What we learned at camp - Part 1

Although we are a little late in the game to start reporting our coverage, useful knowledge is something that doesn't age.  Back in February I was fortunate enough to attend the 2013 Universal Nutrition Bodybuilding Camp at Fit Gym in Philadelphia with my brother, father and a few other aspiring friends of mine eager to learn from the best.  The event included more swag than you can handle, free samples of their products, six stations with personal instruction from their athletes as well as a question and answer session for the price of $10 (I know right?)  Luckily we were able to attend and can pass the knowledge onto anyone who stumbles across this as it will be broken down into the sections we had encountered; chest, arms, legs, back, abs and shoulders.  In honor of my most recent workout I'm going to go over chest which was taught by Josh Halladay and bodybuilding legend Greg Long. 

Greg Long; don't worry he's still jacked.

We had twenty minutes and there was no time wasted.  Greg Long was a man who knew what he expected out of his athletes and was going to hold you to it ready or not.  The four of us were immediately seated on an incline hammer strength machine unloaded and told to press as fast and tight as possible for fourteen reps, then we got off and the next person went; each with the former Mr. Universe egging us on, no bullshit.  We rotated fast and after each set a 45lb plate was added to each side, and then another.  Why was this so?  During the mayhem we were put through Mr. Long taught us about varying intensity.  The poundage was light but the motion was fast and fierce with a longer amount of reps (14-16 range) to use our own explosiveness to engage differently than a slow repetition.  Without realizing it we also had incredibly short rest periods between sets with some in the 45 second range.  This was all crucial and led to a tempo that was not at your body's normal pace which wore it faster than waiting for conventional rest periods of a minute or longer.  He had also emphasized a training partner, which explains why he was right in our face the entire time.  Not only was somebody cheering us on but when our explosiveness died down a partner was there to spot but also force the repetitions to make the target goal with no exceptions. 

Josh Halladay

After we had spend a few minutes with Mr. Long we were given the Josh Halladay treatment.  After a volunteer was selected there was no questioning this big man telling you to get in a push-up position and put your feet on a bench.  Before we knew it we had a 45lb plate on our backs and were being barked at to pound out push-up after push-up until we kissed the ground.  You'd think the mercy was when he removed it but not a chance.  John was pushing on our backs, ignoring rep count and pushing us further and further.  We all kissed the ground a second time until his hand backed off and we kept going before collapsing and kissing the ground a final time.  After helping us up we realized the torture was a bit of a body weight drop-set.  Heavy presses can be fine and dandy but nothing beats ripping through push-ups at the end of a chest workout to throw it into muscular chaos; and that it did.

Tim getting the good ol' Halladay special.

What we took away was a bit of insight regarding how weight does not have to be the main factor and how much tempo can effect our efforts toward maximum hypertrophy.  Simply exchanging the heavy slow blows for fast, and sometimes forced if necessary, can make the difference between having a big chest and a chest well conditioned with striations to turn heads.

Don't just take this for granted with chest workouts, this can be applied to any spectrum of someone's workout routine as explosiveness is the new slow. 

Two final pieces of advice before parting to the next station was to utilize a training partner as much as possible and the realization that weight is a mindset.  While I typically train alone but after working with Mr. Long it was clear how effective a partner can be so long as they can keep up.  And with regards to the weight, it was almost irrelevant.  "It's not going to be the same workout every time.  What you did last week and how much weight you used might have worked last time but isn't going to be the same this time around."  While I admit that quote was paraphrased the importance lies in what your body is telling you from rep to rep, set to set, workout to workout and week to week.  It's about growing, adapting and making the necessary changes for your growth that makes you good at this sport rather than the quantity you can move.  Unless you want to be a power lifter... whatever floats your boat.

-Pq

Don't worry... they made up.  

TRYING ON MAGNUM FOR SIZE - A sample look at Opus!

While the world of sports supplementation is as much diverse as the general grocery market it get cluttered with tons of products full of synthetic products that are made to be just as effective but less expensive.  Artificial sugars, flavors, colors and man-made extracts that some people would consider unnatural by any means when it comes to food or supplementation. 

