Detoxification benefits…High rep sets…Why your lats suck…Lean out lineup

Mr. Vic,

I wanted to write and tell you how the Parrillo training and nutritional approach has changed my life. I am sure my story of fat-to-fit using Parrillo methods has been told a thousands times in a thousand ways by a thousand Parrillo users, but this is my life and I felt the need to share how I lost 60 pounds of fat in a year, added a bunch of muscle and revitalized my marriage and my life. I had become an embarrassment to myself and my petite wife – though she never said a word and stuck by me as I ate my way into a corner. My doctor shocked me back into reality when he put me on blood pressure meds (at age 38!) and told me I was headed for diabetes. Luckily I came across the Parrillo Performance Press and found out there was a Parrillo Certified Personal Trainer right in my neighborhood. The first few weeks were as difficult physically as anything I had ever done in my sheltered life – however one really overlooked aspect of the Parrillo approach is how good you feel when getting off all the chemicals in all the fake foods and sodas I had been drinking. You guys changed my life!

Bill, San Francisco

Actually Bill, YOU changed your own life – we just provided a blueprint, or a roadmap. Yes, you were lucky to have a Parrillo CPT, but without intense motivation and desire and without intense effort, all the blueprints, roadmaps and PTs are worthless. You mention something that is often overlooked and underreported: the great ‘feeling’ that accompanies chemical detoxification, combined with intense, endorphin-producing exercise. So many trainees that undergo the Parrillo transformative process will comment on how difficult, physically and mentally, the first few weeks are when someone commits to the Parrillo process. Those that faithfully use the Parrillo diet plan and the Parrillo high-intensity weight training and aerobic plan all comment how terrific they feel, how energized they feel (as opposed to pre-Parrillo lethargic and run-down) and how vibrant and full of life they feel. This is an actual occurrence, a chemical process within the body attributable to two separate, ongoing processes…

• Detoxification: People fail to realize that manmade foods, i.e., chips, frozen foods, foods loaded with trans-fats, sodas, factory fake food and fast food and food that comes in bags or in cans are loaded with chemicals. After years of eating junk food and fake food and drinking all manner of artificial beverages, our bodies become saturated with a horrid brew of toxic chemicals. When the toxic person begins a Parrillo diet plan, and eats only natural foods, the body gradually rids itself of these chemical poisons. The result is the person “feels” better almost immediately. It takes 10-20 days to completely detoxify and as the individuals clear their system of these poisons they experience an indescribable euphoria.

• Exercise-induced endorphin euphoria: Endorphins are hormones that when secreted produce a narcotic-like analgesic effect that produces unexplainable feelings of well-being. Endorphins are only produced and released in reaction to extreme and intense exercise. Easy sub-maximal exercise, normal training done by normal people, is not sufficiently intense to cause endorphin release. Super-intense, take-it-past-the-limit, Parrillo-style aerobics and forced-rep, drop-set style Parrillo resistance weight training is sufficiently intense to cause the regular and predictable release of endorphins. When a person commits to the Parrillo Program fully, they experience the euphoric double whammy of detoxification and exercise induced endorphins. This I-feel-so-much-better feeling begins with the first hard Parrillo workout of the first week and builds and builds and builds the deeper into the Parrillo process the person goes.

Iron Vic,

What is your take on super-high rep sets used to finish off a body-part? I have been reading through the Parrillo Papers and it seems that John Parrillo recommends high rep sets – how would you incorporate them into the routine of an advanced bodybuilder, such as me? I would like to shake things up a bit and thought that high rep sets might be a possibility.

Arn, Falls Church, Virginia

Good to here from you again Arn. If you were to attend a Parrillo Extreme Training Camp (highly recommended) you would be exposed to a variety of high-rep sets, the most famous being the 100-rep Belt Squat. The theory behind the specific and judicious use of high rep sets is pretty easy to understand; John has always wanted his bodybuilders to use ALL the rep ranges when training a muscle. He feels it a common mistake to “fall in love” with a particular rep range, thereby limiting growth. Most bodybuilders love 8-15 rep moderate rep-range sets. While this rep range is extremely valuable and recommended, it is a mistake to use this one rep range exclusively. Strength athletes love 1-5 rep, low-rep range sets, and while these are also extremely valuable and recommended it is a mistake to make them into a religion. In a Parrillo style workout, one done under the Master Blaster’s direct supervision, John would have you “pyramid” up to a heavy, low rep set of say 1-5 reps, then pyramid back down using a series of moderate, 8-15 rep sets and finish off a body part with a high rep ‘flush and finish’ set. Using this strategy we would have all our rep bases covered. John would finish off a body part with a “super high rep set” of 50 to 100 reps. The hi-rep finish set completely decimates a muscle or muscle group. Examples of this strategy might be after finishing off a chest workout on the final set, the bodybuilder could conclude with a 30-rep forced rep set on the pec dec. One way to finish off the legs would be to conclude with a 50 rep set of partner-assisted leg

extensions or leg presses. Shoulders? How about a 25 rep, forced rep set of front presses on the Smith machine. Machines are great for high rep sets as they allow a single training partner to keep you going far past failure. Use high rep sets to conclude a body part; once you’ve completed one of these forced rep/drop set enduros, that body part is fried, decimated and further effort is useless.

Vic,

My lats suck – always have. I do pull-downs, cable rows and T-bar rows till the cows come home, and have for years; nothing seems to make them grow. Obviously I need some changes. BTW I have a good physique; I carry 11% body fat in the off-season and routinely hit 6% at shows. My best body parts are my legs and arms. Pecs are okay, shoulders could use some work, my back is my downfall. Any ideas? I’d sure like to be able to move up a few places in our local competitions and all the judges tell me I need to ‘get a back.’

 Frank, Eugene

Like the muscular Sherlock Holmes that I am, as soon as you said, “I have good arms” I knew what your problem is. We used to have a saying, “show me a man with a great set of lats and I’ll show you a man with lousy biceps; show me a man with great biceps and I’ll show you a man with lousy lats.” You likely “arm pull” all your lat exercises. When performing a lat exercise it is critical to isolate the lats and for that to happen the biceps need to be relaxed. All lat exercises involve pulling a payload towards you; think about it: pull-downs, rows, chins, pull-ups, you name the lat exercise and the proper procedure forces the latissimus muscles to pull poundage towards you. You can activate the biceps to help in the pulling and in extreme cases (like you) you can pull a weight towards yourself using nothing but tensed biceps (and relaxed lats.) How do you get the biceps out of lat work?

Two methods…

• Do not wrap the thumb around the handle or bar on lat exercises: use a “false grip” by placing the thumb behind the bar when pulling. It is virtually impossible to activate the biceps when the thumb is taken out of pulling. The downside is you lose a substantial amount of gripping power.

• The better alternative is to use lifting straps. Even better is to use lifting straps and a false, thumb-less grip. Lifting straps are canvas straps used to enhance gripping power. Wear straps when you chin, row, perform pull-ups, lat pull-downs and any other lat exercise. Use a false grip and straps and you have to pull with the lats. Beware! Your poundage will plummet. But so what – your biceps were doing all the work anyway.

I would also advise expanding your exercises. Too many bodybuilders use nothing but pull-ups, pull-downs, cable rows and the various lat machines. They ignore heavy bent over rowing and deadlifting. The latter is a fabulous lat exercise if the lifter tenses the lats at the start of each deadlift rep. There are two lat muscles: an upper and a lower latissimus dorsi. Machine and cable exercises only hit the upper lat; lower lats need big stimulation from big exercises. Strap up, go thumb-less and back pull instead of arm pull!

Hello Vic!

I am looking to get ripped in 2012 and wanted to get together a pile of Parrillo supplements designed specifically to aid my lean-out campaign. What would you recommend and why.

Bobby T, parts unknown

Here would be my supplemental lean-out lineup…

CapTri®: Everyone thinks thatCapTri® is used strictly to slap on mass (which it is) but what most miss is that CapTri® is an irreplaceable supplement for those seeking to get ripped. Why? Pro bodybuilders love their potatoes and rice, and in the off-season they eat these starches by the bucketful. The elite understand that as the competition approaches lean protein intake must remain sky-high; fiber carbs need to be eaten in large quantities. The lean out procedure hinges on a gradual reduction in starch carbs – however the dilemma is you risk losing muscle when reducing starch carbs. The solution is replacing ever-decreasing starch carb calories with an ever increasing amount of CapTri® calories. This tactic not only saves muscle it keeps energy levels soaring.

Advanced Lipotropic Formula™: This product is used universally by Parrillo bodybuilders as they seek to dip down into single digit body fat percentiles prior to a competition. For those using the Parrillo nutritional approach, Advanced Lipotropic Formula™ provides key nutrients that accelerate body fat oxidation: L-caritine, B vitamins, betaine, HCL, biotin, choline, inositol and chromium picolinate. CP has been shown in study after study to increase glucose tolerance and enhances the cell’s ability to shuttle carbohydrates into cellular blast furnaces (mitochondria) to be oxidized. CP also stabilizes blood sugar levels. For serious trainees seriously intent on melting fat, Advanced Lipotropic™ is indispensable.

Max Endurance Formula™: Leaning out and aerobic exercise is synonymous; any trainee serious about melting body fat needs to perform lots and lots of cardiovascular exercise. Parrillo cardio is way different than nickel-and-dime, nice-and-easy cardio done by casually riding an exercise bike while reading a magazine or watching TV. Parrillo cardio is by definition torrid, intense and above all, sweaty! In Parrillo World if you ain’t sweating when performing cardio you ain’t doing jack! Those that do it right, those that break into intense sweat in each and every cardio session run the risk of creating a lot of ammonia and ammonia disrupts fat burning. By taking 5-10 capsules of Max Endurance Formula™ before a sweaty, result producing aerobic session, ammonia is defeated and defused before it has a chance to form and ruin results.

Muscle Amino Formula™: If an individual is working out as hard as humanly possible, if they are performing aerobics daily and sometimes twice a day, if they are blasting away in the weight room using bone-crushing poundage and drop-sets, forced reps and high rep ‘finish sets,’ the toll on the human body is incredible. In order to sustain the body, in order to grow muscle and melt fat, the nutrition has to be perfect and the supplementation needs to be dead on and consistent. One often overlooked Parrillo supplement is Muscle Amino Formula™. This amazing product is a capsule full of research-grade branched-chain amino acids. The BCAAs are famous for repairing exercise-induced muscle trauma. Pro bodybuilders and world-level strength athletes use concentrated doses of BCAAs to heal battered muscles. Used properly, Muscle Amino Formula™ will allow the bodybuilder to recover quicker from weight training and cardio. The elite will take a handful of Muscle Amino™ capsules both before (to spare muscle) and after (to repair muscle) engaging in a high intensity training session. Muscle Amino Formula™ is a supplemental god-send for bodybuilders looking to recover quickly while exercising maximally and dieting with 100% commitment.

I am an advanced trainee looking for something new and different in my weight training. I am sick of all my various routines and strategies, none of which fire me up. As you and I both know (as does anyone that’s been in this game for a long time) the ability to hit a workout with real fire in the gut makes a huge difference. I feel like a guy that has the same six movies and I am tired of looking at the same movies over and over. I have two or three ‘in-season’ routines and two or three ‘off-season’ routines and every one of them seems old and stale. Give me something new and different Maestro!

Baz, Toronto

I feel your pain. After you’ve been at it for a decade or so, elite trainers develop a series of proven-effective routines and while this is good (you obtained great results from these individual routines in the past) this is also bad because, as you point out, it’s like listening to the same half dozen records or watching the same movies over and over. Yes they were effective in the past and can be effective in the future but part of their effectiveness stemmed from their being new and different and exciting. It is tough for an old pro to try something

Evening Primrose Oil

totally different; particularly when they already have a large collection of routines that worked in the past. Still, mental motivation is a HUGE factor and rolling into a workout revved up, fired up and psyched up is the real key to bodybuilding success. Better to use a flawed routine that fires you up than a perfect routine that bores you to tears. Put another way, motivation is a mental trait and it is tough to get fired up over something old and worn. Here is a push-pull chest/lat routine that I use with great success when I need a stagnation buster. You can adapt this approach to any body part.

