Getting those Gunns to GROW. By Vic Goyaram

Getting those Gunns to GROW
My personal training tips

By Vic Goyaram Exclusive for Bodybuilding Mauritius

Using the techniques below my arms grew to 17.5" cold 

Every bodybuilder wants massive arms. There isn't anything like arms which are too big. In a recent post on our Facebook page we have all seen members' willingness to get bigger arms.  In this article I will share some of my best advice on how to get your arms to grow. These are personal tips that have worked for me and I am sure they can do a lot for your arms too. 

Tip # 1: Do not neglect the triceps and brachialis

The triceps make up a big proportion of the upper arm and is a great contributor of overall arm mass. Therefore, in your quest for massive arms do not forget to tap on the growth potential of the triceps. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to see the biceps getting more work in training routines in gyms worldwide, much to the neglect of other muscles that constitute the arms. 

Do not waste your triceps' growth potential

Blasting the brachialis
The brachialis is the muscle which sits in your outer arm between the triceps and the biceps. In addition to contributing a lot to your pulling strength, the brachialis does a lot to contribute to overall arm growth. They get a lot of indirect work in rowing and pulldown movements. Good exercises to work them directly are the hammer curls and the reverse barbell curls.  I prefer to do my hammer curls as in the picture below. This is called the cross-body or pinwheel hammer curl. I find it less stressful to my shoulder joint than conventional hammer curls and this allows me to move more weight. Secondly, make sure to not shrug in an attempt to move the weight up. The only movement must occur at the elbow joint. Pause slightly at the top. Perform in an alternate manner or one arm at a time for greater focus.

My favourite version of hammer curls: Cross-body hammer curls

Blasting the triceps
Besides contributing to overall arm mass, the triceps are very important for your pushing strength. A strong pair of triceps means better chest and shoulder pressing strength.  A list of the finest triceps exercises are given in the chart below. Good exercises for the triceps include triceps pushdowns, skull crushers and various overhead extensions. 

The Mauritius Muscle Power Series Triceps Chart

My selection of best triceps exercises and some tips

1. Triceps pushdowns
I like to open my triceps routine with triceps pushdowns as I feel that it warms up my elbow joints for the free weight movement to come next in the routine. When I train my triceps after a pushing body-part (chest or shoulders) I perform two triceps exercises and sometimes three. One of them is the cable pushdowns and the other are free weight movements. With this exercise I like to maintain a slight forward bend in the torso as this helps me get a good contraction at the bottom. Lately, I have been bending my torso even more as in the picture of Doug Brignole below. This allows for a much better contraction and my results have been amazing. 

Triceps cable pushdowns

My new favourite triceps pushdown position. This
allows for a solid contraction at the bottom of the movement
(Photo courtesy of Doug Brignole, Mr. Universe and exercise expert)Click to visit his webpage

2. Triceps Press-downs

This is called the Pressdown because it more of a pressing movement in the upright position than a pushdown. The bar does not move in an arc as in the latter exercise. Personally, I find this movement less stressful on the elbows. I have a mild case of tendinitis in my left elbow and this movement does not bother my elbows at all. Flare the elbows out and bring the bar chest level. A straight bar is recommended. This requires some flexibility in the shoulder joint as well. Press straight down. Learn to feel the movement.  The pressdowns can be used in several ways: 

A.  As a stand-alone exercise 
B. At the end of a regular triceps pushdown set to grind additional reps after reaching failure

The triceps pressdown

3. French Press

This is a major mass builder for me which can be performed either with one dumbbell or a barbell (EZ/ Cambered/ Hammer bars work fine).  This exercise usually comes in second in my routine when the elbows are properly warmed. 

