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Lessons of the Mr. Olympia Champs
Wisdom You Can Use to Build Your Best Physique!
By Ron Harris
Lee Haney
“Stimulate, don’t annihilate”
If one lesson from Lee Haney will go down as his most valuable legacy to future generations of bodybuilders, this is it. We all have a tendency to think more is better, especially when it comes to training. The heavier weights we use, and the further past the point of regular momentary muscular failure we can push ourselves, the better our results will be. That prevailing notion was not only challenged but proven to be at least somewhat mistaken belief. Lee himself never trained as heavy as he could have. Though known to have the best-developed back of his generation, TotaLee Awesome rarely went any heavier than a 75 for one-arm dumbbell rows, or 185 for bent barbell rows. Rather than focus on the quantity of the weight, Lee paid attention to form and the quality of the muscular contractions. Lee didn’t train past failure, either. Most of the time, he stopped a rep or two short. Unlike his successor Dorian Yates, Lee did not believe in striving for the greatest degree of intensity possible. Haney believed that overuse of techniques like forced reps and rest-pause put a tremendous strain on the central nervous system or CNS, which could and would lead to overtraining as well as general fatigue and a compromised immune system. Lee felt that doing a higher volume of overall sets would accomplish the same results as the high-intensity style, but would do so in a safer manner that could be sustained in the long term. If the proof is in the pudding, then look no further than Lee’s 8 Sandow trophies. More importantly, consider that Lee never suffered a training injury. The real kicker is that Haney is almost 59 years old and has no chronic pain or mobility issues, unlike most of his peers and many current champions.
“If you can’t flex it, don’t carry it”
This was Lee’s second most famous catchphrase, and he didn’t just preach it – he practiced it as well. Since around World War II, it’s been standard procedure for bodybuilders to “bulk-up” in their off-season phases between contests. It’s never been uncommon for competitors to put on anywhere from 25 to 50 pounds after a show, all in the name of building new lean muscle tissue. Lee knew that the key word to pay attention to was “lean.” What was the point of gaining so much weight? Did it help the muscle-building process in any way? Was it healthy? And would gaining more scale weight have any direct relation to a higher stage weight? Haney felt the answer to all three of those questions was an emphatic “no!” “Stay within striking distance,” was Lee’s directive to his fellow iron brothers. Lee stressed that keeping in reasonably lean condition year-round was less stressful on all the systems of the body, and you would more accurately gauge progress and improvements or lack thereof, and getting into contest condition would never require going to any type of extremes. Lee competed at 242-252 pounds over his 8-year reign as Mr. Olympia, and stayed within 15 pounds of his contest weight year-round. His preps never required cranking out hours of cardio a day or subsisting on a caloric intake that would leave a waif famished. And at age 58, Lee still displays plenty of health and vitality.
Dorian Yates
Recovery Is Everything
To say that Dorian Yates revolutionized the way bodybuilders trained sounds like hyperbole, but it’s the truth. In the ‘70s, champions like Arnold trained twice a day, six days a week, taking only Sunday off to rest. Body parts were hit twice a week. By the ‘80s, the top men still trained twice a day, but after working the entire body over three days, they typically took a day off. This was the widely popular “three on, one off” system that Lee Haney and his contemporaries used. The status quo was to train each body part twice per week, with roughly 15-25 sets. This had been challenged by Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones and his protégé Mike Mentzer, but the idea of using higher intensity for briefer workouts never caught on. Bodybuilders are creatures of habit and resistant to change. They were afraid to train less, fretful that they would fail to gain or worse, shrink. When Dorian Yates came along and won his first Mr. Olympia title in 1992, the bodybuilding world wanted to know how he trained. And when he came back in 1993 with nearly 15 pounds more muscle, everybody wanted to do whatever it was he was doing. Having been a student and scholar of the sport before even embarking on his bodybuilding journey, Yates had been impressed with the writings of Jones and Mentzer, particularly in their views on intensity and recovery. Through experimentation on his own physique, Dorian determined that the best results occurred when a muscle group was attacked with blinding intensity for only a handful of sets, then left alone for a full week to recover and grow. He trained just four days a week, performing two all-out sets per exercise after warming up, later pared down to a solitary set. His training video Blood and Guts demonstrated his inhuman effort and laser focus in the gym, and it became a virtual bible for his many fans and followers around the world. Until then, no Mr. Olympia had trained so little in terms of frequency and volume, yet Yates set an entirely new standard for conditioned muscle mass. His stupendous results were enough to spur millions around the world to train in his high-intensity Blood and Guts style, spending less time in the gym training, and more time outside eating, resting, and growing. More than 20 years after he retired, Dorian’s lasting legacy remains an emphasis on proper rest and recovery that was barely an afterthought before he came along.
Intensity for Immensity
Arnold had spoken about intensity back in the ‘70s, but his definition was vague. It spoke in terms of doing reps past the point where you thought you couldn’t do anymore as separating the champions from the rest of the pack. It was Dorian Yates who would clearly explain what intensity truly meant. “Intensity, for our purposes, is defined by a percentage of momentary effort,” he said. “You want to do the most work possible in the shortest time period possible. That can be accomplished ideally in one set. Once you are doing 3 sets, 10 sets, or 100 sets; you are no longer giving the muscle that signal. It simply is not possible to put 100% effort into multiple sets of an exercise in the same workout. The threshold we are always aiming for is 100%, and lower percentages will yield lesser results, if any.” Had Dorian simply put these words down on paper, they would not have resonated with the bodybuilding world to any large extent. Instead, thanks to the aforementioned training video Blood and Guts, we were able to see total intensity in action. Dorian put every last ounce of effort into his sets. With his training partner Leroy Davis screaming brutal epithets to spur him on, Dorian pushed and pulled until his muscles were completely incapable of budging the weight another millimeter, in spite of maximum effort to do so. You never watched Dorian perform a set and wondered if he had another rep or two in him. You always knew he had done as much as humanly possible.
Ronnie Coleman
If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It
Bodybuilders are often forever on the lookout for the magic workout or secret exercise that’s going to elevate them from chump to champ. I’ve seen more fads come and go in the 35 years I’ve been training than I can even remember. Suffice to say that no matter what style of training most bodybuilders were using, they kept one eye open for something new that could deliver a breakthrough and 20 pounds of new muscle mass in a month. This belief that something new and better is always just around the corner, along with never having complete faith in whatever a trainer happens to be doing, has become even more insidious since the Internet, followed by the dawn of social media, made the dissemination of information, speculation, and theories about the “ideal” way to train so easy to find and become entranced by. Yet consider the training program of Ronnie Coleman, widely regarded as one of the most dominant Mr. Olympia champions of all time. From the time he began bodybuilding in 1989 and all the way through his eight Olympia wins, his weekly workouts remained the same. Ronnie trained once a day, hitting the body over three days, repeating the sequence, then took the seventh day off. His exercises were the same basic movements that generations before him had used to grow bigger and stronger: the bench press, squat, deadlift, military press, barbell row, T-bar row, curls, lateral raises, shrugs, etc. Ronnie used mostly barbells and dumbbells, and trained at the old-fashioned hardcore haven in Arlington, Texas called Metroflex Gym. His workouts didn’t have much variation. For example, one chest day was flat, incline, and decline presses with dumbbells. The second day featured the same three movements with dumbbells. It seemed ridiculously simple, and many would-be champion bodybuilders would never have stuck with something so seemingly rudimentary for very long. Don’t we need to switch things up and “shock the muscles?” Ronnie never felt the need to fix something that wasn’t broken. The same training program that was good enough to win his first regional contest in 1989 served him through nearly a decade of being the best bodybuilder in the world. The lesson here? You may get bored with your workouts and feel the need to change them, and that’s fine. Just understand that if you are working hard and continuing to make gains, there is no legitimate reason to change what you’re doing.
“Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder, don’t nobody wanna lift no heavy-ass weight”
In an era where raw iron has been largely supplanted by rows of shiny machines, many bodybuilders have gotten away from the core of building size and strength – progressive overload. It’s become common to consider heavy weights unnecessary, as it’s all about the pump. Some of this has to do with the rampant use of insulin, which goes hand in hand with high reps, supersets, and balloon-like pumps using weights that wouldn’t challenge a determined Bikini girl. Ronnie Coleman did not build his outrageously enormous physique using light weights and machines. He did it by hoisting tons and tons of iron. Carrying his early powerlifting background into his bodybuilding career, Ronnie handled weights just about no one else he competed against could dream of using. We all know about the famed 800-pound squats and deadlifts, but he also could bench press 500 pounds or 200-pound dumbbells for 10-12 reps, barbell row 500 pounds, military press 315, and leg press literally over a ton. Ronnie loved training hard and heavy and has no regrets even though he’s been dealing with debilitating spinal and nerve issues ever since he retired. “There is no way I could have looked the way I did, and won all those Mr. Olympia titles, if I hadn’t trained the way I did,” he asserts. Though I would never expect any of you to use the same weights as Ronnie did, it should be apparent that becoming very strong imparts a thicker, denser look to the muscles than more moderate weights does.
Jay Cutler
Never Give Up!
If there is one overriding principle one can learn from Jay Cutler, it’s to never give up. The power of persistence and belief in yourself is what separates the few bodybuilders who reached their full potential from the legions who gave up along the way due to discouragement or frustration. Jay’s dream was to be Mr. Olympia, but unfortunately for him, he arrived on the Olympia stage while a seemingly unstoppable force of nature named Ronnie Coleman held the crown. Jay took second place to Ronnie not once, but four times, in 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005. Over and over he was told that Ronnie was the greatest genetic freak to ever walk the earth, and beating him was a pipe dream. Jay refused to buy into that defeatist attitude, and in 2006, he finally edged Ronnie out and earned his first Mr. Olympia win. His reign was not as dominant as Ronnie’s had been, and in 2008 he lost out to Dexter Jackson, 40 pounds lighter but perfectly proportioned and sliced to the bone. Since the Mr. Olympia contest began in 1965, no man had ever lost the title and won it back. Critics and fans alike wrote Cutler off as done. But Jay never wrote himself off. In 2009, he returned with the most peeled, skinless condition of his life, and recaptured his title. The lesson here? No matter what the odds, and no matter how many people tell you it can’t be done and urge you to quit, never give up on your goals and dreams. Jay didn’t, and the ‘blocky’ kid that was never supposed to even win a pro show went on to become a four-time Mr. Olympia.
Train the Way That Suits You Best
Critiquing the exercise form of others is almost a sport unto itself in bodybuilding, and no one is immune from the barbs of armchair experts – not even Mr. Olympia. Like Ronnie before him, Jay Cutler was often sneered at for using “sloppy form.”’ “My form does look sloppy,” Jay admitted. “But the people saying that don’t know that I am engaging the muscle and feeling it work.” Using what appears to be textbook form to the outside observer might be the best option for some, but for others they would miss out on the style that would be even better for them. Had Jay taken the negative comments to heart and trained the way they felt he should have, it’s likely he never would have taken his physique to its full potential and earned bodybuilding’s most esteemed title.
Dexter Jackson
Don’t Train Through Pain
At nearly 49 years of age, Dexter Jackson is a man who some suspect must have the Fountain of Youth in his backyard, where he takes regular dips to cool off and fend off the natural aging process. He’s only got one Mr. Olympia titles, but he’s competed in that show a record 18 times, and of course holds the record for all-time pro wins. What’s truly surprising is that despite training and competing for well over 25 years now, The Blade has never suffered a training injury. Meanwhile, his peers over the years have torn various muscles and have had to deal with horrendous pain in areas like their lower backs, shoulders, knees, and elbows. How is that possible? Is it sheer luck? Not quite. In addition to always taking plenty of time to warm up and using weights that are within his abilities to handle properly, he's also displayed above average common sense over the years. Nearly all of you reading this who have incurred injuries will recall that they didn't simply come out of nowhere. More likely, you felt a weird pain or sensation that was your body's way of telling you something wasn't right. Bodybuilders being stubborn creatures, more often than not we ignored those warnings and kept on training – that's hardcore! It's also incredibly stupid. "Any time I ever felt something that didn't feel right, I stopped the workout," Dexter reveals. "Not only that, I wouldn't train that area again until everything felt fine again, even if that took a couple weeks of leaving it alone. People would tell me I was missing valuable training time, but my response was that if I tore a pec or my rotator cuff, I'd lose a heck of a lot more time in the gym." Hopefully this wisdom from Dexter was something you all took to heart, as it could save you all manner of pain and lost gains.
Phil Heath
Be a Bodybuilder, Not a Weightlifter
Finally, we come to Phil Heath, seven-time Mr. Olympia. Phil has been lambasted by bodybuilding fans for not training the way they feel a Mr. Olympia should. He doesn’t use all the basic free weight movements like Ronnie did. Instead, he mixes in plenty of plate-loading machines like Hammer Strength to stimulate the muscles. This failure to meet the hardcore standard held by many fans has hurt neither Phil’s contest record nor his physique. He’s managed to beat the best men in the world who have done their best to dethrone him, excellent athletes like Jay Cutler, Kai Greene, Dexter Jackson, Shawn Rhoden, and Big Ramy. He’s built a physique that combines so much mass, shape, and muscle detail that he hardly has any viable threats on the Olympia stage. What his detractors fail to recognize is that as much as we love to see the champs training with mega heavy weights, the sport of bodybuilding is judged 100% on how the physiques look. If your legs are outstanding, it doesn’t matter if you can squat 800 pounds with a barbell, or if you train them with Smith machine squats, hack squats, and leg presses. And conversely, if your chest sucks, no one cares how much you can bench press. All that matters is the physique, and Phil’s physique has been deemed the very best in the world for seven consecutive years. Phil is a bodybuilder, not a powerlifter, a Strongman, or an Olympic lifter. If he was able to present a physique no other man on the planet could beat for going on a decade, why would he risk injury with bone-grinding heavy free weights when he can get the job done safer and just as effectively mixing in more machines? Phil has taught us that bodybuilders are not weightlifters, and we need to remember that. If free weights are the best tool for you and deliver constant gains, injury free, by all means, use them. But never feel obligated to do anything in your training just because you’re worried about what other people think. It’s your body, and you are the one who will either make gains or not, get hurt or stay healthy and injury-free. Phil Heath doesn’t worry about whether people approve of his exercise choices or how much weight he uses, and neither should you.
