Dave Draper’s Musclebuilding Q&A

What do you think of German Volume Training (GVT) or the 8×8 or 10×10 programs?

That system is not bad, but a bit too much in some ways: Too much of the same exercise for too many reps for more than a very few workouts. It’s good once in awhile for a change and for muscle saturation, but not regularly. It’s too monotonous, too restricting and too muscle-specific.

Me?

I prefer five sets of 12, 10, 8, 8, 6 reps with weight increases every set, and then on to another closely associated or complementary exercise. I consider this more involving and thoughtful, with a better rep mixture and weight demand.

• less high-rep overload
• brings in low reps and decent heavy-weight exertion
• engages greater variety of exercises for more thorough muscle recruitment
• is a more inspiring and exciting training scheme, more creative and thus more intensely applied and more productive, while assuring training longevity

I suggest you pick up a copy of Brother Iron Sister Steel at your library (the librarian will order it for you from their book supplier) or you can get it from our online store (slightly scuffed copies for $15). Enjoyable, full of insight, training tips and hints, nutritional basics and routines — takes the confusion out of the wonderful experience of muscle building and motivates, inspires.

God’s speed… Dave

I’m seriously trying to break out of a plateau on chest and can’t seem to gain any mass at this point. I need a program. Any help would be great!

Plateaus come and go according to a body’s readiness to grow. Any thoughtful change in routine and its consistent application will work for you.

Take this time when nothing is working and you have nothing to lose to practice a change in bench grip — moving the hands in or out– to engage different pec and triceps muscles, and therefore muscular load and growth. This is a helpful change for the head and body and discipline and will only help your bench when you return to your favorite grip.

Or go to dumbbells in place of bench pressing for a month or so. They are a better pec muscle builder, a safer and wiser choice.

Dumbbell inclines at 30, 45, 60 degrees are fantastic for pecs and deltoids.

Try my favorite superset, DB inclines supersetted with stiffarm DB pullover; 4-5 sets of inclines x 12, 10, 8, 6, 6 (progressive weight) and the pullovers at 8-10 with a moderate+ weight.

Cable cross overs, 4×10 -12, with maximum intensity, are great for finishing.

On those days you do tris, add regular or machine dips as an exercise and lean forward for further pec involvement — focus on pecs and tris — 4 x 10 -12 tough reps.

Train the muscle group twice a week.

Feed yourself pre- and post-workout protein shakes and don’t miss meals.

God’s speed… DD

My husband and I saw your column of Fave Foods of the Famous in our newspaper last week. It was a lot of fun. We both joined a gym 6 months ago; I am 45 and he is 48. He thinks he needs to work out every day, and I say he needs at least one day a week where he doesn’t even lift a finger! Can you knock some sense into him?

Thanks for the note of appreciation.

We can train every day, if we’re slightly crazy and don’t train frenetically. Some folks like to cruise the gym daily to stimulate their muscles and entertain themselves. Fine.

However, hard training — seriously overloading the muscles — demands plenty of rest for repair. Try two or three days on, one or two days off, with some light cardio between.

Generally speaking, new trainees (and six months still fits this category) are rarely able to seriously overload the muscles. Training more often during this beginning phase is usually fine; it’s only after we get better at this weightlifting stuff, more able to blast it, that over-work enters the scene.

Commonsense is our greatest attribute and needs to be developed, applied and trusted. Weightlifting is a super instructor of this facility and I suspect you and your husband will advance in this area, as well as in many others as you continue your iron journey: discipline, character, personal awareness, people sensitivity… all added reasons to continue your gym membership forever.

Have fun… 2008 here we come… Godspeed… Dave

I would like to lower my bodyfat to about 8-10%, and also improve my overall cardiovascular condition, but I am not as big as I would like to be. How can I add cardio to my routine and not sacrifice energy during my lifting?

Every young musclebuilder’s dilemma — to gain muscle mass without bodyfat.

I lift hard and eat wisely to build muscle, and I keep a keen eye on bodyfat margins. Alas, only a few with rare metabolisms can gain muscle weight only.

