Dave Draper’s Musclebuilding Q&A

I need a program that I can do at home with my barbell and no spotters. I also ask that since you are so pro tuna and water, is there any way to make it taste a bit better (lemon seasoning, anything) as I am not a tuna fan and I have a hundred pounds to lose.

Walk a lot and consistently, distance, uphill and up stairs with a deliberate training mentality — Great conditioner.

You can curl the bar, press the bar over head, clean the bar to your shoulders, deadlift the bar, perform bent-over rows with the bar, practice triceps extensions with the bar, do light squats and good mornings and partial walking lunges with the bar.

Mix tuna or chicken in salads as you like. Eat a high protein, medium fat (no grease) and low carb diet (wholesome carbs, no junk) often, yet in smaller portions, and spread those smaller portions throughout the day for energy and muscle repair and less chance of unwanted fat storage.

Your training facilities and understanding will expand as you peruse it and will it.

Read my favorite book for weight loss, Your Body Revival. This book written by me are the best straight talk and fun experience to gain every bit of knowledge and encouragement you need to go where you want to go. Freedom from obesity, and a place of toned and vital muscle.

This is not a sale, this is the best advice I can offer, the best advice anyone can offer.

GO… Godspeed… Dave Draper

I work my chest 2x week, Monday and Thursday. Monday is the entire chest –flat bench, incline bench, flat and incline flys, and upper and lower cable crossovers. Thursday is only incline for upper chest. How do bodybuilders develop that split in the middle of the pec?

You want a healthy and productive change. Don’t be sorry to give the bench and incline press a long rest. Flat and incline dumbbell presses are safer on the shoulders and more productive in developing and shaping the shoulder and chest region.

Don’t overwork the muscle areas with too many exercises. Be particular and focused and intense with those you choose, and rotate them with a cool combination of thoughtfulness and intuition. Single cable crossovers are my favorite, contracting all parts of each pec according to body position in relation to the pulley — leaning forward more or less, the crossover groove of the arm, the focus of muscle engagement.

Flys work; choose only one at a time to avoid head and time and muscle overload.

Throw forward-leaning dips into the weekly workout scheme, on arm or back or shoulder days for additional pec attention.

Remember, muscle development follows a genetic blueprint. Another thing, don’t look at the charged physiques displayed in the muscle mags for a real impression of male and female development. They are displays more than functioning, hard working and on-the-spot bodies.

Thanks for the kind words and support… God’s strength… Dave

Please explain what a rope tuck is. You write of this often and I don’t know this one.

The standing cable rope tucks are a relatively high-rep exercise (25 to 35) that quickly attack the midsection as we tug with bent arms close to the body and vary the downward motion from front, to left and to right.

As the reps, pump and burn pile up, extend the arms and the resistance is transferred to the greater upper body. Biceps, triceps, serratus, lats, pecs and the entire back are fully engaged. And there’s panting, cardiovascular work at play.

While specifically an abdominal exercise, it can be manipulated by body positioning and concentrated muscle contraction to work countless details of the upper torso. Start with a pulley system that provides a single overhead cable from which you can attach your favorite rope handle. Choose an appropriate weight through trial and error (approximately thirty percent of bodyweight), grab the rope, kneel down about three feet in front of the system and sit back on your heels. Bend forward toward the weight stack with the rope under tension and close to your lowered forehead. You’re ready to practice the movement as you assess the resistance on your abs and throughout the upper body, determine your range of motion and facility to move with muscle-focused efficiency.

The first ten reps are performed with the arms held rigid, rope-grasping fists near the temples, the torso moving up and down by the power of the abs. Important: the entire abdominal muscles are contracted to do the hard work. Don’t lunge forward and accomplish the motion with the assistance of your bodyweight. Nice try.

Moving on, continue the action with a slight shift of the body and grip predominance to the right for five longer-motion reps, and, likewise, shift to the left and repeat. These variations add interest and further the involvement of the torso to include the obliques and intercostals. An extended overhead range of motion affected by the cable enables you to bring in serratus and lats while you are continually loading, stimulating and fatiguing the grip and biceps.

Raise the weight, lower the reps and the movement is powerful. No, not an earth mover, but it’s strong and intense. Furthermore, it offers freedom and spontaneity, that great sense of muscle exploration and exercise improvisation according to feel, urge and desire. There are muscles just waiting to be discovered and involved and energized and developed.

I’m convinced I could superset five sets of cable tucks of diverse ROM, resistance and repetitions with freehand or machine dips of similar variation and exit the gym a proud and exhilarated musclehead — no regrets.

What would you suggest for a good forearm workout?

Wrist curls supersetted with reverse curls and pulley pushdowns, 4 to 5 s-sets x 10 -15 reps, 8 -10 reps and 15 to 20 reps respectively.

Any version thereof to suit your training methodology will work. Twice a week should do it… count it as part of your overall arm workout, not an addition to the already existing routine.

Go… Dave

My problem is the bench press. I am starting to have shoulder pain. I read on the website that I should use dumbbells. What I am wondering is should I do flat bench or inclines? The heaviest dumbbells I have are 50s.

