V

Any tips for upping my lean protein intake? I finally got serious about the Parrillo Principle of taking in 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight per day and have been real diligent about it for the last three weeks. I cannot tell you what a difference this has made. I have never been on steroids, but I imagine this is what it feels like.  I haven’t missed eating 250 grams per day for 22 straight days. I’ve added five pounds of muscle, lost body fat and I feel amazing. Plus I have been breaking personal records in my lifts right and left. The problem is I am getting really bored with chicken breasts and canned tuna. I would love some protein alternatives – I want to keep this progress train rolling!

Arn, St. Paul

Arn has discovered what John (Parrillo) has been preaching for decades: one of the real keys to building muscle is consistently firing down ample amounts of ‘clean’ protein. Couple serious and consistent protein intake with serious and consistent hardcore weight training and experience the muscle building effect you speak of. The key is in hitting the 1 to 1.5 grams or more of protein per pound of bodyweight goal every single day! More often than not, the ‘normal’ bodybuilder will achieve their protein goal on Monday and Tuesday before letting down and falling short on Thursday and Friday; they might get back on the protein bandwagon on Saturday before missing the goal once again on Sunday. 50% of the time they make the goal and 50% of the time they miss the goal. This is not enough to create the muscle building effect you speak of. To develop the muscle momentum you speak of requires you hit the protein goal for at least 14 straight days. It takes that long for the real gains to become apparent. Once you have two unbroken weeks under your belt, the athlete will start adding visible muscle and shattering personal bests in the gym. At that point it becomes (relatively) easy to stay on task. Egg whites are a terrific and inexpensive way to add lots of lean, fat-free protein to the diet; eggs do not have to be limited to breakfast: a massive egg omelet made with a dozen egg whites, diced onions, bell pepper and spinach, all sautéed in butter-flavored CapTri®, makes for an amazing, filling, protein-packed dinner.

Here are a few egg preparation tips: first, always sauté veggies in CapTri®. Place the egg whites in a blender for a few seconds. Pour the egg whites over the veggies and then place the entire pan into a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. This creates a delicious egg soufflé. Make sure the pan is all metal and can safely be placed into a hot oven. Seafood is a terrific protein source. A pound of steamed shrimp makes an incredible protein-packed, weekend treat. Parrillo supplements are critical for hitting protein goals. Here is one way to hit protein intake goals with the greatest of ease using the vast array of Parrillo products (see chart below)…

Now that goes a long way towards hitting daily protein goals. Eat two to three chicken breasts per day, toss in a couple cans of tuna, eat a big egg omelet and how about some seafood! You can hit 200-300 grams per day with the greatest of ease. We haven’t even mentioned turkey, fish or the various lean beef cuts such as flank and skirt steak. Also seek to expand your food preparation abilities: there are a dozen ways to prepare a chicken breast. Most of us fall into the habit of grilling or broiling a boneless skinless breast and that is too plain, too boring and too one dimensional. Check out cookbooks and check out the Food Channel for prep tips.  Be consistent in consuming protein and be consistent in working out. Hold the course for fourteen days and experience the anabolic power of protein!

Iron Vic,

I am having a hell of a time recovering from my workouts. I am in an off-season mass-building phase and after an intense weight training session I feel like I am walking through a vat of mud. This sluggish feeling lasts for the next 48 hours!  I am an advanced guy with ten years of hardcore training under my belt and I have NEVER had a problem recovering session to session. Of course I have never been bigger (220) or stronger (500 for reps in the squat) and I have never been older – is age a factor? Any ideas? I have had to cut my weight sessions back to three times a week and I’m still not recovering.

Old and tired in Ohio

Parrillo has identified this phenomenon on numerous occasions and in a nutshell it can be summed up in two words: ‘under-eating.’ You are taking in an insufficient number of calories in relation to the amount of work (training) you are performing. Your problem will clear up if you dramatically increase your caloric intake. Depending on if you up your caloric intake with “clean” calories or with “dirty” calories will determine if the resultant weight gain – and there will be a resultant gain in bodyweight – is fat or if the weight gain is muscle. In order to trigger muscle gain the body needs to be trained hard. Fine and good; however if you slaughter the body in killer weight training sessions (as is your duty as a Parrillo adherent) and then eat like a super model on a diet you will end up going backwards. Over-training and under-eating creates catabolism when we seek anabolism. Create catabolism and the body will strip muscle walls of amino acid content in order to feed itself and cover the caloric shortfall. On the other hand if you go crazy and use this advice as an excuse to eat pie, chips and waffles with gravy, you will factually avoid catabolism and factually establish anabolism and factually end up fat! It is easy to construct a massive amount of body fat! Strike the Parrillo balance: train like a maniac but eat like a bodybuilder; avoid foods easily compartmentalized as body fat. Eat loads of foods preferentially used to construct muscle. I am not going to waste time identifying the acceptable and unacceptable foods. Elite bodybuilders routinely consume a 50/50 Plus™ shake after training without fail: 50/50 Plus™ contains 21 grams of protein and 17 grams of carbs with zero fat or sugar. Big men will double the recommended serving size. Drink your 50/50 Plus™ as the workout winds down and when you get home eat a “Parrillo Meal” containing a large serving of protein, a serving of vegetables and some glycogen-replenishing starchy carbs, such as rice or potatoes. Eat like a man! A gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day is the bare minimum! Plus eat lots of natural carbs and tons of vegetables. As John is fond of saying, “There is no such thing as over-training –
only under-eating!”

Vic,

Am I wasting my time doing lateral raises? I can’t really feel any ‘pump’ in the deltoids when I do them – with bench presses, pec dec, curls, triceps, etc. I can feel the target muscle getting pumped up as I do them – not so with lateral raises. Maybe I am doing them wrong – I use dumbbells. Are these things worth doing?

Ross, Atlanta

You are likely going too heavy and likely using the muscles surrounding the delts to raise the too heavy dumbbells. First off you need to keep the traps out of the lateral raise effort. The usual culprit in lateral raises is that the traps come to the aide of the weaker deltoids and ‘help’ the delts out. The idea is to isolate the delts and the biggest mistake is using poundage so heavy that the traps are called into action. Anytime I see a bodybuilder using a pair of 60s or 70s in side laterals, I wince. Unless you are Dorian Yates or Ronnie Coleman, heaving a pair of 60s upwards for a few inches, using a ton of body action to get them moving, is worthless. You are turning a potentially fine shoulder isolation exercise into a half-ass shoulder shrug. So how do you get the traps out of lateral raises? Slash the poundage, slow the rep speed down, increase the range of motion and eliminate any body English to get the bells moving. Grab a pair of 20s, sit down on the end of an exercise bench and consciously keep the traps relaxed as you lift the bells slowly and with great deliberation to shoulder height. Hold the top position – arms parallel to the floor – for a full second before lowering. Don’t let the dumbbells drop back to the start; resist gravity all the way down. That’s one rep, now do 15 reps. Another excellent delt raise tip comes from elder bodybuilding statesman and three-time Mr. Olympia Frank Zane. “At the top of every lateral raise – ‘pour the tea’ – during the one second pause and hold at the top of each lateral raise, twist the wrist forward and down, as if you were pouring tea from a kettle. Pour forward then return the wrists to the normal position before lowering slowly.” This takes some practice and really isolates the delts. Do lateral raises slow and precise and you will experience the best deltoid pump of your entire life.

Vic,

I ain’t proud to admit it but I got my ever-loving ass kicked in a fight this past weekend – by a guy half my size. I am 6 foot and weigh 200 pounds. I have a 325 bench press and have done well in a bunch of local bodybuilding competitions. So I thought I could handle myself. I admit that I actually started the fight – we were at a party and I hit on this guy’s girlfriend. He took offense and we squared off. Next thing I know he tackles me and is on top of me pounding my face – this dude might have weighed all of 150. How embarrassing! I thought my weight training and cardio and size would have been of more benefit – what happened? And what can I do to prevent it from happening again??

Ass-beaten in Idaho

Stop hitting on other guys’ wives and girlfriends for starters. Bodybuilders and powerlifters all think that because they have these great bodies, great size and great power, that that automatically makes them great fighters. Wrong! I don’t know if you had an opportunity to watch one of the few TV shows I watch with any regularity, “The Ultimate Fighter” last year when they featured heavyweight fighters. They had several ex-NFL players as contestants; massive giant dudes, huge muscular guys, genetic wonders, absolutely awesome physically. Unfortunately not one of them could fight worth a damn. You had the misfortune to cross paths with a trained fighter: he simply took you down, likely with a very basic double-leg takedown, mounted you, and proceeded to pepper your face with his tiny little fists. Because you didn’t know how to sprawl to avoid the takedown, because you didn’t know that allowing him to pass your guard and mount you was a fatal mistake, because you didn’t know how to buck him off, (likely he had “hooks” in) you took an unnecessary but deserved ass-whipping. You are damn lucky he didn’t throw an arm bar on you and break your elbow. Hope you learned a lesson.

I remember back when I was a young man earning extra money bouncing at an infamous roadhouse outside of Memphis. This
giant bodybuilder, who shall remain nameless, squared off with a skinny redneck in the club parking lot. Me and my bouncer pals watched – it was a slow night, we were bored, they were in the parking lot, not in the club and we were like, ‘So what! Let ‘em fight – this should be interesting.’ So the first thing the massive bodybuilder does is rip off his shirt, like the incredible hulk; he swells up like a blow fish and starts cussing and saying how he was going to ‘gut’ the redneck. I noticed the country boy had a lot of knuckle scar tissue. That’s what we call a clue; as soon as he dropped into his stance and started circling to the left I knew the massive ape-man was in trouble. The big guy was sooooo slooooooow – his fists moved as if he were in slow motion. Meanwhile the skinny guy was fast as Ali. Bap! Bap! Bang! Every time the giant lumbered forward to grab the redneck, country boy stepped to his left and delivered two stiff jabs followed by a haymaker looping right cross. On the third try the giant went down unconscious when the looping right impacted the monster man’s ‘jaw button.’ We stepped in and stopped it and I’ll never forget country boy taunting the downed monster, “Why you ain’t nothin’ but a damned bodybuilder!” Go to the yellow pages and find a mixed martial arts gym or a jujitsu studio, go there humbly and with respect; put in the time to learn the craft of self-defense. Those that really know how to fight avoid fighting because of the legal entanglements that befall a trained fighter when the law gets called in after the trained fighter beats the hell out of a disrespectful idiot like you. I hope you learned a valuable lesson; trust me you got off easy – this time. Being big and strong is zero guarantee that you can defend yourself. Defend, don’t offend!

H

I train at an excellent hardcore gym here in south central Texas and have noticed that among the top bodybuilders and top lifters there are a lot of different bench press techniques. Is there a reason for this? I would think that there would be one single bench press technique that would trump all the rest – but what do I know. I thought you could help me out. I would love to incorporate a new bench press technique as I am pretty well stuck at 315 and want to compete in a bodybuilding competition next year.

Randy, the Great State of Texas

You are pretty sharp to notice that there are many different bench press techniques. Each of these differing techniques might be completely appropriate, depending on the goal of the lifter and the circumstance. Generally speaking, in the big picture sense, bench pressing can be divided into two major categories: muscle building bodybuilding-style bench pressing and maximum strength powerlifting-style bench pressing. These two bench styles use radically different techniques because they have radically different goals.

● The muscle building bench press technique is commonly known as the “bodybuilding bench press.” This technique has one goal: stimulate as many muscle fibers as possible. Using this style targets the pectorals and surrounding muscles. Bodybuilders will use a wide grip to isolate the pectorals. They will use a narrow grip to attack the pecs, front deltoids, triceps and even the lats. Years of collective bodybuilding bench press experience has produced a muscle building consensus as to the very best way to stimulate the maximum number of pectoral and surrounding muscle fibers: use a variety of grip widths. Also alter the rep speed. By playing with the speed of the barbell and by using different grips, differing muscular effects are elicited. The main identifying characteristic of the wide grip bodybuilding bench press is the use of flared elbows. As the barbell is both lowered and pushed upward, the elbows are purposefully held wide and out. This tactic forces the pectorals to do all the pushing.

● Another tactic bodybuilders use in order to stimulate the maximum number of muscle fibers is to deliberately slow down the speed of the repetition. I don’t mean to slow the rep speed down to a ridiculous degree, but lower and raise the barbell (or dumbbells) in a very controlled, purposefully slowed and much more deliberate fashion. A gym lifter really doesn’t give too much thought to how fast or slow the barbell is lowered or raised during a set; the elite bodybuilder knows that a purposefully slower rep speed equates to a harder rep and a harder rep equates to more fibers being forced into action. A purposefully slowed rep speed combined with a wide grip and flared elbows causes pectoral muscle fibers to fire like crazy. The maximum number of muscle fibers is recruited and the intensity of these contractions is optimized. The goal of the bodybuilder is to “feel” the target muscle as it is being worked during the set.