Expect to hold some extra weight as you pursue muscle power and mass. The extra pounds provide energy and ready essential ingredients for tissue repair and building. It’s an investment. Training to be lean can be costly in the musclebuilding process.

Do a minimum of aerobic (3 or 4 20-minute interval cardio sessions per week) along with a maximum of weight training and smart eating.

Generalities: Superset where you can happily, 4 sets x 6,8,10,12 reps per exercise generally, 2 or 3 exercises per muscle group, each group twice a week, legs once a week, gut and calves every other day. Warm up, Blast it, Be persistent.

If you’re not familiar with supersetting, read this explanation of superset training.

This forum thread on 8×8 and 10×10 workout routines covers another style of fast-paced training that’ll get you in shape pronto.

Carry on,

dd

I have a friend with amazing calves — no training, just born with them. How can I achieve amazing calves? In your experience, how much of physique is hereditary?

Genetics are a big influence. I’ve walked malls and airports where not a fit person can be found, and coming my way is a pair of diamond-shaped calves that flex and thunder with every stride. Atop the magnificent muscular development is a blimp in Bermudas hurrying with briefcase in hand, one more beer before boarding his craft. I think of how many bodybuilders (hello) would die for this guy’s accidental possessions.

Shoulder width and small hips, or thin skin and a tendency for muscularity — these gifts come from Mom and Dad or someone along the line. That doesn’t mean we can’t affect imperfection by training hard and right. Accentuate the positive wisely and try every trick in the book to affect improvement of the negative. Shoulders can’t be broadened, but they can be thickened. Pecs can’t be squared, but they can be striated. We do what we can do.

Under-developed calves have their own variety of approaches.

Seated and standing, high reps and multiple sets every day until you fall over is a popular method of operation. Try supersetting the two exercises.

I always liked donkey calf raises with a partner every other day… burning pain… and never ever missing a workout (10 sets of 20 reps, toes in and toes out, shaking calves when needed til total reps achieved). That is, if you live in a neighborhood where donkeys are a welcome animal.

Giving up is easy to do… for some people… but you mustn’t. Calves demand persistence.

I’d like to think I admire folks with great calves, but personally I think I might be jealous. That’s between us, okay?

Go… Dave

I was just wondering if you could recommend and break down a daily plan for carbohydrate intake. I’m just trying to develop lean mass and strength without unnecessary carbs. I avoid sweets most of the time.

You’re asking the wrong guy. I don’t want to sound careless or casual — I’m not — but I don’t assess these details as closely as some lifters, as I consider them boring, confusing, time consuming, distracting and less important than they seem. Plus they dilute my interest in and enthusiasm for working out, which is where it’s at.

I estimate carb intake using instinct, practice, and common sense, sort of like a bird or bug or baboon. You appear to be on the right track with carbs in control.

I up protein when seeking weight gain, then add hi-value carbs and good fats. I keep the carbs higher earlier in the day and I don’t over-eat.

Now to blast it with confidence and grow…

Go… Godspeed… DD

What are the benefits or attributes of thin skin and what does this say about fitness or heredity?

Thin skin is generally an indicator of low bodyfat content and allows developed muscle to stand out in bold relief. Muscle definition, delineation and striation are coveted bodybuilding qualities.

Thin skin is a sign of a healthy and fast metabolism and/or hard, disciplined training and eating.

I’m occasionally asked how I got my forearms so vascular, a better way to describe what I call thin skin. I started resistance exercise with hand grips when I was a little kid and have always worked forearms with the usual wrist curls and reverse curl supersets. I also have a predisposition to vascular extremities as my legs are vascular as well.

Consistent hard work and eating to be lean contribute to the cause… Go… DD

My gym now has a standing calf-raise machine; I do two sets of twelve of each: forward, inward, outward. Is that sufficient or should I be persisting ’til I want to groan? And donkey raises are a matter of someone sitting on my lower back, oui?

A set of calf work is not complete till the calves cry for mercy, the louder the better.

