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Having a problem dropping the last 6-7 pounds for the show coming up. Any help would be awesome!
God’s speed.
dd
Have you ever given lectures about motivation and getting people to live better lives through exercise, nutrition and discipline? During the early years at Gold’s Gym, when you worked out there, what was the atmosphere like? Did the gym have a lot of members or just a small number of hardcore enthusiasts? Did you share training techniques or was everyone going their own way? Where there people you trained with and learned from or were you the teacher? How much of a role did nutrition play in those days?
I’ve done a bunch of talks and seminars in the past. These days I just try to remember what I said and follow the precepts with the few minor necessary adjustments, adaptations, moderations and alterations and obliterations.
In the mid-60s only a garage-full (literally) of real muscleheads existed… Gold’s handful of members included a cross section of beach bodies, strong guys and local color. By the end of the ’60s the gym attracted a new and emerging mob. Here comes Arnold and Frank and Franco… A potpourri of enthusiasts, sharing, observing, lifting, playing, biting and learning.
Time, crowds, technology, big biz, pro competition, drugs and carelessness have produced a mess I’m no longer interested in. I’m not old-fashioned, but I am locked into the goodness and honesty and quasi sanity of the old days — chins and dips, sets and reps, bombing and blasting. That doesn’t mean I didn’t trip over my own two feet to come to these conclusions. Nutrition was big and basic.
Tons and miles of training knowledge and research and study… it’s all on computers in universities… nothing’s changed. Lift and learn.Lift and shut up. Lift and be consistent. Lift and drink your Bomber Blend…
God’s speed… Dave
A recent IronMan Magazine talks about getting bigger arms and triceps by going to failure and drop sets for every set. I have always been told to go to failure only on the last set. What is your opinion on that?
It all works… you try this method and that method, all heading in the same direction, and pick and choose the one or ones that work for you, or you enjoy, or you trust, or seems good for the moment… methods and styles come and go like seasons.
Drop sets are not meant as a long-term training MO, nor for the older lifters. I like sensible intensity every set, as long as the heart doesn’t burst and structure doesn’t tear.
No one said we were sane…
Go… Godspeed… Dizzy D
You are a weirdo….I thought your newsletter was about bodybuilding, not inner turmoil. I have my first show coming up…any useful tips?
Big thanks for reading and writing.To answer your probing question I suggest you sit silently before a mirror and look deeply into your eyes, as if seeking to penetrate your soul and discover your inner self. After several minutes of focus and meditation, ask yourself the following questions: Who am I? Why am I entering the upcoming show? Will they approve of me? Who are they, anyway?
Just joking — there are so many variables I can’t begin to give you a comprehensive answer.
Everyone is different in these preps. Don’t be late in preparation (posing, music, tan, trunks, final-days-of-training plan, transportation, backstage needs) and avoid last minute stress. Visualize success and enjoyment. Be courageous and humble and good natured. Pray for God’s strength…
Rock… D
I’m 19 and have been training for six months. I have a lot of questions for you. I train six days a week, splitting bodyparts as I was instructed by a friend. He told me to switch to a new routine every two months, and then he moved away. Could you write me a new program? I also wanted to ask about the bench press. How can I get my bench to 225? Should I work more singles? I was thinking about benching every other workout. Are squats important? Some guys say they are, but they’re really hard.
I’m very generous with my time and info, but you are young and not seeking on your own. You want answers dropped in your lap, and thus, I expect you want muscle and might gained as conveniently. Everything you ask is answered on the davedraper.com website, in the IronOnline forum, or in Brother Iron Sister Steel (go to the local library—they’ll order it for you). Dig around.
This is tough stuff for tough people, takes lots of time and is a wonderful adventure, worth every mighty minute.
Go… God’s Strength… DD
I’m 47, work in finance and am about two months from a bodybuilding competition. I’m getting nervous because I’m so sore and stiff all the time and wondering if I should drop out. Or do you think this will pass?
My outspoken opinion: No way would I add the pressure of competition to your life if I were you. It’s not healthy, productive or wise in my opinion and will stir up anxiety and disappointment, not to mention pain and risk of injury. Be grateful you can breathe, lift and enjoy your workouts without pushing your training away from you with skin-deep competitive aspirations in the middle of a busy life and complicated world.
Pain reduction requires training reduction or pain medications… Try Aleve.