The French press

The above exercises have helped me beef up my triceps

Tip #2: Do not neglect the forearms

Developed forearms are important for both aesthetic reasons and for grip strength for executing a variety of exercises for both the biceps and other body-parts.  Having a strong grip means you'll be able to handle the heavy weights to overload the biceps and triceps without your grip failing first. So make sure you train them. I like to train them after back and after biceps (twice a week) and improving my forearms has greatly improved both my arm and back training.  Contrary to what some people may believe or tell you, forearm work is not for sissies and a bodybuilder would do well to  incorporate forearm work into his routine. 

One of my favourites is the reverse barbell curl. I usually perform these for 5 sets twice a week at the end of my biceps and back days. 2 sets of 15 reps with lb barbells and 3 sets x 10 reps with 65lb barbells. This movement blasts the biceps, upper forearm (brachioradialis) and brachialis directly. Talk about arm growth in thickness. I guarantee this is a compound movement for the arm.  Talking of the brachioradialis muscle, I have devoted an article to this muscle on our website (Beefing the Upper forearm)

Don't forget to kill the forearms

Tip#3: Avoid over-training

Arms are the most commonly overtrained body-part  Some people train arms two or more times a week. Some of you have even spotted others doing arms everyday, I'm sure! This is too much work for the arms, considering that the biceps and triceps are also involved respectively in back and chest/ shoulder training. Keep your arm training short but intense. You may give arms a day on their own if you think they need special attention or need a shock therapy. Otherwise, you can also attain good growth by doing biceps after back and triceps after chest or shoulders. Always experiment to see what approach gives you better results. At the same time keep variety in your routine.

Tip#4: Try Positions of Flexion (POF) training
I have obtained the fantastic results using a system called the "Position of Flexion" (POF) system, developed by Steve Holman of Ironman magazine. I read it from his book sometime in the mid 2000s and this coincided with the first time my arms hit the 16.5 inch mark.  Positions of Flexion training deserves an article on its own but briefly it consists of working each muscle in the midrange, stretch and contracted position. In the video below by Lee Hayward, he takes you through a POF arm routine

POF arm exercises

POF biceps exercises performed by Arnold. 

Tip #5: Listen to your body

Biceps still sore from back day

I am sure that many people have been confronted with this dilemma: you have trained back very hard and for the next couple of days not only your back but your biceps are also very sore. But then comes the time to work your biceps and your biceps are still sore. What to do? Train the biceps and allow them to recover? I would suggest to let them recover before attempting to blast them again. My biceps are always pumped during back workouts and sore the next day no matter how much I focus on pulling with my back and using my arms as hooks on back exercises. To remedy this problem I have resorted to training biceps after back several years ago and the results have been amazing.

Of course training biceps after back may mean that your biceps are already pre-exhausted and this you won't be able to lift as much as on an arms-only day. That's not a big problem because, as we just said, the biceps are pre-exhausted. You wouldn't need as many exercises to completely exterminate the biceps. When I train biceps after back I usually perform 4 sets of barbell curls followed by 3 sets of hammer curls. Then I am done for the day. I suggest that you always experiment what works for you. If you can space your back and biceps days then go ahead with it. 

Unproductive and productive exercises

We all have exercises which gives us the best results and I will suggest that's where your effort must be spent. Do not spend your time on exercises that are unproductive for you. If bench dips give you more pain in your elbows and shoulders than a good workout in spite of you having tried you best, then ditch them.  Do not insist on performing them just because your training partner is growing from them. Listen to your body and tailor your program accordingly. I do not like bench dips because they give me pain in my elbows and shoulders. Therefore, ditched them from my routine although I will perform them using bodyweight resistance from time to time. 

Tip #6: My Secret biceps exercises

Drag curls
One of the most productive biceps exercises for me are barbell drag curls. This is a Vince Gironda article and has been discussed on an article dedicated entirely to it on the Bodybuilding Mauritius website (Click to read)

Barbell drag curls

Dreher dumbbell curls
This is amazing tip that I got from Mr. Universe and former IFBB Pro Dr. Lance Dreher in a chat conversation. Dr. Lance Dreher is one of my role models and the owner of the freakiest pair of arms in the pro ranks back in the day. In his honour will call this exercise the Lance Dreher dumbbell curls. These curls are performed by using "asymmetric grips" on the dumbbell curls as follows:

Grip A: Thumb side of your hands in contact with the inner side of the plates of the dumbbell.