First super set: Dumbbell bench press alternated with heavy pull-downs using V-handle.

Dumbbell bench presses are done using a PAUSE – most every bodybuilder uses the classical touch-and-go style because the lifter can handle considerably more poundage. First we shift from barbell to dumbbells and second we institute a one-second pause at the bottom of each rep. Perform 8 sets, including warm-ups. A strong, advanced lifter capable of a 350 bench might use the following poundage…remember all reps are paused: 70s for 12, 75s for 10, 80s for 8, 85s for 8, 90s for 6, 95s for 5, 100s for 5 then 90s for one set to failure. Super-set (alternate) with pull-downs using the strongest grip, the narrow-grip V handle…stretch at the top of each rep and pause when the weight is pulled to the sternum…perhaps 170 for 12, 185 for 10, 200 for 10, 225 for 8, 240 for 8, 260 for 6, 275 for 5-6 then 225 for one set to failure. In between each set perform a Parrillo Fascia Stretch and hold the stretch for a full 10 seconds.

Second super-set: dumbbell flyes alternated with bent-over rear cable lateral raises.

Flyes are super-deep in the bottom and RAISED SLOWLY. It is an easy thing to take really big dumbbells and do a sort of half-bench press/half flye using ego-stroking weight and a little tiny range-of-motion. Use smaller bells and strive for a tremendous range-of-motion. We seek to make flyes tougher by purposefully raising the bells slowly out of the bottom using pec power alone. Super set 5-6 sets of flyes with equally precise bent-over rear delt raises using cables. Essentially we want to turn the bent-over cable lateral into the mirror image of a perfect flye. Slow motion (not stupidly slow) ensures that rear delts, rhomboids, teres and center traps are worked to exhaustion.

You can use this same strategy on other body parts: thighs/hamstrings; bicep/triceps; abs/lower back; lats/delts (pulldowns/presses) etc. etc. I like to cram as many precision exercises done super-set style into a one hour timeframe. Let’s forget about poundage and go for “feel” and muscle isolation. Have a Parrillo fascia stretch ready to go between each super-set. Use this approach for 4-6 weeks and segue back into a more standardized barbell power routine. This rut-buster, super-set approach has always worked for me.

Victor Steele,

What percentage of machine training to free weights is optimal? I find that because of safety and time I am using resistance machines for about 70% of my weight training with 30% free-weight. I use machines for 100% of my cardio. It seems that you put a LOT of emphasis on free weights and I am thinking that perhaps I am missing something. I understand that free weights are better – but how much better? I am a little bit hesitant to perform barbell squats and bench presses because I train alone.

Ross, Macon

Good question. Think of free weights as meat and potatoes and think of machines as dessert. Generally speaking elite bodybuilders will start a body part with a free weight exercise and finish off the body part with machines or cables. I hear you about the safety issue with squats and barbell benches: I would suggest the Smith Machine for squats and use dumbbell benches. The practical approach is to use free weights when possible and machines for the isolation movements that follow the big, compound multi-joint exercises that should form the backbone of your program. Machines are seductive because they are safe, easy and comfortable – however safe, easy and comfortable is not optimal when it comes to stimulating muscle tissue, the eternal goal of bodybuilding. Hey I like certain machines for isolation exercises; the pec dec, a good curl machine, Hammer Strength makes some nice pull-down and rowing devices; however it is a mistake to use machines to virtual exclusion and it is a mistake to think that machines stimulate as much muscle fiber as free weights. Cardio is a bit different. There are a pretty good variety of aerobic machines and many of them are beneficial. I would suggest you try aerobic machines that incorporate the arms as well as the legs. My personal favorite is the decidedly old school Schwinn Aerodyne push/pull stationary bike. It has handles, can go both forward and backward, and is built like a tank. These elaborate electronic cardio devices with built in TVs are the epitome of sissy cardio. Plus, when they breakdown or go haywire you have to bring in a $100 dollar per hour tech to fix them. I would shift your current 70-30 balance of machines to free weights to 70-30 in favor of free weights over machines.

Vic,

My brother-in-law is a medical doctor and a complete ass. He has my wife upset and saying that because I take in 200+ grams of protein everyday I am “at risk” of destroying my kidneys. Naturally he looks like hell and is lecturing me while drinking one of his endless glasses of super-expensive wine; he is a skinny-fat jogger and loves to preach and lecture, ignorant of the fact that he has the physique of a 12 year old girl. I’d really like to beat his ass and if I ever get a divorce, I will assuredly act on that urge.

Pete, Port Arthur, Great State of Texas

All this protein is poison BS is predicated on the erroneous assumption that there is some epidemic of protein-caused kidney failures; as if bodybuilders nationwide are keeling over right and left and ending up on kidney dialysis machines as a result of too much protein. In our four decades in the bodybuilding business we have never heard of a single instance of a bodybuilder overdosing on protein and blowing out his kidneys. This absence of a single instance of protein overdosing does not stop the high-moral-ground medical professionals from ominously stating that taking more than 30 grams a day is somehow on a kidney-endangering par with drinking a gallon of vodka a day. Notice how all these protein opponents love their wine – which has far more kidney-damaging potential than protein. Yet, they mysteriously give their vice a pass and go out of their way to scare the hell out of bodybuilder relatives and spouses. Way back when, John knew one very famous Baltimore bodybuilder who won the National championships weighing 154 pounds. This little dude took in 1,000 grams of protein per day (that’s no typo) and was the epitome of health and fitness. He never had the slightest complications from his massive intake and while I am not suggesting you quadruple your protein intake, my point is illustrative of the fact that a whole lot of bodybuilders are taking a whole lot more protein than you without the slightest problem. Next time he starts lecturing you, tell him how concerned you are about his wine-soaked kidneys.

Vic,

I am a local-level female bodybuilder that does fairly well in competition. I am a hardcore Parrillo System user and have a reoccurring problem. The closer I get to a show, the stricter I diet, the harder I train, the flakier, redder and worse my skin gets. I tan and I use spay tan to cover this up, but I ‘dry out’ and my complexion becomes blotchy and unhealthy – do others have this problem? I feel fine, I train hard and I do well, but these skin eruptions are becoming predictable and regular every time I close in on a bodybuilding show.

Crystal, Falls Church, Virginia

I would bet the farm that you have an Essential Fatty Acid (EFA) deficiency. EFAs are not a problem for normal people living normal lives eating a normal (lousy) American diet. There are fatty acids in saturated fat and Americans eat so much saturated fat – the wrong kind of saturated fat, long-chain saturated fat – that despite all the other nightmarish consequences of eating wrong, EFA deficiency is NOT one of them. EFAs can be stored in the body and therefore EFA deficiencies don’t show up for a long time. John Parrillo tells a tale that is remarkably similar to yours…

I remember one female bodybuilder in particular that had a terrible time with her skin getting dry and breaking out; this problem would increase in severity at contest time. I put her on a remedial EFA supplementation program and her skin became completely clear in a dramatically short period of time. You can only imagine how happy she was.

John used a little-known substance called Evening Primrose Oil. One of the first symptoms of EFA deficiency in adults is dermatitis: red, dry, scaly skin, particularly around the face. The condition cannot or will not be relieved by lotions or moisturizers. As John says, “You’ll simply have red blotches with moisturizer on them.” The Evening Primrose is a small, flowering plant with yellow blooms that open at night. EPO contains Gamma-Linolenic Acid (GLA) and consuming EPO capsules is a terrific way in which the hard-dieting bodybuilder in the final phases of a competitive training cycle leading up to a show can imbibe the requisite EFAs without eating long-chain fat. In the Parrillo philosophy, supplements are designed to increase cellular nutrient levels beyond levels that can be obtained from regular foods. Food will always be the cornerstone of sound nutrition. The science behind EFA metabolism is complex and need not be gone into here and now; I would strongly suggest you purchase a bottle of Parrillo Evening Primrose Oil™ and begin taking 3-5 capsules per day. I will bet that within a week of commencing, your skin problems will be a thing of the past.

Greetings Ancient One,

I am like the rest of the bodybuilding world and looking to get leaner and larger in 2012 – what is the biggest problem you encounter amongst the serious seeking physique renovation? What are the mistakes? Do you have any helpful suggestions?

Jimmy, Charleston

John Parrillo has a terrific four-step prescription for “busting through plateaus.”

1. Move into a calorie-plus state: the first mistake most New Year’s resolvers make is to slash calories. This shatters the metabolism and stunts progress. As John says, “The ‘eat-more-calories’ advice defies conventional wisdom; but handled properly and combined with intense exercise, this approach works every time.”

2. Select “plateau busting” foods: lean protein; fiber carbs; starch carbs and Parrillo engineered foods and supplements. Purchase a copy of the Parrillo Performance Nutritional Manual and lockdown a dietary game plan.

3. Utilize metabolism-building supplements: The right supplements taken at the right time in the right amounts ‘supports’ the efficient working of the human metabolism. Be sure and use the often overlooked Advanced Lipotropic Formula™ as it contains fat-mobilizing nutrients. Take one capsule with every one of your 4-6 multiple meals and be assured of receiving a continual supply of fat-mobilizing nutrients throughout the day.

4. Perform pre-breakfast cardio: get every day off to the perfect start by performing 45-60 minutes of high-intensity Parrillo-style aerobic exercise. Spike the metabolism first thing, burn through glycogen, start melting off fat. This is a beneficial and invigorating way in which to start the day.

You seem to have a real problem with lunges. What’s up with that! I love lunges and do them all the time. I get a lot more out of lunges, in terms of thigh burn, than I get from squats. Squats strike me as dangerous. Lunges are safe by comparison. Anyway no doubt this letter will set you off on some sort of squat tirade. I may never become a bodybuilder or a great athlete, but I sure like my walking dumbbell lunges and would rather keep them and toss squats (which I pretty much have done anyway!) Hope this letter makes your lunge-hating head explode. 

Jason, Chapel Hill

Comparing correctly performed lunges to correctly performed squats is a muscle-building and bio-mechanical mismatch: using any performance or muscle growth benchmark known to man, squats blow lunges into the weeds every day of the week. Note how I keep referring to ‘correctly performed lunges.’ This is because 99.9% of the lunges I see are technical abominations; horrid, lame, pathetic imitations of a bad exercise to begin with. On a properly performed lunge the trailing knee lightly touches the floor on each and every rep – the knee touch occurs if the lunges are done standing still or if they are walking lunges. This little technical point, touching the knee to the floor, makes lunges deep (optimal for muscle fiber stimulation) and consistent (every lunge is identical in depth.) Touching the knee is difficult and cuts the number of reps way back. Touching a knee on every rep causes the lunge-doer to have to radically reduce the poundage. The knee touch slows the lunge down and requires great concentration and precision. Knee-touch lunges are three times harder then the hardly-dipped lunges you see the misinformed performing at commercial fitness facilities. I never see a lunge trainee touch their knee to the floor; instead the lunges I see barely dip down and each rep is dipped to a different depth. Make the lunge a walking lunge and encourage even more depth inconsistencies. Walking lunges create balance problems for those lacking in balance to

begin with.

A lot of old people that are made to lunge by personal trainers lack a sense of balance. These older types teeter when they walk normally; made to step and lunge with a weight in each hand and they often get their feet crossed up. I have personally seen a half dozen older women topple over while lunging. Lunge walkers are typically over-weight and usually women or old people. They are usually lunging at the behest of some Rico Suave know-nothing personal trainer holding a clipboard. The lunge doer has been handed a pair of dumbbells by the trainer and the bells are either entirely too light or entirely too heavy. Each pathetic lunge step is shallow and done to a different depth than the step before or the step after. The dumb-ass personal trainer (in a uniform) with the ever-present clipboard walks alongside, making notes and exhorting the spastic lunge-doer with worn-out fitness clichés, oblivious to the horrid technique the lunger is using. All this for an inferior exercise: the lunge gets blown into the weeds from a fiber stimulation perspective by the squat. And, for that matter, the lunge gets blown into the weeds by a properly performed leg press, hack squat or leg extension. Yes I hate the lunge. But I tell you what I hate even more: the dumbbell “step-up” – but I’ll rant on that gruesome exercise another time. Drop the lunge; redirect all recovered energies towards obtaining a masterful and powerful squat. But somehow I don’t suspect you’re going to do that.

