You, Me, and MD

Training Bodybuilding
1

I thought it would be interesting to start a discussion for those who regularly read Muscular Development. This is completely open to any thoughts on what was included (studies, interviews, etc.) and if you think something is great/stupid/helpful/interesting/whatever, let it rip.

I was going to start this in TCA but thought it would get more play over here.

I’ll kick it off . . .

I thought the Dennis Wolf interview was interesting when realizing how he supposedly lost 15 lbs in the last 2 weeks of dieting before the Olympia. He tried something new and found out the hard way that it didn’t work. Guess there is always next year but he had a great opportunity to take over most of the other top guys and lost it by experimenting. That’s a part of the game but still . . . must be rough.

Also Cutler is now with a different coach to try a new training system since he knows his style of doing things is out. But I’m not so sure he has another shot even if he did work out his issues with his waist and legs. Seems the mentality has shifted for good (I hope).

I just picked up the Feb. '09 copy dedicated to Metroflex (Branch Warren on cover) and am looking forward to diving into that one shortly!

2

Except for my Nat BBing mag I read religiously these days, MD is the only paper mag that I will pick up anymore.

Some pluses:

-The articles are usually well written, they don’t try to cover up the drug issues that fill the ‘sport’ of bodybuilding.

-When they reference an actual study, you are usually provided with the info to check the details yourself, which I do, and is a lot more helpful than “flex recommends you use this stuff” -lol.

-While I’ve never been a fan of John Romano as a person (he’s been a pretty big hypocrite in the past), he does present a pretty intelligent stance in his writing, and actually sounds like someone who thinks things through before putting pen to paper.

-The pics. I never really looked so closely in the past, but the Black and White pics that routinely grace the pages of the mag are just really well done. Truly gives you a sense of the size, detail, and conditioning of the subjects that are pictured.

Minuses:

-Ron Harris writes the same BS articles every month. Sure he’s had a few occassional interviews that have been entertaining, but overall, I get more and more tired of his writing every month.

I remember reading his stuff in the mags when I first started training, and even later on T-Nation, but in hindsight (and based on what I’m still reading now), I get the impression that he’s nothing more than a parrot, repeating whatever BS he’s heard from intereacting with others in the industry over the years.

The only show he ever won was after juicing for 8 years, then being clean for 6 months and taking a ‘natural’ show. I have no issues with those who chose either natural or assisted route, but it just rubbed me the wrong way.

-Valentino offer nothing except for the occassional funny story from back in the day, but the remaining 90% of his section is a complete waste of my time, and I wish they’d get rid of his ass.

-While I know it’s a decent idea to try and contract up and coming pros before they actually hit big (and get a much better deal from another company), I’m getting tired of reading about amateurs, some of which just aren’t that interesting.

-Can we possibly have any more ads?! (anyone else notice that about 1/3 of the MD mag is comprised of M-Tech ads?!)

Just a few things off the top of my head -lol

S

3

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
-Can we possibly have any more ads?! (anyone else notice that about 1/3 of the MD mag is comprised of M-Tech ads?!)
[/quote]

Arrrghhhh, yes, I can’t believe Flex and MD, and some of the others still expect us to pay for advertising. With the amount that’s in those mags, you’d think the price would be subsidized to darn near free!

I guess you could argue that the supplement ad pictures are kick-ass and motivational, and that this is the best avenue for finding out about new supplements… Sorry to rant and mildly hijack the topic.

Stu is not a Valentino fan, but I find him to be kind of amusing, like the troll you love to hate, but secretly can’t wait for his next post to see the stupid crap he’s going to say or the sh*t he’s going to stir up.

4

muscle magazines these days seem to blend “articles” and ads so well i can’t differentiate one from the other anymore

so i ignore them all

5

the mags are supplement catalogs now, and there are only so many way you can “isolate your pecs”

6

[quote]slimthugger wrote:
the mags are supplement catalogs now, and there are only so many way you can “isolate your pecs”[/quote]

muscular development actually has articles in it tho…

I will post more as I just subscribed for two years, but I’m awaiting my next issues…I believe the last issue I got was the ‘does jay stack up’ one.