Grip B: Pinkie finger in contact with the inner side of the dumbbells (pictured below)

You would need to perform these curls by starting in a hammer fashion and then supinate (more the palms upwards) as you complete the rest of the curl.  With the use of the asymmetric grip you are able to activate your outer biceps (long head) to a greater extent with grip (a) and inner biceps (short head) with grip (b). 

Dr. Lance Dreher performing his namesake curls
(Check his grip on the dumbbells)

Dr. Lance Dreher during his competitive heyday

Zottmann curls
Zottmanns are one of the best exercises to thicken the entire arms. It is not always comfortable to perform in the beginning and it takes a bit of practice to master the technique and build the mental connection on of this exercise.  You start the curl with palms facing up and once you reach the top of the movement pronate your wrist (turn downwards). On the negative portion of the rep you are in fact performing the eccentric portion of a reverse curl. It is best to keep the elbows close to the body rather than allow them to flare out. Lower the weight if necessary to achieve perfect form. Zottmanns can be performed standing or seated and two arms at the same time or in an alternate fashion.

The Zottmann curls: another forgotten old school exercise

Tip #7: Focusing on compounds

As mentioned earlier the biceps, triceps and forearms get plenty of work from being used as assisting muscles in a variety of lifts for other body-parts. Therefore it makes sense that you will get a lot of arm growth if you also focus on such compound movements like rows and presses. 

Tip #8: Build the entire body and be realistic

If you add mass to your overall frame it will be unlikely that you arms will resemble twigs. Therefore, to make improvements in your arm mass you have to add mass to your entire body. You cannot kill yourself on arm training, neglect the rest of the body and expect the arms to grow disproportionately. There is a certain degree of asymmetry that the body can take. In order to illustrate this point I will borrow a few paragraphs from renowned trainer Charles Poliquin:

Click to read full article

We all want to reach the mythical 20" arms. But in the process we have to be realistic. I quote Arthur Jones, the inventor of the Nautilus training machines and father of High Intensity training and refer you to his article on arm size (Click here)

"The largest muscular arm that I ever measured – or saw –was Sergio Oliva's, which, accurately measured, "cold" was 20 1/8 inches. Arnold Schwarzenegger's arm was 19 7/8, slightly pumped – probably 19 1/2 "cold". Bill Pearl's largest arm, his left arm, was 18 5/8 at a bodyweight of 222 in 1960 – at the 1971 NABBA Mr. Universe contest in London, his publicized arm size was listed as 20 1/4, but it was obvious to me that his arms were actually smaller than when I measured them in 1960, and it was obvious to anybody who saw the two men side by side that Sergio's arms literally dwarfed Bill's arms, and now you know how big Sergio's arms were at the time. Casey Viator's arms were 19 15/16 at their largest when he was training in DeLand – and were 18 1/16 when he first came to DeLand, immediately after the Mr. America contest in 1970" 

YOU'RE SO LUCKY

If you ever have experienced any degree of success in your life, you've most likely heard the phrase "you're so lucky".  It takes on many forms.

"You're so lucky!  You can eat whatever you want and not get fat."
"You're so lucky!  You can easily put on weight."
"You're so lucky!  You have access to a safety squat bar."
"You're so lucky!  You're getting trained by a highly regarded expert."

The madness needs to stop.  This is simply a passive aggressive means of making excuses while denying someone else's hard work and dedication.