Vic,

I have packed on a lot of bodyweight over the past ten years. Recently, I have gotten onboard with the Parrillo Nutrition Program; I am two weeks into the program and loving it and getting really good results. My question is – my guilty pleasure was and is sweets, particularly chocolate, eaten at night while watching TV before bed. I enjoyed my chocolate and was thinking that perhaps I could add in some Parrillo chocolate-flavored food products. Now that I am locked into the Parrillo program, I thought that having a Parrillo chocolate pudding™ or some Parrillo chocolate Hi-Protein Cake™ or a Parrillo Cupcake™ might hit the spot. Would I be violating any Parrillo procedure by adding some chocolate Parrillo food products to my ongoing Parrillo nutritional regimen?

Chloe, Kansas City

By all means add some Parrillo chocolate ‘engineered foods’ to your ‘acceptable foods’ selection list. The Parrillo muffins and cakes and pancakes and ice cream are not only ‘acceptable’ their consumption is recommended. One of the prime reasons John and Dominique Parrillo invented these protein-dense, nutritionally-potent, tasty food supplements was to satisfy sweet-toothed cravings. The various Parrillo food products are all power-packed in terms of beneficial nutrients. You failed to mention Parrillo Contest Cookies™ – or how about some chocolate Contest Brownies™? Why not put some Parrillo High-Protein Frosting™ on top? Or how about mixing up some Parrillo Ice Kreem™? You can literally have your (Parrillo, chocolate) cake and eat it too. The latest amazing food product to emerge from the R&D Lab at Parrillo HQ is High-Fiber Chocolate Syrup™. You could ladle syrup over your Parrillo Pancakes™ or atop some Parrillo Contest Brownies™ or over your Parrillo chocolate Cake™. Between all the different Parrillo Food types and the vast flavor array of the various Parrillo bars, the trainee with a sweet tooth can satiate all day long. I advise you to try a wide variety of Parrillo food products and do so guilt free.

Hello,

I heard a bodybuilding expert call beef liver tabs “So 70s!” in a totally dismissive way. Naturally he was pushing some super-modern supplement that I really didn’t understand. His product was called something along the lines of “Nitrous Metabolic Steroidal Optimizer.” Anyway, this dude, who is well known and successful, basically said that beef liver supplementation was passé. He felt the whole idea of consuming liver was “gross” and “barbaric.” Your thoughts?

Sebastian, Parts Unknown

I kinda like being labeled as “barbaric.” It’s easy to run down beef liver tabs because they have been around for so long: but there is a good reason why beef liver has been around for so long and there is a good reason why John Parrillo keeps manufacturing beef liver tabs and there is a reason so many bodybuilders still take this passé product: beef liver supplementation gets real results on a consistent basis: hard trainers recover quicker if they consistently take their beef liver tabs. One popular smear against beef liver tablets is to say that they are full of unhealthy impurities: when beef liver tabs were all the rage, unscrupulous supplement makers often in fact used inferior beef liver and garbage filler to construct their tablets. John Parrillo goes to the time, trouble and expense to source super-potent high grade beef liver for his tablets. Each tablet contains 1.5 grams of high-BV protein and each tablet is loaded with blood-enriching heme iron. Is it any wonder that back in their heyday Arnold and Franco would gobble down 100 beef liver tablets each and every day in the final four weeks leading up to the Olympia? Women are particularly susceptible to iron deficiency anemia: this condition leaves the victim feeling lethargic, rundown, tired all the time, listless and sluggish. Anemia affects the quality of the blood; heme is a blood enriching substance that improves oxygen transport abilities. Heme is also a blood cleanser. Parrillo Performance Products recommends that, depending on the size of the individual, the bodybuilder consume between 3 to 10 Liver Amino™ tablets, 5 to 8 times a day. Taken mostly with meals, ingesting 30 tablets per day adds another 45 grams of pure protein to the daily protein tally and simultaneously improves the oxygen transport capability of the blood. Beef liver supplementation accelerates recovery from intense training. Let’s take our cues from guys like Arnold and Franco and Sergio and Robbie and Boyer and Zane and Pearl and Park, and get on the beef liver bandwagon. Far better to take advice from these Iron Immortals than from some huckster selling you “Turbo X Cubed with Nitrous Oxide.”

Steele Man,

Can I eat something before I do my morning cardio if it’s nothing but protein? I understand and embrace the Parrillo contention that hard cardio done in a low or no glycogen state forces the body to burn body fat – but what if I just eat pure protein for breakfast with zero carbs? (Or an insignificant numbers of carbs) Wouldn’t this allow me to have a fat-burning, result-producing cardio session? If I just eat protein alone that shouldn’t disturb my low carb/low glycogen status coming off the ‘sleep fast.’ I have some problems with blood sugar and I have to have some calories in me before I start doing savage cardio exercise. Could I eat a chicken breast or some tuna – how about a Parrillo All-Protein™ shake?

Bluto, Texas

Why not? You could drizzle CapTri® over chicken or fish for breakfast. You could drizzle Butter-flavored CapTri® over a pile of egg whites, with a yolk or two thrown in. If you are in a hurry how about a serving (or two) of Parrillo All-Protein™ in the form of a shake; this potent powder delivers 30 grams of pure protein per serving with zero carbs. Mix milk-flavored All-Protein™ with just the right amount of water and you produce a perfect taste replication of milk – but without any of the sugar associated with real milk. I would take a handful of Max Endurance Formula™ capsules: Parrillo trainees that perform cardio as hard and intense as is needed to trigger results tend to sweat a lot. If the bodybuilder sweats too much too quickly they will smell ammonia in their sweat. No fat burning is possible when ammonia is present. Max Endurance Formula™ clears ammonia, thereby reigniting fat oxidation. By clearing ammonia, energy availability and endurance capacity improves. I would suggest you take Max Endurance Formula™ capsules with some Liver Amino Formula™ tabs. Take the pills when you drink your All-Protein™ shake. I would drink the shake and take the “Parrillo Pills” as soon as you roll out of bed.

Iron Vic,

What is the right way to do dumbbell flyes – I’ve seen a lot of different versions of flyes and wondered if one technique trumped the

others.

Sal, Miami

The pectoral muscles have two functions: to push away and to hug. All forms of bench pressing work the push function; the flye works the hug function. The biggest mistake made by exercisers performing flyes is to perform a half flye/half bench press hybrid exercise that creates a lame compromise. The way in which to activate the pectoral hug function is to fling the arms open wide! Way wide! That’s the key: also, lift the poundage out of the bottommost position using pec power and pec power alone. The trainee can “arm lift” a flye, particularly a light dumbbell; but with concentration we can raise the dumbbells from the bottommost position using the pecs alone: use a purposefully slow raising speed; keep the elbows down and back as you raise and lower. Relax in the bottommost position and allow the light dumbbells to stretch your pecs downward. This “pre-stretch” tactic is another form of Parrillo fascia stretching and forces the pec muscles to contract intensely. Raise the bells slowly and stop when the tension ceases: think of flyes as a continuous tension exercise done with a purposefully slow rep speed. Try and touch the floor with the bells at the bottom of each rep – the deeper the stretch at the bottom of each flye the more muscle fiber stimulated. Go light and deep rather than heavy and shallow. Arnold once described proper flye technique as “hugging a giant tree.” Always perform flyes after benching, unless you are experimenting with some advanced pre-fatigue technique. 3-5 sets of 8-12 flye reps are recommended.

Vic,

I am a police officer that has to work a lot of overtime. I just wanted to write and tell you what a Godsend the different Parrillo bars are. I have this ritual; if we (my partner and I) get dispatched to a crime scene and have to miss a meal, we each eat TWO Parrillo bars as our meal replacement, this works like a charm. After eating two bars, whatever hunger you had is gone and you ate nothing but good stuff. I have my partner hooked on Parrillo Protein Bars™ and he doesn’t even train – he loves the taste and texture of the Fudge Brownie bar. He’s actually lost 20 pounds on account of all the crime and overtime and missed meals replaced with Parrillo bars.

Ben, NYNY

Parrillo Bar beats satiating with a box of doughnuts, doughnuts being the traditional law enforcement meal replacement food of choice. Two Parrillo Protein Bars™ are going to deliver 460 calories, 40 grams of protein and 60 grams of carbs. Two bars produce a bodybuilding micro-meal. The portability of bars makes them invaluable: keep Parrillo Bars in your office, locker, glove box, tackle box or gym bag. The quality of the nutrients and the potency and taste has made Parrillo Bars the supplement of choice for athletes on the go and for working people looking to satiate with quick quality nutrients that taste fantastic.

I saw an interview with a doctor on TV during which he indicated that exercise can naturally increase testosterone – does that ring true with you? I am starting to get serious: I recently let my health club membership lapse and joined a hardcore training facility. I am 40 and want to improve. I joined a health club about five years ago with all the best intentions of getting into shape, but honestly, the environment was not very good for triggering gains. I ended up spending a lot of my available time in the steam room and the sauna and at the club café eating sandwiches and drinking beer. It was all very fun but I realized I was NOT making any gains in the country club-like environment. So I quit and joined a hardcore, no frills gym. The owner turned me onto you and Parrillo. I am redirecting all the dough I saved dropping out of the spa towards Parrillo supplements. I am ready to roll and any advice would be gratefully accepted.

Boston Rob, Boston

First off congratulations on bailing out of the spa – those joints are seductive and counterproductive. People love the country club environment and end up (like you) spending all their available time distracted by the many distractions. The goal of “fitness” is to build muscle and melt body fat. Never lose sight of that. Now insofar as your testosterone query, yes indeed exercise does increase testosterone levels – assuming the exercise is intense. The key is intensity: casual exercise isn’t sufficient to create testosterone. One rule of thumb I use is to shoot for an intensity level that causes endorphins to be released; if you train hard enough to experience the endorphin rush you are training hard enough to create testosterone. How do you know if endorphins have been released? You literally feel it: endorphins have a mild narcotic-like effect and the glow and buzz you feel after a truly savage session is related to endorphins being released into the bloodstream. The lame-O long distance runners tried to expropriate this sensation and call it ‘runner’s high’ when factually hardcore iron pumpers have been experiencing the endorphin rush for decades before runners ever heard about it – this pisses me off almost as much as the runners calling their swim/run/bike competitions “The Iron Man.” More accurate would have been, “The Cardio Man” or “The Aerobic Man.” Big heavy exercises like squats, leg presses, heavy hack squats, rows, cleans, deadlifts, benches and incline presses are the exercises most likely to trigger endorphins and create new testosterone. Dinky exercises like lateral raises and tricep kickbacks lack the requisite gravitas. All the best – write back and alert me as to how this new phase is going. Likely if the gym owner is sharp enough to turn you on to me, he is also a guy you can trust to work you up a solid program. Another real progress booster is working with training partners. With hardcore partners you can experience endorphin-creating forced reps. Let’s roll Boston Rob!

Iron Vic Steele,

I have been on a mass-building routine for the past three months and while I have gained 15 pounds and picked up a full inch on my arms, my gut has definitely gotten smooth: my waistline in my jeans is fitting a lot snugger. I now am going to shift direction and try and get cut and shredded – but I am afraid at the end of a three month ‘slice and dice’ program I am going to lose 15 pounds and end up right back where I started from before I started all of this mess. Any ideas?

Ron, Portland

You need to obtain the Parrillo BodyStat Kit. Your letter was the perfect example as to why John Parrillo felt the need and urge to invent BodyStat. Back in the day, the classic bodybuilding strategy was to “bulk up” before getting “defined.” This see-saw method was woefully inadequate. The old time bodybuilders of the Arnold/Franco era used to add 30-50 pounds of bodyweight in the off season then go on the gruesome “fish and water” diet to get shredded for competition. The problems with this approach were too numerous to identify but we’ll spotlight two: because the bodybuilders of the 70s were indiscriminate about where they got the off-season calories from, they might add 25 pounds of “size” in the off season with 20 pounds of the weight gain being fat gain. The fish and water diet (Mr. Universe Ken Waller substituted turkey breast for fish)was exactly as it stated: for months the bodybuilder would consume NOTHING other than fish and water. The mental anguish and health hazards of this yo-yo approach were staggering and the results were miniscule: at the previous competition the bodybuilder may have weighed 200 pounds sporting an 8% body fat percentile; after the competition they would “bulk up” to 230+ pounds over a three month period before embarking on the prison camp fish-and-water diet for the next three months. They would end up competing at their next competition weighing 205 with an 8% body fat percentile. That’s one helluva a lot of aggravation and yo-yo stuff-then-starve eating to net five pounds of muscle.

