[h=1]Training Secrets of the Mr. Olympias - Part 1[/h]
The Mr. Olympia title represents the pinnacle of achievement in the sport of bodybuilding. Beginning in 1965, one man was chosen to represent the absolute best in muscular development in the entire world. It’s only natural that bodybuilders around the world, seeking to improve their own physiques and aspiring to greatness, would look to these men as role models on how to sculpt their own bodies and bring them closer and closer to perfection. Based on their in-the-trenches experiences we’ve gathered 50 excellent training tips from six Mr. Olympia champions with a total of 34 Olympia titles between them. Take their combined wisdom and use it to forge your own destiny in iron and muscle! In the first part of a three-part series we focus on Jay Cutler and Dorian Yates. Part 2 will be posted Wednesday, Nov 16, and the final part will be posted on Monday, November 21.
JAY CUTLER
Mr. Olympia 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010
Chin-ups build your back. “Plain and simple, chin-ups are the best exercise you can do for your back, in my opinion. I was quite humbled at how bad I was at pull-ups when I tried them again after years of not including them. It’s not so much a strength issue, because I can pull a ton of weight on a lat pulldown any time. But with chins, or pull-ups, there’s a technique to it that requires a bit of a learning curve and a good deal of practice before you get it down. I do them at every back workout now.”
Forget about how many plates are on the bar. “Back is one muscle group where too many guys get all hung up on how much weight they use. They think because Dorian rowed over 400 and Ronnie was doing 500 in his video, that’s what they should use to get a huge back. But 99 times out of 100, these guys are just yanking the weight up and letting it drop, and getting almost no stimulation in the lats at all. They would be so much better off forgetting about how many stupid plates are on the bar and focusing on what they feel in their backs during the set.”
Do an isolation movement first. “Many times, I do lateral raises first on shoulder day to get a good pump going in the medial heads of my delts as well as for a pre-exhaust effect. I really believe that a pumped muscle responds better to heavy weights, and that you’ll feel the compound movement that much better if you do an isolation movement first.”
For impressive shoulders, develop your rear lats. “Fully developed rear delts are a little-known secret for having very impressive shoulders. Whenever you’re seen from the side in the quarter-turns or the side chest or triceps poses, that extra development in the rear delts adds a whole other level of impressiveness to the shoulders that most bodybuilders are too blind to realize.”
Jay’s Back Workout, Circa 1992 – Age 18
Lat Pulldowns to Front 4 x 10
Pulldowns Behind the Neck 4 x 10
Close-grip Pulldowns 4 x 10
Seated Cable Rows 4 x 10
One-arm Dumbbell Rows 4 x 10
Barbell Rows 4 x 10
T-Bar Rows 4 x 10
Jay’s Back Workout as Mr. Olympia
Lat Pulldowns (standard or reverse-grip) 3-4 x 8-10
Deadlifts* 4 x 8-10
One-arm Dumbbell Rows 3 x 8-10
Barbell Rows** 3 x 8-10
T-Bar Rows 3 x 8-10
Seated Cable Rows 4 x 8-10
Standing Cable Pullovers Using Rope (FST-7 “Sevens”) 7 x 8-10
*Done at every other back workout.
**Alternates overhand and underhand from workout to workout.
Challenge yourself with the weight. “I really don’t think high reps are the best way to build mass in the legs. I’ve seen the best results by sticking with eight to 12 reps, but doing a lot of overall volume. Your legs can take a lot of abuse. You walk around on them all day. You want to challenge yourself with the weight, and don’t be afraid to do a lot of sets. It takes me two hours to train quads and hams, and I don’t rest much at all. I want to keep the blood flowing and a pump going that whole time.”
Make sure the muscle is doing the work, and not momentum. “Guys get caught up all the time with using as much weight as they can, but they usually end up either not using a full range of motion, cheating the weight up, or both. It really doesn’t matter how much weight you use. It’s about getting nice, full contractions and stretches on all your reps. That’s why I’ll do things like pause in the hole when I squat for a second or two before driving back up, and slowing my negatives down so I feel the quads or hams stretching as I lower the weight. You recruit a lot more muscle fibers this way, and you make sure the muscle is doing the work, and not momentum. I don’t use more than 405 on squats, which some people like to knock me for, but I get a lot out of every rep. If you’re using a ton of weight but not feeling the quads and hams work and you don’t get a pump, you’re not getting much out of your leg workouts.”