Train smart, eat right, be happy… Godspeed… DD
I’ll be 55 in couple of months, work out 3x/wk for 70 to 90 minutes, weights and some cardio. I work out in the basement, free weights, resistance bands and speed bag, pretty Spartan, but the price is right. If I mix it up more for a little more variety and only do some of the exercises once a week is that enough to maintain strength, weight and (what little) definition I have?
Once you’ve invested the years in the iron and have developed ample muscle density and training savvy, you’ve earned reasonably wide training margins. This allows time to experiment and to enjoy and to learn and grow. Those 75 to 90 minutes three ties a week must not become long, dragged-out affairs void of wandering and experiencing and playing.
Trust yourself. If after a month of mixed and instinctive training you are pudgy and weak, we were wrong. Oops.
A good musclehead is never really wrong for very long.
Godspeed… Dave
New injuries have arisen — I slightly tore some cartilage in my left knee and saw the surgeon yesterday. I am going to gut it out for a while and see if I can handle a bit of pain and avoid the surgery. My right rotator cuff is also bothering me and I have had to really reduce the weights in an attempt to continue training while recovering without losing to much muscle size. My plan has been to compete again next fall at 60 years of age. Hopefully, I can get my body together enough to do that.
Be aware, friend. May I?
Your choice to train for competition is, I suspect, going to be costly. Commonsense and responsibility go out the window when goals are set in stone-cold time and the warm, flexible body is ignored.
Be strong, be tough, but don’t beat the bull to death.
Moderate while it’s your choice and not the painful, unbending command of a bent and broken body.
Moderation, not a child’s road, will take you further along the path…
You’ll last longer and feel better and be healthier and look mightier.
Go… Godspeed… Dave
I am 43 years old and want to know if I have a chance at competitive body building.
I’m not one to dash another man’s hopes and dreams, but I’m also not one to advise a person to take a narrow and overgrown pathway to nowhere.
At 43 muscle and might are important, but health and the joy of living should precede the travel. Training for competition can become an overwhelming distraction, costly, confounding and absorb more of one’s time than it deserves. The rewards are anticlimactic, even if you win.
Train for you and goodness sake, growth in character and body and mind and spirit and the journey along the way. Mr. This or That at 21 is cool and sensible and worthy, but twice a lifetime later health and wholeness (and a solid bod with meaty arms) are a wise man’s goals and rewards.
Be wise, be strong, be happy.
Go…Godspeed… Dave
PS: Abridged answer — Who can say? Try it. If you don’t like it, quit and train for fun and fulfillment.
In many of today’s journals and magazines the current champs and trainers seem to encourage taking one bodypart per workout and blasting it to the max, thus advising training each body part once a week! Your valued opinion?
You read that stuff? Like anything is current. You might not believe this, but I’ve never read any of the magazines… before the beginning of time, during my years associated with them, or in the ages since.
What I know I observed or got from the race horses mouth and practiced and pursued. I like supersetting opposing body parts, full range of motion, blasting sensibly, three-on, one-off, two-on, one-off and hitting every muscle group more or less twice a week: Power and muscle-priority are sought when the time is right and I feel the urge or need.
Form, focus, and freedom or improvisation of groove . Invent, create, trial and error… it’s all good.
Try the latest rage or system you mention above… can’t hurt if your common sense and instincts are in tact. Not a good idea for the novice lifter, however.
Fight the good fight… Godspeed… DD
You write about light reps in the 20-30 range — which exercise are you referring to? I can’t seem to get my biceps to grow. Should I be doing more reps?
For me high reps for core and gut only and first set of any body part exercise… after that, unless I’m rehabbing an injury, I’m back to 12, 10, 8, 6 reps with the light weights that seem heavy. High reps on curls and presses, pulls and pushes drive me Nuts.
I hang onto 200 pounds bodyweight, but the arms and legs are like bread sticks… guess that beats loaves of doughy bread…
Lift and learn… Dave
I am a female, 49 years old [no spring chicken], and an amateur bodybuilder. I had rotator cuff surgery on a couple of months ago, and it entailed a plastic anchor pin being put at the top, stitches at the front, and a piece snipped from my biceps to take up the slack. Any educated guess on the soonest possible time I could potentially be ready for competition?