The bench press is notorious for shoulder injury. For on thing, we cannot control ourselves from going heavy, too heavy, and compromising a healthy groove to complete a damaging set or rep.

Mix it up a bit, the various degrees of incline being most beneficial - more delt and upper pec engagement and development. Inclines are more strenuous and, thus, require less weight to be effective. Flys and forward-leaning dips are dependable additions.

You might try dumbbell presses supersetted with straight-arm pullovers for a fun and worthy upper-body blast.

Remember: the more we focus on muscle engagement and the less we hurry, the more we are able to achieve from the less-than-heavy weights.

Thanks for the good word and for supporting our efforts… Godspeed… Dave

What rep progression to move on to next and what workout do you typically switch to following your all-time favorite? I’m aiming for traditional winter goals - stay at around the same belt size, but aim to gain some strength at the consequence of an extra four or five pounds of bodyweight.

I’m not a personal trainer and I don’t know you — your specifics. What I have done when reaching for your mass-gaining goals is eat more protein.

Routine can remain basically the same with modifications in the basic exercises or their groove and performance. Don’t be afraid of big changes if holidays disrupt your timing and moods and needs.

Try variations of days and combos and sets and reps to relieve pressure or training sameness, and to investigate upclose other systems or formats. As long as you’re positive, confident and leaning forward, it all works.

We press on — loose-handed, steady grip.

Carry on… Godspeed… DD

It’s a year later and I’m wondering how your chelation experience went. I’ve had three heart attacks; the docs won’t put a stent in because it’s a capillary that’s blocked instead of an artery. Too small to put a stint in, but big enough to put me in hospital three times. What you think about chelation now that you’ve gone through it?

Sorry for your challenges; they’re at every bend.

I had a quadruple bypass surgery in Feb of ‘07 and between July ‘07 and January ‘08, I underwent 40 three-hour sessions (141 hours) of EDTA chelation to treat symptoms of arterial blockage in the legs. I noticed no difference in anything anywhere, though blood tests indicated my metal levels were reduced. They weren’t high to begin with.

Now Laree’s going to tell me to add one caveat: I had an angiogram earlier this years and the new bypass grafts are completely clear. The thing is, we don’t know if they were clear when the arteries were used during the surgery; we don’t know if blockage would have occurred this quickly; and we don’t know if the chelation contributed in any way. Unfortunately, my ability to report chelation success or failure is right about nil.

I had high hopes for positive results in both the surgery and the chelation therapy and was disappointed in both. Late summer I underwent a quadruple lamenectomy (L-2,3,4,5) to improve nerve function and muscle response in the legs. So far, another disappointment.

So, if you’re looking for encouragement from this warrior, forget it. I’m thinking about drinking and going back to drugs. Just kidding… quadruple laughs. Time, prayer, training, right eating, smiles and laughter and Laree are the sure cure for what ails me.

An appointment with Dr. Quinn, a physiologist, is next on my agenda. Rolfing and Feldenkrais treatments are somewhere in the future. Mr. Olympia over-100 is a ways away yet.

We press on with God’s might… Dave Draper, the Bomber, not to be confused with DD, the Bummer.

I like music when working out. Care to share your thoughts on an important issue such as this?

I don’t like it plugged into my ears and if it’s loud I’m an unhappy musclehead at work.

If it’s rap, I’ll complain loudly; country western, I’ll grumble; musak and I go home.

Keep it in the background and let me focus on the job at hand: lifting the metal, engaging the muscle, building sinew and might.

The iron is alive with the sound of music… DD

If you were going to buy a leg machine, would you buy a leg press or a hack squat?

Now this is assuming you already have a squat rack… Give me a good leg press any day.

My training with various hacks squat resulted in knee overload and difficulty in determining what part of the thigh muscle group was being engaged. I walked away feeling achy and unfulfilled.

Remember: We’re all different in structure and proportion — femur and tibia length — and each machine is different in its action. Add these factors to the mix when making a choice of equipment.

Experience — experiment — squat if you can.

dd

I’m in my mid-50s and am not sure how I should train as I re-start my workouts after a long layoff. Do I do lighter weights and more reps? Or, do you have any articles for those who have turned 50? How to train and the weights involved, as per poundage? I do not want to injure myself and am really not sure how to proceed, although I do not want to procrastinate much longer.

Ready, get set, go.

Only you know the answer to your last question - start light and reach for moderate as you proceed on the grand journey. Go slowly and surely, no injuries allowed. You will change and enhance your life (imagine that… it’s true) over the fortifying years to come. He who procrastinates becomes an old fart.

Get back on the proverbial bike and take it for a ride around the block. Easy does it, remind yourself of the old-time feeling, the basic exercises and their unfamiliar-familiar grooves.

Use light weights to adapt, and understand who you are today. Think of five favorite exercises (example: light bench press - bar or dumbbells, medium widegrip pulldowns, barbell or dumbbell curls, dips with feet up to facilitate, and lunges). Warm up with some leg-ups.

Over a month work from one set x 10 reps of each exercise, and shoot for three sets of 8 to 10 reps by the month’s end. One workout, two days rest is a good scheme, as you grow in conditioning, interest and training recall. Then other schemes and weight movements can come into play.