Yes, super-builder donkeys are as you suspect. Last time I did those was with Arnold in 1970 at Joe Gold’s Gym in Venice.

Another common question: Is it beneficial to do calf work every day? Or does one reach a point of diminishing returns by hitting them that often?

I believe calves are mostly built in the womb. However, some size can be built, but only when intense and extended efforts are made. Many sets and high reps with moderate weight, much burning and back-to-back workouts, seated and standing and any other variation of the calf-muscle action.

Diminishing returns can only be determined by the troubled yet hopeful practitioner.

Don’t be too greedy with the calves. Seems one needs dear Mom and Dad genes for those stubborn buggers to grow. Superset seated and standing for a time, try every day calf work, high reps and tons of stretching… the list goes on.

I can’t see any reason for separating quads and hams and calves. Complicates matters and serves no purpose unless you’re seeking some priority due to slow muscle response… or under someone’s canned influence.

Remember this: We don’t always get what we want. That’s not being negative or against the American dream; it’s the naked truth. But we sure do try hard, don’t we?

I want to try your protein blend, but am hesitant because I can buy other proteins cheaper. Can you give me some reasons why I should make the switch? Also, I know you recommend the products you guys sell, but is there comparable evidence done by an independent party in regard to the high quality of Bomber Blend, Super Spectrim and Anabol Naturals?

About the Bomber Blend, my primary reason is the cold processing. Most protein powders are processed with heat or chemicals, which damage the proteins to some degree, and oxidize whatever cholesterol is in the powder. You can be certain that’s not the case with our cold-processed protein.

That should be reason enough, but there’s more. There’s the taste and mixability the consumers commend; there are very high percentages of the B-complex needed for utilization and tissue growth, substantial antioxidants, expensive addition of BCAAs for tissue repair, essential enzymes for digestion (absorbability and assimilation), some fiber and colostrum factors.

Whey, a short-chain molecule for quicker assimilation for muscle energy, and casein, a long-chain molecule for slower absorption for muscle rebuilding, combine ideally for the weightlifter’s and musclebuilder’s needs.

We, Laree and I, have no overhead. No staff, no distributor, no advertising, no storage = no added costs. We pick up the product from the lab and ship it to the customers.

The Bomber Blend was made for me personally after a comprehensive round-table discussion with two protein research experts, a tri-athlete internist and the manufacturing laboratory’s chemist and the owner. The goal: the best protein for my musclebuilding needs without the restraints of cost. Bomber Blend was the result.

Big companies have huge costs and begin to compromise product ingredient and production cost to realize a good bottom line. When it’s priced right for the consumer, it’s cheap to make. I believe that’s indisputable.

Quality above cost of protein is first. With the Bomber Blend you get both. Laree and I are not able to gouge.

Users rave about confidence, results, flavor… there you have it…

I understand your need for credible evidence that our supplement offerings are better than others, the best in fact. There is so much competition and hype and deception in the marketplace that the truth is seldom available and certainly hard to find. Who can you trust?

Before hunting down an independent study-group’s opinion on the food supplements we offer, I have come to trust my own vigorous efforts and needs to attain the best ingredients in the best combinations for muscle growth and energy and endurance.

Even study groups are tainted or vague or unreliable. Again, who can you trust?

I’ve been taking Super Spectrim and Anabol Naturals for over 33 years for the same reasons. They work for me, I’m not alone in recognizing their quality and they — the forever designers and owners — are as honest as the sunrise.

We receive nothing but praise for Bomber Blend, Super Spectrim and Anabol Naturals from weight lifters and athletes who seek strength and health and happy lives.

Consider the source… I ask you to trust us… why not?

Go… Godspeed… Dave

What exactly is a superset? Two or three reps at very high weight?

Supersets are two exercises that complement each other done consecutively as one set, hence superset.

Examples:

Same bodypart superset — Standing calf exercise followed by seated calf, allowing a short (or not-so-short) pause between sets

Opposing bodypart superset — Barbell curl followed by overhead triceps extension

Time between sets depends on your physical condition (recuperation), your goals and your training familiarity resulting in immediate continuation of action or a restful, preparatory 30 seconds between set.