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
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Lessons of the Mr. Olympia Champs
Wisdom You Can Use to Build Your Best Physique!
By Ron Harris
Lee Haney
“Stimulate, don’t annihilate”
If one lesson from Lee Haney will go down as his most valuable legacy to future generations of bodybuilders, this is it. We all have a tendency to think more is better, especially when it comes to training. The heavier weights we use, and the further past the point of regular momentary muscular failure we can push ourselves, the better our results will be. That prevailing notion was not only challenged but proven to be at least somewhat mistaken belief. Lee himself never trained as heavy as he could have. Though known to have the best-developed back of his generation, TotaLee Awesome rarely went any heavier than a 75 for one-arm dumbbell rows, or 185 for bent barbell rows. Rather than focus on the quantity of the weight, Lee paid attention to form and the quality of the muscular contractions. Lee didn’t train past failure, either. Most of the time, he stopped a rep or two short. Unlike his successor Dorian Yates, Lee did not believe in striving for the greatest degree of intensity possible. Haney believed that overuse of techniques like forced reps and rest-pause put a tremendous strain on the central nervous system or CNS, which could and would lead to overtraining as well as general fatigue and a compromised immune system. Lee felt that doing a higher volume of overall sets would accomplish the same results as the high-intensity style, but would do so in a safer manner that could be sustained in the long term. If the proof is in the pudding, then look no further than Lee’s 8 Sandow trophies. More importantly, consider that Lee never suffered a training injury. The real kicker is that Haney is almost 59 years old and has no chronic pain or mobility issues, unlike most of his peers and many current champions.
“If you can’t flex it, don’t carry it”
This was Lee’s second most famous catchphrase, and he didn’t just preach it – he practiced it as well. Since around World War II, it’s been standard procedure for bodybuilders to “bulk-up” in their off-season phases between contests. It’s never been uncommon for competitors to put on anywhere from 25 to 50 pounds after a show, all in the name of building new lean muscle tissue. Lee knew that the key word to pay attention to was “lean.” What was the point of gaining so much weight? Did it help the muscle-building process in any way? Was it healthy? And would gaining more scale weight have any direct relation to a higher stage weight? Haney felt the answer to all three of those questions was an emphatic “no!” “Stay within striking distance,” was Lee’s directive to his fellow iron brothers. Lee stressed that keeping in reasonably lean condition year-round was less stressful on all the systems of the body, and you would more accurately gauge progress and improvements or lack thereof, and getting into contest condition would never require going to any type of extremes. Lee competed at 242-252 pounds over his 8-year reign as Mr. Olympia, and stayed within 15 pounds of his contest weight year-round. His preps never required cranking out hours of cardio a day or subsisting on a caloric intake that would leave a waif famished. And at age 58, Lee still displays plenty of health and vitality.
Dorian Yates
Recovery Is Everything
To say that Dorian Yates revolutionized the way bodybuilders trained sounds like hyperbole, but it’s the truth. In the ‘70s, champions like Arnold trained twice a day, six days a week, taking only Sunday off to rest. Body parts were hit twice a week. By the ‘80s, the top men still trained twice a day, but after working the entire body over three days, they typically took a day off. This was the widely popular “three on, one off” system that Lee Haney and his contemporaries used. The status quo was to train each body part twice per week, with roughly 15-25 sets. This had been challenged by Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones and his protégé Mike Mentzer, but the idea of using higher intensity for briefer workouts never caught on. Bodybuilders are creatures of habit and resistant to change. They were afraid to train less, fretful that they would fail to gain or worse, shrink. When Dorian Yates came along and won his first Mr. Olympia title in 1992, the bodybuilding world wanted to know how he trained. And when he came back in 1993 with nearly 15 pounds more muscle, everybody wanted to do whatever it was he was doing. Having been a student and scholar of the sport before even embarking on his bodybuilding journey, Yates had been impressed with the writings of Jones and Mentzer, particularly in their views on intensity and recovery. Through experimentation on his own physique, Dorian determined that the best results occurred when a muscle group was attacked with blinding intensity for only a handful of sets, then left alone for a full week to recover and grow. He trained just four days a week, performing two all-out sets per exercise after warming up, later pared down to a solitary set. His training video Blood and Guts demonstrated his inhuman effort and laser focus in the gym, and it became a virtual bible for his many fans and followers around the world. Until then, no Mr. Olympia had trained so little in terms of frequency and volume, yet Yates set an entirely new standard for conditioned muscle mass. His stupendous results were enough to spur millions around the world to train in his high-intensity Blood and Guts style, spending less time in the gym training, and more time outside eating, resting, and growing. More than 20 years after he retired, Dorian’s lasting legacy remains an emphasis on proper rest and recovery that was barely an afterthought before he came along.
Intensity for Immensity
Arnold had spoken about intensity back in the ‘70s, but his definition was vague. It spoke in terms of doing reps past the point where you thought you couldn’t do anymore as separating the champions from the rest of the pack. It was Dorian Yates who would clearly explain what intensity truly meant. “Intensity, for our purposes, is defined by a percentage of momentary effort,” he said. “You want to do the most work possible in the shortest time period possible. That can be accomplished ideally in one set. Once you are doing 3 sets, 10 sets, or 100 sets; you are no longer giving the muscle that signal. It simply is not possible to put 100% effort into multiple sets of an exercise in the same workout. The threshold we are always aiming for is 100%, and lower percentages will yield lesser results, if any.” Had Dorian simply put these words down on paper, they would not have resonated with the bodybuilding world to any large extent. Instead, thanks to the aforementioned training video Blood and Guts, we were able to see total intensity in action. Dorian put every last ounce of effort into his sets. With his training partner Leroy Davis screaming brutal epithets to spur him on, Dorian pushed and pulled until his muscles were completely incapable of budging the weight another millimeter, in spite of maximum effort to do so. You never watched Dorian perform a set and wondered if he had another rep or two in him. You always knew he had done as much as humanly possible.
Ronnie Coleman
If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It
Bodybuilders are often forever on the lookout for the magic workout or secret exercise that’s going to elevate them from chump to champ. I’ve seen more fads come and go in the 35 years I’ve been training than I can even remember. Suffice to say that no matter what style of training most bodybuilders were using, they kept one eye open for something new that could deliver a breakthrough and 20 pounds of new muscle mass in a month. This belief that something new and better is always just around the corner, along with never having complete faith in whatever a trainer happens to be doing, has become even more insidious since the Internet, followed by the dawn of social media, made the dissemination of information, speculation, and theories about the “ideal” way to train so easy to find and become entranced by. Yet consider the training program of Ronnie Coleman, widely regarded as one of the most dominant Mr. Olympia champions of all time. From the time he began bodybuilding in 1989 and all the way through his eight Olympia wins, his weekly workouts remained the same. Ronnie trained once a day, hitting the body over three days, repeating the sequence, then took the seventh day off. His exercises were the same basic movements that generations before him had used to grow bigger and stronger: the bench press, squat, deadlift, military press, barbell row, T-bar row, curls, lateral raises, shrugs, etc. Ronnie used mostly barbells and dumbbells, and trained at the old-fashioned hardcore haven in Arlington, Texas called Metroflex Gym. His workouts didn’t have much variation. For example, one chest day was flat, incline, and decline presses with dumbbells. The second day featured the same three movements with dumbbells. It seemed ridiculously simple, and many would-be champion bodybuilders would never have stuck with something so seemingly rudimentary for very long. Don’t we need to switch things up and “shock the muscles?” Ronnie never felt the need to fix something that wasn’t broken. The same training program that was good enough to win his first regional contest in 1989 served him through nearly a decade of being the best bodybuilder in the world. The lesson here? You may get bored with your workouts and feel the need to change them, and that’s fine. Just understand that if you are working hard and continuing to make gains, there is no legitimate reason to change what you’re doing.
“Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder, don’t nobody wanna lift no heavy-ass weight”
In an era where raw iron has been largely supplanted by rows of shiny machines, many bodybuilders have gotten away from the core of building size and strength – progressive overload. It’s become common to consider heavy weights unnecessary, as it’s all about the pump. Some of this has to do with the rampant use of insulin, which goes hand in hand with high reps, supersets, and balloon-like pumps using weights that wouldn’t challenge a determined Bikini girl. Ronnie Coleman did not build his outrageously enormous physique using light weights and machines. He did it by hoisting tons and tons of iron. Carrying his early powerlifting background into his bodybuilding career, Ronnie handled weights just about no one else he competed against could dream of using. We all know about the famed 800-pound squats and deadlifts, but he also could bench press 500 pounds or 200-pound dumbbells for 10-12 reps, barbell row 500 pounds, military press 315, and leg press literally over a ton. Ronnie loved training hard and heavy and has no regrets even though he’s been dealing with debilitating spinal and nerve issues ever since he retired. “There is no way I could have looked the way I did, and won all those Mr. Olympia titles, if I hadn’t trained the way I did,” he asserts. Though I would never expect any of you to use the same weights as Ronnie did, it should be apparent that becoming very strong imparts a thicker, denser look to the muscles than more moderate weights does.
Jay Cutler
Never Give Up!
If there is one overriding principle one can learn from Jay Cutler, it’s to never give up. The power of persistence and belief in yourself is what separates the few bodybuilders who reached their full potential from the legions who gave up along the way due to discouragement or frustration. Jay’s dream was to be Mr. Olympia, but unfortunately for him, he arrived on the Olympia stage while a seemingly unstoppable force of nature named Ronnie Coleman held the crown. Jay took second place to Ronnie not once, but four times, in 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005. Over and over he was told that Ronnie was the greatest genetic freak to ever walk the earth, and beating him was a pipe dream. Jay refused to buy into that defeatist attitude, and in 2006, he finally edged Ronnie out and earned his first Mr. Olympia win. His reign was not as dominant as Ronnie’s had been, and in 2008 he lost out to Dexter Jackson, 40 pounds lighter but perfectly proportioned and sliced to the bone. Since the Mr. Olympia contest began in 1965, no man had ever lost the title and won it back. Critics and fans alike wrote Cutler off as done. But Jay never wrote himself off. In 2009, he returned with the most peeled, skinless condition of his life, and recaptured his title. The lesson here? No matter what the odds, and no matter how many people tell you it can’t be done and urge you to quit, never give up on your goals and dreams. Jay didn’t, and the ‘blocky’ kid that was never supposed to even win a pro show went on to become a four-time Mr. Olympia.
Train the Way That Suits You Best
Critiquing the exercise form of others is almost a sport unto itself in bodybuilding, and no one is immune from the barbs of armchair experts – not even Mr. Olympia. Like Ronnie before him, Jay Cutler was often sneered at for using “sloppy form.”’ “My form does look sloppy,” Jay admitted. “But the people saying that don’t know that I am engaging the muscle and feeling it work.” Using what appears to be textbook form to the outside observer might be the best option for some, but for others they would miss out on the style that would be even better for them. Had Jay taken the negative comments to heart and trained the way they felt he should have, it’s likely he never would have taken his physique to its full potential and earned bodybuilding’s most esteemed title.
Dexter Jackson
Don’t Train Through Pain
At nearly 49 years of age, Dexter Jackson is a man who some suspect must have the Fountain of Youth in his backyard, where he takes regular dips to cool off and fend off the natural aging process. He’s only got one Mr. Olympia titles, but he’s competed in that show a record 18 times, and of course holds the record for all-time pro wins. What’s truly surprising is that despite training and competing for well over 25 years now, The Blade has never suffered a training injury. Meanwhile, his peers over the years have torn various muscles and have had to deal with horrendous pain in areas like their lower backs, shoulders, knees, and elbows. How is that possible? Is it sheer luck? Not quite. In addition to always taking plenty of time to warm up and using weights that are within his abilities to handle properly, he's also displayed above average common sense over the years. Nearly all of you reading this who have incurred injuries will recall that they didn't simply come out of nowhere. More likely, you felt a weird pain or sensation that was your body's way of telling you something wasn't right. Bodybuilders being stubborn creatures, more often than not we ignored those warnings and kept on training – that's hardcore! It's also incredibly stupid. "Any time I ever felt something that didn't feel right, I stopped the workout," Dexter reveals. "Not only that, I wouldn't train that area again until everything felt fine again, even if that took a couple weeks of leaving it alone. People would tell me I was missing valuable training time, but my response was that if I tore a pec or my rotator cuff, I'd lose a heck of a lot more time in the gym." Hopefully this wisdom from Dexter was something you all took to heart, as it could save you all manner of pain and lost gains.
Phil Heath
Be a Bodybuilder, Not a Weightlifter
Finally, we come to Phil Heath, seven-time Mr. Olympia. Phil has been lambasted by bodybuilding fans for not training the way they feel a Mr. Olympia should. He doesn’t use all the basic free weight movements like Ronnie did. Instead, he mixes in plenty of plate-loading machines like Hammer Strength to stimulate the muscles. This failure to meet the hardcore standard held by many fans has hurt neither Phil’s contest record nor his physique. He’s managed to beat the best men in the world who have done their best to dethrone him, excellent athletes like Jay Cutler, Kai Greene, Dexter Jackson, Shawn Rhoden, and Big Ramy. He’s built a physique that combines so much mass, shape, and muscle detail that he hardly has any viable threats on the Olympia stage. What his detractors fail to recognize is that as much as we love to see the champs training with mega heavy weights, the sport of bodybuilding is judged 100% on how the physiques look. If your legs are outstanding, it doesn’t matter if you can squat 800 pounds with a barbell, or if you train them with Smith machine squats, hack squats, and leg presses. And conversely, if your chest sucks, no one cares how much you can bench press. All that matters is the physique, and Phil’s physique has been deemed the very best in the world for seven consecutive years. Phil is a bodybuilder, not a powerlifter, a Strongman, or an Olympic lifter. If he was able to present a physique no other man on the planet could beat for going on a decade, why would he risk injury with bone-grinding heavy free weights when he can get the job done safer and just as effectively mixing in more machines? Phil has taught us that bodybuilders are not weightlifters, and we need to remember that. If free weights are the best tool for you and deliver constant gains, injury free, by all means, use them. But never feel obligated to do anything in your training just because you’re worried about what other people think. It’s your body, and you are the one who will either make gains or not, get hurt or stay healthy and injury-free. Phil Heath doesn’t worry about whether people approve of his exercise choices or how much weight he uses, and neither should you.
