Dave Draper’s Musclebuilding Q&A

I’ve been training on a Bowflex for six months. Could you give me a Bowflex workout program? Also, I work out 3 times a week, 30 minutes each time. Should I increase this workout?

You’re doing a great job and I wish you continued success through dedication and discipline.

I’ve never trained on a Bowflex and am not savvy of its features and multiple uses. I’m sure it is a worthy piece of equipment and will serve you well.

Give it 45 to 60 minutes on the Bowflex three days a week, or 45 minutes four days a week — simulating dips, incline pressing, cable crossovers, stiffarm pullovers, low incline curls, pulldowns, triceps work throughout the week — 3 to 4 sets per exercise, 12, 10, 8 reps per set.

I’d pretend I was training with weights to simulate the exercise movements.

Using commonsense and the joy of training, pick out six exercises that appeal to you and cover the whole body.

Practice regularly and as you become familiar with the apparatus and your response, create different routines according to needs and wants.

Exert wisely, focus closely, move with moderate pace. Do aerobics for 15 to 20 minutes on off days.

No big secret science… This is kidstuff… the best thing for adults. Play and grow strong.

I’ve been battling with a friend who has put on dangerous weight. Business is bad and food is his outlet. He’s out of work today because his knee went out walking to the subway. Don’t know how to get the point through to him, thought a “heart episode” a couple years back would be the wake up. Just turning 50, and he used to do triathlons not too long ago. Any advice to motivate this NYC former athlete?

My words are of tough love. I figure anybody big enough to walk the streets and subways of NYC for half a century should know better and have applied himself to the cause of survival.

Respect and responsibility and priorities are increasingly in the dumpster the world over. The best we can do is take care of ourselves and each other and contribute regularly to righteousness.

But one must be tough at the same time. Tell him he’s weak and irresponsible and selfish, he’s killing himself. Or tell him nothing and watch and wait.

With each passing day of neglect and stress and inaction, his life grows shorter and he becomes less, and the repair and recovery more difficult, more unlikely. Now or never, dear friend.

The war and the economy are here — rats — but so is the gym down the street, and guts and exercise and smart eating and self-esteem over which we have control. 50-year-old fixer-upper… Good investment, the best one on the market…

Take care of yourself… Godspeed

Age is 52, male and doing sports almost all my life. Last year I developed a cervical problem; I have been through neck exercise and therapy and am released for training. I put on lots of weight which I do not like at all. I was wondering if I should continue going to the gym and if you can send me a workout program so I can continue bomb and blast.

I suspect with your prior years of training practice you will be your own best instructor. No longer seeking the perfect form of a young man, but the health and strength of a practical middle-age man, you need only to apply yourself regularly and intelligently in the gym each day and eat a balanced diet of healthy foods.

Avoid those exercises that bear down on the neck during their performance, train moderately and with cautionary focus, and train with thankfulness. There’s no rush… enjoy the action and be confident in what you do… you are doing more than you realize to develop yourself in countless ways.

A few pages for you to take a glance at:

General Nutrition

Keys to Bodybuilding

Workout Routine Suggestions

Remember: The iron heals, mends, fortifies, toughens, vitalizes, enables, engages, entertains, satisfies, serves, instructs, humbles and makes a good door stop…

Train hard and always… God’s Might… Dave

For the person who has been unmotivated and out of the gym all winter, what are your recommendations on getting back into training now? Is Spring the time to renew your training…or should you have stuck with it all winter?

Gather together your wits and will and return to the gym immediately, if for nothing else but a visit.

The first step is the hardest. The determined action will preempt the accumulating forces of anticipation and procrastination, placing you in the arena and warming up like a champ.
Ten minutes on the stationary bike or treadmill, two or three friendly sets of your four favorite push and pull exercises, a pat on the back and home on Cloud Nine.

Exercise and eating right ­ conditioning and physical fitness — are year-round responsibilities, privileges and joys, and should accompany us always.

Intensified training for the striving outdoor athlete — a stepping up of maintenance exercise ­ typically begins in the spring. The year-round athlete is right on time, always on time.

Life is good, action is imperative… and delicious.

Read your article with interest about how to squat, as presently I can’t squat. The reasons for this are (1) lack of balance and flexibility and (2) fear of injury. I intend to take your advice and do the body weight squats your article advises. Is it ok to incorporate a few sets of these with my current leg workout, which is leg presses, step ups, lunges, leg curls, etc?

Sure! Practice this bodyweight movement anytime, even on leg off-days.

Hold onto a rack for support as you practice, progress and perform the movement aggressively.

Try holding on and leaning back (called sissy squats) as you squat to direct resistance to the front of the quad… various versions of the freehand exercise will serve to secure you in the exercise, teach you, invoke experimentation, improve your balance, give you confidence and develop the thighs more fully.

In time, work the exercise into a proper routine, perhaps one day with a bar on your back from a rack with safeties in place.

Little hint: When squatting, sometimes a one-inch board under the heels provides a needed modification in an anomalous leg structure disproportion. Try it.

Be strong, recruit a willing spotter and practice when you get the urge and are warmed up and ready for action.