I like reading the scientific articles they post there.

One thing I respect more than anything is they openly talk about drugs and bodybuilding…they don’t pretend like Jay really takes ‘supplements’ lol

DG

7

[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
slimthugger wrote:

One thing I respect more than anything is they openly talk about drugs and bodybuilding…they don’t pretend like Jay really takes ‘supplements’ lol

DG[/quote]

I’ll have to check it out again.

8

[quote]cyph31 wrote:
muscle magazines these days seem to blend “articles” and ads so well i can’t differentiate one from the other anymore

so i ignore them all[/quote]

Wow that really adds to the discussion. Thank you so much for your input! [/sarcasm].

If you can’t differentiate articles and ads, maybe bodybuilding isn’t something for you. That’s pretty sad.

9

Who knows what is in store for Jay “Da Fridge” Cutler. With Dexter winning it, which I think is a one hit wonder, it opens the field for Victor, Wolf, and maybe just maybe Gustavo “Preggers” Badell. I also have to second Gerdo on the fact that MD openly discusses the drug aspect of our sport.

Unlike its baby bitch counterparts which claim that Ronnie’s size is due to his BSN supplements and eating good old chikin’. Overall I like MD and its my BB magazine of choice.

10

I like MD, my older sister renews it for me every birthday, for info its not exactly cutting edge… but every now and then they have somthing good.

11

In an interview with Victor Martinez in the Jan. '09 copy on page 251, here is the following excerpt of the question and answer:

"RH: I just read an interesting article my wife forwarded to me about how figure athletes train. The only reason I bring it up is because the author claims that walking lunges are about the most destructive exercise you can possibly do for your knees. They put a tremendous shearing force on the knee. How heavy did you used to go on those, and do you do them now?

VM: I hardly ever did walking lunges. Over the last couple years I’ve been doing step-ups, and I like those a lot better. I find them to be more effective."

What does everything think and did this make anyone think when they read this? I’ve done both before and felt limited doing step-ups by the DB’s I hold while doing it. Lots of BB’s use walking lunges so what is to be made of this?

12

[quote]IronDude17 wrote:
In an interview with Victor Martinez in the Jan. '09 copy on page 251, here is the following excerpt of the question and answer:

"RH: I just read an interesting article my wife forwarded to me about how figure athletes train. The only reason I bring it up is because the author claims that walking lunges are about the most destructive exercise you can possibly do for your knees. They put a tremendous shearing force on the knee. How heavy did you used to go on those, and do you do them now?

VM: I hardly ever did walking lunges. Over the last couple years I’ve been doing step-ups, and I like those a lot better. I find them to be more effective."

What does everything think and did this make anyone think when they read this? I’ve done both before and felt limited doing step-ups by the DB’s I hold while doing it. Lots of BB’s use walking lunges so what is to be made of this?[/quote]

I understand the arguments that lunges and extension put a lot of stress on the patella tendon. I try to operate under the presumption that exercises of a more compound nature will allow the body to work synergistically, the way it was meant to. That’s not to say that isolation work is without merit (rehab situtaions immediately come to mind). While I no longer do leg extensions myself, I certainly won’t advise someone who uses them as a warmup away from such a practice (or if they are attempting to emply a pre-exhaust approach to quad work). If I choose to do lunges a particular week, it is always done last, as I’m completely toasted from everything else, and hardly ever will I employ any sort of impressive weights. If anything, it’s more of a ‘lets make sure there’s nothing left/get some blood in there’ exercise.

S

13

[quote]IronDude17 wrote:
In an interview with Victor Martinez in the Jan. '09 copy on page 251, here is the following excerpt of the question and answer:

"RH: I just read an interesting article my wife forwarded to me about how figure athletes train. The only reason I bring it up is because the author claims that walking lunges are about the most destructive exercise you can possibly do for your knees. They put a tremendous shearing force on the knee. How heavy did you used to go on those, and do you do them now?