● The maximum strength, powerlifter-style bench press technique is decidedly different. The goal is to bench press as much as possible for a single, technically perfect rep. Years of collective maximum bench press experience has yielded a technical consensus. Most top bench pressers tuck the elbows in towards the torso as the barbell is lowered. The lats are flexed as the barbell is lowered to the chest in a gentle arc.  Triceps and lats are flexed while lowering to provide a solid muscular launch pad for the start of the rep. The bench press rules call for a pause on the chest. The maximum strength bench press does not use a purposefully slow rep speed. The bar is lowered with great precision and after a pause on a maximally expanded chest the lifter explodes the poundage upward, pushing as fast and violently as possible. Reps for building a maximum bench press are low by bodybuilding standards, usually in the 1-5 rep range. Grip widths for maximum benching differ according to the preference of the lifter. Most top bench pressers use the maximum allowable grip width: 32 inches. Big benchers do a lot of dumbbell bench pressing as their number one “assistance
exercise.”

I would suggest you alternate bench press styles. Use the bodybuilder bench press technique with flared elbows, a wide grip and a slowed down rep speed to build muscle.  Stay with this style for 4 to 6 weeks then switch off to the maximum strength bench technique. In the max strength technique, use a moderate grip width and keep the elbows tucked in as the barbell is lowered. Max benching uses the explosive push. Alternate techniques and throw in some heavy dumbbell bench pressing. If you are really serious about wanting to build perfect pecs or if you seek a massive maximum bench press – square up your nutrition! To build a big bench you need to add quality muscle mass. To expose massive pectorals (the hallmark of a competitive bodybuilder) the body fat percentile needs to be reduced down into single digits. Bodybuilding bench pressing is worthless if the outstanding pecs built are covered with a layer of body fat. It makes sense to get your nutrition squared away regardless the direction you pick. Get the eating and supplementing squared up and synced up with specific bench press goals. Best of luck and thanks for the great question.

Iron Vic,

I am fuzzy on the whole Parrillo “build the metabolism” thing – how does eating more food allow you to get leaner? That seems impossible.  How can you eat more meals and more food and get ripped? I could stand to lose about thirty pounds – but I don’t get how eating more food could help me lose my fat.

Ralph C, Akron

Certain foods are difficult to digest and coincidentally these hard-to-digest foods also happen to be extremely beneficial for you. Certain foods are easy-to-digest and coincidentally those foods are extremely bad for you. Sweets, candies, pastries, chips, bread and man-made foods all digest quickly and easily and therefore any excess calories are preferentially partitioned into fat storage faster than you can say “fatso.” Lean protein and fibrous carbohydrates (green vegetables) are tough for the body to digest and are chock-full of usable and potent nutrients. The bodybuilding elite prior to a competition will live on protein and fibrous carbs (and CapTri®) to near exclusion. Parrillo competitive bodybuilders always supplement with metabolism-amping CapTri®. Science is just starting to catch up to the advanced body composition strategies devised by John Parrillo. He has used these preparation strategies for decades preparing elite bodybuilders for the top competitions. It would be no exaggeration to say that over the decades Parrillo has prepared well over 1,000 bodybuilders for competition at all levels: Olympia winners, IFBB card-carrying professionals, national-level bodybuilders, top amateurs and an uncountable number of regional and local competitors.

The reason competitive bodybuilders flock to John for his advice is simple: those that follow his approach with unwavering compliance get astounding results every single time. Parrillo knows the science backwards and forwards and Parrillo has the in-the-trenches, real world gym floor experience that temper and focuses his amazing grasp of science. For a long time “experts” disputed Parrillo’s “high-calorie/build the metabolism” approach and often dismissed it out of hand without having taken the trouble to read the details and protocols. John stresses the critical nature of food selection. If the bodybuilder is selective and disciplined and chooses foods carefully, they are able to consume large amounts of select food without getting fat. Play your Parrillo cards just right and add muscle while simultaneously melting off body fat – this is the highest form of the bodybuilding art and requires complete self-control and iron-willed discipline. To gain muscle while losing fat requires strict regulation of both diet and exercise to a finite degree. By being disciplined in the food selections and by exercising like a demon, you are able and encouraged to eat large amounts of “clean food” in “Parrillo meals” consumed every 2-3 hours throughout the day.

In the Parrillo approach to nutrition, micronutrient composition is critical. John says at seminars, “Certain foods are preferentially used to build muscle. Other foods preferentially end up stored as body fat. Don’t believe me? Try substituting 1,000 calories of lean protein per day with 1,000 calories of ice cream or pie. Keep this up for a week or two and note the rapid disintegration of whatever physical condition you possessed.” 95% of all the energy expended by the body is derived from the oxidation of foods. Metabolic rate is proportional to oxygen consumption. Turn over very little oxygen and end up with a slow metabolism; turn over a lot of oxygen (on a consistent daily basis) and develop an active metabolism. Having a high metabolism is conducive to leanness and health. Different foods increase the metabolic rate to differing degrees. Different foods have differing effects on the metabolism. Protein consumption accelerates the metabolism to a significant degree. The consumption of lean protein increases the metabolic rate far more than the metabolic spike associated with the consumption of natural carbohydrates or dietary fat. Energy expenditure associated with the consumption of protein is high; ditto fibrous carbohydrates. Diet-induced thermogenesis is also called The Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) and assigns different foods ratings: foods with a high “food efficiency” rating is readily stored as body fat: foods with a low TEF number are preferentially used to build muscle, used for energy or excreted.

I would recommend that you get a copy of the Parrillo Nutritional Manual. This is the Bible of Parrillo-style bodybuilding nutrition. In it are specific steps designed to “build the metabolism.” Eat the right foods, eat only quality approved foods, eat them at the right time and eat them 5 to 8 times per day. Consume a meal every 2 to 3 waking hours. By biasing consumption towards nutritious, hard-to-digest foods the metabolism accelerates with each meal. Professional bodybuilders deep in competitive preparation will break into a sweat as they consume their meals. John Parrillo recalls having lunch with one of his Olympia-level bodybuilders a few years back, “He was seven weeks out from the Olympia and he was still eating a ton of food. We went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant where he proceeded to eat two full dinner meals for himself: broccoli, brown rice and beef. Then he ate our leftovers and there were four of us. I figured he must have consumed 3,000+ calories in this single sitting. Halfway through the meal he starts breaking out into a sweat and this was in an air conditioned restaurant. By the end of the meal sweat was dripping onto the table. It was an outstanding example of the thermic effect of food.”

If a bodybuilder eats the right food the metabolic rate gets a little jolt with each meal. The bodybuilder gets a huge metabolic jolt every time they engage in an intense lifting or cardio session. Between the exercise sessions and the hard-to-digest foods, the bodybuilder’s metabolism can receive six mild jolts and one extreme metabolic jolt each day: that comes to 40 to 50 metabolic jolts per week. Parrillo advises to add clean calories gradually. Keep jolting the metabolism and the metabolism will reset itself. Once you successfully build the metabolism, body fat (literally) melts away in a series of food-and-exercise induced thermic jolts.

Vic,

I hear that a lot of top bodybuilders are taking fistfuls of Muscle Amino Formula™ capsules before and after workouts – is that true? What’s the reasoning behind this? Before and after? Isn’t that overkill?

Royce, Point of Rocks

The guys that are double dosing Muscle Amino Formula™ would swear that the results are worth it. Muscle Amino Formula™ is comprised of branch-chain amino acids, leucine, isoleucine and valine. BCAAs supplementation has been shown in study after study to “spare” muscle during an intense workout. By loading up on BCAAs right before a savage weight training session muscle catabolism is avoided before it has a chance to take root. By taking Muscle Amino Formula™ capsules after the session is over, hard worked muscles are provided exactly what they need in order to heal, repair and ultimately grow. Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer, bodybuilding promoter and elite trainer Fred Rowlett keeps a bowlful of Muscle Amino™ capsules on his office desk. Fred has a veritable fleet of bodybuilders training under his no-BS, take-no-prisoners direction and his athletes will stop by his office before and after their muscle-shattering workouts to scarf down some of Fred’s Muscle Amino™ stash. Other businessmen might have a bowl of hard candies or mints on their work desk – Fred keeps Muscle Amino Formula™ capsules on his desk and his people eat them like they were M&Ms.  So should you!

Parrillo Supplementation

Vic Steele,

How come you guys at Parrillo Performance Products keep selling the same old stuff – beef liver tablets, Muscle Amino™, Pro-Carb™, Hi-Protein™ etc, etc, that stuff has been around since Frank Zane was Mr. Olympia, before I was even born! Other supplement companies seem to change products every six months – so what’s up with the Old School approach? Even the newer Parrillo food products seem to use the same old stuff as the base. Are you guys behind the times?

Larry, Scranton

Actually, since history repeats itself we are actually ahead of the times. You are correct in your analysis and dead wrong in your conclusions. Yes indeed Parrillo Performance Products has had in production certain products since the 1980s and these include Liver Amino™, Muscle Amino™, Ultimate Amino™, Mineral Electrolyte™, Enhanced GH™, Max Endurance™, Essential Vitamin™,Advanced Lipotropic™, CapTri®, Pro-Carb™, Parrillo Bars™ and Hi-Protein Powder™. The reason for their collective longevity is their continued effectiveness: they worked for bodybuilders back then and they work even better now. Unlike other supplement makers, we make most of our products ourselves and our quality and quality control allows us to custom construct the finest (the most potent and effective nutritional supplements) on the market. Flip through the pages of any muscle magazine and you see a common theme: the blatant use of total exaggeration or fake science or the use of skimpily clad women, all in a lame effort to sell ineffectual products. Anything goes; any tactic, any outrageous claim, any outright lie, plus sex and female flesh – anything to get the reader to stop and read the ad.

Not to pick on any one product in particular, but flipping through a recent issue of a muscle mag, I saw one manufacturer make the following claim, “In third party double-blind crossover placebo controlled studies, 18 subjects increased their bench press 18.8% in one hour.” Everyone’s bench press shot up 18% instantly, take this miracle supplement and a man with a 200 pound maximum bench press instantly jumps to a 240 pound bench press! Nice! I would love to see the scientific study behind this little fairytale. The reason these outfits introduce new products all the time is simple: the sales curve on the latest miracle product begins to plummet and without skipping a beat the same supplement outfit drops the current product and introduces a “bold new product, one that makes obsolete everything that has come before it.” Meanwhile, over at Parrillo Performance Products, our clientele develops strong allegiance to particular products because they are getting solid results directly attributable to that product’s use and that’s the reason many of our products have been around for decades: our products obtain real results for real people. What a concept! Think of it – products that actually work and never need to be sent to the supplement bone yard. Our clients would riot if we stop producing any of our Old School products as each has a huge following. Keep fooling around and wasting time and money on “miracle” products; once you wise up and mature, we’ll still be here.

Vic,

Nice analysis on the overrated Arnold Press a few months back. How about your take on the leg press? I have a hereditary disk condition that prevents me from back squatting or front squatting. I have been using the leg press with modest results. Any suggestions as to how I might make better use of the leg press? I usually hit 3-4 sets of leg presses on Monday (backed up by 3-4 sets of leg extensions and lying leg curls) and on Friday I will work calves and a weird squat machine that doesn’t hurt my back and likely doesn’t provide a lot of results.  Again 3-4 sets of each. My thighs are nothing to write home about: 25 inches. I would love to add a couple of inches to them. Is not being able to squat holding me back? Can you build massive legs without squatting?

Jeff, Tulane U.

Yes you can build massive legs without squatting. However Jeff I would argue that you got to up your commitment. Your problem is not a lack of squatting – it’s a lack of work! I gotta say Jeff, 3 sets of leg presses on one day and three sets of a squat machine later in the week on some dink-ass push machine amounts to nothing more than a thigh maintenance program – do you really think six sets a week is really going to pack on the thigh size? Dorian Yates was in a similar position to you in that he injured his back and was unable to squat past that point. He went on to build (arguably) the greatest legs in bodybuilding using three exercises: the leg press, the leg extension and the hack squat. I would suggest that you tear a page from the diesel’s book and take a decidedly more intense, expanded and serious approach to thigh building. How about working up to one all out set in the leg press and then get someone to administer a forced rep or two. Instead of quitting on the leg press, knock off 50 to 100 pounds and perform another forced rep set, this time use a much wider foot stance. Keep going…now hit a third leg press set, complete with a forced rep or two, using even lesser poundage and this time a very narrow stance. In seminars John Parrillo will demonstrate that by altering foot position on the leg press push plate he can target any portion of the thigh with pinpoint precision. Be sure and lower the push plate down as low as safely possible.

Don’t fall into that stupid trap of loading up a lot of plates on the leg press then barely bending your knees as you rep. To recruit the maximum amount of thigh muscle fiber, you need a full and complete range-of-motion. Lower the weight way down on each and every rep. Finish this session up with some calf work and leg curls. Come back on Friday and concentrate with the same amount of ferocity on the hack squat machine. Again, work up to a top set using your standard stance; be sure and include a forced rep or two; hit another Hack squat set using lesser poundage, higher reps, a much wider stance and a forced rep or two. Finish off with a final set of narrow stance hack squats using the same protocol. Be sure and do your Parrillo Fascia thigh stretches between each and every set of leg presses and hack squats. I would throw in leg extensions and calf work at the end of this session. If you don’t wobble out of the gym on both days, if your legs don’t feel as if they are going to collapse walking down a flight of stairs, then you haven’t really trained hard enough or heavy enough. You have to refuel after training this intensely: I assume you use 50/50 Plus™ and drink a shake after each workout: I would double the serving on leg day. You need to combine a new approach towards thigh training with a dramatic increase in clean quality calories and lots of potent Parrillo supplements.