Enter the world of Magnum Nutraceuticals (heh get it?  natural!) where the goal is to seemingly provide you with the best in sports supplementation as but naturally without adding additional stimulants or synthetic products.  Recently I decided to snag a sample packed of their "natural" pre-workout booster Opus.  Having thought that this kind of product was more of a gag as being "natural" I threw it in my smart shake and casually headed to the gym.  I must say that as far as a blue raspberry flavor is concerned, it was one of the most delicious and savory tastes I have ever had.  Almost like cotton candy it was mild with no punch and no grit as it all two servings dissolved easily within 10 ounces but I was beginning to think I could be wrong about the casual aspect of it all. 

About ten minutes later I had started warming up my shoulders and minor pectorals for a relentless chest workout when the Opus came into effect.  Like Mike O'hearn's vicious huskies were ready to attack me I felt chills and tingles through my body, a rush of heat pushing through my veins and a hot sweat which I could feel make its way through each and every pore in my body.  I was beginning to think this was something more than an ordinary workout.....

He's really a super nice guy.

Energy came fierce and in incredible quantities that it almost scared me although I never felt out of control.  Jitters were non-existent (a typical side effect of excessive caffeine) and I felt more primed for a workout having been sick and dieting down than I would have at the peak of my last bulking phase. It's been a long time since I've had the barbaric urge to relentlessly pound my way through any workout without no remorse or concern for my own body that it was almost as if Mr. O'hearn was right in my face screaming at me to push out more reps with fiery chains and his dogs barking, snarling and ready to attack if I didn't make the most of each rep.  

Muscular strength and endurance also seemed as relentless allowing me to push and truck on, nothing seemed to be quite enough to satisfy this workout.  The pump was insane and my chest still feeling quite inflated through and still after a mile run, sauna and shower.  All things considered I was quite surprised that something with no creatine or caffeine could deliver such a punch but I wasn't sickly or upset by it's effects.

The bottom line is this.... Well.... it's hard to put into words.  We're so used to the staples of pre-workouts being caffeine, ginseng or even taurine that this was a complete surprise.  Would I consider dropping some money on this anabolic powerhouse at roughly $.80 a servings?  Yes

Just.... Yes...

-Pq

Bro Habits - Part 1

Time and time again we frequent the gym and do things that we typically would not do on a day-to-day basis.  On the other hand, we also see things that other people do and frequently judge them.  No matter what skill level they are, or even yourself, we still find a way to point out those things that "that douche" does or even "that chick" (to be fair to both sides).  We're now going to explore a few gym pet peeves otherwise overlooked by the majority of the fitness community that often give real athletes and bodybuilders an embarrassing aura.  These are Buff-U's Bro Habits Part 1

Yoga Pants
Now as any real member of the male community will proudly admit, we can appreciate a decent pair of yoga pants.  Not only are they functional for exercising in the gym but are greatly appreciated by the male population for a woman being able to pull these off going out to the bars and strolling around campus when there is little time to prepare a decent outfit for the day (yup we appreciate that).

This is not ok...

 










Unfortunately with every upside to a fad like this, there is a downside and it strikes with a furious vengeance.

 The real issue is not that larger women wear these in public (you can do whatever you want, I'm sure there's a market for it) but the fact that they become labored with holding in, well, yourself, that the wearer's skin tone becomes apparent.  Knowing how white a white girl is and how black a black girl is only exacerbates how vulgar wearing a pair of pants can be.  Please stop this.  I admire you're willing to sweat in these for further self improvement but there has to be a limit and courtesy for anything living around you must be considered.

That Stupid Half Shirt Thing

Sick kutz, brah.

 I'll admit that I don't know the name for it and really hope there isn't a technical one.  From my early high school gym adventures there were always a group of guys who had the urge to butcher their favorite athletic oriented shirt in an effort to modify it into the worst looking tank top on the face of the planet.  Not only that, the majority of the guys who do this are nowhere accredited enough in their physique of lifting credentials to warrant showing off their "sick cuts, brah."