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
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Wisdom You Can Use to Build Your Best Physique!
By Ron Harris
Lee Haney
“Stimulate, don’t annihilate”
If one lesson from Lee Haney will go down as his most valuable legacy to future generations of bodybuilders, this is it. We all have a tendency to think more is better, especially when it comes to training. The heavier weights we use, and the further past the point of regular momentary muscular failure we can push ourselves, the better our results will be. That prevailing notion was not only challenged but proven to be at least somewhat mistaken belief. Lee himself never trained as heavy as he could have. Though known to have the best-developed back of his generation, TotaLee Awesome rarely went any heavier than a 75 for one-arm dumbbell rows, or 185 for bent barbell rows. Rather than focus on the quantity of the weight, Lee paid attention to form and the quality of the muscular contractions. Lee didn’t train past failure, either. Most of the time, he stopped a rep or two short. Unlike his successor Dorian Yates, Lee did not believe in striving for the greatest degree of intensity possible. Haney believed that overuse of techniques like forced reps and rest-pause put a tremendous strain on the central nervous system or CNS, which could and would lead to overtraining as well as general fatigue and a compromised immune system. Lee felt that doing a higher volume of overall sets would accomplish the same results as the high-intensity style, but would do so in a safer manner that could be sustained in the long term. If the proof is in the pudding, then look no further than Lee’s 8 Sandow trophies. More importantly, consider that Lee never suffered a training injury. The real kicker is that Haney is almost 59 years old and has no chronic pain or mobility issues, unlike most of his peers and many current champions.
“If you can’t flex it, don’t carry it”
This was Lee’s second most famous catchphrase, and he didn’t just preach it – he practiced it as well. Since around World War II, it’s been standard procedure for bodybuilders to “bulk-up” in their off-season phases between contests. It’s never been uncommon for competitors to put on anywhere from 25 to 50 pounds after a show, all in the name of building new lean muscle tissue. Lee knew that the key word to pay attention to was “lean.” What was the point of gaining so much weight? Did it help the muscle-building process in any way? Was it healthy? And would gaining more scale weight have any direct relation to a higher stage weight? Haney felt the answer to all three of those questions was an emphatic “no!” “Stay within striking distance,” was Lee’s directive to his fellow iron brothers. Lee stressed that keeping in reasonably lean condition year-round was less stressful on all the systems of the body, and you would more accurately gauge progress and improvements or lack thereof, and getting into contest condition would never require going to any type of extremes. Lee competed at 242-252 pounds over his 8-year reign as Mr. Olympia, and stayed within 15 pounds of his contest weight year-round. His preps never required cranking out hours of cardio a day or subsisting on a caloric intake that would leave a waif famished. And at age 58, Lee still displays plenty of health and vitality.
Dorian Yates
Recovery Is Everything
To say that Dorian Yates revolutionized the way bodybuilders trained sounds like hyperbole, but it’s the truth. In the ‘70s, champions like Arnold trained twice a day, six days a week, taking only Sunday off to rest. Body parts were hit twice a week. By the ‘80s, the top men still trained twice a day, but after working the entire body over three days, they typically took a day off. This was the widely popular “three on, one off” system that Lee Haney and his contemporaries used. The status quo was to train each body part twice per week, with roughly 15-25 sets. This had been challenged by Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones and his protégé Mike Mentzer, but the idea of using higher intensity for briefer workouts never caught on. Bodybuilders are creatures of habit and resistant to change. They were afraid to train less, fretful that they would fail to gain or worse, shrink. When Dorian Yates came along and won his first Mr. Olympia title in 1992, the bodybuilding world wanted to know how he trained. And when he came back in 1993 with nearly 15 pounds more muscle, everybody wanted to do whatever it was he was doing. Having been a student and scholar of the sport before even embarking on his bodybuilding journey, Yates had been impressed with the writings of Jones and Mentzer, particularly in their views on intensity and recovery. Through experimentation on his own physique, Dorian determined that the best results occurred when a muscle group was attacked with blinding intensity for only a handful of sets, then left alone for a full week to recover and grow. He trained just four days a week, performing two all-out sets per exercise after warming up, later pared down to a solitary set. His training video Blood and Guts demonstrated his inhuman effort and laser focus in the gym, and it became a virtual bible for his many fans and followers around the world. Until then, no Mr. Olympia had trained so little in terms of frequency and volume, yet Yates set an entirely new standard for conditioned muscle mass. His stupendous results were enough to spur millions around the world to train in his high-intensity Blood and Guts style, spending less time in the gym training, and more time outside eating, resting, and growing. More than 20 years after he retired, Dorian’s lasting legacy remains an emphasis on proper rest and recovery that was barely an afterthought before he came along.
Intensity for Immensity
Arnold had spoken about intensity back in the ‘70s, but his definition was vague. It spoke in terms of doing reps past the point where you thought you couldn’t do anymore as separating the champions from the rest of the pack. It was Dorian Yates who would clearly explain what intensity truly meant. “Intensity, for our purposes, is defined by a percentage of momentary effort,” he said. “You want to do the most work possible in the shortest time period possible. That can be accomplished ideally in one set. Once you are doing 3 sets, 10 sets, or 100 sets; you are no longer giving the muscle that signal. It simply is not possible to put 100% effort into multiple sets of an exercise in the same workout. The threshold we are always aiming for is 100%, and lower percentages will yield lesser results, if any.” Had Dorian simply put these words down on paper, they would not have resonated with the bodybuilding world to any large extent. Instead, thanks to the aforementioned training video Blood and Guts, we were able to see total intensity in action. Dorian put every last ounce of effort into his sets. With his training partner Leroy Davis screaming brutal epithets to spur him on, Dorian pushed and pulled until his muscles were completely incapable of budging the weight another millimeter, in spite of maximum effort to do so. You never watched Dorian perform a set and wondered if he had another rep or two in him. You always knew he had done as much as humanly possible.
Ronnie Coleman
If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It
Bodybuilders are often forever on the lookout for the magic workout or secret exercise that’s going to elevate them from chump to champ. I’ve seen more fads come and go in the 35 years I’ve been training than I can even remember. Suffice to say that no matter what style of training most bodybuilders were using, they kept one eye open for something new that could deliver a breakthrough and 20 pounds of new muscle mass in a month. This belief that something new and better is always just around the corner, along with never having complete faith in whatever a trainer happens to be doing, has become even more insidious since the Internet, followed by the dawn of social media, made the dissemination of information, speculation, and theories about the “ideal” way to train so easy to find and become entranced by. Yet consider the training program of Ronnie Coleman, widely regarded as one of the most dominant Mr. Olympia champions of all time. From the time he began bodybuilding in 1989 and all the way through his eight Olympia wins, his weekly workouts remained the same. Ronnie trained once a day, hitting the body over three days, repeating the sequence, then took the seventh day off. His exercises were the same basic movements that generations before him had used to grow bigger and stronger: the bench press, squat, deadlift, military press, barbell row, T-bar row, curls, lateral raises, shrugs, etc. Ronnie used mostly barbells and dumbbells, and trained at the old-fashioned hardcore haven in Arlington, Texas called Metroflex Gym. His workouts didn’t have much variation. For example, one chest day was flat, incline, and decline presses with dumbbells. The second day featured the same three movements with dumbbells. It seemed ridiculously simple, and many would-be champion bodybuilders would never have stuck with something so seemingly rudimentary for very long. Don’t we need to switch things up and “shock the muscles?” Ronnie never felt the need to fix something that wasn’t broken. The same training program that was good enough to win his first regional contest in 1989 served him through nearly a decade of being the best bodybuilder in the world. The lesson here? You may get bored with your workouts and feel the need to change them, and that’s fine. Just understand that if you are working hard and continuing to make gains, there is no legitimate reason to change what you’re doing.
“Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder, don’t nobody wanna lift no heavy-ass weight”
In an era where raw iron has been largely supplanted by rows of shiny machines, many bodybuilders have gotten away from the core of building size and strength – progressive overload. It’s become common to consider heavy weights unnecessary, as it’s all about the pump. Some of this has to do with the rampant use of insulin, which goes hand in hand with high reps, supersets, and balloon-like pumps using weights that wouldn’t challenge a determined Bikini girl. Ronnie Coleman did not build his outrageously enormous physique using light weights and machines. He did it by hoisting tons and tons of iron. Carrying his early powerlifting background into his bodybuilding career, Ronnie handled weights just about no one else he competed against could dream of using. We all know about the famed 800-pound squats and deadlifts, but he also could bench press 500 pounds or 200-pound dumbbells for 10-12 reps, barbell row 500 pounds, military press 315, and leg press literally over a ton. Ronnie loved training hard and heavy and has no regrets even though he’s been dealing with debilitating spinal and nerve issues ever since he retired. “There is no way I could have looked the way I did, and won all those Mr. Olympia titles, if I hadn’t trained the way I did,” he asserts. Though I would never expect any of you to use the same weights as Ronnie did, it should be apparent that becoming very strong imparts a thicker, denser look to the muscles than more moderate weights does.
Jay Cutler
Never Give Up!
If there is one overriding principle one can learn from Jay Cutler, it’s to never give up. The power of persistence and belief in yourself is what separates the few bodybuilders who reached their full potential from the legions who gave up along the way due to discouragement or frustration. Jay’s dream was to be Mr. Olympia, but unfortunately for him, he arrived on the Olympia stage while a seemingly unstoppable force of nature named Ronnie Coleman held the crown. Jay took second place to Ronnie not once, but four times, in 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005. Over and over he was told that Ronnie was the greatest genetic freak to ever walk the earth, and beating him was a pipe dream. Jay refused to buy into that defeatist attitude, and in 2006, he finally edged Ronnie out and earned his first Mr. Olympia win. His reign was not as dominant as Ronnie’s had been, and in 2008 he lost out to Dexter Jackson, 40 pounds lighter but perfectly proportioned and sliced to the bone. Since the Mr. Olympia contest began in 1965, no man had ever lost the title and won it back. Critics and fans alike wrote Cutler off as done. But Jay never wrote himself off. In 2009, he returned with the most peeled, skinless condition of his life, and recaptured his title. The lesson here? No matter what the odds, and no matter how many people tell you it can’t be done and urge you to quit, never give up on your goals and dreams. Jay didn’t, and the ‘blocky’ kid that was never supposed to even win a pro show went on to become a four-time Mr. Olympia.
Train the Way That Suits You Best
Critiquing the exercise form of others is almost a sport unto itself in bodybuilding, and no one is immune from the barbs of armchair experts – not even Mr. Olympia. Like Ronnie before him, Jay Cutler was often sneered at for using “sloppy form.”’ “My form does look sloppy,” Jay admitted. “But the people saying that don’t know that I am engaging the muscle and feeling it work.” Using what appears to be textbook form to the outside observer might be the best option for some, but for others they would miss out on the style that would be even better for them. Had Jay taken the negative comments to heart and trained the way they felt he should have, it’s likely he never would have taken his physique to its full potential and earned bodybuilding’s most esteemed title.
Dexter Jackson
Don’t Train Through Pain
At nearly 49 years of age, Dexter Jackson is a man who some suspect must have the Fountain of Youth in his backyard, where he takes regular dips to cool off and fend off the natural aging process. He’s only got one Mr. Olympia titles, but he’s competed in that show a record 18 times, and of course holds the record for all-time pro wins. What’s truly surprising is that despite training and competing for well over 25 years now, The Blade has never suffered a training injury. Meanwhile, his peers over the years have torn various muscles and have had to deal with horrendous pain in areas like their lower backs, shoulders, knees, and elbows. How is that possible? Is it sheer luck? Not quite. In addition to always taking plenty of time to warm up and using weights that are within his abilities to handle properly, he's also displayed above average common sense over the years. Nearly all of you reading this who have incurred injuries will recall that they didn't simply come out of nowhere. More likely, you felt a weird pain or sensation that was your body's way of telling you something wasn't right. Bodybuilders being stubborn creatures, more often than not we ignored those warnings and kept on training – that's hardcore! It's also incredibly stupid. "Any time I ever felt something that didn't feel right, I stopped the workout," Dexter reveals. "Not only that, I wouldn't train that area again until everything felt fine again, even if that took a couple weeks of leaving it alone. People would tell me I was missing valuable training time, but my response was that if I tore a pec or my rotator cuff, I'd lose a heck of a lot more time in the gym." Hopefully this wisdom from Dexter was something you all took to heart, as it could save you all manner of pain and lost gains.
Phil Heath
Be a Bodybuilder, Not a Weightlifter
Finally, we come to Phil Heath, seven-time Mr. Olympia. Phil has been lambasted by bodybuilding fans for not training the way they feel a Mr. Olympia should. He doesn’t use all the basic free weight movements like Ronnie did. Instead, he mixes in plenty of plate-loading machines like Hammer Strength to stimulate the muscles. This failure to meet the hardcore standard held by many fans has hurt neither Phil’s contest record nor his physique. He’s managed to beat the best men in the world who have done their best to dethrone him, excellent athletes like Jay Cutler, Kai Greene, Dexter Jackson, Shawn Rhoden, and Big Ramy. He’s built a physique that combines so much mass, shape, and muscle detail that he hardly has any viable threats on the Olympia stage. What his detractors fail to recognize is that as much as we love to see the champs training with mega heavy weights, the sport of bodybuilding is judged 100% on how the physiques look. If your legs are outstanding, it doesn’t matter if you can squat 800 pounds with a barbell, or if you train them with Smith machine squats, hack squats, and leg presses. And conversely, if your chest sucks, no one cares how much you can bench press. All that matters is the physique, and Phil’s physique has been deemed the very best in the world for seven consecutive years. Phil is a bodybuilder, not a powerlifter, a Strongman, or an Olympic lifter. If he was able to present a physique no other man on the planet could beat for going on a decade, why would he risk injury with bone-grinding heavy free weights when he can get the job done safer and just as effectively mixing in more machines? Phil has taught us that bodybuilders are not weightlifters, and we need to remember that. If free weights are the best tool for you and deliver constant gains, injury free, by all means, use them. But never feel obligated to do anything in your training just because you’re worried about what other people think. It’s your body, and you are the one who will either make gains or not, get hurt or stay healthy and injury-free. Phil Heath doesn’t worry about whether people approve of his exercise choices or how much weight he uses, and neither should you.