Throw in some explosive jumping on occasion, after a good warm-up, of course.

Go… Godspeed… Dave

I read your latest email newsletter, and can identify with the 50+ crowd. I now have two bad knees and a bad disk in my back. I have lost 80 lbs so far, with about 100 more to go. I would like some advice on what to do now. Time is at a premium for me, and I live in a small apartment, so no room for a Bowflex or other home machine.

You need to continue your weight-loss journey by adding regular exercise to your routine. No problem, except you have neither the place nor the time, walking is out and you’re no spring chicken. What can I tell ya; something’s gotta give.

You must maintain a sound diet, yet that’s not enough to accomplish your fat-loss goals. To live long and with strength and breath, you must exercise.

How about a sturdy bench and a set of all-in-one, adjustable dumbbells? I love the idea. You can develop a valuable and fulfilling diversion, as well as a certain healthy musclebuilding and fat-loss activity. Practice the basics, adding some crunches and leg raises throughout the week.

The weights (ah, the iron) will become ‘your’ time to confront yourself, de-stress, build muscle and strength and bones and hormonal system, improve your fat-burning metabolism, further develop your disciplines and character.

Possible drawback: the girls will chase you around the block… great aerobics but tough on the knees.

Go… Godspeed… Dave

I’m new to this weight loss thing. I am 52 years old and I weigh 202 lbs and I am 5 foot, 1 inch. People say I should weigh 97-125 at the most. What do you think? I need help.

I suspect you’ll find your plan of action — training hard, eating smart, being consistent and positive — will work best once you get past the numbers and calculations, and get in motion.

When you lose 50 pounds you will be so practiced, motivated, encouraged and engaged that you’ll know where to go next and what bodyweight will suit you.

Read “Your Body Revival” — straight talk for the overweight, a friendly and strong teacher-motivator. I wrote it for you… and some other folks.

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

Remember: The iron heals, mends, fortifies, toughens, vitalizes, enables, engages, entertains, satisfies, serves, instructs, humbles and makes a good door stop…

Train hard and always… God’s Might… Dave

I’m going to be traveling a lot this year, and since I live a distance from the nearest gym anyway, I’ve decided to train with resistance cables for awhile. What type of gains can I expect?

Cables or bands are worth the work, providing the work is hard and thoughtful and backed by confidence and passion and regularity. Be creative in developing a routine. There are all sorts of variations to cable work if you allow your mind and muscle to communicate freely. Go beyond conventional moves and invent, pump, burn, rep out, push and pull with intensity and involvement from movement to movement.
They’re nothing like weights, but the cables will condition and build muscle and strength. Usually trainees don’t stick with it. Ugh! Give the cables time to root and blossom. Takes guts and need.
Add freehand exercises to the regimen (pushups, dips, walking, etc.) and support it with sound eating and living.
We’re all different with different capacities to build muscle with the iron or with cables or with magic.
Go… Godspeed… Dave

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

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

I followed your career in the ’60s and am thrilled to find your website today. Can you tell me in a nutshell the major differences in your nutrition and training between then and now?

There was a two year stretch in the mid sixties when carb intake was near zero and protein was in the 500s. I was working with a 22-year-old body weighing some 240 pounds.The carb intake came from low-fat milk products (milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese) which I sort of neglected to count.

Through the years the carbs have come up in the form of vegetables and fruit and some low-gylcemics (wild rice, barley and such), the protein is in the 300s and the body weight is 220-225.

I finesse my food intake to match my workouts and daily activity including sleep. Protein is the Man. Pre-workout carbs are dialed in to satisfy energy and appealing pump and to prevent tissue catabolism. I’m surprised at my fat intake. Hard workers with healthy metabolisms need the good fat for energy, anti-inflammation and repair. Nothing’s changed, really.

The volume: 80% supersets driven by our own hands-on-the-wheel.

The basics: some heavy workouts (power style low reps on deads, squats, rows, dumbbell inclines, barbell curls every third week) throughout the month.

The setup: I generally recommend twice a week per muscle group; reps at 12, 10, 8, 6 sometimes 4 pattern.

The cardio: 3X 20 minutes aerobics in a 6-to-7 intensity range.

Fuel to train and feed to build, positive over-viewing without obsession, consistency, time, confidence (don’t be deflected by the new age thinkers born early this morning) and spirit equals muscularity.

Carry on… and on… Dave

I am a 20 year old Indian, and have been going to the gym for four, but have not achieved much. I am a regular at the gym and do my workouts perfectly. People in India train six days a week, one muscle per day. When I talk about the cyclic training they tell me that it won’t suit me. People outside Asia train different muscle groups in a single session, four days a week. Help! Please tell me which method is beneficial?

I challenge you to train according to your needs and common sense and instincts, and not as directed by the conventional, narrow-minded do-it-my-way hotshots outside your very personal sphere. Current waves of training are didactic and blunted.

Stick to IronOnline and be filled with truth and encouragement. Join in the fun and learning of the IOL forum, a gathering of great people, a hungry and instructive lot with a wonderful capacity to share and enlighten.