My educational background exists in primarily in western political theory, so lets talk a little bit about Nicolo Machiavelli.  In "The Prince", Machiavelli addressed the notion of luck, or "fortune" as it applied to a new leader.  To summarize, Machiavelli said that fortune was a fickle mistress that only favored those that were able to adapt to its changing tides.  Those who remained stagnant would eventually be destroyed by their inability to adapt, while those that were flexible and capable to utilize any tactics necessary to meet with what the situation dictated would in turn flourish.  Machiavelli also extended the metaphor of fortune being a mistress to mean that, like a woman, it needed to be beat into submission.

You're on your own on this one Nick.

The point here being this: luck is a skill.  I realize the insanity of the words I am writing when I put them together in that order, but stick with me here.  Luck isn't just about random chance, it's about putting yourself in the best situation to be able to take advantage of that chance.  As an example, I want to win the lottery.  I think that would be just dandy.  However, I don't buy any tickets ever, and thus I am putting myself in a poor position to be lucky.

Seems simple right?  Well lets extrapolate it.  What's a good way to be lucky enough to have access to a safety squat bar?  Go out and buy one.  There are a ton of sites that sell them, from independent welders to high end dealers, to even sales on craigslist.  If you just stay at home at night and wish for your gym to buy one, your odds of being lucky are very slim, but if you force fortune to bend to your will by affecting the change you wish to see in your environment  you will become very lucky and have a safety squat bar.  If you can't afford one, make the small changes necessary to your budget to be able to eventually afford one (reduce money spent on drinking/coffee/fast food/other luxuries).  This strategy holds true with just about any piece of equipment.

Want to be lucky enough to have access to a highly regarded specialist?  Seek them out.  These days, many of these individuals can be accessed online, so it's even easier than ever.  Prior to that, in order to be so "lucky", you had to move to where these guys were in order to be able to be trained by them on a regular basis.  And those "lucky" individuals that were dedicated enough to take fortune into their own hands made this sacrifice in order to become the best, much like how you can seek out the aid of those greater than you and get their expert advice.

Want to be lucky enough to gain/lose weight at will?  Do the work in the kitchen.  Yes, some people were blessed genetically to be able to eat garbage all day and maintain a six pack, and some people can put on muscle by looking at a steak.  If you aren't these people, it's time to make your own luck.

"I don't understand why I can't lose weight.  I only eat one meal a day."

Know that once you spend enough time making your own luck, your ability to bend fortune to your will is going to appear so effortless that you will incur the envy of others that presuppose that you do not endure the same struggles that they do.  They will claim that you have superior genetics, that they wished they were lucky enough to have access to world class training, they would be big and strong too if they had enough time in the day to cook and eat, etc.  All this means is that you have succeeded, so congrats, you can't succeed without attracting haters.  Just know that if you catch yourself accusing others of luck, it may be time to step back, look inward, and wonder what it is you could be doing to make yourself more lucky.

Whey protein types: Manufacture and nutritional analysis. By Vic Goyaram

Whey protein types: 
Manufacture and nutritional analysis

Researched and composed by Vic Goyaram

Exclusive for Bodybuilding Mauritius

Introduction

There are different types of whey protein on the market but not everyone can make sense of this amazing diversity and decide which one is best suited to give the best anabolic bang for your protein buck. Things can get somewhat confusing as well given the use on labels of scientific jargon that is often meant as a marketing tool. In this article Bodybuilding Mauritius attempts to show you the difference among these proteins in terms of nutritional properties which is greatly impacted upon by the methods used in their manufacture. The relevance of these nutrient differences to your what your body is getting will also be covered. A later article will deal with guidelines for the use of these proteins in greater detail. 

When reading protein powder labels you will often see the following types of whey proteins listed in the ingredients list:

• Whey protein concentrate
• Whey protein isolate
• Ion Exchange Whey protein isolate
• Microfiltered Whey protein isolate
• Hydrolysed whey protein (hydrolysates)

Manufacturing process of Whey proteins

Whey protein as you probably already know is derived from milk. The protein in cow milk is made up of about 20% casein and about 80% whey protein.