John Parrillo saw the ridiculousness of this stuff-and-starve strategy and invented BodyStat. The core of BodyStat is a weekly or bi-weekly nine-point skin-fold caliper test that creates an overall body fat percentile reading that can be used to access progress. Using BodyStat the bodybuilder can determine where they are at in relation to the previous BodyStat session: have they added muscle and lost fat? (ideal) Have they lost muscle and added fat? Have they stayed the same? There are other possibilities: they could lose fat and lose muscle or add muscle and add fat. Regardless what transpires session to session, the really important element is that they can identify precisely what has happened through the use of BodyStat charting. When you are able to monitor body composition you are able to determine with certainty – no guessing – if the training and diet you are using is working or not working. For example, let us assume that the bodybuilder charts and determines that they have gained one pound of muscle and one pound of fat since the last charting session. One solution to this particular dilemma might be to keep the protein intake static, stay with whatever weight training regimen being used and dramatically up the cardio. Perhaps they might add a second, shorter, metabolism-amping aerobic session later in the day. Simultaneously the bodybuilder might remove some starch calories and replace these lost starch calories with CapTri® to maintain existing muscle mass. BodyStat is the tool of the sophisticated bodybuilder: be smart and purchase a BodyStat kit; otherwise you are guessing about gains.

Iron Vic,

I have heard that CapTri® jacks up the metabolism – how is that possible? How can a food or liquid increase the metabolism and burn more calories and ultimately make you leaner? I can understand how exercise (particularly aerobics) increases the metabolism – but I cannot for the life of me grasp how consuming a food or a drink can make the metabolism speed up. Help a brother out!

Arn, Minnesota

John Parrillo once described CapTri® as “the best supplement ever developed for bodybuilders.” His rational was irrefutable: “food efficiency” is a scientific term defined as the calories consumed versus the amount of bodyweight gained. 1000 calories of ice cream has a radically different food efficiency rating then 1000 calories of lean protein. CapTri® calories have an astronomically low food efficiency rating – why? Because CapTri® calories are either burned for energy or used to build muscle. CapTri® is impossible to end up stored as body fat because CapTri® calories are burned so quickly. MCTs (medium-chain triglycerides) are burned preferentially; no matter what calories are consumed, CapTri® calories go to the head of the line. Some energy released when CapTri® calories are burned is converted into ketones which are then transported to the muscles and used as fuel to power contractions. Other CapTri®

calories are converted into body heat and cause thermogenesis. CapTri® calories are burned efficiently and stored inefficiently. Normally the human body will only burn fat after all available carbohydrates have been consumed. CapTri®’s unique molecular structure allows it to be burned in the presence of carbs even though technically CapTri® is a fat. Diet-induced thermogenesis has been well documented. MCTs, the type and kind that make up CapTri®, cause profound thermogenesis on account of caloric density and rapid oxidation. CapTri® calories cause a metabolic spike and this trait has been documented in studies done on humans as well as rats. The data is straight forward, the studies well controlled and the results are statistically significant: lean protein and fiber carbs cause the metabolism to amp up in order to digest these hard to digest foods. CapTri® calories cause the metabolism to amp up as a result of rapid oxidation. Combine lean protein, fiber carbs and CapTri® (along with intense exercise) and you create a metabolic “perfect storm.”

Vic,

I need to lose a lot of fat – I got plenty of muscle because I am a strong powerlifter-type dude. At 5-8 and 240 pounds I bench press 440 raw. I need to get down to 199 pounds without losing any of my strength. Any ideas would be

appreciated.

Big Tony, Detroit

A lot of real big strong guys (like you) fail to embrace the idea of doing cardio: “Aerobics are for girls!” is the dismissive slur heard from big strong types. A lot of these sneering, “Aerobics suck!” type guys keel over and die prematurely before age 50 from cardiovascular-related heart problems. The human circulatory system needs exercise as surely as the muscles. Think of cardio as weight training for the heart, lungs, arterial pathways and organs. Start off easy with daily pre-breakfast walks. Just walk around your neighborhood at a brisk pace. Because you are so thick and dense and so out of shape, fast walking done for 30-40 minutes will spike your heart rate astronomically and cause you to break a sweat. Eventually walking will be insufficient to generate a good cardio effect and you will need to start jogging, running or using one of the many types of cardio devices. The idea (after you round into basic shape) is to go hard; hard enough that you huff and puff and sweat. Another of John Parrillo’s suggestions is to do cardio after you finish your weight training session. Before leaving the gym, hit a cardio session. Lifting hard and heavy exhausts glycogen and after a tough lifting session a huff-and-puff aerobic session will force your body to burn body fat at an accelerated rate. Once the glycogen is burnt off by the lifting, the body is forced to mobilize stored body fat to power the cardio session. Over time, increase the frequency, duration and intensity of the cardio sessions. In addition to melting off fat, aerobics will improve your endurance thereby allowing you to be able to lift longer and harder and do evenmore cardio. If you are diligent, over time you will be able to shed those 40 pounds and get down to your 200 pound target bodyweight. Big Tony will morph into ripped-and-shredded Medium-sized Tony: you will feel better, be healthier and avoid becoming one of those big strong guys that drop dead prematurely – plus you can retain all your current power and strength if you play your cards right.

Iron Man,

Are mineral supplements really important? I use Parrillo Hi-Protein™ powder and Optimized Whey™ along with CapTri®. I eat a ton of Parrillo Energy Bars™ and the Hi-Protein Cake and Cupcakes™ you guys make are addictive and terrific, I wonder if I need to be taking the vitamin and mineral supplements since I eat really clean and supplement heavily.

Denise, Scranton

I would strongly suggest you start taking Parrillo Mineral Electrolyte Formula™ and Liver Amino Formula™. Mineral supplementation may not be the most glamorous sports nutrition supplement, but they are critically important and frequently, as in your case, ignored. Trace elements are critical for health and wellness and athletic peak performance. Real bodybuilders stick to limited diets; Dairy is not consumed because it is loaded with insulin-spiking sugar. It is an easy procedure to just take a couple mineral-electrolyte tabs with each meal and side-step the whole issue. I would also advise purchasing a bottle of Parrillo Liver Amino Formula™: one of the major health issues facing females today is iron deficiency anemia. This serious health issue is neatly sidestepped and overcome by taking a few liver amino tabs with each meal. The bottom line is simple: purchase a bottle of Parrillo Mineral Electrolyte Formula™, purchase a bottle of Parrillo Liver Amino Formula™ and make taking these potent supplements a regular part of your supplemental regimen. Dollars to donuts after a month of mineral/liver supplementation you will feel so much better that you will wonder why you didn’t do this years ago.

It seems my workout ambitions can’t match my workout reality. I am the type of person that loves to plan ahead. I create these amazing, extended weight training workouts on paper (based on Parrillo strategies) that include lots of exercises, lots of sets, lots of forced reps, lots of drop sets, fascia stretching and all the other hallmarks of a hardcore Parrillo lifting session. Then when I go to actually train using the Parrillo strategies I get through the first fifteen or twenty minutes and run out of gas. I just totally hit the wall and that’s that. It is extremely frustrating and makes me think I am not cut out for the Parrillo approach.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Roger, Green Bay

There are two answers to your problem: acclimatization and nutrition. If a person is not used to extended and intense weight training and they suddenly attempt to perform a long and intense workout they are going to hit the wall quickly and completely. It is the same thing as a runner that casually jogs a mile and a half every Sunday deciding on a whim to enter a 10 kilometer run without training for it. After the first two miles that runner is going to bonk. How could they not? There is nothing in the weekend warrior’s background or recent training history that will enable them to triple their running effort. If they were to approach running a 10K correctly, over time and over many training sessions the runner would add distance to their training efforts until they were capable of running 10K in training. Similarly you need to gradually extend the length of your training sessions without compromising the workout intensity. The way to do this is to extend quality training time. For example you indicate that when you train hard and appropriately you gas out after 15 to 20 minutes: let’s keep this level of intensity and look to extend the duration of your sessions by adding five minutes to your training sessions each successive week. In week one you’ll train hard for 20 minutes; in week two up this to 25 minutes; in week three increase training session length to 30 minutes. By the eighth week you will be blasting away, hard and heavy, for 50 to 60 minutes. In eight to ten short weeks you will have become acclimatized enough to tear through a hardcore Parrillo workout for a full hour with zero degradation in workout quality.

Simultaneously, you need to square up your nutrition: John Parrillo has said repeatedly that when students come to him and tell him that they are not recovering fast enough, session to session, he invariably finds out that they are under-eating. This is the rationale behind the Parrillo axiom that “there is no such thing as over-training only under-eating.” Are you eating multiple meals throughout the day? These meals should consist of a portion of lean protein, a portion of fibrous carbs, a portion of starch carbs and lots of potent Parrillo supplements. You need to take Parrillo 50/50 Plus™ after every intense weight training session. Are you drinking Optimized Whey™ and/or Hi-Protein™ shakes twice daily? This is a requisite. The combination of “Parrillo Meals” and Parrillo supplements will provide you a slow release of glucose throughout the day – glucose equates to energy. If you are bonking in your cardio be sure and supplement with Max Endurance Formula™ before each cardio session. The bottom line is this: train hard and train heavy using all the hallmarks of the patented Parrillo system of progressive resistance training; don’t compromise the quality (intensity) of your training sessions in order to extend the duration. Work on extending session length gradually through acclimatization; eat more food, eat more often, eat the right foods and supplement with potent Parrillo Products. Do what I suggest and in a month or two or three you will create a new and far better body!

Vic!

What’s new in Parrillo world! I love those Parrillo Hi-Protein Cakes and Cupcakes™ and want to try Parrillo Ice Kreem™ – my wife says she’s getting me an ice cream machine for Christmas. I used to be a sweet freak; with all these fabulous new Parrillo desserts I am completely cured of my addiction to chocolate and sweets. Any new Parrillo products coming down

the line?

Boston Rob

I am repeatedly flabbergasted by the inventiveness of the Parrillo R&D staff. Would you believe that the latest product to emerge from the depths of the Parrillo research laboratory is legal, beneficial high-fiber chocolate syrup! I kid you not: I am sitting here looking at my newly arrived canister of Parrillo High Fiber Chocolate Syrup Mix™. Each container has 32 servings and to make four syrup servings simply mix two level scoops of dry powder with one tablespoon of water. Whisk until the consistency is smooth. You can adjust the ratio of water-to-powder for a thicker or thinner consistency. The taste is amazing and if you have a sweet tooth this product is for you. Imagine chocolate syrup over top of Parrillo Ice Kreem™ or Parrillo Contest Brownies™ or Parrillo Hi-Protein Cake™? With zero fat, zero sugar and only one net carb, this product makes for a wonderful taste treat. Order a canister today at 1-800-344-3404.

Vic Steele,

I am completely confused. I need to lose weight and add some muscle. I have been reading the Parrillo Performance Press about how you folks recommend losing body fat and it is blowing my mind – is it true that you want people looking to shed fat to eat more??? How does that work? This seems to go against everything I have ever heard about diets and dieting. I am new to the Parrillo approach and got turned onto your system by a guy in the gym that lost 50 pounds using the “Parrillo Method.” This guy even eats meals in the gym. I asked him about it and he said that Parrillo insists you have to eat a lot of food. Could you clear this up and how does this work?

