Train hard, train often and above all else, train smart!

By Duke Nukem

The Parrillo philosophy of physical training is multidimensional: there are a lot of components and these components need to be put in play and executed simultaneously. To further complicate an already complex approach, approximately every four weeks the lifting and cardio needs to be changed to avoid stagnation. The Parrillo approach is so sophisticated and effective that stagnation and inertia are actually anticipated ahead of time and significant revisions are made to the training template on a predetermined basis.

Before we give the reader the impression that the Parrillo approach is rocket science (or as celeb-retard Paris Hilton calls it, “Rock science”) and too complicated to implement, be aware that the individual component parts are easy to grasp, examined one at a time, and the way in which a trainee weaves the parts into an overall training matrix or template are just as easy to grasp if given a good explanation – which is exactly what we are

going to do….

Parrillo-style Progressive Resistance Training

The foundation of

the Parrillo resistance workout, intensity:

At the most elemental level, weight training is one of two training methods used in the Parrillo System; cardiovascular training is the second training mode used. Parrillo-style weight training needs to be intense enough to trigger hypertrophy, muscle growth, and to that end, Parrillo training uses a lot of intensity-amping methods to take the trainee “past failure.” The mistake most weight trainees make is they select a poundage, perform 8-12 reps in comfortable fashion before moving on to the next exercise. Muscle hypertrophy is not triggered by sub-maximal sets done comfortably; muscle growth only occurs when the “adaptive response” occurs and the AR only happens when a muscle is pushed past its momentary capacity: forced reps, drop sets and other “take it past failure” techniques and tactics are used to force the muscle to grow.

The Parrillo

“three-phase” set:

The second fundamental Parrillo Principle is defining and implementing the Three-phase set. On every weight training exercise, on every set from warm-up to completion of that particular exercise, the trainee does the weight training set – the 1^st phase – follows the lifting immediately with a 2^nd phase fascia stretch and finishes the set with a 3^rd phase muscle pose and flex. Pump, stretch and flex are the Parrillo training mantra and differentiates Parrillo training from every other system of weight training. After hitting a weight training set that targets a specific muscle, a specific fascia stretch is done that forcibly stretches and elongates the same muscle. Finally, after being pumped and stretched, the same muscle is repeatedly flexed to the point of cramping. This procedure builds muscle, loosens the confining casing that surrounds every muscle then pushes muscle into newly elasticized surrounding.

Train often:

Elite bodybuilders training under John Parrillo’s direct supervision, competitive athletes seeking to maximize their unique genetic potential are advised to weight train six times a week generally hitting all muscles twice weekly using different exercises in each session. Intense weight training has a dramatic impact on the human metabolism. After an intense weight training session the metabolism becomes and remains “jacked up” for hours after the cessation of the session. Think of the metabolism as a bodily thermostat: we want to set the thermostat upward to burn as many calories as possible over the course of the day. Intense, Parrillo-style weight training increases the metabolism, intense Parrillo-style aerobic training increases the metabolism and Parrillo-style nutrition, eating certain foods at certain times amps up the metabolism: when all three elements are in place and practiced, intense weight training and intense cardio done often combined with metabolism-amping foods and supplements, the metabolism is “built” to use the Parrillo phrase. Intense, endorphin-releasing weight training needs to be done intensely and often. Exercises are rotated within the weekly template to avoid

staleness.

Use high and low

repetitions:

Generally speaking, high repetition weight training affects muscle fiber differently than low repetition weight training. Most progressive systems champion one repetition range over the other. John Parrillo has long held the philosophic position that rather than being an “either/or” proposition, the savvy elite weight trainer needs to perform both rep ranges within the same exercise. During the first phase to the Parrillo Three-phase set using any exercise, the trainee is advised to “pyramid up” ending a particular exercise with a low-repetition, 3-6 rep heavy set. The Parrillo trainee then “pyramids downward” by stripping weight and performing continued sets of the same exercise using higher and higher reps. The Parrillo trainee will finish an exercise with a 20-100 repetition set before moving on to the next exercise. Training in this fashion covers all the muscle-building bases and ensures that each muscle is exhausted and decimated – thereby triggering hypertrophy – before moving on to the next exercise for a particular muscle or muscle group.

Use a wide range of

exercises:

Generally speaking, an average trainee is advised to hit each muscle or muscle group twice a week. If by way of example, chest is trained on Monday using barbell wide-grip flat benches followed by narrow-grip dumbbell bench presses and finishing with dumbbell flyes and cable crossovers, the second chest routine done Thursday might consist of dumbbell incline presses followed by barbell decline presses and ending with pec deck done on a machine and cable crossovers. By being creative and imaginative the Parrillo trainee can perform a wide variety of progressive resistance exercises and never have to perform the same exercise twice in the training week. John Parrillo discovered decades ago that most bodybuilders grow best when subjected to a wide variety of exercises using both high and low repetitions. Often we will hear bodybuilders complain that they are incapable of recovering from one session to the next and invariably the cause is inadequate or insufficient nutrition: as Parrillo pithily put it four decades ago, “There is no such thing as over-training – only under-eating.” In almost every case, training-related fatigue is directly caused by insufficient caloric

intake.