Fig. 1: The liquid is whey (containing whey protein) and the
curdled part contains casein

When milk coagulates you will see a liquid which remains along with clots called curds. Curds contain casein protein (Fig. 1). The liquid is called whey and contains our famous whey protein.  Some time ago, whey used to be thrown away as a waste product until it was discovered that it contains some good nutritious stuff that can be used in many ways. This one finding revolutionised bodybuilding and sports supplementation and brought new life to the supplements industry. 

One of the constituents of whey, as already mentioned, is whey protein. As shown in Fig.2 whey protein is in fact a collection of different proteins called "microfractions". For example beta-lactoglobulin, alpha lactalbumin and serum albumin and lactoferrin are the main proteins that make up whey protein.

Fig.1: The protein constituents of milk. Casein and whey
are collections of protein fractions

Fig. 3: The manufacture of whey proteins

Liquid whey contains water, lactose, fats and proteins. The protein from it is extracted and then dried to form Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC). A typical WPC product on the market will have about 80% protein, 10% Carbohydrates (lactose) and about 7% fat. The range of protein percentage in WPC products varies from about 35 to 90%. The cholesterol content is important as well. Lactase enzymes are very often added to WPC products to help lactose intolerant individuals with lactose breakdown. It is worth mentioning that with the increasing prices of whey protein globally it won't be uncommon to see WPC products bordering the 60% protein level.

Fig. 4: Typical nutrition facts for a WPC product

Whey protein Isolate (WPI) has been further processed to remove the fat and lactose, leaving behind a product which is generally +90% protein by weight. As it is low in lactose the consistency of the dissolved WPI is less milky than WPC and therefore WPI can be made in fruit-based flavours. Please note that WPI is also low in cholesterol. However, not all WPI are created equal. We take a closer look in the section below.

Fig. 5: WPI has much reduced carbohydrate (lactose), cholesterol
and fat content. Our WPI is made by CFM Technology

Ion exchange v/s Micro-filtered isolates?

Whey protein Isolate is fairly expensive as we all know because of the additional purification steps. You will often will find on the labels of WPI products the terms Ion-exchange WPI and Microfiltered WPI. These terms refer to the manufacturing techniques used to produce WPI. I will not complicate your life and will summarise the difference below:

• Ion-exchange WPI: Ion-exchange uses chemicals for separating proteins and this denatures some of the important protein microfractions. Remember that whey protein is a collection of several proteins called microfractions, some of which have biological activity (antioxidant, immune-boosting etc.). Ion exchange processing denatures some of these protein fractions. Ion-exchange WPI may have a higher protein percentage than CFM WPI but the overall quality is reduced. If you find a cheaper WPI on the market it will most likely be Ion-exchange. 

• Microfiltered WPI: Microfiltration is a better manufacturing process because it uses high efficiency filters to filter proteins, leaving behind a high quality product with all its biological properties. There are several types of microfiltration techniques used, the most popular being the Cross-Flow Microfiltration (CFM®) and ultrafiltration. CFM is generally considered the "real deal" micro filtration method and products having been made using the CFM technology will usually "brag" about it on product leaflets and labels. 

Fig. 6: An example of "scientific" marketing for a protein

which uses CFM manufacturing

Fig. 7: If a company is using CFM Whey isolate in its product 
it will most likely display it prominently on the tub

Whey protein hydrolysates

Hydrolysates are whey proteins that have been treated with enzymes to break down (hydrolyse) the proteins into smaller fragments called peptides. Peptides, like proteins, are chains of amino acids but are of shorter length. Hydrolysed whey is also often called pre-digested whey and absorbs faster in the body because, being simple, it digests rapidly. Of course, hydrolysed whey is more expensive because enzyme digestion of proteins is not an easy process on an industrial scale. Hydrolysed whey does have its benefits particularly in post-workout recovery as it results in a faster increase of amino acids and anabolic insulin response than intact proteins. This point will be extensively reviewed in a future article. It is also worth noting that hydrolysates dissolve rather well and have virtually no carbohydrate, fat or cholesterol content. The major downside is the price and the taste! 