Jay’s Leg Routine
Leg Extensions 4 x 12 (as warm-up)
45-degree Leg Press 2 x 12-15 (warm-up), 4 x 10
Hack Squats 4 x 10
Leg Extensions 4 x 12
Smith Machine Squats 4 x 10
Vertical Leg Press 3 x 10
Seated Leg Curls 4 x 10
Single Leg Curls 4 x 10
Lying Leg Curls 4 x 10-12
Stiff-leg Deadlifts 4 x 10
Jay’s Chest Workout
Incline Dumbbell Press 2 warm-ups of 12-15, 3 x 10-12
Flat Smith Machine Press 3 x 10-12
Incline Dumbbell Flyes 3 x 10-12
Decline Barbell Press 3 x 10-12
Dumbbell Pullovers 3 x 12
Dumbbell pullovers for a bigger chest. “I’ve always done dumbbell pullovers, all these years. I really do believe they can help stretch out your chest and allow for more growth if you do them with a good pump in your pecs.”
Keep your chest high when pressing. “Two major technique adjustments helped me improve my chest thickness. One was to keep an arch in my back when I did any type of press. I found that I had to get my chest up higher than my shoulders, or else my delts would always take over the movement. I would say to myself, chest high, chest high, as a reminder of the position I needed to maintain during the set. The other adjustment was limiting the range of motion a bit on presses. When I used to touch the bar to my chest, I could feel my shoulders and triceps working to get it moving back up again, not my chest. I found that if I stopped short an inch or two, I could keep the tension on my pecs and I felt them doing a lot more of the work.”
DORIAN YATES
Mr. Olympia 1992-1997
Barbell, machine or cable rows are better than T-bar rows. “I never liked T-bar rows, as the plates hitting your chest cuts down on the range of motion compared to a barbell row. Some have suggested using smaller plates, 25s instead of 45s, to increase the range of motion. The problem you will run into there if you have decent pulling strength is that you will run out of room on the end of the bar, before you have enough resistance to truly challenge yourself. The T-bar also tends to put more strain on the lower back. So I would stick with barbell rows, a good machine row like Hammer Strength or cable rows.”
High-intensity training triggers muscle growth. “I consider the type of training I did and still advocate to be high-intensity training (HIT). So what is HIT? Anyone can have their own definition and keep it as specific and narrow as they like, but to me, HIT simply acknowledges that the relative intensity of exercise is the key trigger to muscle growth. This extremely intense training needs to be balanced with rest and recovery, so respect has to be given to limiting training frequency and volume. Does that mean one set per exercise, or two, etc.? That’s all up for debate. All I can say is that I experienced excellent results with my own variation of HIT, and so have many others. If people want to argue forever about whose type of HIT is the ‘one true way,’ that’s all well and good. To me, it’s just not something I’m concerned with.”
Your heart’s got to be in the game. “I always saw training as a physical, mental and spiritual challenge. You really can’t separate those three elements to it. To push yourself like that, you’ve got to see it like that. If you do it more for your ego, fame or glory, you’re not going to be able to go there. And you sure won’t rise to the very top and stay there, either. That’s why I didn’t sweat about some of my competitors posing out in the Venice sun with their pimped-out cars and fitness model girlfriends. Their hearts were never really in the game, and that’s how I beat them all, even when they had better genetics.”
Try different exercises. “I never attempted singles as I wasn’t powerlifting, but I can give you examples of some poundages I used for six to eight reps in my workouts. I did decline presses with 515 pounds, incline barbells with 440, bent rows with 440 also, leg-pressed 1,500 and did seated dumbbell presses with 160s. I didn’t do free-weight squats or bench presses past my first few years of training, as I found I got better results from other movements. Powerlifters have no choice. They have to do bench presses and squats, but bodybuilders always have options. I always did deadlifts at the end of my back workout, so I never needed to go any heavier than 500 pounds.”
Genetics play a role in calf development. “I relied on two exercises for calves: standing calf raises done as heavy as possible to failure for 10-12 reps, and seated raises for six to eight reps. All my reps were absolute full range. I would rise up high on my toes for a full contraction, and let my heels lower down for a full stretch. I worked up to around 1,500 pounds on standing raises most of the time. I haven’t trained calves at all now for over seven years, and they are still better than most of the current pros, so genetics do play a big role.”
Allow for adequate recovery. “One concept to always keep in mind is that the process of muscle growth happens only when a muscle has been stimulated via intense stress, such as would occur with intense weight training, and then the muscle is allowed time for adequate recovery and overcompensation. If you train too often, that vital last stage of overcompensation (growth) never occurs.”
Do multi-joint movements like squats and deadlifts. “The most effective exercises for stimulating muscle growth are multi-joint movements like squats, bench presses, deadlifts, chin-ups and dips. The musculature of the human body was never meant to work in isolation. All the compound movements put a great deal of stress on the belly of the muscle in the mid-range of motion, which is usually their sticking point as well.”