Hank, Frederick

Here is the deal: conventional weight-loss orthodoxy holds that the way to lose body fat is to eat less and exercise more. Yet tens of thousands of obese people are eating less, exercising more and not losing any weight. The medical professionals tell these poor people that they need to eat even less and exercise even more. This strategy is plainly not working – the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results – the Med Pros see that starving and cardio is not working and their solution is more starving and more cardio. Amongst medical and dietary professionals the most sacred of sacred cows is the Energy Balance Equation. Basically this antiquated benchmark proclaims that in order to lose weight you need to eat fewer calories than you take in on a consistent daily basis. If you expend 2000 calories a day going about your normal activities then you need to intake less than 2000 calories in order to lose bodyweight. Sounds great and the proponents talk about the “laws of thermodynamics” and how the EBE and this whole approach to weight loss is “settled science.” Well the whole EBE approach towards weight loss is not settled science. The whole strategy of eating less and exercising more has been an unmitigated disaster. Overweight people nationwide are being starved needlessly. It borders on criminal to have obese people eat less than 1000 calories a day while spending endless amounts of time on a treadmill (low intensity, useless cardio being the exercise of choice amongst the dietary elite) and in the end it is all for nothing. The whole EBE approach is riddled with flaws and glaring shortcomings. It has been so ineffective for so long it is a wonder that anyone in a position of authority can still recommend it with a straight face.

At Parrillo Performance we routinely have athletes, male and female, eating 4,000 to 10,000 calories a day and not adding an ounce of fat – according to the EBE that is impossible. We have male and female competitive bodybuilders “cutting back” to 3000-4000 calories and getting ripped – again, according to the precepts of the EBE, this is physiologically impossible. What EBE proponents ignore is that all calories are not created equal and the metabolism is a flexible, improvable, shifting target. Over time the metabolism can be made more efficient; modified for the better. The body can be “taught” how to handle more and more “clean” calories without adding an ounce of body fat. Further, once the metabolism has been “built” an athlete can then eat thousands of calories and lose body fat. How do you build the metabolism?

• Eat only approved nutrients

•

Spread calories out over 5-8 meals

• Exercise intensely and regularly

The concept of building the metabolism forms the central core of the entire Parrillo nutritional philosophy. The Parrillo philosophy is built upon the subtle combination of nutrition and exercise. At the core of the Parrillo nutritional philosophy is this idea that over time the body can convert a sluggish metabolism into a human blast furnace that can handle more and more and more calories. Why go to the trouble to build the metabolism? Why do we want to be able to eat more calories? A blast-furnace metabolism allows us to have the best of both worlds: we can build muscle (which requires calories) and we can lose fat by gradually reducing sky-high calorie intake. It’s a hell of a lot easier to lose fat when you are eating 5,000 calories a day (and not getting fat) than it is to lose fat when you are surviving on 1,000 calories a day. John Parrillo has invented a specific procedure for building the metabolism and his procedure has been used for decades by competitive bodybuilders. These amazing athletes routinely compete with sub-5% body fat percentiles while eating way more calories than you would expect for someone so lean. You need to purchase a copy of the Parrillo Nutrition Manual and educate yourself on the step-by-step, easy to follow procedures we use to amp up a sluggish

metabolism.

Mr. Steele,

What is your opinion about all these energy drinks that are flooding the market? Are they safe? My son uses them all the time and my gut tells me that there is something unhealthy about this shortcut approach. I read the labels on some of these products but the chemicals are incomprehensible. I tell him he needs to cut back and he tells me that these products are “safe” or they wouldn’t be allowed on the market. What are your thoughts?

Concerned Father, San Jose

Your concerns are well founded: these products are central nervous system agitators and no one knows the long term effects. I can tell you that they are being abused and sooner or later the Feds are going to step in and shut them down. In one well known incident, the famed UFC cage fighter Rampage Jackson went on a hit and run rampage where he ran into a half dozen parked cars in his monster pickup truck and sped away. He was easily caught because he had his picture and name airbrushed on the side of his truck. Cornered, captured and taken off to jail, the cops were sure Rampage’s rampage was drug or alcohol induced: in fact he had overdosed on energy drinks. Not too long ago the ephedrine-based products were super-popular and the makers of those products made a fortune selling a “legal high.” The FDA finally stepped in after abusers started having seizures. Since the FDA ban on ephedrine-based energy drinks, product makers have been feverishly searching for the next “legal high” alternative. A quick look in any grocery store, convenience mart, truck stop or gas station reveals that these products are everywhere and flooding the marketplace to satisfy an apparent unquenchable thirst for them. I see ads on mainstream TV all the time. Nowadays they are even mixing energy drinks with booze – does that not sound like a recipe for disaster – and many energy drinks are so successful that they sponsor million dollar race teams in NASCAR and at Indy. I wouldn’t let any kid of mine drink them in my presence but the widespread availability makes it impossible to keep them away from the kids if they are

determined.

Troy, Indianapolis

The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results; so by that yardstick you are definitely stupid. Tricep pushdowns are the most popular tricep exercise in the world: you wanna know why? Because they are so damned easy! When it comes to building muscle there is a direct relationship between “easy” and “stagnation” just as there is a direct relationship between “difficult” and “progress.” Pushdowns are fun: you get to stand up and you just move your elbows and push downward and there is no muss or fuss. Plus, if you do really high reps with really dinky weight, you pump up your triceps and it looks really cool in the gym mirror for the next ten minutes. Kinda like doing a lot of super-light lateral raises. You can blow up your deltoids like balloons using pee-wee poundage and high reps – the problem with cable pushdowns and cable crossovers and ultra-light lateral raises and the rest of these pee-wee exercises are that as quickly as you inflate the muscle the muscle deflates equally as fast and leaves you with no significant lasting effects. In order to truly build and grow a muscle – as in “permanently” and “significantly” – you have to handle heavy poundage for low to moderate reps using barbells and dumbbells. Machines and cables and “sculpting” and “refining” exercises are superfluous, they are like dessert. Desserts are sweet and tasty but if you want to grow muscle you’ve got to eat meat and potatoes. Meat and potatoes are barbells and dumbbells and machines and cables are dessert.

One amazing tricep exercise that you never see practiced anymore is a classical core triceps exercise that was used by all the “arm greats” of the 50s, 60s and 70s: the single dumbbell standing overhead tricep extension. I rank this exercise – along with weighted dips – as the Number 1 tricep exercise. Guys don’t like them because it’s tricky to get the dumbbell into position and it’s a tough-ass exercise that makes a man sweat, grunt and scream. It is so much easier to go sit down on some padded tricep machine that costs $10,000 and push moderate poundage for moderate reps and get moderate results. If you are serious about titanic triceps try this Old School tricep favorite: remember these two critical tips; get a big stretch at the bottom of every rep and lock out every rep hard and completely. Maneuver a lone dumbbell overhead. Both hands cup the bottom of one bell end; now relax the arms and allow the weight of the dumbbell to stretch the triceps downward as far as possible; the bell will sink deep behind the head. Exhale in conjunction with the lowering. Now push straight up keeping the elbows tight against the skull. Lock the bell out HARD! An intense lockout creates an intense tricep contraction. Work up to three sets of 8 reps using static poundage. Use the big stretch and hard contraction technique and take 5 pound jumps when you successfully complete three sets of 8 reps with any given poundage. When you can handle 80 pounds for three sets of 8 reps your triceps will indeed become titanic! Let’s start skipping dessert in favor of some tricep meat and potatoes!

Vic,

I wanna be an MMA fighter (Who doesn’t?) How do they weight train? I watch The Ultimate Fighter show on TV and it seems that their weight training is way different from standard bodybuilding. Can you shed some light on how they train and why? Ralph, Huntersville

Indeed; MMA fighters weight-train way differently than bodybuilders. MMA fighters are not interested in building muscle for muscle’s sake; they have unique requirements in that they need “sustained strength.” Let me back up and say that MMA fighters understand that they indeed need to improve their strength levels and for that reason they all weight train. Big strong guys can overwhelm small weak guys and that statement is backed up by the fact that the UFC established weight divisions. If size and power didn’t matter then there would be no need for weight classes. Originally, back in the early days when Royce Gracie ruled the roost, the thinking was that size didn’t matter and for a period of years Gracie defeated all comers, including physical giants like Dan Severn, Kimo and Ken Shamrock. Things changed when the other fighters and coaches figured out countermoves to the Gracie strategy: mastering “the sprawl” meant a man didn’t have to be taken down. Chuck Liddell fought for years and because of his sprawl mastery was rarely taken down. Insofar as strength and power, what the MMA guys needed and what their sharp coaches (guys like John Hackleman) figured out, was that fighters needed to become stronger – but not in a way that was expressed by say a single rep bench press maximum. Fighters needed to be stronger and able to “express” that strength in a sustained and protracted fashion. They needed to be as strong in the closing minutes of round three or five as in the first 30 seconds of round one. A lot of really strong guys were “gassing out” and expending all their available power within the first few minutes of a fight.

To this end fight trainers have their fighters perform extended feats of strength such as pushing wheelbarrows loaded with poundage up steep inclines or throwing heavy medicine balls for extended periods. Perhaps the fighter would carry a 100 pound heavy bag up a hill or lift and carry their training partners for extended periods. Another tactic was to wrestle a series of fresh and rested opponents one after another. How about 50 reps in the clean and push press? Any and all types of “resistance training” that involved putting out moderate amounts of strength for extended periods of time are used to improve the fighter’s strength output ability. This style of strength training also extends the fighter’s “anti-bonk” ability. Training in this fashion enhances the ability of muscles under stress to clear lactate and waste products far quicker and far more efficiently. This type of strength training is ideal for the unique demands of the MMA fighter. You should try and incorporate some of these ideas into your own training. Toss the tricep kickbacks and cable crossovers in favor of some high rep extended exercises that involve lots of muscles working together for an extended period. Better yet, head over to a real MMA gym and sign up with a real MMA coach.

Vic,

What’s new in Parrillo Product world? What products are you using that we might not be?

Pat, Pensacola

I love the Parrillo Chew Bar™ and think that it is the perfect supplement for dieters and those seeking to “lean out” to a maximum degree. Taste and texture are critical in supplements and the Chew Bar™ is, in many respects, the most unique nutritional supplement on the market today. First off the statistics of the Chew Bar™ are outstanding: each bar contains 180 calories and provides 20 grams of protein and 19 grams of carbohydrate; this 50/50 balance between protein and slow-release carbohydrates makes the Chew Bar™ a perfect post-workout smart-bomb replenishment food. Additionally each bar contains 2.5 grams of CapTri® and comes in no less than ten flavors. The Chew Bar™ has the taste and texture of taffy and this purposeful formulation means that the Chew Bar™ has to be eaten slowly. It is physically impossible to gulp down a Chew Bar™. For a bodybuilder or hardcore fitness adherent deep into a fat-shedding diet, the Chew Bar™ makes for the perfect taste treat: each bite must be chewed extensively. This extended chewing creates saliva needed to break down and digest the individual bites. Physiologically and psychologically, prolonged chewing contributes to satiation and satisfaction. By the time the dieter is through eating a Chew Bar™, hunger cravings and sweet-tooth cravings are satiated and satisfied.

I am convinced that dieters with a sweet-tooth can completely satiate their cravings with the addition of the Chew Bar™ to their nutritional arsenal. A few years back we wrote an extended article called the Choc-O-holic Supplement Diet. In it we had the chocolate addict wake up and drink a chocolate Optimized Whey™ shake; mid-morning they would snack on a Sweet Milk Chocolate-flavored Parrillo Energy Bar™. After lunch the chocolate diet continued with a serving of chocolate Parrillo Pudding™. After working out the trainee drank a serving of chocolate 50/50 Plus™. After dinner we suggested a chocolate Parrillo Cupcake™ and before bed while watching TV what can top chocolate Parrillo Ice Kreem™ overtop of a huge serving of Parrillo Chocolate Cake™ or a Contest Brownie™ drizzled with Parrillo’s High Fiber Chocolate Syrup™? A chocolate flavored Chew Bar™ would fit right in to this type of dietary approach. When used properly the Chew Bar™ (any flavor) can become the dieter’s best friend.

Vic Steele,

I am 6 foot and weigh 160 pounds. I need to gain some quality bodyweight – how many calories should I be taking in? I know that Parrillo is all about high calories so how many calories should a skinny guy like me be eating? I don’t have a problem cooking food ahead of time – but there is no way I am going to eat ten chicken breasts a day! Forget about it!