VM: I hardly ever did walking lunges. Over the last couple years I’ve been doing step-ups, and I like those a lot better. I find them to be more effective."

What does everything think and did this make anyone think when they read this? I’ve done both before and felt limited doing step-ups by the DB’s I hold while doing it. Lots of BB’s use walking lunges so what is to be made of this?[/quote]

I train at home so step-ups have been my exercise of choice in terms of lunges type movements…I control the difficulty using the height of the step.

14

[quote]slimthugger wrote:
Dirty Gerdy wrote:
slimthugger wrote:

One thing I respect more than anything is they openly talk about drugs and bodybuilding…they don’t pretend like Jay really takes ‘supplements’ lol

DG

I’ll have to check it out again.[/quote]

you will still see all of the mega ads…but they have a specific section dedicated to just drugs.

They don’t openly talk about which athlete uses what, but they don’t mask that drugs aren’t in bodybuilding which I respect and I think anybody would reguardless of which side of the steroid fence you fall on.

Biggest thing for me is they cover the amateur level bodybuilders and competitions which is awesome…instead of just post pics of their endorsed athletes like FLEX, etc.

DG

15

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I understand the arguments that lunges and extension put a lot of stress on the patella tendon. I try to operate under the presumption that exercises of a more compound nature will allow the body to work synergistically, the way it was meant to. That’s not to say that isolation work is without merit (rehab situtaions immediately come to mind). While I no longer do leg extensions myself, I certainly won’t advise someone who uses them as a warmup away from such a practice (or if they are attempting to emply a pre-exhaust approach to quad work). If I choose to do lunges a particular week, it is always done last, as I’m completely toasted from everything else, and hardly ever will I employ any sort of impressive weights. If anything, it’s more of a ‘lets make sure there’s nothing left/get some blood in there’ exercise.

S
[/quote]

My hamstring day was yesterday so I put in step-ups which actually really was good for my hams and glutes and did lunges as a very last exercise to failure with no weight. Only thing with step ups is that my shoulder girdle gets tired holding onto the DB’s for 3 sets so I can only imagine how it feels if I increase the weights. But when I did lunges last I did feel pressure on my knees. I’ll try to keep step ups in but I guess Martinez uses a barbell which isn’t really safe in my situation . . .

16

[quote]IronDude17 wrote:
In an interview with Victor Martinez in the Jan. '09 copy on page 251, here is the following excerpt of the question and answer:

"RH: I just read an interesting article my wife forwarded to me about how figure athletes train. The only reason I bring it up is because the author claims that walking lunges are about the most destructive exercise you can possibly do for your knees. They put a tremendous shearing force on the knee. How heavy did you used to go on those, and do you do them now?

VM: I hardly ever did walking lunges. Over the last couple years I’ve been doing step-ups, and I like those a lot better. I find them to be more effective."

What does everything think and did this make anyone think when they read this? I’ve done both before and felt limited doing step-ups by the DB’s I hold while doing it. Lots of BB’s use walking lunges so what is to be made of this?[/quote]

Walking lunges used to feel a little more “iffy” or dangerous to me when I would stand fully erect between each stride and come down on my already bent front leg. Now I sort of “glide” my leading leg forward and have it already planted when I begin my descent; this seems to place all the stress on the muscles, rather than sharing some with the knee joints.

17

From p. 406 in Jan. '09 edition during a Q&A with Dennis Wolf:

Q: I have somewhat “high” lats myself and would love to know what I can do to create the illusion of lats that insert lower. Do you have any tips or workout routines I can try?

A: I find that using a reverse grip really targets the lats down lower than a standard overhead grip. You will also get better results by pulling to a lower point than you normally do . . . (rest of answer in the mag)

By this I think he is referring to not the simple narrow grip supine but rather the hands at the creases before the bar turns downward. Anyways, I tried this for a warm up during my back day and felt it near the insertion point of the lats. I don’t have “high lat” syndrome but more mass can’t hurt. Thought this was an interesting tip I never thought of before. Anyone have experience with this at all?