Calipers
Bodybuilding is the art and science of altering the human body. To be successful, the bodybuilder needs to find a system, a method of training and nutrition that enables him or her to accomplish two things: add more muscle and reduce body fat. Within the world of bodybuilding and fitness, “experts” abound and each and every one has a different tactical approach on how best to morph the body from what it is – fat and flaccid or skinny and needing muscle – into what the client/student wants it to be: more muscular and fat free. Experts seek ways and methods to differentiate themselves from their competitors. In order for a fitness professional to become a guru they will champion a certain way of performing exercises. In order to create interest in their approach they will challenge the validity of existing modes and systems, accusing them of being outdated and ineffective.
Experts need to disparage existing systems otherwise they cannot attract new business. They need to compel clientele to pick the newest and latest over older more established systems. John Parrillo has been the benchmark for bodybuilding effectiveness and sophistication for over thirty years. Parrillo is the Mac Daddy of bodybuilding gurus and has orchestrated the transformation of thousands of students. His comprehensive approach is so broad, so well thought-out, so intricate and nuanced that it baffles and mystifies the competition. They try and dismiss his approach as overly complex and unnecessarily intricate when factually Parrillo’s approach is logical, scientific, grounded in biology and tempered with the cold realism that comes from transforming legions of people.
The oldest debating trick in the book is when you don’t have the facts on your side you resort to emotional attacks. This is designed to distract the audience from the cold truth. Every month for the past thirty years the Parrillo Performance Press has spotlighted individuals from all walks of life – champion athletes, housewives, regular folks with families and responsibilities, teenagers, people over age 40, 50 and 60, professional and amateur bodybuilders, strength athletes – all manner and type of individuals, all of whom have radically and rapidly transformed their physiques using Parrillo methods and Parrillo Products. The Parrillo System is a work in progress; not fossilized or frozen. The Parrillo approach is continually evolving and continually incorporates new wrinkles and twists, making subtle changes and adjustments, based upon the latest scientific and empirical data. Periodically it is important to outline the various aspects of the Parrillo approach in order to grasp its breathtaking breadth and comprehensiveness. The basic Parrillo procedures have been in place for decades – yet John Parrillo continues to innovate, refine and update what is already the most effective system of body modification on the face of the planet. If you want to melt off fat fast, if you seek to add significant amounts of muscle and do both in the shortest possible period of time – embrace, enact and come to understand the Parrillo System in all its grand
totality!
Parrillo Progressive Resistance Training: The essential element of the Parrillo Philosophy is resistance training and John’s approach towards building muscle is as revolutionary today as it was when it was first introduced back in 1976. John has always stressed that in order to trigger muscle growth (the goal of weight training) it is critical to take a targeted muscle past its current capacity. Easy weight training is worthless weight training. When examining Parrillo progressive resistance procedures, one is struck with how intensely and completely a targeted muscle is attacked. Every workout begins with a Parrillo Intensity Set. This procedure calls for the trainee to take a light initial poundage and “make it feel heavier” by exerting great muscular tension while using perfect technique over an extended range of motion. The Intensity Set ‘sets the table’ for all subsequent sets of that particular exercise. Parrillo instructs the trainee to ‘pyramid up’ to a low rep ‘top set’ that culminates in a 1 to 5 rep set. The low rep top set is designed to attack muscle fibers deep within the target muscle. The poundage is then lowered and the repetitions radically increased (using the same exercise) in order to attack a different set of fibers while triggering a different set of energy and nerve pathways. The intenseness of the higher rep sets are further “jacked-up” through the use of time-honored procedures such as drop sets, forced reps and negatives. The target muscle is then blasted from different angles using different exercises. The Parrillo progressive resistance strategy covers all the bases: low rep sets for strength and power, high rep sets for muscle volume and size, intensity-boosting tactics to exhaust every single muscle fiber, 100-rep sets, Parrillo Giant Sets designed to reset Nature’s genetic limitations. The Parrillo 100-repetition Belt Squat procedure is the hallmark of intensity and designed to increase capillary density and open up high threshold nerve paths. The heavy overload sets are designed to reset the Golgi-tendon reflex trigger-point. Parrillo-style weight training remains the last word in muscle building.