Between supersets, time is gauged according exercise combination, exercise intensity and your needs and goals — 30 seconds or less to two minutes or more.

I like four to five supersets for completion. I no longer hurry.

More reading: Superset training

Shoulder shrugs or shoulder roll: What are they good for, if anything? This would be done with a barbell, dumbbell or Smith Machine. I see it done a lot and have been told that it is not healthy for the shoulders, and I have an older friend who does them all the time yet complains of shoulder pain.

Hefty up-and-down dumbbell shrugs work most safely and effectively to build the shoulder cage and trap muscles. The grip, forearms and biceps are substantially stimulated as well. I’d skip implementing the bars and the rotating (rolling) action as these put an unnatural demand on the rotator regions and contribute to their separation.

Four sets of 15, 12, 10 and 8 reps ascending the rack is a nice mix once a week, wherever they fit your schedule and urge. After arms or back or shoulders or legs… after tea… after the gorilla…

Pull hard and pull again… Dave

I was wondering what your views are on training to failure on a set. Should it be just at the last set, or sets? Should I come up purposely a rep or two short on my first sets? If I wanted to do five good sets of an exercise, at what point should failure come into play?

That you’re pushing hard is important, but there are too many variables for a single answer.

Some days I have the urge and the energy and I train with all my might every set beyond the warm-up set.

Some days pain or injury or lack of muscle response cause me to seek another route to training satisfaction.

Certain exercises I take to failure with a groan of failing strength — all pressing, for example.

Other exercises, including all pulling exercises, I take to failure with the risk of overtraining, or overloading a muscle or tendon or joint. Here I moderate my intensity — maximum effort without damage.

Some days my training methodology is modified to suit my multiple needs — enjoyment, change of pace, freedom from pressure. Stimulation and pace, feel and form take precedent over set-to-failure output. Still, training intensity is strived for or maintained.

Mostly I become my partner in training and we talk things over as we proceed. Intensity is always in the 8s and 9s, a few 10s.

If this practice becomes wrong, hateful or angry, I back off. Remember, I was Mr. Universe in 1966… a long time ago.

Gotta lighten up on the throttle sometime… DD

I still have that desire to be big, but it isn’t healthy or worth the risk to do that. You were always big and still are, but does not being that big ever bother you?

You’ve been through it, the fire and ice. I hope we have a long time to go to fight some more good fights. In the meantime, I thank God for what I have and try my best to do what’s right. Sometimes I’m not sure what that is and sometimes I do and blow it.

I don’t think we’re alone in our “getting-old” blues… it’s tough to give up what you’ve had, especially for athletes — power, control, mobility, stature.

There are treasures in their place — compensations — and we’ve gotta allow them to surface before us like gems in the rough: courage, grace, thankfulness, simplicity and tolerance, for example. And these we must gain without giving up, ducking, hiding, complaining, or compromising our honor and morals.

That doesn’t mean we can’t train like we’re slightly wacky…

Getting a grip on myself is tougher than grasping the iron… Trust in the Lord… DD

Currently, I am about 6′3″ and in the 235-lb neighborhood, with a 43″ waist when measured at the widest circumference. I have body fat, but am pretty muscular. I am looking to get leaner and show the ab muscles, and will observe the weekday no fun-food rule. I am a lover of anything gourmet, so I am sure I will use my weekends for food indulgence. I am considered by others to have strong will power and I love routine. How would you recommend Bomber Blend in this strategy, and should I stick with grape juice in my post-workout consumption?

You’re on the right track to achieving your goals of fat loss and muscle growth. Your disciplines and training will intensify agreeably over time as your goals are realized. Your continued attention to details will have you trying various training techniques and refining what works for you.

Stick to the basics, don’t listen to the hype and promises from loud mouths and charlatans and the greedy; don’t ignore red meat (muscle builder), build that lower back and beware of struggling for heavy weight in the bench press (potential for injury).