Fig. 8: Another example of "scientific marketing" to illustrate
the manufacturing process of whey protein Hydrolysate.

Fig. 9: The Bodybuilding Mauritius Hydro Whey has no
carbohydrate, fat and cholesterol. The delicious "sirop canne"
flavour masks the taste pretty well

Your user guide and additional tips

• Concentrate or isolate?

Protein Quality: The difference between WPC and WPI is mainly in terms of lactose, fat and cholesterol content. If for some reason (medical or otherwise) you need more control over your intake of these nutrients then isolate is your best bet. The protein percentage of WPC is lower than that of WPI so that you get less protein per gram of product. However, the quality of the protein is the same. WPI doesn't absorb better or faster than WPC as some manufacturers would want you to believe in order to justify selling you a higher priced product. The same proteins fractions are present in both WPI and WPC and, as you have seen above, WPC may even have more protein fractions than a ion-exchange WPI. As a side note, there are many products on the market that are blends of WPC and WPI and although the ratio of WPC:WPI is not known we suspect that they are WPC dominant because the latter protein is listed first on the label. 

Carb content, getting fat and lactose intolerance: The extra grams of carbs in WPC is unlikely to make you fat because a typical WPC product may bring you about 8-10g of carbs per serving at most. So with your 2-3 servings of whey per day this is unlikely to make you fat. If you are on a ketogenic (zero-carb) diet then a WPI may be used. If you are lactose intolerant then you can switch to a WPI otherwise you can get away with a WPC. Additionally, as mentioned, some WPC products add some Lactase enzyme to their product to help with lactose digestion. 

Cholesterol: The cholesterol content of may worry some of you but there is currently a lot of debate that the cholesterol coming from your diet has little influence of the cholesterol in your blood and that rather a high consumption of carbohydrates like fructose can drive the production of cholesterol to a far greater extent than consumption of cholesterol itself from food sources. But this is not the focus of the current article. If for some reason or the other your doctor advises you to go on a low cholesterol diet then talk to him about your use of whey protein.

Beating the boredom: if you are tired of dairy-based shakes all the time, typical of WPC products then you may give WPI a try. Remember that due to its low lactose content WPI can be manufactured in fruit-based flavours. This can be a good thing to bring a change. If you have the money then why not? Back to when I had a career I liked to use the 4ever fit fruit blast isolate after workouts with Creatine. I also used to get Isopure (Nature's best) bottles and powders from Reunion island. Again if you can afford it, then why not? One needs to adapt himself to changing times. Today, a whey is a luxury I can rarely afford but whenever I can a WPC would be my first choice. Adapt or perish, as we say.

• Ion-exchange or microfiltered?

The argument for Microfiltered WPI seems quite solid in the sense that it contains more whey protein microfractions that are seemingly beneficial for health. Remember that Ion-exchange WPI contains more protein that Microfiltered counterpart so you are not really losing out on the net amount of protein you are bringing to your body. The benefits of the whey microfractions are yet to be proven. You will have to wait to see whether it makes a difference to your health and physique. But for sure, it does make a difference to your wallet. Even if the whey microfractions are proven to be beneficial you are better off sticking to your concentrate if you have no issues with lactose. Concentrates retain nearly all of whey microfractions. Remember that scientific findings are often inflated to hyperbolic proportions for marketing purposes. 

• Are hydrolysates worth the extra expense?

