 months. I made significant progress during that time. Samir had amazing muscle shape and balance, split biceps, cross striations in his triceps. Of course this was before his 1983 Mr. Olympia win where he set a new standard in back development being the first ever to display a “Christmas Tree” in his lower back.

As with Danny Padilla, people always ask me how Samir trained. To my knowledge Samir was one of the first of the top guys following a routine that was given to him by George Turner. Samir had lived in George’s city for a period of time before turning Pro and before moving to L.A. and had made a great deal of gains on this routine. So did I. George wrote an article about it back in 1978-79 in one of the Weider magazines. It was the first three days one day off routine anyone ever wrote about. Day 1 Chest and Back, Day two Legs, Day three Shoulders and Arms, Day 4 rest, Repeat then 2 days off, Repeat then One Day off.

We always performed three exercises on each body part. There were 11 working sets total per body part for large muscle groups and about 9 for smaller groups. We would vary the choice of movements each workout. An Example Chest workout started with Incline Barbell Press warm-up for 2 or 3 sets then 4 work sets then Flat Bench 4 work sets then Cable fly’s 3 work sets. Reps were typically 12-6.

Samir was VERY strong. He did Reps in Bent over rows with 405 lbs. Once, when we were squatting he had 315 for his first work set but when he finished the set of squats he proceeded to 8 reps of behind the neck standing presses to our amazement.

I got real strong and real big on this routine… to that point in time my biggest ever. At one point Samir changed the split but kept the body part workouts the same.

The new split was Day one AM chest/back day 1 PM shoulder/arm day 2 rest, day three legs, day 4 rest, Repeat, repeat, repeat. I did not like this split as well but Samir liked it. Rest periods… there were three of us so we just rotated through. Cadence was actually fairly fast 1/0/2. We did basic exercises for the most part but he always had a favorite variation or two.

Oh, before that I had been doing a lot of forced reps etc. and Samir got me to stop all forced reps and just go to failure, sometimes a rep SHORT of failure. It worked. We grew. I think that forced reps can be used occasionally but sparingly.

[First Blood]

this is not gh15 approved

alternate research 

I think gh15 would approve of the advice to keep workouts short and fast paced. and i also think he would give green light to the 4 day split rotated over 6 days. 

[First Blood]

I was doing a 2-way split for a while but I started to dread the workouts as I knew that I had to work all of my upper body in one workout. splitting the body into 4 parts keeps the workouts short and sweet and makes it easier to focus.

[dj181]

So really interesting points here, but me thinks that the so-called importance of "proper nutrition" is GREATLY overplayed. At the moment I'm eating mostly 2, but sometimes 3 meals daily, and my protein intake is bout 80 grams daily, and I am losing fat while getting stronger and gaining lean muscle at the same time. My waist has shrunk over 4 inches while my bodyweight has remained constant. Intense, progressive training IS THE KEY fellas!

[Master Blaster]

I was doing a 2-way split for a while but I started to dread the workouts as I knew that I had to work all of my upper body in one workout. splitting the body into 4 parts keeps the workouts short and sweet and makes it easier to focus.

I tried to do a full body three times a week and everything kind of went to hell after a month or so...   

[DK II]

I tried to do a full body three times a week and everything kind of went to hell after a month or so...   

How did your routine look like?

[Master Blaster]

How did your routine look like?

like shit 

[Marty Champions]

keep adding more and more sets.

[DK II]

like shit 

LOL!

[wes]

David`s the man..........been around forever and trained with the best of them.

[First Blood]

David`s the man..........been around forever and trained with the best of them.

yes very interesting advice

[Meso_z]

who is "david young"?

[First Blood]

who is "david young"?

I was told he is max_rep and a mod on here.