Increased volume won’t increase muscle growth. “A very popular misconception that has been around for many decades is that increasing volume is the most effective means of stimulating muscle growth. If that were the case, you wouldn’t need heavy weights and you wouldn’t need to train to failure. That begs the question: how many sets should you do? If three sets are better than one, why not do 10 sets, 20, 50 or 100 sets? Training with a very high volume demands light loads and low intensity, and it won’t stimulate muscle growth.”
The Mr. Olympia title represents the pinnacle of achievement in the sport of bodybuilding. Beginning in 1965, one man was chosen to represent the absolute best in muscular development in the entire world. It’s only natural that bodybuilders around the world, seeking to improve their own physiques and aspiring to greatness, would look to these men as role models on how to sculpt their own bodies and bring them closer and closer to perfection. Based on their in-the-trenches experiences we’ve gathered 50 excellent training tips from six Mr. Olympia champions with a total of 34 Olympia titles between them. Take their combined wisdom and use it to forge your own destiny in iron and muscle! In the first part of a three-part series we focus on Jay Cutler and Dorian Yates. Part 2 will be posted Wednesday, Nov 16, and the final part will be posted on Monday, November 21.
JAY CUTLER
Mr. Olympia 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010
Chin-ups build your back. “Plain and simple, chin-ups are the best exercise you can do for your back, in my opinion. I was quite humbled at how bad I was at pull-ups when I tried them again after years of not including them. It’s not so much a strength issue, because I can pull a ton of weight on a lat pulldown any time. But with chins, or pull-ups, there’s a technique to it that requires a bit of a learning curve and a good deal of practice before you get it down. I do them at every back workout now.”
Forget about how many plates are on the bar. “Back is one muscle group where too many guys get all hung up on how much weight they use. They think because Dorian rowed over 400 and Ronnie was doing 500 in his video, that’s what they should use to get a huge back. But 99 times out of 100, these guys are just yanking the weight up and letting it drop, and getting almost no stimulation in the lats at all. They would be so much better off forgetting about how many stupid plates are on the bar and focusing on what they feel in their backs during the set.”
Do an isolation movement first. “Many times, I do lateral raises first on shoulder day to get a good pump going in the medial heads of my delts as well as for a pre-exhaust effect. I really believe that a pumped muscle responds better to heavy weights, and that you’ll feel the compound movement that much better if you do an isolation movement first.”
For impressive shoulders, develop your rear lats. “Fully developed rear delts are a little-known secret for having very impressive shoulders. Whenever you’re seen from the side in the quarter-turns or the side chest or triceps poses, that extra development in the rear delts adds a whole other level of impressiveness to the shoulders that most bodybuilders are too blind to realize.”
Lat Pulldowns to Front 4 x 10
Pulldowns Behind the Neck 4 x 10
Close-grip Pulldowns 4 x 10
Seated Cable Rows 4 x 10
One-arm Dumbbell Rows 4 x 10
Barbell Rows 4 x 10
T-Bar Rows 4 x 10
Jay’s Back Workout as Mr. Olympia
Lat Pulldowns (standard or reverse-grip) 3-4 x 8-10
Deadlifts* 4 x 8-10
One-arm Dumbbell Rows 3 x 8-10
Barbell Rows** 3 x 8-10
T-Bar Rows 3 x 8-10
Seated Cable Rows 4 x 8-10
Standing Cable Pullovers Using Rope (FST-7 “Sevens”) 7 x 8-10
*Done at every other back workout.
**Alternates overhand and underhand from workout to workout.
Challenge yourself with the weight. “I really don’t think high reps are the best way to build mass in the legs. I’ve seen the best results by sticking with eight to 12 reps, but doing a lot of overall volume. Your legs can take a lot of abuse. You walk around on them all day. You want to challenge yourself with the weight, and don’t be afraid to do a lot of sets. It takes me two hours to train quads and hams, and I don’t rest much at all. I want to keep the blood flowing and a pump going that whole time.”
Make sure the muscle is doing the work, and not momentum. “Guys get caught up all the time with using as much weight as they can, but they usually end up either not using a full range of motion, cheating the weight up, or both. It really doesn’t matter how much weight you use. It’s about getting nice, full contractions and stretches on all your reps. That’s why I’ll do things like pause in the hole when I squat for a second or two before driving back up, and slowing my negatives down so I feel the quads or hams stretching as I lower the weight. You recruit a lot more muscle fibers this way, and you make sure the muscle is doing the work, and not momentum. I don’t use more than 405 on squats, which some people like to knock me for, but I get a lot out of every rep. If you’re using a ton of weight but not feeling the quads and hams work and you don’t get a pump, you’re not getting much out of your leg workouts.”