The main grounds of WPH use is that it induces rapid increases in blood amino acids which may maximise muscle protein synthesis and facilitate recovery. Moreover there are reports that WPH promotes greater releases of insulin after ingestion compared to carbohydrates, its amino acid constituents in the free form, and intact proteins. This would potentially lead to increased rates of protein synthesis due to the anabolic action of insulin and increased rates of muscle glycogen replenishment after glycogen depleting workouts.  While such findings show that WPH has a lot of promise, a lot of these data come from studies in rats and untrained people. This does not mean that WPH is crap. It simply means that we need to wait for a) studies that use trained humans consuming a normal bodybuilding diet b) more studies that compare WPH to its intact WPI source or constituents amino acids c) studies that examine the long term effects of WPH compared to other proteins on anabolism, recovery and performance parameters. Obviously, the industry didn't wait. If you have found better results with WPH on yourself and the athletes you train then it is up to you to use it. WPH comes with a hefty price tag and those who cannot afford it may not necessarily be at a massive disadvantage. 

References:

Hulmi et al. Effect of protein/essential amino acids and resistance training on skeletal muscle hypertrophy: A case for whey protein. Nutrition & Metabolism 2010, 7:51

Kanda A et al. Post-exercise whey protein hydrolysate supplementation induces a greater increase in muscle protein synthesis than its constituent amino acid content. Br J Nutr. 2013 Feb 7:1-7

Manninen AH. Protein hydrolysates in sports nutrition. Nutrition & Metabolism 2009, 6:38

_______________________________________________________________________________

©,2013, Veeraj Goyaram, Bodybuilding Mauritius. Any reprinting in any type of media is prohibited.

Disclaimer:

The Content on this site is intended to be used for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended to be and should not be interpreted as medical advice or a diagnosis of any health or fitness problem, condition or disease; or a recommendation for a specific test, doctor, care provider, procedure, treatment plan, product, or course of action. BODYBUILDING MAURITIUS is not a medical or healthcare provider and your use of this site does not create a doctor / patient relationship. We disclaim all responsibility for the professional qualifications and licensing of, and services provided by, any physician or other health providers posting on or otherwise referred to on this Site and/or any Third Party Site. Never disregard the medical advice of your physician or health professional, or delay in seeking such advice, because of something you read on this Site. We offer this Site AS IS and without any warranties.  Qualifications of author of article: Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Biology (Department of Biosciences, University of Mauritius) and Master of Science in Medicine in Exercise Molecular Biology , PhD candidate in Exercise and Molecular Nutrition/ Type 2 diabetes (Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, University of Cape Town). Correspondence: vicgoyaram@gmail.com

________________________________________________________________________________

EVOLUTION OR REVOLUTION

Was watching this a little while ago

Definitely watch it if you get a chance.  Great video.

In it, Matt Kroczaleski says that training is "evolution, not revolution".  The idea being that you don't throw out the baby with the bathwater with your training, and instead of constantly changing everything, you use what works and throw out what doesn't.

This is a great philosophy, and one I am employing at present, but I would also expand to say that evolution cannot exist in the absence of revolution.  By this I mean that, if you are not afforded the luxury of excellent coaching and instruction from day 1, the road to getting bigger and stronger will instead be one paved with constant failure and half baked ideas.  The only way to know what works is to spend a lot of time finding out what doesn't work, and the only way to appreciate something working is to abandon it, spend time doing something that doesn't work, and then come back to it.

Your mileage may vary on potential retries

Without revolution, we're all doing 3 sets of 10 on some machine circuit.  Without revolution, we're all doing high reps for cutting, low reps for bulking.  Without revolution, we're all eating less fat to gain less fat.  The revolution doesn't just exist against conventional wisdom and dogma though, as there are many concepts that work for everyone, have tons of scientific backing and anecdotal evidence, and still just plain will not work for you.  You have to stop banging your head against the wall with this stuff and just revolt.

Like many revolutions, not everyone can be a leader.  Some must be followers.  Additionally, like many revolutions, some leaders are genuine, and some are crackpots.  If you have no knowledge or experience, you may find yourself following the latter, but having someone doing the thinking for you at least absolves you of your sins and gives you some manner of structure to utilize, which also makes it easier for you to discover principles that work and principles that don't.  You may also be fortunate and accidentally follow someone that knows what they are talking about, and be able to make some great gains along the way.