Vic Steele,

What type of weight lifting program would you recommend for a very enthusiastic teenager? My son is 14 and is dying to start weight training. He has an older brother that is a long time lifter and is extremely muscular. My boy says he wants “muscles like Michael!” I used to train and we have an adequate home gym set up in the garage; loads of plates, an Olympic bar, a bench and an old power rack. I assume you would start him on free weights – which ones? How many times a week should he train? How about supplements? Is it too early to start him using Parrillo Products? Matt has eaten various Parrillo Bars™ his entire life. Is it too early to get him on Parrillo Protein Powder™? I am thrilled he is expressing a real desire to really train; he is a good athlete already. I want to get him started right away. I have a good grasp of the basic exercise techniques but I don’t want to go too crazy and mess him up.

Alan, West Ontario

The best way to hook a kid on weight training is to put him on a program that actually gets results: results to a teen means two things, bigger muscles and more strength. The acquisition of muscle size and power are what motivates and inspires young boys to train harder and more often. Here’s the deal: I would start him off on a three day a week lifting schedule. It is important that YOU teach him the proper techniques and not his brother! The biggest mistake you can make is to allow the boys to teach themselves. Stress technique; don’t let them use too much weight and short little rep strokes or they will end up hurting themselves. Benches should be done with feet flat on the floor and the butt on the bench throughout; front squats should be done super deep, all the way down! Start with front squats over back squatting. Power cleans need to be done and pulled straight up. No heaving, twisting, jerking or contorting on any exercise. It would be ideal if they become training partners and spot one another. You will need to attend some of the sessions; spot and critique him to make sure he is performing the various lifts correctly. Here’s a sample program…

• Day I

front squat, power clean, bench press, tricep press, calf raises

• Day II

overhead press, barbell row, chin-ups, curls

• Day III

dumbbell bench press, tricep pushdowns, curls, dumbbell overhead press, deadlift

I prefer the front squat over the back squat because it teaches them to squat upright. Assuming the front squats are deep, they have great carryover for power cleans and deadlifts. Squats, power cleans, rows and deadlifts are done by working up to a single, all out, limit set of 5-8 reps. Bench press, overhead presses with bar and dumbbells should be kept in the 8-10 rep range. Triceps, biceps and calves should use higher reps, as high as 10-15 reps per set. Make sure the deadlifts are done using an upright torso and do not allow any jerking of the barbell in order to get the deadlift moving. Each session should last about 45 minutes. Encourage him to run, bike and play active games. I would use supplements as a reward if he doesn’t miss a workout and trains correctly using a very basic approach. A Parrillo shake or a 50/50 Plus™ shake after a workout would be a great idea: make sure he gets plenty of wholesome regular food to eat. Avoid fast foods and sodas as much as possible. Keep me posted.

Vic,

Not a lot of mention about cardio lately…I have been pretty bored riding my exercise bike over the winter. Now that the weather is starting to break, do you have any ideas about effective outdoor cardio? I have a high school with a lot of playing fields and hills right in my area. I am itching to get outdoors and do some active, different, lung busting cardio.

Ron, Raleigh-Durham

I love outdoor cardio. First off, let’s make sure that all cardio exercise, regardless the mode selected, is sufficiently intense. John Parrillo was the first to point out that if cardio is done with sufficient intensity, calories are oxidized at an accelerated rate and the configuration of the working muscle is actually transformed. Intense cardio for a prolonged and protracted period causes additional mitochondria to be constructed within the working muscle. More mitochondria mean the athlete can become larger and leaner. What constitutes cardio sufficiently intense enough to build new mitochondria? Hard breathing is the mitochondrial benchmark: labored breathing, being right on the verge of gasping for breath, signifies that the effort is hard enough to build more cellular blast furnaces. It is a tricky proposition in that you want to work hard enough to create labored breathing – yet not so hard and so difficult that you are forced to stop. Practice will make you better at striking the delicate balance between working hard yet not so hard that you have to quit the session as a result of complete exhaustion. As far as my favorite outdoor cardio goes, I would suggest you try walking or jogging with a heavy weighted pack. The idea is to work for 40 to 60 minutes and work just below the point where breathing is so labored that you are forced to stop. I love sprinting: try this classical sprinting protocol, it is pretty simple: sprint 20 to 40 yard dashes. After each sprint, jog back to the starting line and repeat. Do not go 100% on the first few sprints or you’ll risk pulling or tearing a hamstring. For the first few sprints, start off at about 70% of all out sprint max. On each successive sprint, crank the speed up a notch. By the tenth sprint you want to be going all out. Sprint, jog back to the starting line, hit it again. Do this for 30 minutes to 40 minutes and you’ll burn an unbelievable amount of calories, rev your metabolism sky high for hours and undoubtedly build new mitochondria.

I like to wrap a 35 pound barbell plate in a blanket and stuff the weight and blanket into a backpack. I then head to any beautiful outdoor area, preferably one loaded with hills. Tromping up steep hills carrying the weighted backpack causes my heart to about explode. I catch my breath walking down the hills before hitting it again. I do this for an hour and afterwards I am drenched in sweat. In all versions of Parrillo-style cardio, if you are not sweating buckets then you are simply not going hard enough. Be sure and load up on Parrillo Max Endurance Formula™ 30 minutes before a sweaty cardio session: Max Endurance™ allows the hard charging cardio athlete to clear waste products from the bloodstream and to do so at an accelerated rate. If you smell ammonia in your post-cardio sweat, you are not clearing ammonia: ammonia is toxic and interferes with fat burning. By ingesting 5-8 capsules of Max Endurance Formula™ before a sweaty session you prevent ammonia build-up and allow and enhance the body’s ability to eliminate waste products that create lactic acid and prevent waste products from being eliminated.

Steele,

I consider you a propagandist for the Parrillo Empire. You should be ashamed for pushing the Parrillo HIGH FAT diet! Saturated fat is artery clogging crap and responsible for heart disease – too much fat in the American diet is the reason we are fat and unfit. The whole CapTri^® thing is all about promoting high fat for profit and I find it irresponsible. Are you aware that in some of Parrillo’s “recommended diets” he has bodybuilders consuming 1000 calories a day worth of CapTri^®?! Or should I say FAT-TRI! Is it your goal to turn bodybuilders into heart attack victims? Because that is what you are
doing!                   Incensed in Reo, Linda

Is it your goal to sound like a complete idiot? Because that’s what you are doing! If you were half as informed as you purport to be, you would understand that all fats are not the same. You are obviously ill informed and misinformed and I will take some time out of my dealings with sincere folks with sincere problems to puncture your little balloon of nauseous negativity.

MCTs passively diffuse from the GI tract to the portal system (longer fatty acids are absorbed into the lymphatic system) without requirement for modification like long-chain fatty acids or very-long-chain fatty acids. In addition, MCTs do not require bile salts for digestion. Patients that have malnutrition or malabsorption syndromes are treated with MCTs because they do not require energy for absorption, utilization, or storage.

• Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) are fatty acids with aliphatic tails of fewer than six carbons.

• Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA) are fatty acids with aliphatic tails of 6–12 carbons, which can form medium-chain
triglycerides.

• Long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) are fatty acids with aliphatic tails longer than 12 carbons.

• Very-Long-chain fatty acids (VLCFA) are fatty acids with aliphatic tails longer than 22 carbons.

CapTri^® is a medium-chain triglyceride that bypasses the lymphatic system. Artery clogging fats are treated differently than MCTs and this is the reason Parrillo Performance Products created CapTri^®. The genius of CapTri^® is that it has the caloric density of fat, 8.7 calories per tablespoon, without any of the health consequences associated with the consumption of conventional long-chain saturated fats. While the consumption of fat from a burger or a hunk of prime rib is digested via the lymphatic system and preferentially shuttled to fat storage, MCTs are either used to build muscle or used for energy. The calories contained in CapTri^® cannot end up as stored body fat and CapTri^® cannot clog arteries. Period! End of story! Please don’t lump all fats together. MCTs cannot and will not contribute to heart problems. CapTri^® cannot clog internal plumbing and CapTri^® cannot create new body fat. Elite bodybuilders use CapTri^® in the off season to build muscle mass; elite bodybuilders use CapTri^® before a competition to replace starch calories as they are extracted in the final weeks leading up to a show. By substituting CapTri^® calories for “lost” starchy carb calories, the bodybuilder is able to hang on to hard earned muscle as he pares away body fat. In a very real sense, CapTri^® is a dual use product that can and should be used by every fitness buff, every bodybuilder and every athlete. Want to build new muscle mass? Use CapTri^® as a clean calorie provider. Want to strip off excess body fat? Use CapTri^® as a source of calories impossible to end up stored as body fat. Not all fats are arterial-clogging and heart-killing as you idiotically imply and you would do well to differentiate between fats. If you had ever gone to the trouble to really delve into the Parrillo Nutritional System, you would know that John tells his nutrition plan followers to allot no more than 5% of daily caloric intake to “conventional” LCT artery-clogging, heart stopping fats. So Parrillo has all his bases covered: limiting harmful fats to 5% of daily calories, in a 3,000 calorie diet that means a grand total of 150 LCT calories, which is nothing! But I suspect that you are content in your ignorance and likely won’t let cold facts get in the way of your crusading rants.

Iron Vic,

Have you ever used the Arnold Press? I had a personal trainer tell me it was “the best of all shoulder exercises” and said it’s Arnold’s favorite exercise for deltoids. I find it awkward and I can barely use 50% of the poundage I normally use for regular dumbbell presses. I find my shoulder sockets ache after hitting 3-4 sets of Arnold Presses. Are they that good? Does the shoulder socket pain diminish over time? I love your no nonsense advice and always read your column first.

Ronnie T, Dallas

Now I haven’t talked to my old pal Dave Draper about this personally, however, Dave mentioned in one of his books that he trained with Arnold off and on for ten years and probably engaged in over 100 shoulder workouts with The Austrian Oak. Dave said he never once saw Arnold use the so called Arnold Press, a weird and potentially dangerous movement. The problem with the Arnold press is twofold: the absurd and exaggerated twisting motion that defines the Arnold press means the trainee can only handle a fraction of the poundage that they can when performing Old School classics like the heavy barbell front press, the barbell behind the neck press, or the standard overhead dumbbell press. Regardless if Arnold invented or used the Arnold Press, one thing we do know for sure: Arnold performed tons of the three classic shoulder exercises and used all of their splendid variations. I have a question: how much muscle can a person possibly build if they can only handle 50% of what they are capable of? If a man uses 150 pounds for sets of 8 reps in the barbell front press, or if he can press a pair of 70s in the dual overhead dumbbell press, what good is it to jerk around with a pair of 40 pound bells in the effete Arnold press? How much muscle stimulation are those delts really going to get messing around with a pair of dinky 40s? The Arnold Press, because of its weird technique, dramatically reduces poundage. The other downside to the ever-so-chic Arnold Press is that the twisting motion on the way up, and again on the way down, stresses the hell out of the rotator cuffs, the delicate shoulder socket mechanisms. The shoulder sockets have tiny intricate muscles, tendons and ligaments and I would avoid anything that creates consistent pain in the shoulder joint. Do yourself a favor and ditch this chic favorite of the spandex-wearing personal trainer crowd: if you are a normal guy and want big deltoids, then work the hell out of the front press, the press behind the neck and the overhead dumbbell press. Practice the standing and seated variations of these ancient classics. Throw in various types of lateral raises and jettison the Arnold Press….ah-vet-ah-zane!

Vic,

Being a real man, I like beer. I have a couple beers every night. I have heard that beer prevents you from getting lean. This could be true because I’m not very lean. I lift hard and heavy and perform cardio every morning. If I decided to go for it and lean out – do I have to ditch the beer altogether?                        Bob, Reston

Hey Bob, I feel your pain. Anytime a guy tells me he has “a few beers” every night, I assume that means a six pack. I love beer as much as the next guy – but there is one scientific fact that you need be aware of if you are serious about leaning out: if there is any alcohol in the system the body cannot burn body fat. The human body preferentially burns alcohol. The more you drink, the longer it takes for the body to rid itself of the alcohol. Obviously everyone is different insofar as how fast their particular system clears alcohol. I wouldn’t be shocked – though I have no way of knowing for sure – if your system still has alcohol in it when you perform morning cardio. If that is the case, basically, instead of burning off fat you are burning off alcohol or glycogen. The other problem with drinking beer at night is it disrupts the nighttime burning of glycogen. The body’s favorite fuel source is glycogen and under normal circumstances while you sleep glycogen is burned. When you awake and hit a cardio session, the body burns through the residual glycogen and when it is exhausted, the body begins burning its second favorite fuel source: body fat. By drinking beer at night, most of the sleep cycle is used to burn off the alcohol and only after all the booze has been oxidized does the body get around to burning glycogen. Unfortunately beer “spares” glycogen. By drinking the night before, you undoubtedly start the morning cardio session with residual alcohol and a full tank of glycogen. This means there is very little chance you are going to be burning off any body fat during early morning cardio – so beer at night defeats the purpose of early morning cardio. Also beer is highly estrogenic. One solution might be to limit beer drinking to once a week, or if you are really serious, give it up for a while. I feel your pain but you need to make a decision: drop the beer and lose the fat or keep the beer and keep the fat.