Parrillo Fascial Stretching: John Parrillo coined the term “fascial stretching.” In between each and every set of progressive resistance training, John Parrillo insists his trainees perform a ‘fascial stretch.’ The stretch is specifically designed to target the same muscle blasted in the just completed weight training set. If, for example, the athlete is training the deltoids, between each set of seated dumbbell presses, the trainee would perform an intense shoulder stretch – perhaps the ‘skin-the-cat’ fascia stretch. The fascial shoulder stretch is designed to loosen and make elastic the fascial membrane that surrounds the deltoid muscle. Muscle fascia lies just below the skin and outlines and defines the outer boundary of every muscle. By continually stretching (and thereby loosening) the sausage-like fascia muscle casing, muscle growth is made easier. The three part Parrillo procedure is pure genius: pump the targeted muscle with an intense weight training exercise; immediately subject that same muscle to an intense fascia stretch. The final step in the patented three-part Parrillo Procedure is to pose the now pumped and stretched muscle – thereby sending muscle tissue into the newly loosened and enlarged fascia. Pump, stretch, flex, pump, stretch, flex…this three-part procedure might be repeated as many as twenty times for a single muscle during a Parrillo workout. Over a protracted period of time the muscle fascia, repeatedly stretched, loosens to a dramatic degree. A Parrillo fascia stretch is not a tame toe-touch, or some easy stretch that might be taught in yoga class, these are purposefully intense stretches taken right to the edge of the pain threshold. John Parrillo invented the FxStretch devices to enable trainees to self-administer every conceivable fascia stretch. John has yet another version of fascia stretching: called “fascial plane-ing.” This torturous tactic promotes instantaneous muscle growth. Parrillo once used fascial planeing on an IFBB professional bodybuilder. Inside one hour John had increased the pro’s arm measurement by 1.25 inches over what it was at the session’s commencement!
Parrillo-style Aerobic Training: John Parrillo’s approach to cardiovascular training is as innovative, radical and revolutionary as his famed ‘three-part’ pump/stretch/pose procedure. Parrillo was the first bodybuilding expert to champion the inclusion of aerobics into the bodybuilding template. Up until he came along, the attitude of bodybuilders towards aerobic training was negative: aerobics were thought to ‘tear down muscle’ and any cardio training was purposefully avoided. Parrillo disagreed, stating that to the contrary, cardio, done properly, would actually allow the bodybuilder to grow larger. Just as John’s fascia stretching has nothing in common with gym class stretching, John’s aerobic training has nothing in common with the jogger mentality of mainstream aerobics. Instead of performing smooth and easy paced aerobics championed by cardio experts, Parrillo insists his stable of bodybuilders practice intense cardio exercise. His rationale was revolutionary: by performing aerobics that involved a significant degree of muscular effort, the working muscle would, over time, build more mitochondria within that muscle. John insisted his bodybuilders blast along at a pace just below the point where they ‘tie-up,’ go into oxygen debt and have to stop. He wanted his athletes to breathe hard, turning over oxygen as fast as possible. This requires injecting an element of muscular stress into aerobic exercise. While a jogger seeks to glide along at a smooth pace, Parrillo would rather have the bodybuilder sprint up a hill. This type of cardio, cardio combined with muscular exertion, builds mitochondria. More mitochondria mean more energy processing units are built within a muscle. This resulted in better nutrient uptake and utilization. Intense cardio causes the basal metabolic rate to increase dramatically and keeps it elevated for hours after the cardio session has ended. Aerobics that require muscular effort burns tons of calories while building endurance. More endurance enables the athlete to engage in longer sessions and ultimately results in a larger, leaner, fitter bodybuilder.
Parrillo Nutrition: John Parrillo is the Godfather of modern bodybuilding nutrition. Until he appeared on the scene, bodybuilders were alternately gorging themselves in the off-season, using insane ‘bulk up’ tactics, before starving themselves, living on fish and water, in the final weeks leading up to a competition. Bodybuilders might gain fifty pounds in the off-season and 50% of that would be body fat. The accepted nutritional strategy of the day was to alternate bulk-up periods with starvation periods. Parrillo presented a better way: gain quality size by eating massive amounts of calories – but obtain these calories from foods that were nearly impossible to end up ‘compartmentalized’ as body fat. The classical ‘Parrillo Meal’ was a three-part combination: a lean protein portion plus a fibrous and starchy carbohydrate portion. Saturated fat was reduced to no more than 5% of daily caloric intake. Meals or ‘supplement meals’ were consumed 5 to 8 times per day. This continual stoking of the body with quality calories derived from beneficial nutrients resulted in another revolutionary premise: the human metabolism could be ‘built.’ This bedrock Parrillo Nutritional Principle offered up the idea that the human metabolism could be beneficially manipulated: by consuming foods that caused the metabolism to elevate, by consuming these foods every 2-3 waking hours, the body could be ‘taught’ to handle ever and ever greater amounts of calories. These ‘clean’ calories would cause the metabolism to operate in a state of continual elevation. An elevated metabolism allows a person to consume a massive amount of calories without getting fat. In addition, body fat could be more readily mobilized and oxidized when the metabolic thermostat was reset to a higher level. The use of specific foods eaten in specific amounts at specific times was augmented by the addition of powerful, all natural nutritional supplements, supplements designed specifically by John Parrillo.