Brah quite frankly, if there's a need to modify a shirt to accentuate how "jack3d" you really are then the fashion should be the least of your concerns.  Sometimes a tank top is acceptable, a wife beater is pushing it,  but this is just too much.  I hate this and I hate you for doing it.

Curling In Front Of The Mirror

The more you watch yourself, the more anabolic...it's science.

Every single gym I know has a mirror and every single gym that has a mirror has their typical set of dumbbell racks.  Now directly in front of every single dumbbell rack in every single gym is a set of egotistical dirt bags checking out their pump in the mirror while doing half-assed bicep curls.  

I'll admit to doing this because of purposes of form but it's done about ten feet away from the dumbbell racks and away from any walking zone of high traffic.  Understandably it's ok to watch form and sometimes you want to check out progress, we understand, but get the hell out of the way.

With love,

-Pq

Hyper Hypertrophy - 3 special sets you're most likely not doing

Everybody that has ever set foot in a gym has done a "set" of something with an X amount of repetitions.... duh.  The problem is that people sometimes get too comfortable and adjust to the typical sets with a given rep range.  Sometimes this isn't enough and something is further required to really shock your muscles into hypertrophy for more growth.  When your workouts are looking prime, your failure points and weights are dialed in it's time to start tweaking your sets into something more savage (yeah we're going there.)

Triple Drop Sets
If anyone has every done Neil Hill's Y3T - 9 Week Trainer then you know all about these but can still be incorporated into your workout to help maximize gains.  Well what is a triple drop set?  It's much more than your standard 8-12 rep range because it's tripled.  How?  By lowering the weight each time. 

Here's how it breaks down per set for something simply like chest fly's.  
1. Pick a weight with for a desired failure point and carry out your set normally until failure
2. Without resting, lower the weight in accordance to fail within the same rep range and work again until failure
3. Drop the weight a final time, without rest, and perform the same rep range. 


Hill's program has you go through this with varying rep ranges of 10-12 or 14-16 per drop depending on the workout.  I personally find satisfaction in starting this out heavy for a solid 8 reps and gradually increasing the rep target to the 14-16 range if possible. This is definitely something to gear toward the end of your workout and can be combined to enhance endurance and super muscular breakdown of your troubled areas.  

Another cool tip for triple drop sets?
Use them on a final set of an exercise.  Why stop at the last rep of your leg press?  Throw some plates off, bang out another few reps and drop the weight again!  It's a last ditch effort to milk each exercise for what it can truly be worth. 

Breathing Ladders
Taking a page from The Governator's Blog is something called a Breathing Ladder.  This is a sort of pyramid of repetitions that are determined by your breathing; stay with me. 

The ladder works out like this (using squats as an example):
1 squat - 1 breath
2 squats - 2 breaths
3 squats - 3 breaths
4 squats - 4 breaths
5 squats - 5 breaths
6 squats - 6 breaths
7 squats - 7 breaths
8 squats - 8 breaths
9 squats – 9 breaths
10 squats - 10 breaths

Each is basically it's own set but rest is determined by your own breathing intervals.  When I use these, adjusting the weight accordingly, it can be an helpful tool to incorporate a lot volume into a workout as well as keeping the exercise heavy and proper without beating myself to death.

This is great to throw either in the beginning or middle of a workout and is meant for compound movements after a good warmup.  Further isolation really gets the blood flow to all the right spots once you're good and primed after these.  

Timed Sets

Sometimes a muscle won't grow, you get mad and need to get savage... it's ok we feel you.  Time to let loose and hit up some timed sets and always leads to great experimentation.  The basic idea is to set a timer (3-4 minutes can do it for me) and just go. 

Had enough of chest day? Hop on a chest press machine and start pressing!
Need to get those abs hurting? Hop on a bench and start crunching!
Legs not busting out of those pants, yet?  Grab a squat rack or leg press and get going!