Vic Steele,

How about those “bend over” squatters that I see at the local Gold’s Gym – I look at them and know it’s just a matter of time before they blow a spinal disk or incur some horrific back injury. No one knows how to squat anymore: everyone uses shallow depth and they all bend forward at the waist. Most of these gym rat knuckleheads wear huge lifting belts and knee wraps. This way they can handle way more than they are capable of…I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about!

Toad, Texas

Oh yeah Toad, I know exactly the type: these guys know enough to be dangerous. A lot of them have huge lifting belts with their name stenciled on the back – or better yet their nickname or street name. They wrap their knees so tight that their thighs turn blue then load on a pile of plates. With lots of screaming and yelling they do “quarter squats.” Then they rack the weight and hi-five or belly bump each other like they’d just scored a Super Bowl touchdown. During the actual squat, they barely break their knees and they simultaneously bend forward to give the impression of depth. In reality they are not doing squats at all; they are factually doing partial squats combined with a “good morning” exercise. These guys turn the world’s greatest leg exercise, a deep, full, upright squat, into the world’s worst back exercise. Here’s the deal: partial squats are worthless if thigh building is the goal. Optimally we seek to work every muscle over its complete range-of-motion. The quarter squatters using the bend-forward are working the hell out of their lower backs, where the spine meets the hip joint; this is dangerous and sooner or later they will tie into poundage they cannot control. When they commence their little bend-over tactic the weight will be so heavy that they will be unable to stop their forward motion. The barbell takes their torso to the floor so fast their spaced-out spotters won’t have time to react. The result is a seriously injured lifter, a splattered quarter-squatter.

To squat properly, lose the belt and lose the knee wraps and squat deep – way below parallel is the absolute minimum. The greater the range-of-motion the greater the recruitment of thigh fibers; keep a bolt upright torso throughout the lift and try and keep the knees from travelling way out in front of the toes. I would much rather see a man handle 225 using ultra-deep depth, perfect form with an upright torso than some Bozo handling 500 in the bend-over quarter squat style. Have you ever noticed how the quarter squatters all have lousy leg development? Here’s something to work towards, the man with the greatest leg development in the history of bodybuilding, Tom Platz, used a narrow-stance, bolt-upright, ass-on-heels squat style. At his awesome peak Platz was able to squat 315 for 55 consecutive reps and once squatted 225 for a half hour straight. I would advise squatting, heavy and deep, for multiple sets of 8 reps once a week. Hit some hamstring and calves afterwards. Three days later come in and knock the piss out of leg presses, hack squats and do some more calves. Keep this up for eight weeks during a mass building phase and you’ll add 2 full inches to your thighs. Always drink a double or triple serving of 50/50 Plus^™ after each and every leg session. Squat deep, squat using an upright torso, keep the knees from travelling forward as much as possible. Push the poundage up each successive week and never ever fudge on squat depth!

Parrillo Brownies

Iron Vic,

How long are the typical Parrillo training sessions? I weight train for 30 minutes three times a week.  I jog or swim for 30 minutes four times a week. I got a strong hunch that the reason I have been stuck for so long is that I have fallen into a rut. I do the same things over and over and I am expecting different results

– Isn’t that the definition of being crazy? I have been training the same way for a long time and I am ready for a change. I am going to crank up my pace in swimming and jogging. I am going to establish a 30 minute lap record in both swimming and running then look to beat my best-ever lap count in each session. How much weight training should a guy my age do? I am 37 and in good condition, particularly for a guy my age. I can bench press 225 in strict form. I stand 5-8 and weigh a fit 175. Anytime I try and train longer than 30 minutes I run out of gas completely. Any ideas would be appreciated. I can weight train up to an hour four times a week; I would like to keep my cardio at 4-5 30 minute sessions.

Ron, Fort Myers

Doing the same old things in the same old ways, repeatedly, and expecting dramatic change is more dumb than crazy. You have done many things right and as a result of your diligent efforts you have built a nice physique along with a nice amount of strength. However, if you want to take your body (and strength) to the next level, doing the same things in the same ways will not deliver the radical results you seek. You are very clever to self-prescribe longer weight sessions: the reason anything over 30 minutes gasses you is you are not used to it – you have conditioned yourself to train 30 minutes three times a week. The classical Parrillo strategy for radically increasing muscle size and power is to increase both training frequency and session length. I would suggest that you add time to weight training sessions gradually: if weight training sessions currently last 30 minutes, each week add ten minutes to the session length.  I would raise the reps across the board, up to the 10-12 rep range; crank back on the poundage. Work up to being able to power through a full hour of hardcore weight training gradually.

Over time we double the length of the weight training session. Add one more weight training day; add an additional day, increase the number of exercises, increase the reps and increase the workout pace. Train for sixty minutes and use forced reps, drop sets and Parrillo high-rep extended sets. Currently, in your 30 minute workout, on chest training day, you might be able to squeeze in 5 to 6 sets of flat bench and perhaps a set or two of pec deck before you need to move on to another body part. Now, with sixty minutes and an extra training day, you have all the time in the world to really decimate a target body part. Perhaps you take a few warm-up sets then hit 3-5 static weight top sets in the flat bench; then proceed to wide grip and narrow grip flat benches. Follow with heavy dumbbell incline presses and finish the chest workout with cable crossovers and/or flat flyes. You still will have enough time left in your training hour to squeeze in tons of tricep work…weighted dips, French presses, pushdowns, nose-breakers. Seek to go further and faster in every single 30-minute cardio session. Never forget that nutrition is the cornerstone of our training efforts: eat big, eat clean and eat often. Quality nutrition is needed to support this level and amount of intense physical exercise. Supplement the big clean eating with copious amounts of potent Parrillo supplements. Look to add some muscle mass; test ride this classical four-day per week muscle-building, power-training workout split for eight weeks…

Day 1 Legs and shoulders

Day 2 Off

Day 3 Chest and triceps

Day 4 Back and biceps

Day 5 Off

Day 6 Lighter legs, chest,
shoulders and arms

Day 7 Off

Vic,

Who’s the best bodybuilder you have ever seen? In person. And why?

Len, Upstate

Forced to pick a single man, I would say Sergio Oliva as he appeared in the late 1960s. Never before or since has a bodybuilder been so far ahead of his contemporaries: he was the first bodybuilder to be “too big.” Oliva was shocking, jarring, disconcerting; he was further ahead of the pack than any other bodybuilder at any other time in bodybuilding history. Sergio redefined what was humanly possible: he was a bona fide genetic freak. Wide, wide shoulders sat atop a 29 inch waist over a pair of 29 inch thighs – he sported a genuine 20 inch arm and possessed the best back in bodybuilding. His smallish head made everything on him appear oversized and comic book-like. I was lucky enough to see Dorian Yates at his awesome peak, up close and personal. Before his bicep rip, in those two peak years after his first win in Helsinki, Yates had the best back and calves I have ever seen on a human. He had the ability to stride onstage bigger than anyone yet able to come in as ripped and shredded as the leanest lightweight. I never saw Arnold in person. Ronnie Coleman is gigantic and monstrously strong: much respect towards him; Ron can rep 800 in the deadlift wearing straps; gotta love that! So I would go with Sergio.

Iron Vic Steele,

What is the best way to lose 20 pounds in ten weeks? I have a class reunion and I would like to drop 20. I am a fit female. I lift serious, eat pretty healthy and play competitive racquetball. I weigh 150 pounds standing 5-5. I would love to blow some minds weighing 130. Is this realistic? If so, what’s the best route?

Barb, Palomino

Possible but highly improbable: the degree of exactitude needed to shed 20 in 10 weeks would be great. The margin for error would be zero: you would have to immediately commence perfect weight training and perfect cardio combined with perfect eating. Then be perfect every day for seventy straight days without a single slipup. That’s why I say improbable: on the other hand, if you proved human and had a slip up or two, you could still show up 10-15 pounds lighter and much more muscular. The math is pretty simple: ten weeks to go with twenty pounds to lose means you need to lose two pounds of bodyweight each successive week for ten straight weeks. The trick is to gradually pare off fat, thereby sparing muscle. I would suggest a classical Parrillo multiple-meal eating schedule…

Meal 1 6am: Oatmeal, egg whites w/ CapTri®, All-Protein™ shake, Parrillo Pills

Meal 2 9am: Parrillo Energy Bar™

Meal 3 noon: Chicken breast, salad with CapTri® dressing, green beans, Parrillo Pills

Meal 4 3pm: Parrillo Muffin™, Optimized Whey™ shake, pills

Meal 5 5pm: Post-workout: 50/50 Plus™ shake, Parrillo Protein bar™, Muscle Aminos™

Meal 6 7pm: Cod fish, rice with vegetables, garden salad, Parrillo Pudding™, CapTri®

Meal 7 10pm: Hi-Protein™ shake, Liver Amino™, Enhanced GH™ capsules

You cannot miss a meal; you cannot miss a training session; your nutrition must be perfect. Yes it is possible for a 150 pound athletic female to lose 20 pounds in ten weeks – but this will require pure perfection – a sustained discipline that is exceedingly rare…1 in 100…are you 1 in 100? Maybe. Best of luck.

Vic Steele,

I have a vicious sweet tooth that undermines my fitness efforts – any suggestions?

Tanya, Fresno

I would suggest you start eating ice cream and chocolate cake with frosting every day…Parrillo Ice Kreem™ and Parrillo High Protein Chocolate Cake™ topped with Parrillo Frosting Mix™ creates a luscious taste treat too good to be legal. Each serving of Ice Kreem™ contains 42 grams of protein, with no sugar or fat. The Parrillo chocolate Cake and Cupcake Mix™ creates an eight inch cake that contains a whopping 78 grams of protein, 66 carbs and six grams of fat with no sugar. Make the Parrillo cake more potent by spreading some Parrillo Protein Frosting Mix™ on top of the cake. Take a look at the nutritional stats generated by frosted cake and ice kreem in the chart below…

Just think: eating ice kreem and frosted cake is not only acceptable, it’s encouraged! You could eat this concoction everyday (or twice a day!) and still be completely within the strict boundaries of Parrillo dietary precepts. At Parrillo Performance Products, the folks in the research and development department are continually coming up with creative concoctions, innovative supplements that never compromise on quality or taste. Check out our list of available food products: Hi-Protein Cake and Cupcake Mix™, Protein Frosting Mix™, Ice Kreem™, Hi-Protein Pancake and Muffin Mix™, Hi-Protein/Low Carb Pudding™…our latest offerings are the Contest Cookie Mix™ and the Contest Brownie Mix™, which is microwavable! Now you can have delicious chocolate brownies, even while on a diet, in just 2 to 2 1/2 minutes in the microwave. Don’t forget the venerable Parrillo Bar™, Energy Bar™, Protein Bar™, Hi-Protein Bar™ or Chew Bar™. Factor in the limitless variety of flavors and any sweet tooth can be satiated. I strongly suggest you get on our ice kreem-and-frosted cake diet –
immediately!

Vic,

Any ideas as to how to use nutritional supplements to prevent me from feeling so run down? I own a liquor store and have to put in loads of hours each week. I manage to train in the morning before the store opens – the hard training and long hours are wearing me out!  I know it would be stupid to quit training, but I am really struggling in the final hours before closing. I eat okay but most of it is take out food. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Tex, El Paso

I would immediately start supplementing with multiple daily doses of Parrillo Liver Amino Formula™. Anemia is one of the major undiagnosed maladies in modern American society. People nationwide are tired and listless and the sad part is, in 80% of these cases, the anemia could be easily remedied by taking supplemental heme iron. More than 25% of American women are iron deficient and 15% of men. Hemoglobin is a protein that includes a special chemical structure known as heme, specifically a combination of porphyrin and iron. Red blood cells are responsible for transporting oxygen to all the tissues of the body. This is accomplished by binding oxygen to hemoglobin, the red pigment in the blood. Myoglobin also requires iron to bind oxygen. Without iron the whole oxygen transport/waste product removal system breaks down. Supplemental iron can cure this. However 99% of commercially available iron supplements are weak and impotent.

Parrillo introduced Liver Amino Formula™ in his first wave of Parrillo supplements way back in 1988. What was true then is true now: if you train as hard, heavy and often as you are supposed to, you could be iron deficient. If you feel continually run down, tired and listless, likely you are suffering from iron deficiency and could be anemic. Liver supplementation cures anemia. Parrillo Liver Amino Formula™ is a dynamite product: made from the highest quality beef liver, Parrillo liver tablets are made from defatted liver and pre-digested casein protein powder is added to increase the protein efficiency ratio. Each Parrillo beef liver tablet packs a wallop: 1.5 grams of high Biologic-Value protein. Most competitive bodybuilders start off by supplementing with 3-5 liver tablets with each of their half dozen daily meals; over time, as the competition draws closer, they will increase to 8-10 tablets per meal. Liver Amino Formula™ boosts the body’s oxygen transport capabilities and provides a continual source of muscle-sparing protein. I would advise that you take a handful of liver tabs every few hours throughout the day all day long. Do this for a solid week and I’d bet the farm that your fatigue will evaporate.