Walking is a great conditioner — add hills and stairs.

Here’s some nutritional and training direction through some brief, straight-forward davedraper.com links, a great summary of training advice…

Keys to bodybuilding

General nutrition

Sample workouts

**Brother Iron Sister Steel**  is a great book of straight talk for the bodybuilder of all ages. Fun to read, packed with photos from good old days, overflowing with training and nutrition information, musclebuilding tips and hints and motivation.

You might view our forum… or join in… a smart and friendly bunch

Go… God’s Might… Dave

I am 50-some years old and have been training for the last 40. As glorious as it was adding weight to the bar when I was young it hurts as much watching the weight go the other way (I have a torn rotator cuff). I am toying with the idea of steroids for the first time in my life.

Fight as we must, we just keep making the adjustments in weight used, force applied, exercises employed and attitude. Gotta grow up as we grow older, which is particularly tough for overgrown kids like you and me. Beware of the heavy benching lest you further aggravate the shoulders. Visit the dumbbell racks and assorted degrees of incline for musclebuilding and damage control.

Think twice about the steroids: Why ruin a good thing after 40 years? You open the trapdoor to a variety of problems including brittling insertions and insertion overload due to disproportionate development of muscle to ligaments and tendons. Pharmaceutical enhancers can present a dependency hang up and cause you to wonder who you are what you’re doing. And they’re not free. Nothing is free.

Check with your family physician and see if you qualify for hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Thanks for reading and supporting IronOnline.

Godspeed… Dave

A friend of mine seems to have naturally big shoulders - real cannonballs. I’m trying to gain muscle on the front and rear delts but it’s proving tough. What would you recommend for this?

Some guys have all the luck (naturally blessed).

The best you can do is focus on different combinations of the best shoulder basics we know, astericks signal the best:

*Mid- and steep-incline dumbbell presses, *military (front) presses, *sidearm lateral raises (one-arm at a time or together), bentover lateral raises.

Pulleys for shoulders are not mass builders; save them for pre-contest shaping or a casual change of pace.

Upright rows are troublesome and my favorite, press behind necks (PBNs), are problematic if you don’t know the exercise intimately.

I hit the shoulders twice a week and include supersets (ss).

Example: front presses ss with sidearm lateral raises (4-5 sets x 6,8,10 reps), steep dumbbell inclines (4 x 6-8 reps) and finishing with bentover laterals (4 x 8 reps).

When you feel like indestructible, try PBNs supersetted with widegrip pulldowns behind the neck with focus on the delts and mid-back… cool combo…

Go… Godspeed… Dave

My husband will have hip replacement surgery soon and there is a lot on my plate and the organizer in me wants to have all the ducks in line, including keeping my training and nutrition up to par. Do you have any thoughts?

I hear nothing but good things about hip replacements, even though nothing about the thought of hip surgery sounds good. You’ll both be so relieved and more complete when the deed is done.

Round up the ducks, but let a few wander. They’ll be back on their own, quacking. Visit the weights when you are able if for nothing else but companionship and understanding and stability.

And, of course, both you and your spouse need to eat well to nourish the dealing and healing process, so it’s part of the big picture. You’re not alone, either; there’s the Mister, and a song in your heart and on your lips.

Be strong and courageous. Those words ring in my ear… they are followed by Trust in the Lord.

Godspeed… Dave

About this time of year when the sun disappears, I fall off the workout wagon, smoke cigarettes, get mad at myself and fight like hell to get back. Any suggestions will be sincerely appreciated.

You asked for it: When depression strikes me I pray extra passionately to God Almighty. Jesus is my rock.

On a more secular level, try adding vitamin D to your diet. D comes from the sun and supplies are low in the winter months. Also, 5-HTP, a serotonin precursor, might stimulate the brain’s production and add to mental well-being.

Remind yourself regularly of the richness of discipline and sensible weight training and the deathly curse of smoking, guilt and serious self-deprecation. Remind yourself of the consequences of carelessness and personal disrespect and irresponsibility.

Humble yourself wisely. Don’t wait till death stares you in the face and breathe it’s hot stench upon you. You’re in control, or you’re not, your choice, your decision.

Trust me… I’ve watched and recorded the dark process close and up front.

Train hard, eat right, be strong, waste not another dime or breath on the devilish, murderous devices.

Iron, might, right eating, rest and grateful thoughts… not smoking and poking and stinking self-condemnation.

Invest in and ingest Bomber Blend. Your weekly cigarettes cost about the same as a tub of the best-tasting and greatest musclebuilding protein in the World. Forward or backward, which way to go?

Go… Dave

I decided to do something I’ve never done: I’m supersetting all my exercises and does it feel different. It’s a wonderful change and has fired up the workouts. I hope you agree that a 61-year-old bomber could and should superset.

You’ll note all my workouts since I was nine (or 19) include supersetting. There are always one or two single-set movements as well… certain exercise are more fun or deliberate and productive in single form.

After a long training record we get to stretch out and roam the fields of exercise and reps and sets. We can graze till we get our fill. It’s not because we’re old goats, it’s cuz we’re tough bulls.

Eat right… Dave