Terrence, Torrance

There is much misinformation and misunderstanding regarding the Parrillo “high calorie” approach and your letter gives me an opportunity to set the record straight. John Parrillo revolutionized bodybuilding by being the first to show that if you ate the right kind of calories you could eat a hell of a lot of them and not get fat. Certain nutrients i.e. lean protein and fiber carbohydrates are virtually impossible for the body to convert into body fat. Parrillo experimented on himself and his stable of bodybuilders and developed a system of nutrition where bodybuilders limited their food intake to foods that are preferentially partitioned into making muscle. In addition, Parrillo invented CapTri®, a medium-chain triglyceride that provided 120 calories per tablespoon. Because of its unique molecular structure, CapTri® cannot be converted into body fat. CapTri® is either used to build new muscle, used for energy to fuel activity or excreted. The Parrillo nutritional approach is based upon the consumption of multiple meals spread over the course of the day. These meals are comprised of foods preferentially partitioned to create muscle. These perfect food meals are supplemented with potent Parrillo products. Bodybuilders under Parrillo’s supervision grew immense – yet stayed lean and ripped. The revolution had arrived.

In Parrillo world we are all about setting realistic goals then systematically moving towards those goals; we break the overall goal down into weekly mini-goals and methodically hit the weekly mini-goals until the big goal is achieved. So you’re a skinny guy looking to add quality bodyweight: this is my favorite scenario because you are able to eat big, supplement big, lift big, rest big and grow big. You should look to add 12 pounds of lean muscle mass over a 12 week period: this would be a realistic goal set into a realistic timeframe. The first order of business is to sweep the table clean of whatever nutritional system or plan you are using: that is all tossed out the window. You need to eat multiple meals and intake 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. So in your case you need to eat or drink 160 to 240 grams of protein through some combination of regular food and Parrillo supplements. Obviously you will need Parrillo protein powder to get started. I would suggest a canister of Parrillo Optimized Whey™ and a canister of Hi-Protein™. One shake of each type each day will add 65+ grams of protein per day. A box of Parrillo bars and a canister of 50/50 Plus™ (taken post workout) will contribute another 20-40 grams of protein. The rest of your required protein intake can be achieved with relative ease eating modest amounts (relatively speaking) of regular food.

I would suggest you purchase a bottle of CapTri® and a bottle of Parrillo Creatine Monohydrate™: the CapTri® is used to add quality calories and the Creatine is mixed with shakes and swells muscles while accelerating workout recovery. Each week you need to add one pound of new bodyweight come hell-or-high-water. No matter what you must move the scale upward one pound per week – don’t go faster than that as that runs the risk of adding body fat. Be sure and perform lots of aerobics as cardio exercise keeps weight gains lean. Too many trainees make the tragic mistake of dropping cardio when they embark on a mass-building regimen. This slows the metabolism and adds to the likelihood that muscle gain will be marbled with body fat. Perform basic barbell and dumbbell exercises; emphasize heavy squats, rows, benches, chins, pull-ups, pulldowns, curls and dips. Look to get stronger each week in each lift: strength increases result in muscle size increases – assuming you feed the body. Over the 12 week period you should look to increase your daily CapTri® consumption each successive week. By the end of the three month period you will be 12-15 pounds heavier, one hell of a lot stronger and as long as you keep up the cardio and keep the food selections “clean” (and stay on track with the CapTri® and Creatine) you’ll end up leaner than when you started.

I am looking for something to spice up my bicep training. I have fallen into a rut of doing favored exercises in my usual way for a predictable number of sets and reps (and frequency) and I am getting predictable results – nothing! Though I train my arms twice weekly for 30 minutes religiously, they haven’t grown even 1/8th of an inch in two years. I would love a new approach. Currently I am doing barbell curls with a little cheat added on the last reps and preacher curls on day one. On day two I do machine curls and my favorite: seated dumbbell curls.

Ronnie P – Bay St. Louis

The human body hates change and loves sameness. When it comes to bodybuilding sameness is death. Elite bodybuilders will purposefully change their weight training routines (and aerobic training routine and dietary strategy) every four to six weeks knowing that if they continue with what they like and what is comfortable and fun the body will neutralize any and all positive, growth-inducing effects. We love doing certain exercises in the same way for the same number of sets and reps and the body loves it too and refuses to grow. The solution is to periodically blast the body out of its complacent groove. When it comes to training biceps there is no excuse not to change things up every 4-6 weeks on account of there being so many bicep exercises to choose from. First off, before we select new bicep exercises (the easy part) let’s make sure we know how to do a proper curl. Regardless the curl selected, the poundage needs to travel over a full and compete range of motion. The biggest single mistake made by gym lifters doing curls is partial reps. You see this curl phenomenon more often than not: go stand by the preacher bench and watch the endless parade of curlers perform their little half reps using poundage that would dislocate their elbows were they to lower the bar or bells all the way down. I wish I had a dollar for every four inch curl rep stroke done on the preacher bench by some dude using a 45 on either side of the E-Z curl bar. The weight is never lowered all the way and never curled upward all the way – that’s why their biceps invariably suck.

Regardless the curl selected, the weight should start at the complete bottom and be curled all the way to the shoulder – without allowing the elbow to move forward and up! This turns a bicep curl into a deltoid front raise. The arm is completely open in the bottom and completely closed at the top. Squeeze the bicep hard at the top of every curl rep and if you are using dumbbells, supinate the bells as you curl them upward: at the top of each dumbbell curl rep the inside pinky should be higher than the outside thumb. Slash poundage and work every curl over a full range of motion. Another tip – don’t jerk upward to start a curl: use a smooth application of starting power and purposefully slow the rep speed; at the top, don’t just allow the bar or bells to fall or drop, pull them downward, contracting the triceps as you lower. This last tip is the essence of the Parrillo Intensity Set procedure. You make a light weight feel heavy. Another tip: this one was from Vince Gironda the inventor of the preacher bench; at the start of each preacher curl rep, lean back slightly, as the weight is curled up towards the face, lean forward slightly. Try this bicep routine to shock complacent biceps out of their current stagnation.

Day I

Seated dumbbell curls: dead hang at the start of each rep, slow start, no jerking!

Preacher bench curls: lower completely; raise completely, use Gironda technique

One-arm cable curls: low pulley: pull slowly to chin, isolate biceps maximally

Day II

Barbell curls: strict, use the Parrillo Intensity Set procedure – no cheating

Spider or concentration curls:

upper arm is braced at 90-degrees; resistance is at top

Two-arm cable curl: continuous tension; slight lean-back throughout

Sets and reps: four sets of 8-12 reps using forced reps or drop sets on heaviest final set.

Vic Steele,

What is the best supplement stack for a football player getting ready for two-a-day August summer camp? I play defensive back for a division II college and I have really done my homework this past year: I will be rolling into camp this year in the best shape of my life and want to take the next six weeks leaning out and getting as fit as possible for the Alabama heat. I am 6 foot, weigh 205 with a 10% body fat percentile. I bench 350 and run a 4.6 forty and would like to rip up, cutting down to 195, getting down to 8% body fat percentile and dropping my forty yard dash time down to 4.5. Does this seem realistic?

Lester from Montgomery

Hell yes it does. You are smart and have worked your ass off during this past year and now six weeks before summer practice starts you just need to put on the final finishing touches. Basically I would eat like a competitive bodybuilder looking to rip up in the final weeks before a competition. I assume you are using the Parrillo multiple-meal eating template – the fact that you are sporting a 10% body fat percentile tells me you are serious about your nutrition. The best place to start is to assemble your supplements ahead of time; this way you’ve got all those Parrillo supplements right at your fingertips. I will assume you are weight training 4-5 times a week, running distances every morning before breakfast and hitting sprints, hill work and the stadium steps in the heat of the afternoon.

Max Endurance Formula™: a must for any athlete that sweats by the bucketful. You need to take 5-8 capsules before every long distance run and before every intense sprint session. If your sweat smells like ammonia (a sure sign of uric acid) then up the dosage; Max Endurance™ will allow you to go longer and harder.

50/50 Plus™: after every weight training session consume 1-2 servings of 50/50 Plus™. The name of the pre-camp game for you is training hard without breaking the body down; the sheer volume of weights and running requires you feed the machine after every savage training session. 50/50 Plus™ ensures your muscles are provided exactly what they need to heal, strengthen and grow.

Optimized Whey Protein Powder™: drink a shake immediately upon arising and another just before bed. These two shakes will provide 68 grams of high BV protein. Supplemental protein is indispensible for someone training up to five hours a day.

Liver Amino Formula™: take 4-5 tablets every two hours and stay in positive nitrogen balance all day long while continually fueling your battered body. Each tablet contains 1.5 grams of protein and a ton of blood-cleansing, blood-enriching heme iron.

Parrillo Protein Bars™: keep a box on hand and eat a bar whenever you are forced to miss a meal or if you are feeling particularly dragged down and beat up. This meal-in-a-wrapper can be stashed in your gym bag or glove box. Never miss eating at an appointed time.

Keep me posted as to your progress. By increasing your activity level as drastically and dramatically as you intend the biggest challenge will be to not lose muscle. Stay hydrated, make the bulk of your weekly foods on Sunday afternoon and train your ass off. Handled right, you can come in bigger, stronger, leaner and way faster by the time mid-August rolls around. Let’s blow the coaches’ minds by knocking some running backs and quarterbacks flat on their asses.

Vic,

When should I take my supplements? I have a huge pile of Parrillo supplements that my kids (grown) got me when I let slip I was getting back into fitness. I used to be a good athlete before I had a bout with cancer five years ago – I am completely cured and I have decided to start lifting and doing aerobics again. I am 40 pounds overweight and determined to get back down to my pre-cancer weight of 170 pounds. I believe I must have every Parrillo supplement made. Any help as to when to take these would be greatly appreciated.

Tom, Brooklyn

Congratulations on beating cancer and congratulations on making the decision to get fit. By timing your supplements correctly you’ll amplify results from your training and nutrition efforts. Upon arising take 2-3 Enhanced GH Formula™ capsules on an empty stomach. I would wash the GH capsules down with an Optimized Whey™ protein shake. Since Optimized Whey™ has only four grams of carbohydrate (along with 34 grams of protein) the shake will not interfere with your glycogen-free post-sleep status. Early morning is the best time to hit cardio. Aerobics done on an empty stomach force the body to burn stored body fat. Take 5-8 Max Endurance Formula™ capsules if you sweat profusely during aerobics – as you should.

Three or four hours before training I would advise consuming a meal containing ample amounts of natural carbohydrates. Filling muscle and liver with carb-derived glycogen before a workout (and allowing ample time for digestion) enhances workout endurance, extends and amplifies muscle pumps and prevents and forestalls “bonking out” halfway through the training session. If you were provided any Pro-Carb™ powder or Parrillo Bars™, an hour before training would be an ideal time to drink a Pro-Carb™ shake and eat a Parrillo Energy Bar™. Thirty minutes before training take 5-8 Max Endurance™ capsules and four Muscle Amino Formula™ capsules. Max Endurance™, as the name implies, improves endurance. Muscle Amino Formula™ capsules contain branched-chain amino acids and consuming these prior to working out “spares” muscle tissue thereby improving weight training results.

After training is the time to consume a 50/50 Plus™ shake mixed with a serving of Parrillo Creatine Monohydrate™; this combination will replenish muscle reserves and restock ATP. 50/50 Plus™ is specifically designed to take advantage of a ‘window of opportunity’ that coincides with the conclusion of an intense workout, 50/50 Plus™ actually improves workout results. Wash down another four Muscle Amino Formula™ capsules to complete the post-workout supplementation protocol. Parrillo Essential Vitamin Formula™ and Mineral Electrolyte Formula™ should be taken with meals. Liver Amino Formula™ tabs can be taken 3-4 or more at a time, five times a day; Bio-C™ and Natural E-Plus™ should be taken twice daily. This supplemental template ought to be enough to get you started: remember that Parrillo supplements are designed to augment food meals and amplify intense training. Eat with discipline, train like a maniac and you can be in the best shape of your life in two to three months.