Leg Extensions 4 x 12 (as warm-up)
45-degree Leg Press 2 x 12-15 (warm-up), 4 x 10
Hack Squats 4 x 10
Leg Extensions 4 x 12
Smith Machine Squats 4 x 10
Vertical Leg Press 3 x 10
Seated Leg Curls 4 x 10
Single Leg Curls 4 x 10
Lying Leg Curls 4 x 10-12
Stiff-leg Deadlifts 4 x 10
Jay’s Chest Workout
Incline Dumbbell Press 2 warm-ups of 12-15, 3 x 10-12
Flat Smith Machine Press 3 x 10-12
Incline Dumbbell Flyes 3 x 10-12
Decline Barbell Press 3 x 10-12
Dumbbell Pullovers 3 x 12
Dumbbell pullovers for a bigger chest. “I’ve always done dumbbell pullovers, all these years. I really do believe they can help stretch out your chest and allow for more growth if you do them with a good pump in your pecs.”
Keep your chest high when pressing. “Two major technique adjustments helped me improve my chest thickness. One was to keep an arch in my back when I did any type of press. I found that I had to get my chest up higher than my shoulders, or else my delts would always take over the movement. I would say to myself, chest high, chest high, as a reminder of the position I needed to maintain during the set. The other adjustment was limiting the range of motion a bit on presses. When I used to touch the bar to my chest, I could feel my shoulders and triceps working to get it moving back up again, not my chest. I found that if I stopped short an inch or two, I could keep the tension on my pecs and I felt them doing a lot more of the work.”
DORIAN YATES
Mr. Olympia 1992-1997
Barbell, machine or cable rows are better than T-bar rows. “I never liked T-bar rows, as the plates hitting your chest cuts down on the range of motion compared to a barbell row. Some have suggested using smaller plates, 25s instead of 45s, to increase the range of motion. The problem you will run into there if you have decent pulling strength is that you will run out of room on the end of the bar, before you have enough resistance to truly challenge yourself. The T-bar also tends to put more strain on the lower back. So I would stick with barbell rows, a good machine row like Hammer Strength or cable rows.”
High-intensity training triggers muscle growth. “I consider the type of training I did and still advocate to be high-intensity training (HIT). So what is HIT? Anyone can have their own definition and keep it as specific and narrow as they like, but to me, HIT simply acknowledges that the relative intensity of exercise is the key trigger to muscle growth. This extremely intense training needs to be balanced with rest and recovery, so respect has to be given to limiting training frequency and volume. Does that mean one set per exercise, or two, etc.? That’s all up for debate. All I can say is that I experienced excellent results with my own variation of HIT, and so have many others. If people want to argue forever about whose type of HIT is the ‘one true way,’ that’s all well and good. To me, it’s just not something I’m concerned with.”
Try different exercises. “I never attempted singles as I wasn’t powerlifting, but I can give you examples of some poundages I used for six to eight reps in my workouts. I did decline presses with 515 pounds, incline barbells with 440, bent rows with 440 also, leg-pressed 1,500 and did seated dumbbell presses with 160s. I didn’t do free-weight squats or bench presses past my first few years of training, as I found I got better results from other movements. Powerlifters have no choice. They have to do bench presses and squats, but bodybuilders always have options. I always did deadlifts at the end of my back workout, so I never needed to go any heavier than 500 pounds.”
Genetics play a role in calf development. “I relied on two exercises for calves: standing calf raises done as heavy as possible to failure for 10-12 reps, and seated raises for six to eight reps. All my reps were absolute full range. I would rise up high on my toes for a full contraction, and let my heels lower down for a full stretch. I worked up to around 1,500 pounds on standing raises most of the time. I haven’t trained calves at all now for over seven years, and they are still better than most of the current pros, so genetics do play a big role.”
Allow for adequate recovery. “One concept to always keep in mind is that the process of muscle growth happens only when a muscle has been stimulated via intense stress, such as would occur with intense weight training, and then the muscle is allowed time for adequate recovery and overcompensation. If you train too often, that vital last stage of overcompensation (growth) never occurs.”
Increased volume won’t increase muscle growth. “A very popular misconception that has been around for many decades is that increasing volume is the most effective means of stimulating muscle growth. If that were the case, you wouldn’t need heavy weights and you wouldn’t need to train to failure. That begs the question: how many sets should you do? If three sets are better than one, why not do 10 sets, 20, 50 or 100 sets? Training with a very high volume demands light loads and low intensity, and it won’t stimulate muscle growth.”