Vic,

Why are you a lunge hater? I like them. They burn my quads – isn’t that what they are supposed to do?

Janet, Tulsa

I suppose that elite bodybuilders can do a proper lunge, touching the back knee to the floor on each and every rep. The lunges I see are pathetic: Look! Here comes the walking lunge babe…carrying a 5 pound dumbbell in each hand, barely breaking the knees, awkwardly strolling back and forth across the gym floor. I went to a commercial gym a few years back and was almost run over by a swarm of lungers. Some Rico Suave personal trainer (perfect tan, perfect hair, perfect teeth) had six females lunging in a line like a parade of ducks. They walked right down the middle of the dumbbell area – there was plenty of open walking area over by the cardio machines, but no, Mr. Suave wanted his gaggle of gals to see themselves in the mirror as they duck walked. I was doing a set of repetition dumbbell power cleans when the duck walkers came within a foot of my back as I was struggling to clean the 5^th rep using a pair of 100s. I threw the bells down and let loose with a string of profanities. I cursed Mr. Suave and he took grave offense. Mr. Suave, to his credit, was a pretty good boxer, but, as the old adage goes, don’t box a boxer. I used a single-leg takedown, mounted him and bitch-slapped him a little bit before I let him up. In our struggle we discovered that he wore a toupee. This fact was heretofore unbeknownst to his female clients and many expressed revulsion. The gym owners asked me to leave and never come back. As a result of that incident, I have a real problem with lunges and lungers.

Pizza!

Hey Vic,

I could use some help. I have been reading about the Parrillo approach to protein consumption and think that maybe I should dramatically increase my protein intake in order to add lean muscle mass. In a nutshell, I have been at pretty much the same level for quite a while. I am not a competitive bodybuilder. I have a good physique. I am tall (6-4) and thin (190) with good abs. Some people think I look ‘ripped’ but I think I look skinny and scrawny. From what I read in the PPP, it seems that the best bodybuilders are taking in a lot more protein than I am.

I don’t count grams and I am not as regimented as I should be. I would estimate that I might eat 100 grams of protein per day; mostly chicken and canned tuna. Everyone says that they’d kill to have my lean look, but frankly I am sick of looking and staying the same. I weight train and hit cardio four times a week. I feel that everything I do, all the training and cardio is just maintaining what I’ve already built. That sucks! I want some muscle! Any ideas would be appreciated.

Stuck in San Jose

I think you are onto something with the protein angle. One tried-and-proven method to bust out of a stagnation rut is to dramatically increase protein intake and combine the increased amino acid consumption with what I call power training. For decades, dating back to the primal days of Marvin Eder, Bill Pearl and John Grimek, both bodybuilders and strength athletes have broken through stagnant periods by drastically upping their protein intake. I’m not talking about adding an extra can of tuna a day, I am talking like tripling the amount of protein you currently are consuming: push it from 100 grams a day to 300 grams per day. In addition, you will need to drastically alter your weight training routine: drop the reps, stick to the basic compound multi-joint prime movers and don’t ditch the aerobics; cardio keeps weight gain lean muscle gain without fat gain. Too many trainees dump the cardio when they look to add mass and that is a terrible idea; cardio keeps the metabolism revved and the appetite kicking. The Parrillo approach towards protein intake is pretty radical and extremely effective. John advises those in need of a jolt to take in a minimum of 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight per day, each and every day. Do so for a protracted period of time and really concentrate on the hard and heavy training. The combination of power training and massive protein intake is the tried-and-proven ticket to spectacular muscle gains.

The key is consistency: most times stagnant trainees get all fired up and take in that critical gram and a half of protein – for a few days. Then they lose focus and for the next couple days the protein intake drops way off. Then they get back on the protein bandwagon. This creates a Yo-Yo pattern: eat right for a day or two, fall off the wagon for a day or two, get back in the saddle…back and forth…back and forth…this inconsistent pattern isn’t consistent enough to gain any real traction. The first order of business is to commit to consistency: consume at least a gram and a half of protein per pound of
bodyweight each and every day without fail. In your particular case we’re talking about consuming 300 grams of protein per day every day come hell or high-water. Make sure that the protein is lean protein: if you eat 300 grams of protein per day and along with it eat 200 grams of saturated fat, you will be in big trouble. Lean protein means fish and shellfish, flank steak, skirt steak, skinless chicken, turkey breast, canned tuna and definitely a lot of egg whites. No fatty cuts of beef, no burgers, a minimum of egg yolks and certainly no pork or pork products. Obviously Parrillo nutritional supplements, particularly Parrillo protein powders, i.e., Hi-Protein^™, All-Protein^™, Optimized Whey^™ and 50/50 Plus^™ are all highly recommended. These fabled protein products have been used by elite bodybuilders for decades. Supplemental protein enables athletes to hit their daily protein goals without having to cook and chew every single bite. Some people get a bit confused trying to figure out which of the Parrillo protein products to purchase and how best to use them. Here is a handy usage guide that will clear up any confusion…

In addition to these classic Parrillo protein powders, don’t forget the fantastic Parrillo food products…Instant Hi-Protein/Low Carb Pudding^™, Hi-Protein Pancake and Muffin Mix^™, Hi-Protein Cake and Cupcake Mix^™, Protein Frosting Mix^™ and Contest Cookie Mix^™. Don’t forget the different Parrillo Bar formulations…The Parrillo Bar^™, Energy Bar^™, Protein Bar^™, Hi-Protein Bar^™ and Protein Chew Bar^™. My suggestion to you would be to eat a serious portion of egg whites at breakfast, consume lots of canned tuna or chicken breast at lunch, how about fish, shellfish or lean beef at dinner? Upon arising in the morning consume an All-Protein^™ shake before early morning cardio. Mid-morning and mid afternoon drink a Hi-Protein^™ or Optimized Whey^™shake. After weight training drink a serving (or two) of 50/50 Plus^™. In the evening have one of the delicious Parrillo high protein food products, maybe some Contest Cookies^™ or a Parrillo Cake or Cupcake^™; how about a serving of Parrillo Pudding^™? During the day eat a Parrillo bar or two. Above all, stay consistent. Hold this course for 6 to 8 weeks. Keep a running protein tally in the form of a food log; each and every day, consume at least 250 to 300 grams of protein. You will slap on 10-15 pounds of lean muscle mass within a matter of months if you up your protein intake dramatically and combine increased protein consumption with intense weight training and continual cardio. Protein and power training was, is and forever shall be, the ultimate mass-building strategy.

Vic,

What’s your opinion of these mega-corporations that sell pre-packaged ‘diet’ foods on TV? One outfit caters to women and the other uses sport stars to attract men. The foods these systems say are ‘acceptable’ are incredible: pizza, chocolate cake, hamburger on a bun…one ‘system’ claims to have discovered a ‘breakthrough glycemic index’ approach that allows people to eat these crappy foods and still lose weight. I have several friends, guys that I know, that ask me about these TV ‘miracle nutritional systems.’ I have a feeling that it’s all one huge scam and wondered if you had any insights. This stuff is too good to be true – which usually means it is – how do they get away with this blatantly false advertizing?

Ralph, Mount Alto

I have ranted about these ‘systems’ before. These outfits deserve some periodic bitch-slapping and I’m just the guy to do it. Every single time a “celebrity endorser” comes on TV to whore these garbage products I want to gag. I feel my blood pressure ratchet upward into the danger zone. I will be mindlessly watching football or the UFC, when here comes Big Dan or some ditzy blonde, telling us, and I paraphrase, “I lost 50 pounds eating this trash.” In actuality these celebra-tards didn’t lose the weight eating this garbage, they have personal chefs and hire big dollar personal trainers that help them lose the weight so they can secure these million dollar endorsement deals. There is no ‘scientific system’ that allows you to eat a mountain of chocolate cake or copious cheeseburgers and still lose weight. There are no ‘glycemic breakthroughs’ that magically enable you to live on trans-fat drenched pizza and still lose fat. The actual foods delivered by UPS or FedEx look nothing like the savory, seductive foods they show on TV.  On the tube they show a gorgeous table chock full of luscious looking sin food, food that looks like it was prepared in a restaurant run by an Iron Chef. The message is deceitful: buy our products and we’ll deliver you pizza that tastes like Wolfgang Puck just removed it from the wood-burning oven at Spago. Buy our products and we’ll deliver you double chocolate muffins that taste better than those made at a French bakery – and because we have teams of scientists devising miracle recipes, none of it makes you fat! In reality, the prepackaged foods show up packed in a UPS box and taste about the same as the cardboard box that the foods came delivered in.

This jive charade would be laughable if it wasn’t so expensive: do you realize that these outfits charge $400 for 28 days worth of food? How’s that grab you?! That luscious looking hamburger you see on TV is, in reality, about on a par with those horrific microwave cheeseburgers we used to purchase out of a vending machine back in the 1980s. The burgers are made from the same ‘mystery meat’ you purchase at the fast food super store. All these shipped foods are loaded with trans-fats and taste grotesque. Part of the reason you lose weight is that the foods taste so bad you can hardly choke them down. The strategy these outfits use (in actuality) is not some glycemic miracle, it’s portion control: each ‘meal’ contains roughly 500 to 800 calories. If you eat what they sell you, no doubt you will lose weight. Despite the fact that these foods are chemical nightmares, despite the fact that they intentionally mislead buyers, despite the fact that they flat out lie; despite the fact that in reality these foods look nothing like what you see on TV – these products sell millions of units. The celebrity endorsees should be ashamed for their part in tricking the public into buying these pathetic products. If you are considering buying into one of these 28 day programs, do yourself a huge favor: redirect the money towards quality food purchased from the grocery store and please purchase potent Parrillo Products.

Iron Vic,

Any ideas on how to build hamstrings? Mine are nonexistent. I am sick of lying leg curls. I can handle 150 pounds for reps, yet my hams are smooth and indistinct. Do you have some new and different thigh bicep exercises?

Ham-less, Detroit

Indistinct hamstrings are in actuality a diet issue; you have too much body fat. Everyone has ripped hamstrings if their body fat percentile is low enough. For now let’s confine our conversation to exercise: if you are a regular guy and are handling 150 pounds for reps in the lying leg curl, you likely are doing them incorrectly. Let’s first talk about how to perform a proper lying leg curl and then we can talk about some hamstring exercise alternatives. First off, don’t jerk the weight at the start in order to get the poundage moving. It is easy to generate tremendous momentum in the initial pull phase of a lying leg curl. Most trainees jerk the poundage at the start and create a lot of momentum. They heave the weight upward then let it fall back down. They allow the poundage to bounce at the bottom. If you jerk to start the rep, if you don’t complete the leg curl, if you bounce out of the bottom – you can use a hell of a lot of weight – and barely contract the hamstrings. A proper leg curl uses a purposefully slow start: you start to pull the weight upward in a purposefully slow and controlled fashion. Simultaneously drive the hips into the bench. By allowing the butt to rise up as you pull on a leg curl, you make the pull easier. We need to avoid this as we don’t want to make leg curls easier; we want to make them harder. Use a slow start. Apply continual upward pressure; pull all the way to the butt. Lower with control and do not bounce at the bottom in order to create rebound momentum for the next rep. Drive the hips into the bench as you curl upward.

Dorian Yates’  favorite hamstring exercise is the stiff-leg deadlift. The stiff-leg deadlift is a tremendous hamstring builder, yet 99% of all trainees do them incorrectly. Here’s the proper procedure: load a light barbell and place it at your feet. Pull the first rep to the completed position as you would a regular deadlift. Now lower the poundage slowly while shoving the glutes rearward. The knees are slightly bent; allow the bar to break away from your body and lower until the plates lightly touch the floor. Now slowly reverse and rise back up using the hamstrings and the hamstrings alone to power the torso to the erect position. No need to come fully erect as that releases the tension on the thigh biceps. Come three-quarters erect and descend again: this is a continual tension exercise and when done correctly you feel the hamstrings contract in real time. 2 to 3 sets of 8 reps using reasonable poundage and perfect technique and you will set your hamstrings on fire in a way unobtainable with lying leg curls.

Metabolism Building

Mr. Steele,

How is it possible to “build the metabolism?”  I understand that this is one of the premier Parrillo precepts but I don’t get it – my father is a doctor and he says the idea that you can manipulate the metabolism to any significant degree is ridiculous. He is a podiatrist and not a sports physician and I admit that he is quite a bit overweight and smokes; still, he’s a medical expert and I would like a scientific explanation. You got to admit the idea seems whacky.

Don, San Diego

The “idea”  is hardly “whacky” and we’ve got thousands of flesh-and-blood examples of elite bodybuilders that have successfully built their metabolism through the expert blending of diet and exercise. Tell Pop that if he can put his Marlboro down for a moment he might want to check out The Parrillo Papers, assuming he is truly interested in the science behind the idea. Dr. Arthur Robinson has written eloquently about ‘metabolism building’ and regardless if you believe it or not, elite bodybuilders under John Parrillo’s supervision have been increasing their baseline BMR for nearly four decades. The procedure is based on the expert blending of intense exercise and Parrillo-style nutrition. Even your old man will have to admit that intense physical exercise accelerates the human metabolism. Think of the metabolism as the body’s internal thermostat and the higher the body’s thermostat is set, the more calories the body burns. Conversely the lower the bodily thermostat is set the fewer calories that are oxidized. A sedentary obese person has a slow metabolism and barely burns any calories. A champion athlete has a raging metabolism and his thermostat is set so high that calories are burned at an accelerated rate.

