thenaturalone’s BodyBlog

I tried this new bicep workout that is actually a very old workout but new to me and it only took 5 minutes to complete and by the end of this brief workout my biceps were blown up like cannon balls and they stayed pumped for the next 2 days! I came accross this workout when researching some training styles that were used by my favorite bodybuilder of all time, The Legend Larry Scott. Larry Scott had in my opinion the most perfectly developed arms of any bodybuilder in history. Larry Scott was very impressive in his days back when he won the 1965 and 1966 Mr. Olympia. He stood 5′8" and weighed 205 lbs with a 29" waist and massive 21" arms which was unheard of back in the days before steroid use got so heavy. Alot of bodybuilders now days would have to reach a body weight of 280 lbs or more to reach an arm measurement that big. I read a very interesting article Larry had written talking about his favorite bicep routine and was curious to see what it would be like to try it out so I did. Here is how it went. I began by setting up for the workout. I grabbed a well padded preacher curl bench, one that has a rounded top versus the kind that have a pointy crown and slant straight down. I grabbed a set of heavy dumbbells, I used 75’s. Then I took a straight barbell loaded with with about 80-85% of the weight that the 2 dumbbells weighed together which came to 125 lbs. Then I grabbed an E-Z curl bar and loaded it with a weight that was 60-65 % of the weight that was on the straight bar which ended up to be 80 lbs, then I grabbed a set of dumbbells that was equal to the weight that was on the easy bar which would be the 40 lb dumbbells. Every thing was set so here’s what I did. I grabbed the 75 lb dumbbells, 1 in each hand and put my elbows just past the crown of the preacher bench right where the pad starts to slant down, then keeping my elbows close together with a 75 in each hand pointing outward at about shoulder width with my palms facing up, I lowered both dumbbells simotaniously and completed 6 reps of curls letting the weights slowly lower all the way down until the wrists uncurl at the bottom of the movement and then bringing the weights all the way to the top into the begining position. Ounce I finished that I did 3 partial reps with the dumbbells where I only lowered them half way down and then back up. Immediately following that I grabbed the straight bar with the 125 lbs on it and with the same form having the elbows close together and my grip almost shoulder width apart I performed 6 full reps still on the preacher bench and then 3 partial reps. Right after that I put the barbell down and grabbed the E-Z curl bar with the 80 lbs on it and held the bar with a reverse grip and performed 6 full reps of reverse grip preacher curls and then 3 partial reps. By this time my biceps were so engorged with blood and so tight I barely move my arms! Next, without any rest I put down the E-Z curl bar and grabbed the 40 lb dumbbells and performed 6 full reps of double arm hammer style preacher dumbbell curls (palms both facing inward towards each other), then I performed 3 partial reps and that was all she wrote! My biceps were cooked! Fully pumped, skin tight, and veins a bulgin, that was the most wicked bicep pump I’ve had in a long time! And yes the total time it took including set up was just 5 minutes! It’s all about quality not quantity. If your looking to add more size and thickness to your biceps I recommend giving this bicep routine a try. If you get a chance go ahead and google Larry Scott and check out those classic 21" guns. If you look closely at his photo’s the condition his arms were in for that time period were absolutely incredible! One final note here, unless chemicaly enhanced, I recommend doing this super-duper-set for just one go cause it is very taxing! Repeating this cycle of exercises for over 1 super set at a time could lead to over training and be counter-productive. I would limit this workout to no more than once per week. A training partner can be very helpful doing this routine as well. I’m looking forward to doing this workout again as soon as my biceps fully recover! Best of luck to everyone!

I cant tell you just how many articles I’ve read in bodybuilding books and magazines about how you can achieve muscle growth by using muscle confusion and or muscle tricking techniques. Articles such as these seem to suggest that each muscle fiber has it’s own little brain and can think for it’s self to the point where when you train that your actually in a war of wits with your muscles and need to invent some clever strategic plan in order to trick your muscles into a growth response, ya know like a game of chess your having with your muscles where each muscle fiber is it’s own entity that can outwit you if your not slick enough for it’s formitable intelligence. I just have to laugh, roll my eyes and shake my head when I hear and read about theories like this. There does not exist one single iota of scientific evidence that suggests that it’s even a remote possibility to confuse your muscles. The only confusion thats taking place is the confusion that bodybuilding enthusiasts have when they read obsurd articles in books and magazines that suggest muscle confusion is real. The fact of the matter is that it is absolutely impossible to confuse a muscle! Our muscles are not that technical. Our muscles have only two fuctions, they contract and they relax, that’s it! Yes, you heard me correctly, contract and relax, that’s all! Although progressive resistance or muscle overload is absolutely necessary in order for your body to have an adaptive response to grow bigger muscles, there is no way, shape or form that you can confuse your muscles. Muscle growth occurs through a very simple process. You workout, you perform weight training exercises and if your going about it the right way you progressively increase the intensity of your training by subjecting your muscles to either heavier weights than what they’re used to or by using a the same weights for a higher rep range than they are used to in order to warrant an adaptive response by the body which is to ad more muscle to the body part under a now more stressful work load, in order to protect that body part from further assault that you may subject it to. Ounce you’ve tore up a muscle with progressive overload the next step is to get out of the gym, make sure you give the muscles sufficient time to recover so that they can actually grow, take in the precise amount of protein and nutrients to fullfill your muscles maitainance and growth needs, and ounce your fully recovered your muscles will now be bigger and stronger and you go back into the gym and follow this process all over again but now working with a heavier work load than last time, and it’s that simple. Don’t ever let anyone make you think that muscle growth is more complicated than that because it isn’t! One last note here. If when you go back into the gym to repeat a given workout, and your not stronger than you were the last time, then it’s because your muscles haven’t fully recovered yet and you need to incorporate more rest days between all future weight training sessions!