Fascia stretching is not

optional: Parrillo-style training is not a cafeteria line where the trainee walks down the food line, selecting items they like, rejecting others based on their biases and whims; the Parrillo progressive resistance training system is a fully-formed PHILOSOPHY that is fully integrated and interwoven; when all the various aspects are in place and practiced with due diligence, the results exceed the logical sum of the parts. The number one aspect to Parrillo weight training that inexperienced trainees ditch, toss or eliminate is fascia stretching. The Parrillo three-phase set is the foundation of the Parrillo weight training system: fascia stretching is integral, not optional. The whole idea is to stretch between each set, even the lighter warm-up sets; stretching on the light sets ensures that by the time the heavy sets and the high rep/super-pump end sets roll around, the fascia tissue, the sausage-like casing that confines and limits the size of a muscle, will be warm and the stretches done deep. Saving fascia stretches for the top sets and the high rep sets is ill advised; ditching fascia stretching altogether takes the Parrillo out of the resistance training. Pump/stretch/flex – no ifs, ands or buts!

Parrillo-style Aerobic Training

Go intense or go home:

What differentiates Parrillo-style cardiovascular training from all other aerobic formats? The absolute insistence that all aerobic exercise must be done with great intensity; the polar opposite of Parrillo aerobics is a guy casually riding an exercise bike reading a magazine or distractedly watching television. In the Parrillo lexicon, sub-maximal aerobic exercise is underperformed aerobic exercise. Unless the trainee is drenched in sweat at the end of each cardio session that session has not been as productive as it could be. John Parrillo is a physiological scientist and long ago discovered that if cardiovascular exercise was done with great intensity – intensity being defined as tooling along so hard that breathing is labored – then the working muscles will, over time, literally reconfigure themselves. Mitochondria are cellular blast furnaces and for bodybuilder purposes more mitochondria equates to larger muscles and more leanness. Intense cardio builds mitochondria density: go hard or go home!

Sweating is not an option: Parrillo Performance puts out a dandy product called Max Endurance^™. Designed to counter the effects of ureic ammonia that occurs when a trainee sweats profusely, this product says volumes about the Parrillo approach to cardio. Think about it; Parrillo athletes sweat so hard and so profusely that they need a product to counter the negative effects – meanwhile the rest of the fitness world is talking about the nonsense of staying in the “fat burning zone” and how unnecessary it is to go too hard too fast or too long. Parrillo athletes go so fast, so far, so long and so often that they need to take Max Endurance™ (loaded with potassium and magnesium aspartate) in order to clear ammonia and endurance-robbing waste products. Those that don’t sweat buckets are under-training, those that are cruising along in cardio comfort and those that are talking to their neighbor as they perform aerobics are all underperforming. In Parrillo world during cardio the athlete tools along as hard as humanly possible, going as fast as possible just shy of the point where oxygen debt forces the athlete to quit. Hard, labored breathing is the Parrillo benchmark: labored breathing and cardio that requires muscular effort (as opposed to effortless cruising) creates mitochondria to be constructed and body fat to be mobilized and oxidized. Hard cardio accelerates the metabolism for hours. Profuse sweating is the indicator that you’re doing it right!

Mix mediums and keep the body guessing:

Don’t fall into the aerobic trap of doing the same type of cardio in the same way at the same pace. Advanced weight trainers understand that routines need to be periodically changed in order to keep muscles from becoming complacent: complacency is the enemy of progress. The same strategy needs to be adopted for cardiovascular exercise. Those that always sit on a stationary bike and use the same duration and pace year round are missing the boat. Gains come from targeting weak points instead of continually playing to your strengths. If you are used to a certain mode, change modes regularly; if you are used to 45 minute sessions try 30 minutes at twice the pace or sixty minutes attempting to duplicate your 45 minute pace; if you always use a “legs only” cardio machine or mode, find a device or mode that forces you to use arms and legs. Be imaginative and legislate change into your cardio format: sameness begets sameness and in order to elicit progress the body needs jolting.  Plus mixing formats and altering durations and intensities keeps cardio interesting. John Parrillo often advises trainees to leap from one cardio machine to another within the same workout! Make it a point to alter cardio modes and methods with the same regularity used to alter weight training.

More is better: In the Parrillo approach to aerobics, early morning cardio is the gold standard. The rationale behind pre-breakfast cardio is so sound and the results gotten by elite bodybuilders so profound that every serious bodybuilder or fitness buff needs to expropriate this tried-and-proven strategy: cardio done coming off a full nights sleep is cardio done when glycogen stores are at their lowest. The human body’s preferred fuel is glycogen and when it is present it will preferentially burn glycogen first. Once glycogen is exhausted the body will burn its second favored fuel source: stored body fat. Early morning cardio, torrid, sweaty cardio, rips through any residual glycogen and starts burning fat for fuel. This is ideal and this strategy has become standard operating procedure for elite professional bodybuilders worldwide for decades. In addition to this stupendous strategy, first proposed by John Parrillo in the 1980s, performing a second cardio session after the final meal of the day has also become SOP for the bodybuilding elite. The idea being that performing the second session accelerates the depletion of glycogen before the long sleep fast. Between two cardio sessions per day and weight training, the metabolism is turned into a blast furnace. Intense, Parrillo-style cardio done twice daily accelerates the metabolism, intense Parrillo-style weight training accelerates the metabolism and Parrillo-style nutrition accelerates the metabolism. Put it all together and the bodybuilder “builds the metabolism,” the cornerstone philosophy of all Parrillo Philosophies. Put it all into play and transform your physique in a matter of months.