Intense weight training causes all body functions to accelerate and this creates a need for evermore calories to fuel the intense work. Intense cardiovascular exercise stimulates the body’s metabolism. If an individual runs, jogs, sprints, swims or uses an aerobic machine with great intensity, the body burns calories at quadruple the rate it uses at rest. In addition, the bodily metabolic burn rate stays elevated for hours after the conclusion of an intense workout. In the Parrillo System it is recommended that intense, hypertrophy-producing weight training be performed 4-6 times, each and every week. In the Parrillo System it is recommended that intense, fat-oxidizing cardio be performed 5-7 times, each and every week. That represents upwards of thirteen weekly exercise-induced metabolic spikes. In addition to intense exercise sessions that cause the metabolism to increase, the Parrillo nutritional system also has metabolism-spiking attributes running all through it. Ask your father if he’s aware that certain foods cause the metabolism to increase. This is related to digestion; while certain foods are easy to digest and have zero impact on the metabolic rate, other foods, like greens beans, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, cauliflower, bell peppers, spinach and kale, present a difficult digestive task for the body. In order to break down a green bean or a carrot, the body must elevate the metabolism in order to break these difficult foods down digestively.

Ditto lean protein: the body has to “gear up” in order to break down protein. It is no accident that the classical “Parrillo Meal” consists of a portion of hard-to-digest protein and a portion of hard-to-digest fibrous carbohydrate. The final piece in the metabolism-building puzzle is the use of the multiple-meal eating strategy: if hard-to-digest foods are consumed at equidistant intervals throughout the day, the metabolism receives a bump each time the bodybuilder eats a meal. If a bodybuilder eats five Parrillo meals per day that equates to 35 metabolic food spikes per week; combine this with a dozen exercise-induced weekly metabolic bumps and all of a sudden the bodybuilder is self-administering upwards of 50 combined metabolic jolts each and every week! Keep that up for months on end and the metabolism is built! Mention to your Dad that we have thousands of flesh-and-blood examples, real live humans that have built their metabolisms using this procedure. One recent example of a well known sports star that built his metabolism was swimmer Michael Phelps. This kid swam upwards of eight hours a day, six days per week preparing for his eight gold medal onslaught: he needed to consume 10,000 calories a day to recover from his intense training – yet he was taunt and ripped. Phelps inadvertently created his own variation of this classic Parrillo procedure.

Hey Vic,

What’s the best way to bring up lagging arms? My guns are .22 caliber peashooters and I want .44 caliber howitzers! I train my arms once a week and typically perform 4-5 sets for my biceps and 4-5 sets for my triceps. They haven’t budged in a couple of years: they barely stretch the tape to 16 1/8th and I want to push them to 17 inches. Do you have any ideas?

Paul, Denver

Performing 4-5 sets for the arms once a week is a maintenance program! If you are serious about bringing up your pipsqueak popguns you’ll need to shock them into growth by quadrupling the amount of work you are currently doing. You will also need to add bodyweight. One of the biggest myths in all of muscle-dom is that by finding some magical arm routine a bodybuilder can suddenly grow his arms from 16 inches to 19 inches in a matter of months and do so without adding any bodyweight. WRONG! A man weighing 190 pounds packing 16 inch arms will need to push his bodyweight up to 200 pounds + in order to add an inch of arm muscle; talk about an inconvenient truth! In addition you will need to embark on a sustained and comprehensive “arm specialization” program: blast the biceps and triceps twice weekly. Arms lend themselves to super-setting (alternating) like no other body parts. Super-sets allow the bodybuilder to double the amount of work done within the same amount of time. Here is how I would lay out a six to ten week arm specialization program….

• Day I

Incline dumbbell curls super-setted with…

Single dumbbell overhead tricep extensions

Preacher curls super-setted with…

Tricep cable pushdowns

Cable curls super-setted with…

Reverse grip cable pushdowns

• Day II

Standing barbell curls super-setted with…

Dips

Concentration curls super-setted with…

Lying barbell nose-breakers

Machine curls super-setted with…

Machine tricep pushdowns

Each exercise should be done for a minimum of 3 sets and as many as 5 sets. Use a progressive set strategy; take a set or two using sub-maximum poundage to get grooved in before using max weight on the 3rd thru the 5th set. Some days you will be able to match or exceed your current best and other days you will not; that’s okay – we can’t exceed our all-time best in every single workout on every single exercise – but what we can do is work up to our capacity on that particular day. I would suggest you add one pound of bodyweight per week in conjunction with this program. Keep this up for six to ten weeks. Adding bodyweight ensures anabolism: keep the extra calories clean and weight gain will be muscle gain. I would also insist that after every arm session you consume a double serving of 50/50 Plus^™. CapTri^® is the ideal weight gain supplement for bodybuilders seeking to add muscle size. Drizzle a tablespoon (or two) over each food meal and add 500-1000 clean calories per day. CapTri^® and 50/50 Plus^™ are critical to building big arms. To grow bigger guns you’ll need to add size – worry about delineation, definition and muscle clarity after you have something worth delineating or defining: no one cares about a ripped and shredded 13 inch arm.

Vic,

I know you are a big mixed martial arts fan – I heard that Rampage Jackson suddenly and without notice quit fighting. I also heard a rumor that he was going to go into the movies?! What’s up with that? Have you seen any of the heavyweight action on this year’s reality TV show “The Ultimate Fighter?” Pretty disappointing I think you’d have to agree. I thought the big guys would be great but it turns out they suck!

Tad, Nashville

My sources tell me that Jackson got so pissed off big time at UFC major domo Dana White that he “retired” from fighting and messed up the Ultimate Fighter finale where he was scheduled to fight opposing coach Rashid Evans. It gets better: apparently Rampage had secretly been made an offer by a famous Hollywood movie producer. The offer was too good to pass up: in a bit of casting genius, Rampage Jackson will become the character played by Mr. T. in the big screen remake of the 80s TV show “The ‘A’ Team.” Rampage is perfect for playing a modern version of Mr. T – who by the way was a genuine bad ass. Mr. T got his big break when he appeared as a contestant in a short-lived TV game show called “The World’s Toughest Bartender.” In this goofy show contestants (that had to be real bartenders or bouncers) competed in feats such as busting through doors, beating up customers and boxing one another. My favorite event – and I kid you not – was tossing dwarfs for distance! Mr. T won the whole show and was crowned “The World’s Toughest Bartender.” That would have been the end of it and Mr. T would have headed back to his bouncer job at a tough Southside Chicago dive had not Sly Stallone happened to catch the finale on TV. He was searching for a new villain for Rocky IV and when he saw the burly, Mohawked bruiser, he contacted him about auditioning for the part. Mr. T ended up as one of the most memorable and convincing villains in cinematic history.

I am as disappointed by this year’s Ultimate Fighter reality TV show as you are: I had thought that with several former NFL players and knockout artist Kimbo Slice, this year would be the best year ever. On the contrary, this is the worst season ever because none of these guys can fight a lick. One episode was particularly revealing: one fight contestant was a nondescript college wrestler and the other guy was a former NFL player that looked, acted and trained like a world beater. The NFL guy stood 6-5, weighed a lean and muscular 275 pounds and moved like a big cat. The trouble is the guy couldn’t fight worth a damn. The wrestler beat him in a boring bout. This reaffirmed my long held view that just because you are big and strong and fit and lean and athletic doesn’t mean that you can fight. It also explains why the heavyweight division in MMA has the least amount of talent. On a related Rampage Jackson note: I saw a TV show a few months back where scientists set out to determine what created the highest impact upon the human body in all of professional sports. By using sensors hooked up to lifelike human dummies, the scientists determined the hardest hits: they tested a hockey player crashing an opponent into the boards, a quarterback being tackled from the blindside (for this test they had NFL megastar Ronnie Lott do the tackling) and the third test was Rampage Jackson administering one of his patented MMA body slams.

There was a famous MMA “incident” in which Rampage was being choked out by a Brazilian jujitsu expert in a fight. The Brazilian was on the ground and had Jackson in a triangle choke when Mr. Rampage proceeded to pick his 210 pound opponent clean up off the ring floor. While the jujitsu expert hung on, Rampage, in an inhuman display of pure strength, lifted the clinging Brazilian up over his head and slammed him back to the mat, knocking the jujitsu expert unconscious. On the sport show they had Jackson replicate his lift-and-slam with a 200 pound test dummy loaded with sensors. They determined that Jackson’s slam created the hardest impact ever recorded in all of sport: he propelled his opponent downward with an impact that clocked in at a staggering 152 miles an hour – ouch! I love Rampage and think he exemplifies a classic fighter, a real fighter. Being big and strong and athletic does not make you a fighter.

Free Weights

Vic Steele,

I am a ‘house husband.’ I work from home and watch our two kids while my wife does the corporate thing and makes the real money. I put in a lot of long hours between transporting kids all over the place and working as an accountant.  My available training time is extremely limited. Realistically I can squeeze in no more than 30 minutes of training, four to five times a week.

Is it possible to build any muscle with super short lifting sessions? I work out at home and have constructed a really nice home gym. Exercise variety is not a problem. I have about every exercise machine and device known to man. Could you set me up an abbreviated workout schedule?

Ron, Denver

You can build a ton of muscle using super short sessions. I would rather see a man kick ass in an abbreviated half hour session than loaf for two hours, playing patty-cake in some fern bar spa/fitness club where the clients spend more time talking than training. Give me a short and sweet session using a rusty Olympic barbell and a pile of plates done in some musty basement, a cluttered garage or a roasting hot summer shed. Unless you are an elite lifter hoisting super heavy weights that require lots of warm-up sets, you can cram a ton of work into thirty minutes. The strong take longer to train: a really strong guy might squat 505 for 5-8 reps. He would need warm-up sets with say, 135, 225, 315, 405 and 465 before he would be ready to tackle his top squat set with 505. That takes a lot of time. It takes a lot less time for a normal guy to work up to say 225 for 5-8 squat reps.  Fewer warm-up sets means less training time. A man squatting or bench pressing 225 for 5-8 reps would likely only need one or two or three warm-up sets, perhaps only 135 and 185. Being weaker makes it possible to get through a lot of sets in a concentrated and compacted 30 minute session. The answer to your situation lies in using Time Compression tactics. Use Super sets, Tri-sets and Giant sets to make the most of your limited amount of training time.

Adopt a strategy that pairs up “non-conflicting” exercises, exercises that compliment one another. Weave complimentary exercises together and get done two or three times the amount of work in half the time. Why perform a single set of a single exercise – then sit around for three to five minutes, lounging about while waiting for the muscle(s) to recover? Instead why not fill those 2-3 minutes of recovery time with other exercises, complimentary exercises that attack muscles in entirely different regions of the body. Here are three excellent examples of well-structured super-set, tri-set and giant-set strategies…

• Single-set Squat
• Super-set
• Squat
• Leg curl
• Tri-set
• Squat
• Leg curl
• Overhead press
• Giant set
• Squat
• Leg curl
• Overhead press
• Arm curl
• Tricep extensions

Using the classical, single-set lifting protocol, the trainee performs a particular exercise then rests until recovered. Repeat the same exercise again and again, until the requisite number of sets is completed. Using the Time Compression strategy, additional exercises are performed in the rest periods between sets. The exercises are carefully selected (and sequenced) so as to not negatively affect one another. The thighs might be exhausted after a set of squats however performing a set of leg curls immediately after the exhausting squats is doable and will not interfere with the muscular recovery of the thighs. The Tri-set protocol would add in an additional set of (deltoid-attacking) overhead dumbbell presses. One exercise is followed immediately by the next. At the conclusion of the super/tri/giant set, the lifter rests until breathing normalizes. Perform 2-5 additional sequences. Using the Giant Set protocol, the athlete might roll from squats (thighs) to leg curls (thigh biceps) into overhead pressing (deltoids) before finishing the sequence with arm curls (biceps) and lying tricep extensions (triceps.) A Giant Set is comprised of 4 to 5 exercises, all sequenced in complimentary fashion. The trainee rolls from one exercise to the next without hesitation. Complimentary exercise selection ensures fatigue is avoided from one exercise to the next. Here is another Time Compression template….

• Single-set
• Bench press
• Super-set
• Bench
• Calf raise
• Tri-set
• Bench
• Calf raise
• Barbell row
• Giant set
• Bench
• Calf raise
• Barbell row
• Curls
• Lat downs

Use this approach to jam the maximum number of sets into the least amount of training time. John Parrillo would recommend 3-4 cycles. Make maximum use of the rest time taken between super-sets, tri-sets or giant sets and slip in some fascial stretching. Don’t rush between cycles. A serious trainee can cram a minimum of 15 to upwards of 30 sets into a single 30-minute workout session.

Iron Vic,

I have been extremely diligent in my Parrillo-style diet and training over the past three years and as a direct result I have lost 50 pounds of fat. I am 31 years old and have dropped my bodyweight from an unhealthy 270 pounds to a much better 220. I am on my way to eventually weighing 180 pounds.  My problem is a bit strange: I have lost weight so quickly that my skin is saggy. In the places where I have lost the most body fat I now have droopy pec skin and hanging tricep skin – is this common? Is it correctable? No beach for me until I get this loose skin thing straightened out. Am I ruined for life?