This guy seems legit

The crux of this revolution is that you have to not be afraid to fail.  Many trainees are so absolutely paralyzed by fear of doing something wrong that they simply stagnate for years and make no progress.  Tell me, is this not, in and of itself, total failure?  When nothing is working, what harm is there in going completely off the reservation and trying something that "doesn't work"?  In all honestly, failure is liberating, as it means you are no longer confined to any paradigm.  When everything is broken, you owe loyalty to no program or protocol, and can start experimenting, learning and growing.  When something is working, you owe it to yourself to stick with it until it stops, as altering a working program is just silliness.

All this having been said, once an idea has been milled from the process of revolution, it becomes necessary to utilize this in the process of evolution.  We may all start as blank slates, just stumbling around in the dark with no guidance, but eventually we discover principles, ideas and concepts.  Eventually, one is able to assemble these ideas into some semblance of a training protocol, and it is from here that we exist in the realm of evolution.  We do not change everything all at once, but instead continue trucking along with what works and making minor adjustments as we go along.  You may consider these adjustments to perhaps be "mini-revolutions" within your evolutionary process, but you must keep in mind that it's all part of a bigger plan.  This is about keeping things in perspective, as in realizing that assistance work is there to assist the primary movements, and as long as the primary movements continue improving, what you are doing IS working.

When all else fails, try anything.  When everything works, change nothing.

Bodybuilding "advices". By Bodybuilding Mauritius members

Bodybuilding "advices"

By Bodybuilding Mauritius members

There is a wealth of information inside us all. I believe everyone knows something that may be of great help to others. Only the right platform needs to be created in order to allow such exchanges of ideas. Bodybuilding Mauritius is a step towards this. Not always do we all agree on certain points as sometimes opinions may differ too. But that's how we learn. 

When asked to give an advice based on the picture above, Bodybuilding Mauritius members were too eager to reply. Therefore I got my first article on our website with 19 (and counting) authors!

Kailash Mungur "a body is not build overnight ...it takes time and determination"

Kessen Valaydon "to build,you should have concrete!"

Julien Thuposy "don't forget leg day"

Bhavish Rock "patiance.hardworking.time.movitation"

Renghen Kow "ur body is a work of art"

Don Dbn "Don't just build mass perpetually without ever working on the conditioning. Do not try to get more defined muscle if you are very thin already and lack muscle mass."

Christophe Theodorine "You never stop building your shape...it's all about persistence and determination!"

Fabien Razaze "Find an objective when starting and a plan to continue !"

Luchan Comal "Your body is like a block of concrete and you must know how sculpt it into something amazing, your main tool being the 'heavy Iron' (not to forget proper nutrition)"

Priteviraj Dak "all what u gonna b comes direct from ur though"

Yash Doongur "you sculpt your own body"

Yog Roods "Diet is key in achieving such physique."

Djameel Meerun "Bulk but not over bulking n cut down !"

Ramtohul Yoganand "i will go with Djameel Meerun.. you cannot chisel bones.. you need muscle mass!!''

Omar Patel "You are born from dust and you should return to dust : what is between is up to you.!"

Pradip Singh "You are the sculptor of yourself in Bodybuilding, you have to work alone on yourself with your available materials and resources to sculpt a Body, and like a work of Art if displayed for public viewing, leave it to the audience for viewing and appreciation and critics."

Amar Gopul "do whatever you feel does work for u ( but with a proper research and advice if needed). do not follow someone else routine"

Vic Veeraj Goyaram "You cannot sculpt a pebble" (unknown author)

Yunish Boodhun "ITS U WHO DEFINES UR BODY NOT SOME1 ELSE !!"

Here's another one

For daily discussions on Bodybuilding, please visit our Facebook page