Vic Steele,

Is there an optimal rest time between sets? I am getting conflicting advice from the guys at the gym. Among the competitive bodybuilders, most suggest taking no more than 30 to 60 seconds between sets; the powerlifters seem to take forever between sets. I am a pretty good local bodybuilder. I have entered a couple local shows and placed in the top three of my height class. I am looking to take it to the next level. I don’t know if this rest between sets is a big deal or a little deal, but 30 seconds seems awful fast – on the other hand I don’t have all day to train like some of these lifters. What’s the optimal time to rest?

Art, Santa Anna

The best advice on rest between sets I ever heard was from Lou (Ferrigno) – we were talking by phone one day and the subject came up about optimal rest time between sets. Lou said, “I tell my clients and students to wait until their breathing normalizes, then hit the next set: if they go too fast it compromises poundage-handling ability or causes the trainee to lose reps; if they wait too long they get cold and risk injury – plus they lose that workout rhythm that I want them to establish.” I have always thought that that was damned good advice: wait until your breathing normalizes then hit the next set. I would add that if you are attempting a personal best – either a new poundage record in a particular lift or a new rep record, then wait until breathing normalizes and take one or two more additional minutes on top of that: use the extra minute to psyche yourself up. This idea of going for the next set in 30 to 60 seconds has been out of style since 1989 – the problem with going that quickly is it radically reduces the amount of poundage you can handle. If a man can handle 150 for 10 reps by waiting for a couple of minutes but being forced to go in 30 seconds means he only gets six reps – then that is a stupid idea that interferes with building muscle size and strength. Tell your bodybuilder buddies it’s not 1989 anymore and Samir Bannout is no longer Mr. Olympia.

I recently got turned on to your column and was struck by the fact that a lot of what you say really goes against what is being said in the big wide world of bodybuilding. For example – the Parrillo Products generally seem a little bit antiquated. If you look at any muscle magazine you see a lot of really exciting products that do a lot of cool stuff. By comparison, Parrillo claims seem to be pretty tame. Are you guys purposefully stuck in the 1970s? How come you don’t have these modern products that provide really rad results? Is your stuff mainly for old people? 

                          Todd, San Francisco

You are obviously new to this game and gullible as a hillbilly from Appalachia dropped off in the middle of Manhattan. “Hey Todd, you want to buy a bridge?” Here’s the deal Todd: nowadays supplement makers will say or do anything in order to make a sale. Unfortunately the bigger the lie, the more likely you are to make a sale. Let me give you an example: a recent expose was done by the “Bigger, Stronger, Faster” filmmakers that is all over the internet. The protagonist addresses the camera, “Here is how easy it is to get into the nutritional supplement business.” Our guy goes to a local street corner and picks up three illegal aliens and takes them back to his apartment. He has purchased a 10 kilo package of cut-rate Chinese Creatine Monohydrate; garbage Creatine to begin with. First the boss “cuts” the Creatine powder with a ton of rice filler. “Pixie Dust” is the phrase used by industry insiders to describe a dash of cut-rate nutritional supplement thrown into a ton of filler and fluff. He then has his three illegal aliens, who hadn’t even washed their hands, stuff gelatin capsules with the pixie dust formulation. The leader has a batch of beautiful, vibrant labels that he pastes onto each bottle containing 100 capsules. He notes to the camera that each completed bottle (Creatine, filler, bottle and label) cost him a total of $1.40 and he sells each bottle for $60.

Firms use outlandish terms and phrases to hype products: muscle volumizer, pharmaceutical delivery, explosive muscular expansion, stage three now with nitric oxidizer, 227% increase in muscle size and power….none of which makes any sense or is provable. Meanwhile, at Parrillo Performance Products the quality goes in before the name goes on. We make our own bars and powders using the finest and most potent raw ingredients available anywhere. These products are manufactured in our own factory, a factory with floors clean enough to eat off of and in an environment that more closely resembles a medical laboratory than a sweat shop with rat droppings. Additionally John Parrillo has always insisted that supplements are meant to supplement and not replace wholesome, nutritious food. Real food, approved bodybuilding foods eaten at regular intervals throughout the day form the foundation for real bodybuilding. Those serious about the art and science of bodybuilding establish a multiple-meal eating schedule and supplement with potent Parrillo products designed to underpin intense weight training and intense cardio. This is how real results are obtained. Those that seek the short-cuts and the quick fixes, those that want to purchase results in a bottle, those that seek to avoid the gut-busting training needed to morph the human body will always resort to Pixie Dust over Parrillo. Hey Todd, for $60 bucks I hear you can buy Turbo Max Creatine Formulation Stage VII, now with nitrous oxygen cubed and it will add 100 pounds to your bench press and two inches to your arms in only two weeks. As PT Barnum once said, “There’s a sucker born every minute” and you Todd are a sucker.

Vic,

What does “stacking supplements” mean?

                                                                                                                                   Rocco, NJ

It means combining two or more supplements to aid in achieving a particular goal. For example, if the goal is to add lean muscle mass, the trainee would select two or more of the following Parrillo supplements to create a “Mass Stack”…

A selection of supplements used by an individual looking to maximally lean out might include two or more of the following Parrillo Products…

Typically the trainee establishes a dietary plan aimed at amplifying the goal: if the goal is to add lean muscle mass then the trainee needs to stay in a caloric surplus status to fuel new growth. If the goal is to lose body fat the trainee stays at the caloric “breakeven point” and burn body fat off through intense cardio done at specific times during the day. In both instances a “stack” of two or more Parrillo supplements is taken to accelerate the muscle-building or fat-burning process.

Hello Iron Man,

I see a lot of press being given to a new generation of exercise machines: it seems every year someone comes up with some new device that supposedly makes obsolete all the previous muscle building devices. Do you use exercise machines? If so, which ones. They sure are convenient to use.     

                                                                                                                        Boss, Orlando

I use exercise machines in about every workout. I consider exercise machines as similar to eating dessert – barbells and dumbbells are the meat and potatoes while machines are the progressive resistance equal of dessert: never skip the main course and eat only dessert and never eat dessert before eating your meat and potatoes. I like the oldest and most venerable of machines: the Smith Machine. If I want to bench press heavy and don’t have spotters I will do my benches on the Smith Machine. I sort of lift like a machine anyway and often when I am bench pressing by myself or doing seated front or behind the neck presses, I like to use the Smith. I also like the Smith for doing seated overhead tricep extensions. The various Hammer Strength devices are pretty clever. Naturally leg presses, leg curls and hack squats are done using machines. The trick is to never forget that machines are not the equal of the same movement done using free weights. Machine makers would lead you to believe that a squat, lateral raise, curl, incline press or a seated bench press done on their machine is the muscle-building equal to the same exercise done using a barbell or a dumbbell. This is factually inaccurate: a machine removes the need to control the side-to-side motion needed to control a barbell or a pair of dumbbells. This lack of need to control side-to-side movement means that muscle stabilizers are not required to fire. Muscle stabilizer activation is a big part of muscle growth. Having said that, machine work, particularly if used as a follow up to hardcore barbell and dumbbell work, is a fine idea. For example a sensible chest workout would start with barbell bench press and work up to one all out set of 5-8 reps. This would be followed with 2-3 sets of 10 reps in the dumbbell bench press and then 2-3 sets using the Hammer Strength incline machine press. Finish with 2-3 sets of pec deck. Two barbell/dumbbell exercises as the main course are followed by two machine exercises for dessert. Perfect!

Hello Vic!

I wanted to get your opinion on the use of Advanced Lipotropic Formula™: what is it and how does it do what it is supposed to do? I understand that this supplement is meant to be taken in conjunction with a fat-loss program; what is the science? I would like to lose about 20 pounds of fat and was considering buying some ALF. I wanted to understand more before I made the purchase.                                                                                               James, Trenton

Advanced Lipotropic Formula™ contains L-carnitine, B vitamins, betaine HCL, biotin, choline, inositol and chromium picolinate. Chromium has been shown in repeated studies to aid dietary carbohydrate in their quest to get into cells. This enables more carbs to be utilized as energy. Carbs that cannot enter cells end up stored as body fat. Chromium increases glucose tolerance by stabilizing the body’s reaction to glucose. It simultaneously stabilizes blood sugar. Like all Parrillo supplements, Advanced Lipotropic Formula™ is designed to be used in conjunction with a tight, disciplined Parrillo nutritional dietary plan. Assuming you have instituted a comprehensive multiple-meal Parrillo eating strategy, and assuming you are disciplined about your nutritional food selections, the addition of Advanced Lipotropic Formula™ will greatly aid in fat mobilization. Ideally you are performing lots of intense Parrillo-style cardio and the classic Parrillo stack is to use Advanced Lipotropic™ in conjunction with Max Endurance Formula™.

Max Endurance™ is an amino acid formulation that is critical for those that engage in sweaty, super intense aerobics. Loaded with potassium and magnesium aspirate, Max Endurance Formula™ clears ammonia when a person is sweating profusely. Often waste products will turn into ammonia and when this occurs the body shuts down fat oxidation. This inability to clear waste products from the bloodstream essentially ends the beneficial aspects of the cardio session.  Easily corrected by taking 5-8 Max Endurance™ capsules before aerobics, the combination of Advanced Lipotropic™ and Max Endurance™ is considered the ultimate fat-burning combination by elite bodybuilders. Don’t forget CapTri®: elite bodybuilders will whittle down starch carb intake as a contest nears and the smart bodybuilder replaces these “lost” starch calories with CapTri® calories, thereby preserving hard-earned muscle. This three way Parrillo lean-out stack, Advanced Lipotropic™, Max Endurance™ and CapTri® form the backbone, the trifecta, for those looking to melt fat while retaining muscle. Be advised that it is all meaningless unless the bodybuilder/athlete is training like a maniac and dieting with
discipline.

Vic Steele,

I hear a lot of talk about Romanian deadlifts as a back builder – what is your opinion? I see some guys in the gym doing so-called Romanian’s and this exercise looks awkward and a bit dangerous. I have done some regular deadlifts – nothing too heavy, say 250 for 5 reps and was wondering if Romanian deadlifts are superior or inferior for bodybuilding back-building purposes.

                                                                                                       Jimmy, Virginia Beach 

I hate the so-called Romanian deadlift because they have become an excuse to perform improper deadlifts using awful technique. Ideally a properly performed Romanian deadlift is an OK exercise: the correct technique is to stand erect with a barbell and with the knees semi-flexed, bend forward at the waist, keeping the spine straight and the back muscles flexed. Lower the barbell until the plates lightly touch the floor, at which point the lifter reverses direction and slowly comes erect using the spinal erectors alone to power the raising and lowering. On a 1 to 10 scale, I would rank standard deadlifts as a 10 as they are the ultimate back exercise; I would rank a properly performed Romanian as a 7 because done right they are a splendid spinal erector isolation exercise. Unfortunately what has happened is any regular deadlift done with terrible technique is erroneously labeled a Romanian deadlift. The vast majority of trainees have no earthly idea what a correctly performed RDL looks like; so when some wise guys says a lousy deadlift is a Romanian deadlift everyone nods in stupid agreement. There is no more beneficial back exercise than a righteously performed regular deadlift: erectors, upper and lower lats, traps, rhomboids, teres, hips and even upper thighs are strongly stimulated by this, the undisputed King of all back exercises. There is nothing more dangerous and injurious than an improperly performed deadlift: more disc and spine injuries have occurred doing bad deadlifts than any other single exercise. Performing a terrible deadlift and slickly and erroneously calling it a Romanian deadlift is legitimizing bad deadlift technique and setting you up for a career-ending injury: a blown or ruptured disc. Forget all about the so-called Romanian deadlift and concentrate all your efforts at learning how to do a proper conventional deadlift.  By learning the multiple-muscle stimulating regular deadlift, as opposed to a properly performed erector-only Romanian deadlift, your back development will improve dramatically while keeping your spinal column safe.

It seems Parrillo has a lot of different types and kinds of bars – it’s all pretty confusing. How are Sport Nutrition Bars™ different from Protein Bars™ or Energy Bars™ or Protein Chew Bars™ or High Protein Low Net Carb Bars™? I have been using the Energy Bars™ exclusively and mainly because I love the taste of Graham Cracker. Am I missing out? I am trying to shed about 15 pounds of body fat while hanging on to my considerable muscle. I have built a lot of mass over the years.