Sag Man, Parts Unknown

Not to worry Sag Man – assuming you are under age 50, your skin is elastic and resilient and will eventually shrink and tightly encase those newfound muscles. The longer you have been heavy, the longer it will take for the skin to shrink and retract. There is nothing you can do to accelerate the process, just do not get fat again and be patient. By-the-way: great job and kudos for reducing from 270 to 220. Losing the next 40 pounds is going to be a lot tougher than losing the first 50. I would strongly suggest you NOT fall into the trap of slashing calories in order to lose weight. Most obese folks make the tragic mistake of slashing calories. They cut too many calories too fast and shut down their metabolism; thereby causing the body to hang onto its precious body fat. When the human body senses starvation it will eat its own muscle tissue in order to feed itself and preserve precious fat reserves. Use Parrillo’s BodyStat technology to ensure weight loss is fat loss. The skin will snap back, but it might take some time.

Greetings Vic,

My name is Ted and I am getting conflicting advice regarding how much protein is optimal to consume at a single sitting. I am what you would call an intermediate trainee. I have been hitting the Parrillo System hard for a good long while. I have made great gains following Parrillo principles over the past two years. I’m 6-2 and weigh 230.  At the gym I have an old pro telling me that… ‘The body cannot process more than 30 grams of protein at any one time! Eat more than 30 grams of protein at any single meal and the excess is pissed, passed or turned into body fat.” He sounds so authoritative and sure of himself that I wanted to run it past you. If I am reading correctly, Parrillo recommends a LOT more protein than that!

Randy, Alton Bluff

I wish I had a dime for every time I’ve heard that fitness Urban Legend! Let’s explode this old myth right away. The idea that “the human body can only digest – at most – 30 grams at a time” is ludicrous: it makes no allowances for size differences. So a 300 pound professional football player and a 100 pound female figure skater would have the identical protein assimilation capacities? Bull S—! The big man’s internal digestive plumbing will be 2-3 times larger in diameter than an athletic woman 1/3^rdhis size. This 30 grams per feeding myth ignores bodyweight: it also ignores differences in the metabolism. An athletic individual with a raging Basal Metabolic Rate (an elite Parrillo bodybuilder) will have a much higher food assimilation capacity than another individual (the same height and weight) with a sluggish metabolism. Parrillo-style bodybuilders have trained the body to be able to process massive amounts of food, quickly, efficiently and effectively. A person on a multiple-meal eating plan consumes upwards of 50 meals in a single seven day stretch: that’s a lot of digestive practice! A pro bodybuilder living on 5,000 calories per day, eating clean food, taking potent Parrillo supplements, will have a hell-of-a-lot more assimilation ability than a sedentary individual. Obese people have snail-like metabolisms and often live on less than 1,000 calories per day; starvation dieting destroys muscle. These obvious differences between the elite and the obese are ignored by the ‘one-size-fits-all’ crowd of experts. These guys pontificate with the greatest of ease, saying with great authority that “no one” can assimilate more than 30 grams of protein at any one time.” Politely I say – Poppycock!

Iron Man,

I wanted to know your opinion of resistance exercise machines. As an intermediate trainee I use a lot of machines in my workouts. I probably perform 70% of my workouts using the different exercise machines…the curl machine, pec dec, Smith Machine, shoulder press machine, bench and incline press machines, Hammer Strength, cable crossover, tricep pushdown…I use a lot of machines on a lot of exercises. Then I read where you say that free weights are way better and that exercises done on a machine are inferior. Am I wasting my time using machines? I thought I was getting some pretty good workouts!

Confused in Cincinnati

No need to freak out. Some machines are better than others and some machines are not machines at all. Free weights rule! As you push or pull a free weight, muscle stabilizers are forced to fire – something that doesn’t happen (often) when using exercise machines. Stabilizer muscles spring into action to keep a free weight within the technical confines of a particular lift. The true exercise machine eliminates the need for muscle stabilizers to fire. The machine has its resistance locked into a predetermined groove. There is no need for side-to-side stabilizers to fire during a bench press performed on a Smith Machine, or during a seated overhead press or a curl using a machine. Some machines are NOT machines at all. Cables allow the implement (the cable handle or handles) to move through space in whatever pathway the trainee chooses. So cable work is highly recommended. The bottom line is that you have the ratio of free weights to machines Bass-Ackwards: switch to 70% free weights and 30% machines. I hope that clears up the confusion.

Vic,

What is the reasoning behind Parrillo’s insistence that aerobics should be done intensely? I never really understood the rationale – I like to jog at a nice even pace for say five miles. If I understand correctly, this type of cardio is not nearly as effective as the more intense interval-type aerobic activities that John Parrillo recommends. Am I missing something? Do I need to sprint instead of jog?

Bob, Saint Louis

You should assuredly augment your jogging with a few weekly sessions of sprinting or other “stress aerobic” activities. All the enzymes responsible for fat burning are contained within the cellular mitochondria. Ergo the amount of fat you can burn is limited by the number of mitochondria you possess. Some folks are genetically blessed with loads of muscle mitochondria; others are born with barely any mitochondria at all. John Parrillo discovered in his research that new mitochondria can be constructed if a muscle is subjected to sustained cardio exercise that includes an element of resistance. The best way to build additional mitochondria within a muscle is to continually subject that muscle to a cardio protocol that involves muscular effort. If you perform cardio and glide along, which sounds like what you are doing – the stress inflicted on the working muscle is insufficient to cause the muscle to create additional mitochondria. On the other hand, if the type of cardio you select causes muscles to work really hard – as in sprinting, intense ball and racquet games, leaping, jumping or bounding – the working muscles can and will construct additional mitochondria. While sprinting repeatedly over a protracted period of time certainly will build additional muscle mitochondria in the calves, thighs, hamstrings and glutes – no growth will occur elsewhere on the body. I would strongly suggest you dedicate a day or two each week to cardio activities that require “huffing and puffing.” The more mitochondria a muscle possesses, the greater that muscle’s capacity is to burn body fat.  Let’s mix up the cardio: augment steady-state jogging with sprints and intense games that cause you to run and move
and exert.

Vic,

I want to go on a 10-week mass-building regimen. How would you lay out the supplement part of a mass-building nutritional program? I am coming off a terrific summer season. I got super lean and attained my lowest bodyweight of the year, 188 pounds. I currently weigh 195. I would like to push my weight up to 205 or 210 and bench press 380. Then I want to cut back to 195 (or thereabouts) for a bodybuilding show next spring. I’m lightly muscled compared to my competitors.

I hold body weight well – I carry a 10% body fat percentile year round. I have a hard time eating enough to push my weight up. I also want to enter a bench press competition. I bench 340 raw, weighing 190. Not bad for a tall guy. I am ready to add some muscle and I’m ready to up my bench press. I just don’t want to turn into a fat pig while doing it.  Please write me up a Parrillo supplement shopping list, one aimed at complimenting a power program.

Ron, Raleigh

You’ve maneuvered yourself into an enviable position. I would suggest adding 10-15 pounds of bodyweight in 10 weeks time. Do it in a smart way and take your time. Don’t go crazy. Incorporate Parrillo’s patented BodyStat technology. BodyStat is a tool that allows you to assess your current body fat composition: what is your current ratio of fat to muscle? With BodyStat you eliminate the guesswork. No more diet or nutrition moves based on subjectivity. Make objective decisions using BodyStat. Most serious trainees use BodyStat every week. Perform the 9-point skin-fold test and come up with your current body fat percentile. Create a realistic goal and work backwards. Divide what you want to accomplish into weekly mini-goals. In your case, ten weeks, it would be perfect to push your bodyweight up one to one and a half pounds per week. 10-15 pounds added in ten weeks. Ideally, gain the weight while maintaining your current lean and ripped condition. Maintain your current degree of leanness through constant BodyStat readings. Sync up a power training regimen with the Parrillo nutritional strategy. You will need 1.5 grams or more of protein, per pound of bodyweight, every single day. That’s 280 grams of protein per day for a guy that weighs 192 pounds. Use BodyStat to achieve a degree of leanness you thought unimaginable. BodyStat allows you to exert a degree of exactitude that has to be experienced to be believed.

You MUST consume more calories than you burn off on a consistent daily basis; you must intake nearly 300 grams of protein per day: supplements are the nutritional solution. Keep eating what you are eating, when you are eating it, in the same amounts. Obviously whatever you are doing is working. Parrillo supplements can add 1,000 additional calories per day.

This supplemental template is ideal for a serious individual intent on making rapid gains. Your foundation is gut-busting gym effort and disciplined nutrition. You need to eat often and with clocklike regularity. The deeper into this 10-week periodization cycle you get, the more calories you have to consume. More rice, fish, turkey, potatoes, chicken, fiber vegetables…more Parrillo supplements of every type and variety…supplements are taken often and taken methodically.

w Start the day with a Parrillo Optimized Whey^™ shake and five Liver Amino^™ tabs. The catabolic sleep fast is broken with 40+ grams of high BV protein.

w Consume the first of five daily servings of creatine monohydrate.

w CapTri^® is drizzled over each food meal. CapTri^® contains 120 calories per tablespoon.

On account of its structural construction, CapTri^® is transported directly to the liver via the portal vein. Calories derived from CapTri^® are virtually impossible to end up compartmentalized as body fat. Parrillo supplements are the key to building mass: the magic combination of power training and heavy eating is augmented with ample amounts of potent supplements. To avoid adding body fat during the process, BodyStat is used to alert you if things are on track or flying off the tracks. Fat gains should be miniscule and acceptable. If a man adds fifteen pounds of rock solid muscle and coincidentally picks up a few pounds of body fat in the process, then we’ve been successful. Lift weights four to six times a week and hit the cardio hard especially on the “off days.” Use Parrillo supplements to create a consistent caloric surplus. You need to gain a pound, to a pound and a half of bodyweight per week, every week for ten consecutive weeks, come hell or high water. Use CapTri^® and creatine multiple times each day. Load up with mega-doses of branched-chain amino acids in the form of Muscle Amino Formula^™ before and after weight training. Take five to eight Liver Amino^™ tabs every couple of hours. Each tablet contains 1.5 grams of protein and is loaded with blood boosters. Be selective and discriminating with the calories you choose. Create the caloric surplus needed to construct new muscle using potent Parrillo supplements.

PS – If you successfully add ten to fifteen pounds of rock-solid muscle, you’ll be repping 340 and bench pressing 400!

Greetings Victor,

I want to know how to increase my bench press. How does a normal dude (like me) increase his bench press by say 50 pounds without having to gain fifty pounds of bodyweight?  I am 5-7 and I weigh 150. I have a real tight physique. Not that it couldn’t be better. I would like to push my 200 pound max bench press up to 250 without adding a bunch of bodyweight. I bench twice a week and have been training seriously for 10 years. Any hints or tips would be greatly appreciated.

John, Camp Springs, Maryland

Here’s a bench press routine that was used for many years by Ed “The Giant Killer” Coan. Ed was the greatest powerlifter of all time. Incredibly Eddy is a longtime Parrillo Product user and at his peak, (around 1990) weighing 219 pounds, Ed could bench press 550 pounds (raw) for a double! Ed used this super basic bench routine for nearly a decade…His “cycle” lasted twelve weeks.

Day I

Bench press: three types of flat benching using three different grip widths

Competition grip bench: work up to one max set of 8, 5, 3 or 2 reps

Wide-grip bench

(with paused reps): work up to two max sets of 10, 8 or 5 reps

Narrow-grip bench

(no pauses): work up to two max sets of 10, 8 or 5 reps

w For the first two weeks, one max set of 8 reps using the competition grip

w For the next six weeks, one max set of 5 reps using the competition grip

w For the next two weeks, one max triple using the competition grip

w For the final two weeks, one max double (2 reps) using the competition grip

After a few bench press warm-up sets, work up to a single, all out set using the competition width grip for whatever reps are proscribed: 8, 5, 3 or 2 reps. Ed would then reduce the bench press weight by say 90 pounds and perform his two sets of wide grip bench press using paused reps. The wide grip bench reps are higher than what is used in the single set using the competition grip. Ed would then knock off another 90 pounds and perform two sets of narrow-grip bench press in ‘touch and go’ style.

Then Ed would work the hell out of his triceps…

Dips: sets of 10 reps with 200 additional pounds strapped around his 220 pound torso

Pushdowns: two partners would stand on each toe to keep him from launching upward

Nose-breakers:

300+ pounds for reps

A few days later Ed would come in and perform 3-5 sets of a strict bench press with his feet up on the bench. He could push 315 for twenty super strict, wide-grip paused reps. He’d work biceps for perhaps 6 total sets, using one or two exercises. That was it. This is a classical training template well worth reviving. Coan was a rabid Parrillo Product user: Ed used John’s products through the peak years of his career. “I loved John’s products and particularly his bars; some of them taste great and some taste incredible! I used to go through a box of bars every few days!” Ed was the greatest ever. He was powerlifting’s version of football immortal Jim Brown.