They key is not to go heavy but to pick a weight that the first reps can be obtained relatively easy.  After that you still might have another three minutes to go and will have to take pauses and pump out as many as you can before resting.  The lighter the weight will yield a higher volume and lower injury chances (which is what I prefer). 

3:33 mark shows Antione Vaillant going heavy on deadlifts at the end of his back workout.  This is right where the maniacal kind of volume and little rest needs to be.  This is a great finisher to those stubborn parts that you're just sick and fucking tired of.  



-Pq

Product Review: Universal Storm

Everyone who sets foot in a gym is dying for the biggest and best "pump" they can get.  Along side this comes the immensely flooded marked of "Pre-Workout" boosters and N.O. enhancers (nitric oxide).  What does that mean?  Mix some sweet powder in your fluorescent colored shaker bottle and drink a magical concoction of typical ingredients to get your mind energized (via caffeine) and your muscles primed for blood flow and performance (arginine, beta-alanine etc.)  The problem with these is that you sometimes want something basic and effective to help you get the job done when tossing around the iron.

While toying around with a few thermogenics and working days (only being able to hit the gym at night) my muscles wouldn't be primed enough for lifting after a long day and didn't want to supplement additional caffeine late in the evening as it would disrupt my sleeping (or make me jittery as all hell).  I thought to myself "There has to be a better way!"   Not too much later it was found...

This is Storm by Universal Nutrition.  More so labeled as a "Creatine Cell Volumizing Supplement" this magical blend of essential manhood can be used as a pre-workout and a post workout supplement as well (a post? yeah I know right?!). 

-          So what’s it got?

o   4 different kinds of creatine

§  Creatine Monohydrate

§  Dicreatine Malate

§  Tricreatine Matrix (consisting of Creatine Gluconate, Creatine AKG, and Creatine Orotate)

§  Magnesium Creatine Chelate

o   INOXsulin-7 (wtf?)

§  A blend of supplements that help speed up the absorption and helps keeps insulin maintained during and after a workout for proper nutrient absorption (your “window of opportunity”).

·         L-Taurine

·         Betanine Ahydrous

·         Citrulline Malate

·         Arginine AKG – Nitric oxide enhancer

·         Beta-Alanine – inhibitor of lactic acid

·         Aplha Lipolic Acid

·         4-Hydroxyisoleucine (20%)

Ok cool, a bunch of scientific mumbojumbo and a bro flexing on the container; who cares right?  How is the experience?

The flavor I had was grape and was about as awesome as any grape Kool-Aid will get.  The mixability leaves a minimal amount of grit but considering this is a creatine based product some can be expected.  Keeping the formula simple allows for a modestly small serving size as well and the 9.4g scoop doesn't require a ton of water to take in and goes right to work.

Where the Beta-Alanine "tingle" side effect is not as present as some other pre-workouts (i.e. Cullucor's C4 or Muscle Pharm's Assault), it makes up for in an unbelievable swelling and engorging of your trained body parts.  Most notably, for myself, was the incredible swell in my legs for leg day.  I was impressed at how much swelling my legs would contain considering it is a rather large muscle group to work and yet the muscular stamina induced was top notch.

"Well I see you get a great pump... but it's not as awesome as Assault of Jack3d!" is what a lot of kids might be saying but here's where it gets good.
-No Caffeine in exorbitant doses (which is a nitric oxide inhibitor anyway!) but can be supplemented additionally and in your desired amount if need be.
-80 servings per container (More than that big ol' jug of whey you have!)
-An unbeatable price!  This can usually be purchased for around $30 or less making this less than $.40 a serving!

Why is this not a more popular pre-workout?  Could it be that it doesn't feature a bunch of gritty and maniacal pictures of Frank McGrath in a dungeon of a gym?  It could be.

Cheer up Frank!  I love this stuff and will recommend it to any beginner who may be sensitive to caffeine, a more advanced level lifter looking for a pure nitric oxide enhancer, or a fellow bro who can't afford the sky rocketing prices of other name brands. 

So go ahead and pick up Storm and make Frank McGrath smile a little (he's so sad looking.)

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/univ/storm.html

-Pq