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Henrik's Big Bodybuilding Adventure Part 2

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Part two: The Zane Experience:

I had read about the Zane Experience on Frank Zane's homepage (Frankzane.com) and I emailed Frank the first week of June to set up a session. We had decided to do the "Quick Zane Experience" (one day) since the whole Zane Experience (three days) was too expensive. After a couple of emails back and forth, Frank gave us a special deal for two days, which turned out to be perfect. Only Boris and I would do the Zane Experience.

On Wednesday Aug. 11th, after 9 days training among the famous bodybuilding stars in Venice we arrived in San Diego. We stayed in a part of San Diego called La Mesa where Frank lives. We were scheduled to train with Frank 2x3 hours starting the next morning 10am-1pm.

Thursday morning we drove up to Frank's house in the hills. I had called Frank from LA to get directions to his house. It's located on the top of a hill with a beautiful view overlooking a small valley. The house has two stories, the top one is the 'normal' house and the lower is Frank's gym and office.

We were welcomed by Frank and his big dog Tyler. Frank's gym is not very big but there's an amazing amount of equipment, machines and free weights. On the walls there's too many Frank Zane magazine covers to count. I noticed that over in one corner stood the 3 Sandow statues from Frank's Mr Olympia wins.

I must admit that I was a little nervous; it's not every day I train with a former Mr. O , but Frank is a real nice guy and I quickly loosened up. We would talk for 90 min. and then train for 90 min. The first day we talked about training (second day about nutrition) and I got answers to a lot of questions. Some of it was very basic stuff, but I wanted to hear Frank's recommendations about the basics. We also got specific advice about how to improve our weak bodyparts.

It's interesting that I later asked Dave Draper some of the same questions and I got almost the same answers, only Dave recommends more sets and more free weights than Frank. You know, just talking to Frank - getting advice from a 3 time Mr. Olympia - was special. We also talked about the bodybuilding scene of the 60s/70s and the current bodybuilding scene. Boris asked Frank what year he was in the best shape, Franks answer: 1979 winning the Mr. Olympia for the 3rd time. Frank told us that we were the first Danes to visit him which we thought was pretty cool.

After talking for 1.5 hours we then trained WITH Frank. This was the part I had been looking forward to. It's one thing to read about how the champs train, but to actually see them train, observe their technique, is something else.

Frank Zane instructing Henrik

The first day we trained chest, back, shoulders and abs. Frank showed me a couple of tricks for my chests training (I've had a bad shoulder problem and Frank knows a lot about training around injuries so that was really helpful). He was very particular about HOW I performed my exercises. He told us that what matters the most in bodybuilding is that you perform the exercises correct. Sets, reps and exercise combo's comes second. It quickly turned out that I was doing the movements to fast, that I should slow down on the negative part. Not slow-motion but a controlled resisting of the weight on the way down. That small change in my form would really speed up my training results - music to my ears. Boris - who has always stressed good exercise form - had perfect training style.

As most of you know, Frank is into meditation and using special 'music' to help in the process of relaxing. But I had no idea that he also trained to this kind of 'music' - mind waves music. So - picture the scene, Boris and I ready to train and Frank says he just wants to put on some music. Nothing unusual about that, not until we heard the 'music'. 'Pink waves music' came out of the loudspeakers. It's the sound of ocean waves, whale sounds and Tibetan monk bells going off from time to time. Both Boris and I had a hard time not laughing (absolutely no disrespect intended, but the situation WAS a little comical). I don't think Frank gave it another thought. For him it was normal and when we started the workout I didn't even notice the background noise.

Frank Zane instructing Boris

The next day we again met with Frank from 10am-1pm. We talked about nutrition. Both Boris and I were surprised to hear how few carbs and total calories Frank eats, but it obviously works for him. After that, we trained abs, legs and arms. Again Frank was telling me to slow down.

All in all it was a great experience. One I will never forget (duh). I have never been trained by a champion bodybuilder before and I got a lot out of it. I got confirmation on the things I do right and good advice on the things I do wrong. I now feel a lot more confident in my training (also because of Dave's advice later on) knowing that I'm on the right track toward my goals.

During our stay in San Diego we also saw the beautiful Coronado, San Diego down town and Sea World. After an intense 3 days we took off from San Diego and drove up to Santa Cruz to meet my long time idol Dave Draper, Laree, Kevin C and many more.

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