I offer you direction through some brief, straight-forward davedraper.com links, a great summary of training advice…

Six Keys to Successful Bodybuilding

Sample Weight Training Workouts

General Nutrition Guidelines

This Slumpbuster page will offer you a sample of how to add a little fun to your workout. Try one of these combinations to discover joy in your training this month.
Live and learn and train hard always… Be strong.

Go… God’s strength… Dave

I’m overweight and out of shape. I need to lose a good 45-55 pounds. Is it too late for me to get in real good shape, or am I too old now?

It’s not too late to have a lot of fun trying. I’m at a disadvantage not knowing details, but barring abnormal limitations, I’ll say you can lose the weight, you can build muscle and you can substantially improve your strength, health and vitality through basic weight training and right eating and living. That’s saying a lot about getting in real good shape.

It takes time, regular effort and the right attitude in applying the basics you learn at davedraper.com and absorbing the encouragement you receive from the IronOnLine weekly newsletter.

Your training is to include proper nutrition, fundamental lifting and aerobics and discipline and spirit.

I wrote a book, Brother Iron Sister Steel, that tells you what to do and how it is and everything else you might want to know without feeling like you’re reading a bunch of words from a page.

I offer you direction through some brief, straight-forward davedraper.com links, a great summary of training advice…

General Nutrition Tips

Keys to Bodybuilding — Beginning Weight Training Tips

Sample workout routines

And finally, I draw you attention to the fine folks in our forum who will answer your questions, encourage you and keep you steady.

Start now, while you’re hot… Godspeed… DD

I am going to try to lead a group exercise class for women starting in January. It runs through the end of May. So I am wondering how to begin and how to progress. Its only a 30 minute class. Could you give me some exercises and the order to do them along with the reps and sets? Is is possible to have these gals see improvements having only 2 classes per week?

Depending on the group size and their receptiveness, you might encourage them to warm-up, gain focus and add to their conditioning and learning by doing five minutes of crunches and bent-leg leg raises –1 set of maximum crunches (10 -15 reps), plus 1 set max leg raises (10-15 reps). Repeat if popular.

With dumbbells you can do standing or seated curls and alternate curls for biceps, and lying and overhead dumbbell triceps extensions for triceps. Modified floor pushups are a good triceps exercise, which includes shoulder, chest and back muscle engagement as well.

A lot of your instruction success depends on the trainees before you — level of understanding, condition, motivation, willingness and ability to listen and learn. How you approach them and what you offer them is also dependent upon theses factors as well.

Consider starting with two sets of 10-12 reps of any four exercise (standing biceps curl, seated alternate curl / overhead triceps extension, lying stiffarm pullover - the straight-arm version of lying tri ext.), in that order.

Development depends on consistency in training and intensity in training. Only with these disciplines will progress be made.

Progress from light to heavy as equipment allows. Keep focused on the work and muscles involved, keep a smart pace to keep interest and energy and warmth high.

This is a start. Dips, chins and floor pushups are possibles for the toughies — a challenge.
Encourage them to eat right for real results. Check out these links for added input:

Tips on General Nutrition

Keys to Bodybuilding

Have fun… God’s Might… dave

What do you suggest for me as I begin training after a layoff and with a bad back?

Try this:

Warm up with floor crunches and bent-leg leg-raises (according to your back limitations and range of motion) for the core muscles and abdominal area: a set of 15 crunches (more or less, depending on ability) followed by a set of 10+/- leg-raises. Repeat.

Stand up straight (at attention) as a starting position and perform 10 reps of bent-leg good morning exercises (modified deadlifts), reaching for the floor to maximize your range of motion and to continue to work and warm up the back region. Perform a second set. In future workouts you’ll look forward to holding light weights in your hands for resistance and strengthening of involved systemic and ancillary muscles (lower back, grip, thighs).

As you are able, position a pair of light dumbbells over head as you sit on an incline bench. Perform 2 sets of dumbbell inclines for 10 reps. Soon you will move to 3 sets, maybe four sets, and increase the weight as your strength grows (works shoulders, chest, triceps).

Seated on the end of the bench, perform two sets of 10 reps of alternate dumbbell curls (provides biceps, grip and some torso action). In time move to three and four sets, increasing the weight to accommodate strength increase. Lower reps to eight where and when needed. Your commonsense is welcome.

Lying on the bench with both hands gripping and positioning a single dumbbell in an overhead starting point, lower the dumbbell so the plates just pass the forehead by bending the arms at the elbow only, and return to the starting position (triceps, grip). The upper arm should remain stationary, thereby placing the resistance on the triceps. Repeat and follow same rep-weight protocol as suggested above.

Focus, hope, daring, patience and practice. This is a substantial beginners routine for a guy with some possible background, some drive and some heart. It’s great practice to start someone thinking right and take them to the next levels (our website will make more sense with each workout). As you learn and improve you can apply more and more effort and acquired savvy. This routine, though modest, will work an advanced musclebuilder if he or she gives it all he or she has.

Backs are tricky… you be the guardian as you proceed.

Go… God’s Might… Dave