Parrillo Nutritional Supplements: Nowhere has the Parrillo contribution to bodybuilding been more profound than in the area of bodybuilding nutritional supplementation. John Parrillo began manufacturing nutritional supplements in order to provide his ever-growing stable of competitive athletes the quality products they needed. At the time, potent supplements were hard to come by; the industry produced commercial products that were loaded with sugar to disguise the off taste of substandard raw ingredients. Chemically-drenched fillers were used to bind together weak base nutrients. Parrillo obtained the finest nutrients and combined them without resorting to the use of sugars or toxic fillers and chemicals. He knew that potent, all natural products could make a huge difference. Parrillo Performance Products became the Rolls Royce of nutritional supplements. Ironically John supplied his potent products to many champion bodybuilders that publically endorsed other products. These professional bodybuilders would take endorsement money for products they did not use. When it came to their own competitive preparation, they turned to Parrillo products. John is a supplement innovator and has produced one revolutionary product after another. His flagship product, CapTri®, is illustrative of his genius. Needing a high calorie supplement that could be taken without creating body fat, John engaged in extensive research and discovered the many benefits of MCT oil. Medium-chain triglycerides, he discovered, had the caloric density of fat, almost 9 calories per gram, yet was absorbed by the body as if it was a carbohydrate. This discovery allowed him to create a product that could be drizzled over food meals, adding 100+ calories per tablespoon, without any chance of these calories being transformed into body fat. CapTri® represents but a single sliver of the Parrillo supplementation genius. His product innovations have kept Parrillo Performance Products on the absolute cutting edge of bodybuilding supplementation for decades.
Parrillo BodyStat Kit: Until John invented the Parrillo BodyStat System, bodybuilders intent on favorably altering their body composition had to rely on the bathroom scale, the mirror and the tape measure for monitoring progress. These crude tools were sadly lacking and the Parrillo solution was to create a nine-point skin-fold caliper test. This in and of itself was a radical innovation: at the time those few bodybuilders savvy enough to use calipers were content with three-point or five-point skin-fold testing. John dismissed this as insufficient and inadequate and devised the far more comprehensive nine-point testing method. Next he turned his attention to the calipers themselves. The calipers of the day tended to fall into one of two categories: ultra-expensive metal medical calipers (that could cost upwards of $200) or cheap, flimsy plastic calipers that gave wildly inaccurate readings and invariably fell apart after the first month. John acquired reasonably priced, sturdy, high-impact plastic calipers that were both durable and accurate. He designed the BodyStat Kit to empower bodybuilders to access and monitor changes in their muscle-to-body fat ratio on a weekly basis. This system revolutionized bodybuilding. Prior to BodyStat charting, the number of fitness facilities nationwide that administered body fat percentile testing as a regular part of a new member’s fitness evaluation could be counted on the fingers of one hand; within five years of the introduction of BodyStat, nine-point skin-fold caliper testing had become standard operating procedure for upscale clubs. Why fly blind? Why guess as to the effectiveness of your current training and nutritional program? With BodyStat charting the bodybuilder can determine each week if they are gaining muscle, losing muscle, gaining body fat, losing body fat or staying the same. BodyStat charting has become the bodybuilder’s report card.
Parrillo & You: The totality, completeness, comprehensiveness and effectiveness of the Parrillo approach is beyond anything available anywhere. John’s revolutionary innovations can be seen and felt in every aspect of bodybuilding. His cutting edge approach to progressive resistance training, his innovative use of aerobics, his patented inclusion of intense fascial stretching into the bodybuilding protocol, and his nutritional system are the most widely copied (without attribution) in the world, his potent Parrillo Performance Products have set the standards for quality and purity for three decades. The invention of BodyStat Charting allowed the serious bodybuilder to accurately access what was truly happening in their body composition ratio. Put it all together and you have the most comprehensive and effective system of bodybuilding ever devised. No one can carry John’s gym bag when it comes to producing legions of radically transformed adherents. Best of all, now in his sixth decade, Parrillo is at the absolute peak of his awesome creative powers; each day he puzzles and ponders over the next step in the evolution of bodybuilding. He continually researches new products and ideas and is continually expanding his knowledge base through his ongoing work with the latest generation of hardcore bodybuilders. They say a rolling stone gathers no moss – in Parrillo’s case the rolling stone has been steadily gathering momentum for forty years and what was once a stone gathering no moss is now a bodybuilding avalanche!