Bomber Blend is an inexpensive, well-planned, efficient protein-musclebuilder. No magic pill, but a good tasting pre- and post- workout drink for recovery and repair and satisfaction. Works well for breakfast and a meal replacement when running late. Mix it with your grape juice fix, or water or low-fat milk. Super high in B-complex (muscle tissue growth and energy), BCAAs, colostrum, smart mix of short-chain and long-chain amino acids from whey and casein for absorption — again, muscle tissue growth and energy.

Having no advertising or middle-man, these costs are saved by you, the healthy, wealthy, happy and wise consumer. I use 2-4 scoops a couple times a day in various mixes and for various purposes. Inexpensive, convenient yet efficacious meal.

The IOL forum members have collected a number of protein shake recipes, here.

The lack of discipline and self-care in the ordinary man or woman is disappointing, frightening and often loathsome.

Carry on the hard work. God’s speed… Dave

The reason for this e-mail is to ask you to give me a little help with one of your exercises, the Farmer’s Walk. I cannot find this anywhere in my small library on fitness and training. I guess just walking holding heavy dumbbells is good, but are there any thoughts you could give me before I try it out, please?

It’s a quick-learn. Go to a pair of 50-pounders (more or less as you estimate) and scope out at reasonably clear path to walk the dumbbells considering where you stand as the starting block. I choose a path that follows a wide oval around the equipment and returns to the starting point — approximately 100 feet. You might need to shift a few movable benches and inform nearby trainees of your intentions to ease the way.

Grasping the dumbbells fully is the most important bit of advice, dry hands or with chalk. The grip goes first, then traps and shoulders, then legs and wind. Be precise in the start, focus on the whole event and go till you are a moment from dropping the DBs or have completed the circuit. Your mental resilience is tested and gives out before the muscles do. Push it.

Three to five sets are good. Depending on you and your performance, go up in five-pound increments each successive set.

You can analyze the effects and determine the worth of the farmer walks. I do them once a week at the end of my workout on any day but shoulder, back and chest days.

I like them.

Go… DD

I’ve been training for several years, powerlifting more or less, and, at 42, am thinking about trying a bodybuilding contest. Is it realistic to gain a couple more inches without suffering tendon tears due to overloads along the way? I’m still seeking size while trying to cut.

It’s good to keep the hopes high while putting your heart into your workouts. Training with confidence and enthusiasm, along with consistency and right eating, are the keys to musclebuilding success. To assure continued health in these major areas I’d rethink your bodybuilding possibilities with your structure and age factor. Disappointment and frustration are killers and we should not allow them a foothold in our lives.

I suspect your development is powerful and thick, and you will find it antagonizing to lose weight and muscle mass and strength as you seek your envisioned muscularity and shape.

Your second comment about seeking size during your contest preparation suggests you’re not prepared for the steps and mindset it takes to get muscle separation and definition and vascularity. I, too, hate dropping weight and mass.

I suspect your genetic and acquired metabolism might not be leaning toward muscularity. Thick, dense muscle without hardness and obvious vascularity is an indicator.

I highly recommend you enter your bodybuilding phase of weight training for health and safety, fun, learning, curiosity, change of pace, continued muscle improvement and training longevity. As you proceed, enjoy the journey, hard work and development, but don’t over-scrutinize; don’t set unreal goals. You’ve got strong years of training ahead. See what transpires and appreciate your progress and be thankful always.

And here’s something to consider when you find you’re not ready for your bodybuilding contest.

Carry on and God’s speed… dave

I began working out again at home with a bar, a bench and dumbbells after a huge layoff, ’bout 25 years! I’m experiencing elbow pain, mainly with curls and slightly with kickbacks and triceps extensions. Can’t do laterals at all without pain. Holding the weights for deadlifts and calf raises kills the elbows. Do have any advice for an old feller who loves to lift?

Elbows are under heavy stress: age and condition and inflammation due to overuse and overload and insufficient repair time. Additionally, training with limited equipment narrows down your choices of exercises to perform. Less variation, more redundancy and you’re pressed to practice unsuitable or disagreeable movements.