Sounds like a lot of delicate repair work. I remember when had my shoulder repaired — it was extensive and the long head of the biceps was involved — I didn’t want to put any resistance on the mess for fear of tearing it apart. Gradually I approached the restoration with slow and deliberate force. To this day — 15 years later — I’m still tentative when applying intensity to biceps training. Perhaps an involuntary reflex prevents me from bearing down with all my might or my mind is protecting me from bodily damage.
What’s this got to do with you? Not sure. In a few months you will have a clearer idea of your recovery, the extent to which you can train (your training input) and the extent of any limitations that cannot be overcome. The biceps part — the thin thread of a tendon that connects the thing and undergoes a heavy and direct load — make me nervous. From there on, as you make your adjustments, you might find strength- and balance- and muscle-recovery significant enough future competition.
On the other hand you might find that competition is no longer your thing and that it interferes with healthy muscular gains and training momentum and training joy.
After a few years of competition, I observed the disadvantages of training for shows: the two to three months in prep for contests — dieting and training to lose fat and gain cuts — cost muscle growth. They can be more of an interruption than a worthy motivator. I believe it was neither desirable, healthy or productive to get lean enough to please a judge.
My motivation became to be conditioned and strong and to appear as good as I could generally all year around, not just for show time. A little in ‘n outta shape here ‘n there through the seasons, but always pushing onward. I think that has been the best now and forever approach to this bodybuilding (I prefer musclebuilding) we love now and forever. I find the approach far more gratifying and fulfilling… and I am more thankful…
Have fun… God’s might… DD
I just don’t seem to be putting on size. Does that come with age? I’m 22. And what kind of weight gains do I have to make to gain size? I’ve read that I need 5 pounds on my arms to gain one inch on them!!
With time and guts and hard training and love… You’ll be gaining 5 to 10 a year of more or less solid weight and good strength. Train hard, eat right, don’t rush it and don’t injure yourself…
Forget about the “pounds per inch” stuff… it’s too general… not reliable.
The long haul is under way, and you will notice your growth and gains come in spurts and fits and starts. Flow with them all. Get the basics in diet and training down and don’t ever swerve from them and you cannot fail. Read Brother Iron Sister Steel and all your questions will be answered as if by a friend who knows you.
Add another meal of cottage cheese and tuna (3 -4 oz of each) and/or another protein shake – 1/2 before and 1/2 after your workout — each day. Another banana and loads of fresh vegetables and at least one red meat meal a day.
Stuff to think about… gotta go… DD
We have been bombarded with infomercials regarding the new p-90-x craze. I must admit at this stage of the game (I turn 50 soon) that look is very appealing to me, lean /cut/ muscular. Can one achieve that shredded look with conventional bodybuilding & diet or is a change of pace (aka P-90-X) regime necessary? I just cannot seem to attain the hard look anymore. And can you share your thoughts of what you went through when you hit the big 50? Also, some cool info to share: I am a big coffee drinker, after I brew my morning pot, I keep the extra in a jar, add some ice cubes, 2 packets of splenda, 2 scoops of Bomber Blend (vanilla) and just a splash of half & half, a cool and refreshing pick-me-up that has 38 grams of protein, delish!
I haven’t researched the program, but… do you really think there is some legitimate information and training revelations in the TV produced P90X — GET RIPPED IN 90 DAYS program you haven’t already forgotten? The before-and-after shots remind me of Weider ads for Crash Weight Formula #7 in the 1960′s muscle mags…
Getting ripped is not possible for every body type or chemistry (unless we get skinny)… Genes play the major role… We do our best with what we have and thank God… Too lean (or lean too long) for guys like me who are not naturally lean is not healthy, comfortable, happy or wise. Strength drops, energy and endurance drop, resistance drops, immune system is strained, I shrivel, muscles don’t thrive or pump for lack of feeding and kids throw rocks at me.
50 to 60 is a blast. Don’t doubt or waste or chase the good times away. Embrace those super years with courage and might and appreciation and joy.
We all get troubled from moment to moment. Muscleheads are not the securest screwballs in the nuthouse… You can quote me on that…
Bomber Blend + Coffee + ice = Dynamite
God loves us for sure… DD
How do I get a biceps peak like yours?
We develop according to our genetic pattern. Perhaps a peak in the biceps is not going to be your strong point. Don’t fret, you’ll make up for it in size or shape or strength or triceps thickness or forearms.
I like low incline curls (a 15-inch rise in one end of a flat bench) with vigorous and focused action of the hanging biceps only (4 to 5 sets x 6 to 10 reps).