One of the most common myths in the bodybuilding world is that because you obtain a pump while weight lifting means that you’ve stimulated muscle growth. This is not the case. The pump sensation you get from lifting weights is just a temporary edema or swelling of the muscle in response to weight training. If getting a pump meant that you stimulate muscle growth then you would be coming into the gym bigger, better and stronger literaly every single workout. Just think of all the regular lifters you see at the gym that obtain a pump every single day but haven’t gotten any bigger or stronger for months or even years. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the pump, in fact I love the feeling of fresh oxygenated, nutrient rich blood flowing throughout my muscles when I lift, however, the positives that come along with obtaining a pump aren’t enough to stimulate muscle growth. Progressive resistance where intensity is increased via using heavier weights or doing more repetitions with a particular weight that the muscle isn’t used to is what it takes in order for the body to create an adaptive response by stimulating more muscle growth. Combined of course with adaquit rest and recovery time and the proper nutrition. Just to give you an example, every single time I train my arms, I move up and become stronger every single arm workout. Every one! The thing is here that I train my arms ounce every 3 weeks. This is not B.S! With the weights I use thats how long it takes to recover enough in order to produce muscle growth. I see other guys in the gym that train arms 3 times per week but yet haven’t been able to increase the strength or muscle mass in their arms for months to years even though they pump them up hard 3 times per week. So you see I’m seeing much better results pumping my arms ounce every 3 weeks vs others who pump their arms 3 times per week. Those extra days of pumping may not only not give you better results, but it could be counter productive. The only way to gauge whether or not your stimulating muscle growth is by whether or not your stronger any time you repeat any given set of exercises. If your not stronger every workout, then chances are your over training even though you may be obtaining the pump much more often. And yes folks, in order to get bigger you must get stronger. I had a guy tell me that training my way may make you stronger but it wouldn’t make you bigger. My response to him was "Ok, if you dont get bigger by getting stronger, than how do you get bigger? By getting weaker?" He didn’t have much to say after that. You see a little logic can go a long way when it comes to bodybuilding. Best of luck training to all!

There are so many magazines out there that I read articles by pro bodybuilders talking about what a great benefit it is to do forced reps as part of your muscle building regimen and for the pro’s who are saying this that may be the case for them but because of one simple reason. That reason is anabolic steroids. Doing forced reps will cut such a deep inroad into muscles recovery ability that there’s just no way that inroad will be able to be filled in or compensate (put back what was already there), in order to over compensate (put back more than was there before), which is what we know to be muscle gain. At least not by natural means anyway. I’ve never known of a drug free bodybuilder who has ever gotten anything out of doing forced reps. In fact in each case I’ve seen where this was practiced it was actually counter-productive. It is very catabolic to the muscles of a natural bodybuilder. Anabolic steroids are very powerful chemicals that drasticaly alter the chemistry of the body by greatly enhancing nitrogen retention, protein synthesis, and also supressing the release of cortizole, a very catabolic stress hormone that breaks down muscle tissue. And no there arent any supplements out there that non hormonal that can produce the same anabolic effects that steroids can. This makes steroids sound really good however the cost of the benefits of using them wont compare to the price of the negatives one would experience from using  them. On another note about forced reps, it can also be very annoying to the person being asked to help the person doing the forced reps. Yes I’m speaking from experience. I had a guy come up and ask me to help him do some forced reps on the bench press. I dont know why but I agreed. I don’t mind spoting someone but I don’t like doing their workout for them. Anyway, he had 225 lbs on the bar so he got under the weight and told me that he would do 2 reps on his own and then wanted me to assist him forcing out another 3-4 more reps. I’m thinking to myself ok who’s gonna be doing the work here? Just as I suspected he lifted off and managed to get just 1 rep on his own and while struggling he said "ok, 4 more! Help me! Basically what happened is I ended up doing a set of deadlifts while he rested his hands on the bar and went along for the ride. I wasn’t too happy either cause I had just done super heavy deadlifts the day before and my back and traps were in knots! About 10 minutes later he came over and asked be to help him do some more forced reps on the bench and this time I said "no!" He gave me a puzzled look and asked "why not?" I said " because it wont do either of us any good." I then explained to him the science behind over training and that that’s what he was doing by using forced reps and he would never see any meeningful gains by doing them. I also explained to him that he wasn’t actually the one doing the set, I was actually doing a set of dealifts with him hanging on the bar. He told me that this how the pro’s do it and he was gonna keep doing it this way and that it would work. The following week I saw him in the gym maxing out at a bench press of 205 for 1 rep. So yes, he lost 20 lbs off his bench in one week. Impressive hey? So unless you want to end up like that guy, dont do forced repetitions if your a natural bodybuilder!