Sounds like tendonitis… so common and disheartening. You’ll have to follow the pain and work out the solution yourself — basic instinct and commonsense.

Rearrange your workouts so pressing and triceps work don’t interfere with one another. Don’t over-extend the elbow in either the lock-out or bent position.

Skip triceps kickbacks — troublesome.

Invest in a pair of elbow wraps that can be pulled on and off, snug and not-so-snug as needed. Helps me bigtime.

Take Aleve or other anti-inflammatory OTC medicine on tougher days. Ice if swelling is visible, or even maybe if not.

Try reverse or thumbs-up curls for painfree biceps action.

Expand your exercise repertoire by improvising or further equipment investments or a gym membership.

Provide a three-day weight-free rest each week.

Carry on the good fight, go… Godspeed… dd

I was given Arnold’s book, and in it he gives routines. I noticed that he has me training chest on Monday, and triceps on Tuesday, back to chest on Wednesday and triceps again on Thursday. Doesn’t bench press work triceps, so I’ll be working triceps basically every day, and thus overtraining them?

Though tris are a dominant muscle in the execution of the bench, it is not a real and direct triceps exercise — not unless you position your arms appropriately and focus the effort to the tris (narrower grip, elbows close to the body).

Train with your heart and instincts and personal trust more and, perhaps, think less and listen less to the noise you hear in the distance. Everybody worries about overtraining like it was the plague, thus, few people train hard enough.

I haven’t seen the workout in question and am not making a comment on it specifically as it appears at first glance I’d have a change or two.

Blast it, eat right and grow… Dave

I’ve been lifting for about 30 years. A week ago my doctor told me I have a enlarged heart from lifting, as well as a dilated aorta. He said to lift lighter for more reps… no more heavy lifting. How can I keep my size and stay strong lifting lighter?

In ‘83 I was hospitalized with severe congestive heart failure… seriously almost died. My heart’s a mess and I was offered a more severe training option… aerobic only. “I don’t think so,” was my response under a few layers of tough skin, AKA madness.

It took three months of walk-and-sit recovery and three months of mickey-mouse weight training before I found my legs. I was checked regularly ‘cuz of the diseased condition by a fine doc who realized I was stubborn. As the months went by and with my continued attentive and intensifying training accompanied by superior eating habits, I improved in health and strength. In a year he admitted my progress exceeded that of any of his other patients and contributed it to the training. In two years I was blasting it and have ever since.

The truth is God and my faith in Him healed me, but I won’t deny the workouts and right eating and traces of humility added to my recovery.

The moral to the story is this: Ease into your training as suggested and build up to a moderate level of output. Training with the new parameters will teach you modified yet effective training approaches. Be confident.

Throw in three or four 20-minute brisk stationary bike rides or neighborhood walks and attend your weight and right eating.

The thing the doctor doesn’t want you to do, I suspect, is long sustained breath-holding reps, one-rep and two-rep max exercises, giant squat and deadlift routines. He’s protecting you and he may be overly protecting himself (malpractice). Which reminds me, don’t listen to a thing I say.

A good idea: Get a check up by a heart specialist — EKG — and get another in six months. See what’s up by comparing results. If he’s sports-hip, tell him of your plan. He might like the challenge.

Oh, yeah… pray!

God’s speed… Dave

I’m 45. I have purchased the Ageless Growth product. Is this a better substitute for Somatropin, i.e. HGH? When is the best time to take Ageless Growth? Will 5-6 capsules provide enough to sustain lean body mass. Would you recommend any supplement(s) to lean out?

I take six caps of Ageless Growth before each workout with two scoops of protein powder (Bomber Blend) and water and a teaspoon of creatine. This is my favorite pre-workout concoction since the millennium. Love it.

Your reference to HGH suggests hormone replacement therapy (HRT), of which I am not a source of reliable information. The internet offers tons of legitimate info… hello google. Beware of steroid hype.

Compared to drug use, Ageless Growth is a sufficient and safe avenue to travel. Happy journey…You be the judge firsthand.

Go… God’s Strength… Dave