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
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Lessons of the Mr. Olympia Champs
Wisdom You Can Use to Build Your Best Physique!
By Ron Harris
Lee Haney
“Stimulate, don’t annihilate”
If one lesson from Lee Haney will go down as his most valuable legacy to future generations of bodybuilders, this is it. We all have a tendency to think more is better, especially when it comes to training. The heavier weights we use, and the further past the point of regular momentary muscular failure we can push ourselves, the better our results will be. That prevailing notion was not only challenged but proven to be at least somewhat mistaken belief. Lee himself never trained as heavy as he could have. Though known to have the best-developed back of his generation, TotaLee Awesome rarely went any heavier than a 75 for one-arm dumbbell rows, or 185 for bent barbell rows. Rather than focus on the quantity of the weight, Lee paid attention to form and the quality of the muscular contractions. Lee didn’t train past failure, either. Most of the time, he stopped a rep or two short. Unlike his successor Dorian Yates, Lee did not believe in striving for the greatest degree of intensity possible. Haney believed that overuse of techniques like forced reps and rest-pause put a tremendous strain on the central nervous system or CNS, which could and would lead to overtraining as well as general fatigue and a compromised immune system. Lee felt that doing a higher volume of overall sets would accomplish the same results as the high-intensity style, but would do so in a safer manner that could be sustained in the long term. If the proof is in the pudding, then look no further than Lee’s 8 Sandow trophies. More importantly, consider that Lee never suffered a training injury. The real kicker is that Haney is almost 59 years old and has no chronic pain or mobility issues, unlike most of his peers and many current champions.
“If you can’t flex it, don’t carry it”
This was Lee’s second most famous catchphrase, and he didn’t just preach it – he practiced it as well. Since around World War II, it’s been standard procedure for bodybuilders to “bulk-up” in their off-season phases between contests. It’s never been uncommon for competitors to put on anywhere from 25 to 50 pounds after a show, all in the name of building new lean muscle tissue. Lee knew that the key word to pay attention to was “lean.” What was the point of gaining so much weight? Did it help the muscle-building process in any way? Was it healthy? And would gaining more scale weight have any direct relation to a higher stage weight? Haney felt the answer to all three of those questions was an emphatic “no!” “Stay within striking distance,” was Lee’s directive to his fellow iron brothers. Lee stressed that keeping in reasonably lean condition year-round was less stressful on all the systems of the body, and you would more accurately gauge progress and improvements or lack thereof, and getting into contest condition would never require going to any type of extremes. Lee competed at 242-252 pounds over his 8-year reign as Mr. Olympia, and stayed within 15 pounds of his contest weight year-round. His preps never required cranking out hours of cardio a day or subsisting on a caloric intake that would leave a waif famished. And at age 58, Lee still displays plenty of health and vitality.
Dorian Yates
Recovery Is Everything
To say that Dorian Yates revolutionized the way bodybuilders trained sounds like hyperbole, but it’s the truth. In the ‘70s, champions like Arnold trained twice a day, six days a week, taking only Sunday off to rest. Body parts were hit twice a week. By the ‘80s, the top men still trained twice a day, but after working the entire body over three days, they typically took a day off. This was the widely popular “three on, one off” system that Lee Haney and his contemporaries used. The status quo was to train each body part twice per week, with roughly 15-25 sets. This had been challenged by Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones and his protégé Mike Mentzer, but the idea of using higher intensity for briefer workouts never caught on. Bodybuilders are creatures of habit and resistant to change. They were afraid to train less, fretful that they would fail to gain or worse, shrink. When Dorian Yates came along and won his first Mr. Olympia title in 1992, the bodybuilding world wanted to know how he trained. And when he came back in 1993 with nearly 15 pounds more muscle, everybody wanted to do whatever it was he was doing. Having been a student and scholar of the sport before even embarking on his bodybuilding journey, Yates had been impressed with the writings of Jones and Mentzer, particularly in their views on intensity and recovery. Through experimentation on his own physique, Dorian determined that the best results occurred when a muscle group was attacked with blinding intensity for only a handful of sets, then left alone for a full week to recover and grow. He trained just four days a week, performing two all-out sets per exercise after warming up, later pared down to a solitary set. His training video Blood and Guts demonstrated his inhuman effort and laser focus in the gym, and it became a virtual bible for his many fans and followers around the world. Until then, no Mr. Olympia had trained so little in terms of frequency and volume, yet Yates set an entirely new standard for conditioned muscle mass. His stupendous results were enough to spur millions around the world to train in his high-intensity Blood and Guts style, spending less time in the gym training, and more time outside eating, resting, and growing. More than 20 years after he retired, Dorian’s lasting legacy remains an emphasis on proper rest and recovery that was barely an afterthought before he came along.
Intensity for Immensity
Arnold had spoken about intensity back in the ‘70s, but his definition was vague. It spoke in terms of doing reps past the point where you thought you couldn’t do anymore as separating the champions from the rest of the pack. It was Dorian Yates who would clearly explain what intensity truly meant. “Intensity, for our purposes, is defined by a percentage of momentary effort,” he said. “You want to do the most work possible in the shortest time period possible. That can be accomplished ideally in one set. Once you are doing 3 sets, 10 sets, or 100 sets; you are no longer giving the muscle that signal. It simply is not possible to put 100% effort into multiple sets of an exercise in the same workout. The threshold we are always aiming for is 100%, and lower percentages will yield lesser results, if any.” Had Dorian simply put these words down on paper, they would not have resonated with the bodybuilding world to any large extent. Instead, thanks to the aforementioned training video Blood and Guts, we were able to see total intensity in action. Dorian put every last ounce of effort into his sets. With his training partner Leroy Davis screaming brutal epithets to spur him on, Dorian pushed and pulled until his muscles were completely incapable of budging the weight another millimeter, in spite of maximum effort to do so. You never watched Dorian perform a set and wondered if he had another rep or two in him. You always knew he had done as much as humanly possible.
Ronnie Coleman
If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It
Bodybuilders are often forever on the lookout for the magic workout or secret exercise that’s going to elevate them from chump to champ. I’ve seen more fads come and go in the 35 years I’ve been training than I can even remember. Suffice to say that no matter what style of training most bodybuilders were using, they kept one eye open for something new that could deliver a breakthrough and 20 pounds of new muscle mass in a month. This belief that something new and better is always just around the corner, along with never having complete faith in whatever a trainer happens to be doing, has become even more insidious since the Internet, followed by the dawn of social media, made the dissemination of information, speculation, and theories about the “ideal” way to train so easy to find and become entranced by. Yet consider the training program of Ronnie Coleman, widely regarded as one of the most dominant Mr. Olympia champions of all time. From the time he began bodybuilding in 1989 and all the way through his eight Olympia wins, his weekly workouts remained the same. Ronnie trained once a day, hitting the body over three days, repeating the sequence, then took the seventh day off. His exercises were the same basic movements that generations before him had used to grow bigger and stronger: the bench press, squat, deadlift, military press, barbell row, T-bar row, curls, lateral raises, shrugs, etc. Ronnie used mostly barbells and dumbbells, and trained at the old-fashioned hardcore haven in Arlington, Texas called Metroflex Gym. His workouts didn’t have much variation. For example, one chest day was flat, incline, and decline presses with dumbbells. The second day featured the same three movements with dumbbells. It seemed ridiculously simple, and many would-be champion bodybuilders would never have stuck with something so seemingly rudimentary for very long. Don’t we need to switch things up and “shock the muscles?” Ronnie never felt the need to fix something that wasn’t broken. The same training program that was good enough to win his first regional contest in 1989 served him through nearly a decade of being the best bodybuilder in the world. The lesson here? You may get bored with your workouts and feel the need to change them, and that’s fine. Just understand that if you are working hard and continuing to make gains, there is no legitimate reason to change what you’re doing.
“Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder, don’t nobody wanna lift no heavy-ass weight”
In an era where raw iron has been largely supplanted by rows of shiny machines, many bodybuilders have gotten away from the core of building size and strength – progressive overload. It’s become common to consider heavy weights unnecessary, as it’s all about the pump. Some of this has to do with the rampant use of insulin, which goes hand in hand with high reps, supersets, and balloon-like pumps using weights that wouldn’t challenge a determined Bikini girl. Ronnie Coleman did not build his outrageously enormous physique using light weights and machines. He did it by hoisting tons and tons of iron. Carrying his early powerlifting background into his bodybuilding career, Ronnie handled weights just about no one else he competed against could dream of using. We all know about the famed 800-pound squats and deadlifts, but he also could bench press 500 pounds or 200-pound dumbbells for 10-12 reps, barbell row 500 pounds, military press 315, and leg press literally over a ton. Ronnie loved training hard and heavy and has no regrets even though he’s been dealing with debilitating spinal and nerve issues ever since he retired. “There is no way I could have looked the way I did, and won all those Mr. Olympia titles, if I hadn’t trained the way I did,” he asserts. Though I would never expect any of you to use the same weights as Ronnie did, it should be apparent that becoming very strong imparts a thicker, denser look to the muscles than more moderate weights does.
Jay Cutler
Never Give Up!
If there is one overriding principle one can learn from Jay Cutler, it’s to never give up. The power of persistence and belief in yourself is what separates the few bodybuilders who reached their full potential from the legions who gave up along the way due to discouragement or frustration. Jay’s dream was to be Mr. Olympia, but unfortunately for him, he arrived on the Olympia stage while a seemingly unstoppable force of nature named Ronnie Coleman held the crown. Jay took second place to Ronnie not once, but four times, in 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005. Over and over he was told that Ronnie was the greatest genetic freak to ever walk the earth, and beating him was a pipe dream. Jay refused to buy into that defeatist attitude, and in 2006, he finally edged Ronnie out and earned his first Mr. Olympia win. His reign was not as dominant as Ronnie’s had been, and in 2008 he lost out to Dexter Jackson, 40 pounds lighter but perfectly proportioned and sliced to the bone. Since the Mr. Olympia contest began in 1965, no man had ever lost the title and won it back. Critics and fans alike wrote Cutler off as done. But Jay never wrote himself off. In 2009, he returned with the most peeled, skinless condition of his life, and recaptured his title. The lesson here? No matter what the odds, and no matter how many people tell you it can’t be done and urge you to quit, never give up on your goals and dreams. Jay didn’t, and the ‘blocky’ kid that was never supposed to even win a pro show went on to become a four-time Mr. Olympia.
Train the Way That Suits You Best
Critiquing the exercise form of others is almost a sport unto itself in bodybuilding, and no one is immune from the barbs of armchair experts – not even Mr. Olympia. Like Ronnie before him, Jay Cutler was often sneered at for using “sloppy form.”’ “My form does look sloppy,” Jay admitted. “But the people saying that don’t know that I am engaging the muscle and feeling it work.” Using what appears to be textbook form to the outside observer might be the best option for some, but for others they would miss out on the style that would be even better for them. Had Jay taken the negative comments to heart and trained the way they felt he should have, it’s likely he never would have taken his physique to its full potential and earned bodybuilding’s most esteemed title.
Dexter Jackson
Don’t Train Through Pain
At nearly 49 years of age, Dexter Jackson is a man who some suspect must have the Fountain of Youth in his backyard, where he takes regular dips to cool off and fend off the natural aging process. He’s only got one Mr. Olympia titles, but he’s competed in that show a record 18 times, and of course holds the record for all-time pro wins. What’s truly surprising is that despite training and competing for well over 25 years now, The Blade has never suffered a training injury. Meanwhile, his peers over the years have torn various muscles and have had to deal with horrendous pain in areas like their lower backs, shoulders, knees, and elbows. How is that possible? Is it sheer luck? Not quite. In addition to always taking plenty of time to warm up and using weights that are within his abilities to handle properly, he's also displayed above average common sense over the years. Nearly all of you reading this who have incurred injuries will recall that they didn't simply come out of nowhere. More likely, you felt a weird pain or sensation that was your body's way of telling you something wasn't right. Bodybuilders being stubborn creatures, more often than not we ignored those warnings and kept on training – that's hardcore! It's also incredibly stupid. "Any time I ever felt something that didn't feel right, I stopped the workout," Dexter reveals. "Not only that, I wouldn't train that area again until everything felt fine again, even if that took a couple weeks of leaving it alone. People would tell me I was missing valuable training time, but my response was that if I tore a pec or my rotator cuff, I'd lose a heck of a lot more time in the gym." Hopefully this wisdom from Dexter was something you all took to heart, as it could save you all manner of pain and lost gains.
Phil Heath
Be a Bodybuilder, Not a Weightlifter
Finally, we come to Phil Heath, seven-time Mr. Olympia. Phil has been lambasted by bodybuilding fans for not training the way they feel a Mr. Olympia should. He doesn’t use all the basic free weight movements like Ronnie did. Instead, he mixes in plenty of plate-loading machines like Hammer Strength to stimulate the muscles. This failure to meet the hardcore standard held by many fans has hurt neither Phil’s contest record nor his physique. He’s managed to beat the best men in the world who have done their best to dethrone him, excellent athletes like Jay Cutler, Kai Greene, Dexter Jackson, Shawn Rhoden, and Big Ramy. He’s built a physique that combines so much mass, shape, and muscle detail that he hardly has any viable threats on the Olympia stage. What his detractors fail to recognize is that as much as we love to see the champs training with mega heavy weights, the sport of bodybuilding is judged 100% on how the physiques look. If your legs are outstanding, it doesn’t matter if you can squat 800 pounds with a barbell, or if you train them with Smith machine squats, hack squats, and leg presses. And conversely, if your chest sucks, no one cares how much you can bench press. All that matters is the physique, and Phil’s physique has been deemed the very best in the world for seven consecutive years. Phil is a bodybuilder, not a powerlifter, a Strongman, or an Olympic lifter. If he was able to present a physique no other man on the planet could beat for going on a decade, why would he risk injury with bone-grinding heavy free weights when he can get the job done safer and just as effectively mixing in more machines? Phil has taught us that bodybuilders are not weightlifters, and we need to remember that. If free weights are the best tool for you and deliver constant gains, injury free, by all means, use them. But never feel obligated to do anything in your training just because you’re worried about what other people think. It’s your body, and you are the one who will either make gains or not, get hurt or stay healthy and injury-free. Phil Heath doesn’t worry about whether people approve of his exercise choices or how much weight he uses, and neither should you.
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
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