With a little bit of trimming up, I could look pretty good and just in time for beach season this summer. Should I switch out to another bar type? Could you outline which bar types are best for different situations? BTW – I loved the amino acid breakdown in the last issue – I bought a big jar of Liver Amino Formula™ and began firing down a half dozen with each meal – it made a hell of a difference in how long I was able to train and how long I was able to hold my muscle pumps. Later!

Ted C., Jacksonville

No need for any confusion: frankly there is no bar choice that is going to undermine what you are doing – it’s not like continuing to eat the Graham Cracker Energy Bar™ is going to prevent you from attaining your goal of melting off 15 pounds of fat while retaining muscle mass; this assumes you are doing everything else right. Having said that, John (Parrillo) formulated the different bars with different intentions; here is a handy guide for generalized Parrillo bar usage…

Parrillo Bar™

• Calories: 250
• Protein: 11 grams
• Carbs: 37 grams
• Fat (CapTri®): 5 grams

Contains no sucrose or fructose, this bar provides a hi-carb, moderate protein source of fuel that won’t convert to body fat. Perfect for mid-afternoon pick-me-ups in the office or anytime you feel dragged out. Never miss a meal again on account of life’s unforeseen events or circumstances: keep these at the office or in the glove box of your vehicle.

Parrillo Energy Bar™

• Calories: 240
• Protein: 14 grams
• Carbs: 35 grams
• Fat (CapTri®): 5 grams

This bar formulation was designed to create and promote energy: slow-release carbohydrate in the form of rice dextrin allows the athlete to power through workouts. This workhorse bar comes in seven flavors and has been the bar of choice of the elite for decades. Use mid-morning, pre-workout or post-cardio; portable nutrition in a wrapper.

Parrillo Protein Bar™

• Calories: 230
• Protein: 20 grams
• Carbs: 30 grams
• Fat (CapTri®): 3 grams

Since its introduction, this bar formulation has proven to be a runaway hit, particularly among competitive bodybuilders. With its perfect 60-40 ratio of protein to carbs, this protein powerhouse (20 grams of high BV protein) comes in nine flavors and is perfect as a post-workout replenishment or as a mid-meal snack to keep you anabolic.

Parrillo High Protein Bar™

• Calories: 150
• Protein: 23 grams
• Net Carbs: 1 gram
• Fat (CapTri®): 5 grams

This bar contains a scant 150 calories and through the use of erythritol, only 1 gram of the 18 carb grams listed is utilized by the body: the bottom line is you get 20+ grams of protein with only 1 net gram of carb., This makes the High Protein Bar™ the perfect bar for a hard dieter seeking to become as lean as possible and trying to limit carb intake.

Parrillo Chew Bar™

• Calories: 180
• Protein: 20 grams
• Carbs: 19 grams
• Fat (CapTri®): 2.5 grams

This latest Parrillo bar product comes in ten flavors and has a 50-50 balance between protein and carbs. The unique aspect of the Parrillo Chew Bar™ is the chewiness: each bite requires considerable chewing and this toffee-like characteristic is loved by dieters trying to overcome a sweet tooth. The Chew Bar™ contains a mere 180 calories.

Okay, there you have it, a bar-by-bar breakdown. The idea is to find a bar that suits a specific purpose. What are your physique and performance goals? Everyone should have a short and long term goal. The idea is to sync up the physical goal with a bar type. Are you looking to add ten pounds of mass over the next 3-6 months? The obvious choices would be to select the higher calorie Parrillo Sports Nutrition Bar™, Parrillo Protein Bar™ or the Parrillo Energy Bars™. Looking to lean out? How about switching to the Parrillo High Protein/Low Net Carb Bar™ or the Parrillo Chew Bar™? Want a post-workout replenishment snack to eat on the way home from the gym? The Parrillo Protein Bar™ with its 60-40 protein carb ratio or the low calorie Parrillo Chew Bar™ with its 50-50 ratio of protein to carbs would be impossible to top. If you are a dieter trying to beat a sweet tooth any Parrillo bar would be the perfect way to morph from eating candy and sweets to eating anabolism-inducing bars that satisfy sweet cravings and are actually good for you. Figure out your goal and match up the bar type with the goal.

Vic Steele,

Do you really think that Parrillo Fascia stretching is worth doing? How can I learn to do the right stretches for the right muscles? How long are you supposed to hold them for? What kind of results are you supposed to get? I am curious, but a little dubious if I can work them into my workouts. I am an intermediate guy that would like to enter a bodybuilding competition in the next year or two.

Jason, NYC

Parrillo Fascia Stretching is more than just “worth doing,” Parrillo Fascia stretching is critical. Here is why: each and every muscle on the exterior of your body is surrounded by a sheath of membrane, a casing similar to the casing that surrounds a link of sausage. On some people this casing, fascia, is relatively loose. On other people this sausage casing fascia is tough as canvas. Obviously if the fascia covering the muscles is (genetically) loose and pliable, then muscle expansion will be relatively easy. Arnold has loose fascia and at his peak when he would flex a muscle it would explode! If you are cursed with tight, restrictive muscle fascia, expanding muscle size and growing larger muscles is problematic. John Parrillo invented a way to stretch and loosen muscle fascia, making muscle expansion much easier. Parrillo Fascia Stretching is part of a three-part procedure that is still used: pump a muscle, stretch that same muscle, now flex the muscle. This three-phase approach provides the ultimate in muscle growth.

If you were working the chest muscles with heavy dumbbell presses, you would perform a set of benches and as soon as the set was completed you would perform an intense “doorway stretch” or the more advanced “skin the cat” stretch. These stretches are designed to stretch the pectoral muscles. Hold the fascia stretch for a full ten seconds. Make sure that the stretch hits the target muscle precisely (you can feel it.) The instant the stretch is concluded, flex the pectoral muscles and flex them hard, to the point of cramping. Use a most muscular pose. The dumbbell bench press pumps and expands the chest muscles, the fascia stretch forcibly loosens the constrictive sausage casing that surrounds the pecs; the most muscular pose pushes expanding muscle tissue into newly loosened fascia. One, two, three – this proprietary procedure, done on each and every set of each and every workout, weeks and months on end, will loosen the most restrictive of fascia. Fascia stretching actually enables the bodybuilder to exceed genetic limitations. Without repeated and consistent fascia stretching, the bodybuilder would be unable to surpass a certain level of physical development: with consistent fascia stretching that same bodybuilder will be able to grow 10% larger. Check out the Parrillo Workout Manual for specific fascia stretches.

Iron Vic,

I had a guy tell me that strength training for mixed martial arts was overrated. His theory was a guy like BJ Penn doesn’t have any muscle to speak of. It is highly doubtful BJ Penn could bench press 200 pounds – yet he is the greatest MMA fighter under 160 pounds in history. My friend said look at Royce Gracie – could Royce deadlift 300? I doubt it – it was a tough argument to counter; so I thought I’d write you and see how you would have shut up this beer-fueled barfly.

Ronnie, Dallas

Ask this guy this: if size and strength don’t matter, then how come they have weight classes? How come they don’t have the muscle-less wonder, BJ Penn (who I love), fight 270+ pound monsters like Brock or Shane Corwin? Think about it: BJ would have better cardio than Brock or Shane; BJ would certainly have greater skills; BJ would be quicker, faster, have superior hand speed and be far more agile. In the all around sense, BJ is in far better shape than either of the two giants – yet, were they to fight, it would be a massacre, manslaughter, possibly murder. Why? While Penn might possess better fight skills and better conditioning, he would lack two critical athletic attributes: strength and power. Notice I did not say size. If BJ were to fight some average Joe off the street that weighed 270, BJ would undoubtedly beat a normal 270 pound guy easily. His skills and speed would overcome pure size – size without the overwhelming strength a Brock or Shane would possess. The trained giant; big, fit, skilled and powerful beyond BJs wildest imagining, would simply wade through whatever punches and kicks Penn threw, grab the 150 pound man like a sack of light groceries and fling him like a rag doll or body slam him, or toss him 20 feet through the air; or perhaps punch or kick him with a force equal to being hit with a steel pipe. Fight experts know that a good big man whips a good little man every single time – if all other athletic attributes are roughly equal. This is why we have weight classes. You mentioned Royce Gracie and I think it fair to point out that the man who really beat Royce up, beat him really badly and really hurt him was Matt Hughes. Hughes simply overpowered and manhandled the way weaker Gracie. Hughes pointed out a serious flaw in Royce’s game: physical weakness. Royce must have come to the same conclusion: he flunked a steroid test a few years back after Hughes demolished him: taking steroids is all about getting bigger and stronger. Royce must have figured he was sadly lacking in that department and needed some help.

Vic,

My traps and neck are skinny as a Turkey neck. How do you build up these power muscles? I have a good physique (6 foot, 180) but lack any semblance of a ‘power look.’ I have noticed that the guys with big necks always seem to have big traps. This gives them a look of power. Do I have to wear one of those weird neck harnesses to build a big neck? My collar size is 15 and truthfully my dress shirts don’t fit very tight.

Turkey-neck Tom, Detroit

No need to break out the neck harness. Actually you have it backwards: guys with big necks didn’t get them by doing neck work, they got them doing trap work. There is a physiological term called innervations that means doing work on a muscle next to another muscle causes both of them to grow. This strategy is used by sport medicine doctors, physical therapists and elite coaches to help injured athletes train around an injury. If, for example, you have suffered a severe pectoral pull (in the left pec) a savvy rehab specialist might have the injured athlete train the deltoid next to the pulled pec and train the left tricep and left bicep. Ditto left side lats and rhomboids. They will have the injured athlete perform one-arm bench presses for the opposite, uninjured right pec. By training all the muscles surrounding the injured pec muscle, the injured muscle is actually stimulated without being worked. Guys who do a lot of trap work always have big necks despite not doing any direct neck work – how and why? Innervations. Work the hell out of the traps to build a big neck. Here are my top four trap builders in order of effectiveness.

1. Power cleans: the Mac Daddy of trap developers. Tricky and dangerous. Flipping the wrists over and catching a barbell pulled high can be problematic. Start light and make sure technique is solid before adding poundage. Make haste slowly.

2. High pulls: a power clean without flipping over the wrist. The bar has to be pulled to belt height. While not as effective as the power clean, this is a solid second place finisher amongst trap and neck-building exercises.

3. Deadlifts: deadlifts stimulate the hell out of the traps and therefore will build a powerful neck. A proper deadlift requires traps contract mightily at the conclusion in order to pull the barbell into final lockout position. Five reps sets are the best.

4. Shrugs: A poor 4th place finisher, this favorite of the bodybuilder crowd is pretty weak and inefficient compared to the extended ranges-of-motion and dynamism of the first three exercises. The range-of-motion used on a barbell shrug is insufficient to stimulate the traps to the degree cleans and pulls and deadlifts do.

My suggestion is this: once a week try this innervations trap/neck specialization routine. Keep it up for a few months…Start off with 2-3 sets of power cleans, pull the bar high and rack the weight cleanly. 5-rep sets are perfect. After power cleans, add poundage and continue on with 2-3 sets of high pulls. Make sure and pull the poundage to belly button height on each and every rep of each and every set. Again, 5-rep sets rule. Now add more weight and finish with 2-3 sets of deadlifts: you guessed it, 5-rep sets. After this shattering workout, drink a double serving of Parrillo patented 50/50 Plus™, the ultimate post-workout replenishment shake. I would also down a handful of Parrillo Muscle Amino™ capsules. These are loaded with branched-chain amino acids, the body’s building blocks for rebuilding and refurbishing battered and blasted muscles. A handful of Parrillo Liver Amino Formula™ tablets complete this post-workout supplementation blitzkrieg: each liver tabs contains 1.5 grams of high BV protein and tons of blood-enriching, recovery-accelerating heme iron. Each successive week push the poundage up in the three exercises. Keep this up for three straight months and your 15 inch turkey neck will morph into a 17-18 inch bull neck. Buy some new shirts.