Vic,

I know you are a big UFC fan. The whole MMA world is total chaos. For six months one guy is the champion in a particular division before someone comes along and whips him; now the new guy is proclaimed as the next great thing. Leasner, Machida, Silva, Franklin’s reemergence, Rampage’s saga…The UFC is one big addictive soap opera. What’s your take? Are you including any of their brutal training tactics in your training regimen? Their cardio is kick ass!

Big Ron from Hollywood

Watch for a feature article on UFC cardio training in an upcoming issue of the PPP.

Big Ron do you really live in Hollywood? That used to be my line! Years ago Dr. Fred Hatfield (Dr. Squat) and I would dazzle foreign women at international powerlifting championships with lines like, “Hello ladies! We are two lonely world powerlifting champions stuck in this dull city. We are here until we win our world titles, awards and medals, then we will jet back to our mansions in Hollywood. Did we mention we were rich? My friend here is a Doctor. Do you two live around here? Are you a Capricorn?”

Insofar as your UFC MMA queries, I think we are witnessing a new fact-of-MMA-life: no one is unbeatable! Some guys are custom made to beat other guys; some men fight so unorthodox that they frustrate formally trained fighters. When a champ has been around for a while, his opponents begin to dissect his style. Witness the demise of Tito Ortiz. With his size and power there was a time (and not too long ago) when it seemed that he was the perfect fighting machine, an unbeatable man. He quickly morphed from unbeaten into beaten and beaten more often than not. What happened? The other fighters figured out how to defend against him. Ditto for Chuck Liddell. For a while it seemed Chuck would never be beaten; then everyone began beating him. The rocket ride of Rampage Jackson makes for perfect soap opera fare. He is a great fighter plagued by outside dramas; the type of dramas that have plagued fighters from time immemorial. How about the disintegration of KroCop and the tarnish coming off Wanderlei Silva’s mystique…then there was the rise of Forest Griffin, Rich Franklin and Rashid Evans…all peaked quickly and faded just as quickly. The current dominance of Anderson Silva (the Sugar Ray Robinson of MMA fighters) is fascinating. Man Mountain Brock Leasner finally came through to match his hype: he is now the dominant big man.

The current 205 pound champ, Machida, is one of the most eloquent MMA fighters I’ve ever seen. He fights like Fred Astaire danced. Could he be the long-term 205 dominator? Fedor Emilienenko’s career is a disaster and a debacle: rumored to be “mobbed up,” Fedor’s Russian handlers take one giant misstep after another. Meanwhile the best fighter in the world watches the best years of his career steadily flow by, unproductively. Round and round it goes – what it all points to is that there is no such thing as a completely dominant fighter or a completely dominant style. I am really looking forward to this year’s Ultimate Fighter show. The heavyweights will train under Rampage and Rashid. With Kimbo Slice and several ex-NFL players thrown into the mix, this show promises to be one big Pier 9 brawl from start to finish. When fighters are crammed together and made to live in a single house for six weeks without a TV, bad things are bound to happen. And I want a ringside seat!

Dear Stupid,

How can you put stone-age dudes like Bill Pearl, John Grimek and Reg Park on your all time top ten list and leave off modern greats like Jay Cutler??!! I have zero idea who Reg Park is. Bill Pearl couldn’t take 100^th place in the 2009 Mr. Los Angeles. What’s up with this stupid idea of placing old timers with lousy physiques ahead of the modern greats?  Time for you to retire

Iron Victor Steele,

I love your column but you sure make some dumb picks as far as your top ten bodybuilders of all time. How can you have Dorian “one arm” Yates ahead of Ron “eight time” Coleman, or Lee “seven time” Haney?? Get a grip!

John Lee, Greenwood, Mississippi

Steele Head,

I really liked your Top Ten BB list. I like how you handicapped the list in order to compare past to present. I would have added the most symmetrical bodybuilder of all time, Samir Banout to my list.

Jossie, San Jose

Vic,

How could you rank Haney so low? Dorian looks like a blocky powerlifter and that weird way you ranked those old guys made no sense to me. I think you were just trying to figure out a way to get your old- time buddies onto the list.

Arn, Falls Church

Iron Man,

Loved the list of top ten bodybuilders – would my list have been different? You bet! Arnold is Numero Uno! Still it was cool to see who you ranked and why.

James, New Orleans

This is just a sampling of the hundreds of replies I received regarding my ranking list of the greatest bodybuilders of all time. As I mentioned in the article, bodybuilding is completely subjective. Bodybuilding is like going to an art gallery and picking out a painting that appeals to you. The painting that you love might not appeal to me in the slightest. That is the beauty of art and that is the beauty of bodybuilding: any list I offer up is guaranteed to generate a lot of negative comments. Any of those that attacked my list could offer up their own list and trust me when I say I could pick their list to pieces with the greatest of ease. There is no single list of ten bodybuilders that would be universally praised and make everyone go, “Oh that’s a great list, a list totally beyond criticism, indisputably perfect and correct!”

Probably the most controversial aspect of my list was my ‘handicapping’ of the older guys in order to level the playing field. I happened to watch a special on ESPN yesterday titled, “The top ten National Football League pass rushers of all time.” Guess what? The top three spots were given out as follows…number three, Lawrence Taylor, a guy that retired twenty years ago; number two, Reggie White, a guy that retired a decade ago; number one, David “Deacon” Jones, a guy that retired thirty five years ago. Obviously ESPN is handicapping for pass rushers just as I do for bodybuilders. The rationale behind handicapping is as follows: if Deacon Jones of 1966 was magically transported to 2009 he would be unable to play in the NFL on account of the players being so much larger, stronger and faster. What the expert handicappers take into account is that if an ancient player were to come up in this day and age, they would have access to all the modern advantages as it relates to training, nutrition, coaching and science. As a result, they would be 10-20% better. The second factor the handicappers look at is how dominant the ancient player was in relation to the rest of the athletes of his day. I tried to do the same thing with bodybuilders and so should you. The fact that some of you are ignorant about many of the ancient greats is not my fault.

Iron Vic,

I am intrigued by what you wrote a few months back regarding the Parrillo 100-rep Five Phase Giant Set. I was thinking about using this training approach in conjunction with a summertime ‘slice-dice-and-shred’ strategy. I have a couple of months that promise to be relatively calm and wanted to link up this 100-rep weight training routine with a super-tight diet. I currently carry 14% body fat and want to get down to 9%. I want ripped abs, defined quads and that bodybuilder look – what do you think? I am so ready for a new approach. I thought I’d use the 100-rep set, with a lot of cardio. By adding a super-strict Parrillo diet to the cardio and 100-rep approach I could get shredded. Could I get the look I want in eight weeks?

Ron, Richmond

Hell Yes you could. I think this would be a perfect use of the Parrillo 100-rep strategy. There has been a ton of interest generated since the article on John’s 100-rep Five Phase Giant Set training strategy was published. This approach is unusual and I dare say revolutionary. It needs to be understood to be used properly. I think syncing the 100-rep approach up with an eight week lean-and-rip program would be ideal. Parrillo devised this approach a few years back when he was researching ways in which to reconfigure the composition of muscle fiber. Every muscle has X number of mitochondria; mitochondria are cellular blast furnaces and the more mitochondria a muscle has the greater the growth potential. In addition, a human body loaded with mitochondria is far less likely to accumulate body fat. Now the interesting thing about mitochondria is that intense and prolonged physical effort causes a working muscle to build additional mitochondria. For example, back in the 1860s railroad tracks were laid by hand, not machine, and a railroad spike driver would use a four pound sledge hammer to pound railroad spikes for 8-10 hours a day: the spike driver would develop arms, forearms and shoulders loaded with mitochondria. His legs would not. John Parrillo
devised the Five Phase 100-rep Giant Set specifically to build additional muscle mitochondria. For example, if you are training thighs, here is one way in which you could structure a 100-rep workout….

one set of 20 reps – proceed
immediately to…

Leg extensions

one set of 20 reps – proceed
immediately to…

Front squats

one set of 20 reps – proceed
immediately to…

Sissy squat

one set of 20 reps – proceed
immediately to…

Leg presses

one set of 20 reps – rest, then

repeat this cycle 1-2 more times

Now that is one tough workout! It gets even tougher when you take into account that you perform 2-3 of these Five Phase Giant Sets – do the math – that’s 200 to 300 cumulative reps for a single muscle in a single workout! John is quick to point out, “You have to use poundage light enough to allow you to make all 100 reps – however, once you select the poundage you never drop the poundage from one cycle to the next. Don’t get too ambitious and start too heavy. If you make all the 20-rep sets, do not slash the exercise poundage on the subsequent cycles. This is not ‘drop set’ training.”

I would suggest you start off by using the Parrillo 100-rep Five Phase Giant Set for one or two body parts per week. In order to effect muscular reconfiguration you will need to stay with this strategy for a minimum of four weeks. Eight weeks is recommended. You don’t build new mitochondria in a single workout; this is a strategy that needs to be used consistently and for an extended period of time. You MUST eat big and eat clean if you train this way. I would suggest in the strongest possible terms that as soon as you are finished with the workout you consume a double (or triple) serving of Parrillo’s magnificent post-workout smart bomb supplement, 50/50 Plus™. Then, a few hours later, have a second “recovery meal.” If you train this hard and under-eat, if you neglect post-workout supplementation, you will end up in a world of hurt. I would suggest you combine several 100-rep weekly workouts (say legs on Monday then chest on Thursday) with consistent, torrid, early morning cardio and a tight, Parrillo-style nutritional program. In eight weeks, assuming you do it right, I guarantee you will drop from 14% body fat to 9% body fat.

Vic,

I got a canister of the new Parrillo Contest Cookie Mix™ (butter-flavor shortbread) and had a tough time getting it to mix evenly – do I need a blender or a food processor to mix my cookie dough prior to baking? My dough comes out lumpy…I am sure I am doing something wrong. What’s the right procedure?

Deidra, Pontiac

I talked with Parrillo HQ about this and Dominique Parrillo (who is directly responsible for bringing so many new Parrillo products into the marketplace) suggested the following cookie dough prep procedure…

“Use a fork and a bowl. No need for a mixer or blender; place two scoops of dry Contest Cookie Mix™ into the bowl and add four tablespoons (not teaspoons) of CapTri® to the dry mix. Work it in with a fork, mashing the liquid and powder together. Allow the putty-like mixture to sit for a minute or two; then knead the “dough” with the fork for another minute. At this point the mixture should be even in consistency. If not, try adding another tablespoon of CapTri®.”

I have found that Dominique’s “fork method” works superbly. I like to make my cookies LARGE. Instead of the recommended twelve per batch, I end up with about a half a dozen per batch. The bigger the cookie, the longer they need to bake. I will flip them over after five minutes in order to get them crispy on both sides.

Hey Vic,

How important is post-workout supplementation? What is the best time to ‘smart bomb?’ Before, during, or after the workout? I understand that the ideal smart bomb needs both protein and carbohydrate – how much should you consume in relation to bodyweight? I would assume a 220 pound man would need a bigger post-workout smart bomb than a 120 pound woman or a 150 pound guy. What is the best balance between protein and carbs? Whey? Caseinate? Is regular food okay as a recovery meal? BTW -Great column – you be da’ man!

Bam, Columbus

First and foremost: if you blast away at your weight training as hard and heavy as you are supposed to, a post-workout ‘smart bomb’ is indispensible. It is a remarkable thing when you think about it: by eating or drinking the right combination of protein and carbohydrate after a workout, you actually obtain better results than if you performed the identical workout and neglected to smart bomb. Optimally the ingredients are pure and potent; truth be known, most commercially available products start off using weak protein concentrates and add chemically-drenched filler to fluff up the final finished product. Parrillo Performance Products created 50/50 Plus™ specifically as a post-workout supplement. 50/50 Plus™ uses the finest, purest, most potent protein isolates in combination with low-glycemic, slow-release carbohydrate powder. Each serving contains 150 calories and provides 21 grams of protein along with 17 grams of carbohydrate. No sugar, no fat, no chemically-drenched toxic filler crap. I think a single serving of 50/50 Plus™ is fine for a trainee weighing 200 pounds or less; the heavyweights need 1.5 or 2 servings.

I throw two servings of dry 50/50 Plus™ into a Parrillo shaker cup and toss this into my gym bag. When I’m ready I just fill it up at the drinking fountain and shake it up. I like to drink my 50/50 Plus™ shake about halfway through my workout. This eliminates energy nosedives that usually occur towards the end of a killer workout. Ever notice how the last exercise in a tough session usually suffers and you lose reps or have to drop the poundage? Consume a serving (or two) of 50/50 Plus™ mid-workout and watch how your energy stays high all the way through until the end of the session. Yes regular food can be eaten and used as a post-workout recovery meal: I prefer the liquefied 50/50 Plus™ shake because it is ready to go and circulates to the shattered muscles far faster. Optimally, take a 50/50 Plus™ shake halfway through the workout and as soon as possible afterwards have a Parrillo meal, a food meal consisting of a portion of lean protein, a portion of fiber and starch carb. Be smart and understand that smart bombing improves workout results. I always take a handful of Parrillo Muscle Amino Formula™ capsules after every workout: MAF provides a concentrated dose of branch-chain amino acids and accelerates recovery; MAF “spares” muscle protein breakdown by providing BCAAs.