Do these after standing barbell curls performed with a straight Oly bar, hip-wide grip, full reps and medium thrust (4 to 5 sets x 6 to 10 reps). Twice a week.
Superset the biceps movements with lying and overhead triceps extensions respectively if you enjoy blasting.
Go… Godspeed… Dave
It is very difficult for me to stay focused on my bodybuilding dream when I have to deal with all this “discouragement” on my own. How do you do it?
Lack of encouragement does not necessarily mean discouragement. It’s nice and good to have an audience of approval or at least acceptance, but when it is not present and you continue your pursuits, you know you have the desire needed to approach your goals, whatever they might be. I recognized my goals were worthy and I obliged myself in spite of and, perhaps because of, the lack of support around me. I saw weight lifting as a tough application that separated me from the conventional crowd and that I found especially appealing. I wanted to be different.
There’s an answer to your question in here somewhere. Weight lifting early on, though not the most popular interest of the day was then and, of course, is today valuable, productive and right.
I was attracted, thank God, and encouragement/inspiration/purpose came from within. No one discouraged me.
dd
I am an avid fitness enthusiast from Italy and am interested in securing a position as a trainer in a Los Angeles gym. Can you guide me in that pursuit? Could I interview with you for a job at your gym?
I commend you for your accomplishments and wish I was in a position to be of some help. I have retired from the gym business (2005) and am solely involved with writing projects. At 69, my training is important, but I play a less active role in the fitness industry. Writing for IronOnline has become my thing.
Unfortunately the American market is saturated with young and older men and women with fitness degrees and certifications seeking positions similar to those you suggest, and they are available for in-person interviews.
I wouldn’t know where to start to find serious employment in the fitness industry. So sorry, my earnest friend…
Godspeed in your healthy endeavors… Dave Draper
I am seeing some discrepancies in size, left side compared with the right. Does this mean I won’t be able to be a bodybuilder? How should I address this, with more weight or reps on the smaller side?
My advice: Don’t try to compensate for the natural imbalance in the body’s strength or development by doing additional weight, sets or reps. Each body will reach its own symmetry. Look too close and this muscle stuff can drive a good person loony.
Go… Godspeed… DD
Do you have a monster mass building forearm routine to really put some mass on the forearms?
Heaving heavy weight in deads and cleaning heavy dumbbells into position for presses contribute to strong and large forearms.
This is my favorite scheme:
I include a third exercise in the series for triceps just to sociable — pulley pushdowns with a rope — 12 to 15 reps.
Huge is not in everyone’s genetic plan… we try our best.
Add courage, intensity, time, right eating and rest and a big smile… you win…
Godspeed… DD
I am in my late 30s and had baby number seven 10 months ago. I lifted weights in my past but never got to my ideal weight and ability to lift. Where do I start to lose those last 10 pounds and train to get headed in the right direction? My time is limited but I really want to succeed. My oldest child is in a wheelchair and I lift her daily to care for her physical needs, as I age I want to make sure I can be there for her…she is now 20 and weighs almost 100 pounds. Is it too late to become a woman bodybuilder?
I honor your noble roll in life… what can be more powerful than mothering and raising seven children in a lifetime… And, though a 100 years old in experience, a youthful gal in age and time.
I seldom use the term bodybuilder, preferring musclebuilder in its stead. You can and will build muscle and strength and endurance as you apply yourself to a thoughtful plan of basic weight training (30 minutes every other day), blended with walking/jogging (20 minutes, hills and stairs included) on off days. This is a scheme you develop over time, as you learn and improve and gain momentum and self-perpetuating courage and inspiration.
Be strong, girl… you can do this. You will appreciate yourself and life so much more as the days go by… your family will adore you evermore.
Don’t stress over the wonderful deed. Stress kills, joy builds. Eat right, exercise regularly, be positive and be happy…
Here’s some nutritional and training direction through some brief, straight-forward davedraper.com links, a great summary of training advice…
Please sign up for our free weekly newsletter, IronOnline, for valuable tips, hints and encouragement. A non-commercial companion to your daily workouts.
Brother Iron Sister Steel, written by me some years ago, 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. Trust me… get a scuffed copy at 15 bucks and you will learn — understand — more about the elements of the sport that can’t be learned unless wisely and honestly guided.
You might view our forum… or join in… a smart and friendly bunch… they will help…
Go… Godspeed… Dave
