Old School Muscle

OLD SCHOOL MUCSLE DRUG FREE BODYBUILDING WITH STEVE DAVIS During the past decade plus, I have had the pleasure of traveling to the L.A. area, the West Coast mecca of bodybuilding, to attend various natural bodybuilding contests, mostly as a freelance writer (and judge). One thing in particular that is always evident at these natural shows is the fact that the natural anabolic drug free bodybuilders don’t quite have the same degree of muscle mass as the anabolic steroid bodybuilders who complete in non-drug tested bodybuilding contests. Natural drug-free bodybuilders simple can’t do the same workload as the anabolic steroid induced bodybuilder. With an anabolic steroid bodybuilder there are a whole bunch of artificial chemicals and enzymes that are acting in conjunction with the natural constituencies of that person’s capability of producing great gains in muscle size and strength. The end result is that the anabolic steroid bodybuilder’s training frequency ratios and intensity factors are much higher than that of natural bodybuilders. Some year ago I attended a bodybuilding seminar by one of the worlds top pros and within his lecture he said that he trains in the gym 7 hours a day, doing 50-60 sets per body part, and resting only 20-30 seconds between each set. He went on to say that he trains at least 3 body parts a day. That’s a mega 150-180 sets per day. I am not saying that this pro was on anabolic steroids but I can’t think of three top natural drug free bodybuilders whose combined workouts for a day would equal what this one individual alone does in the course of a workout day. This seems to be counterproductive to research regarding the correlations of peak blood testosterone, glucose and muscle glycogen levels. There is a fine dividing line between enough accumulated workout time and too much. Blood testosterone, glucose and muscle glycogen levels peak at around 40-45 minutes of an intense workout and thereafter they begin to decrease rather dramatically. A quality workout can last anywhere from 50-70 minutes and probably 90 minutes at the absolute maximum. On the average you should be able to target 3-4 muscle groups for 8-10 sets for quads, back and chest and 5-7 sets for delts, triceps, biceps, forearms, calves, hamstrings, neck and waist if you are an intermediate natural bodybuilder and if you are advanced then 12-15 sets and 8-10 sets for the subsequent muscle groups listed above will keep you in the arena of positive muscle growth. 2 I have not competed in a bodybuilding contest since the mid 1970s. I am now 58 years of age (2003) and am seriously considering training for a natural masters bodybuilding competition. My natural training approach to this will be to follow the training program that former I.F.B.B. champion Steve Davis used over two decades ago to achieve what many in the bodybuilding world considered (and still do to this day) the absolute maximum in muscularity and muscle size, simultaneously. His methods of training will help me to achieve total muscularity while maintaining huge muscle mass through deliberate heavy training but without canceling out all muscle definition. My nutritional wants and needs will be accomplished through some guidelines of a Beverly International program (more on this later). The first topic of consideration that Steve Davis suggests in using his “New Breed” approach to obtaining total raw muscularity is training. David feels that training should not be considered as primarily the most important of the elements of total size and muscularity, but as simply just one of three elements with diet and nutrition being the other two. Steve has always felt as many other top bodybuilding champions do that there is a definite interaction in the relationship between training and diet. The key factor in training for additional size and muscularity is to get stronger by consistently using heavier and heavier weights in the exercise sets. Steve says that this must not be done at the expense or sacrifice of proper training style for if an exercise is not performed in strict fashion; isolating the muscle you are attempting to train, then you have no accurate gauge of knowing if in fact you are becoming stronger. 3 Davis feels that a bodybuilder should attempt to add 5 pounds to all upper torso exercises (except the abdominals) and leg biceps and 10 pounds to all thigh (quads) and calf exercises EVERY TWO WEEKS WITHOUT FAIL. Regardless of what New Breed progression level program one is following it should not be started with too heavy a weight or the 5 and 10 pound increases every two weeks will not be achieved for very long. It is better to ease into this type of progression by starting out with lighter weights than normal. The New Breed programs have levels that have a minimal time factor of five, to an average of 10, to as high as 16 weeks in duration. On a 4 month (16 weeks) training program, for example, you can increase your training poundages by at least forty pounds, when making 5 pound increases every two weeks and as much as eighty pounds when making 10 increases on the leg work. Within the structure of the New Breed training concepts it is of the utmost importance to refine proper exercise technique each and every set of an exercise. There are a number of important steps that must be initiated to accomplish this. Step 1 Within this first step the twelve-second rep on all sets where 8 to 15 continuous reps should be performed. This is a New Breed key for achieving total muscularity while acquiring more muscle size. Using the barbell curl for an example, begin curling the resistance up in the positive or concentric phase at a speed that takes you this long: one thousand one, one thousand two, three, four, five and six. Counting in this manner it will take six seconds to curl the resistance from the thighs to chin level. Then, at this complete contracted position, hold for a two second count: one thousand seven, one thousand eight. Slowly begin lowering the resistance to a count of four seconds: one thousand nine, one thousand ten, one thousand eleven, one thousand twelve. This twelve- second count completes one repetition, be it a leg curl, incline barbell press, or seated press behind the neck. These slow or sub-maximal speed reps allows for raising and lowering the resistance in an ultra controlled manner creating high levels of muscle tension development through a full range of movement. There is no momentum or limited motion and the muscles are worked much stronger through all the joint angles. This is one of the best ways to exhaust, pump and burn the muscles for faster training results. Using the twelve second rep, you will have to decrease the resistance used by approximately 40 percent in the beginning, but muscles quickly adapt to new stress stimulus and before long your strength levels will increase and in fact surpass those levels experienced in the conventional speed rep sets. Steve Davis’s New Breed concepts also suggest that fast reps be performed in addition to slow reps to achieve the maximum in muscle size. Fast reps must not 4 be done at the expense of increasing stress on connective tissue and thus creating injury potential. An example of fast reps done in the New Breed style might be 1-2 seconds in the positive contraction and then 3 seconds in the lowering or negative phase. Speed reps, where strict form with tension is maintained, can be used successfully in the 4 to 7 rep range of a set. To the casual observer these speed reps will still appear painfully slow no matter how fast one tries to do them. Step 2 It is important to rest no more than 15 seconds between sets if increased muscularity is a key factor. If more muscle mass and strength increases are desired then rest 30-45 to no more than 60 seconds between sets. Step 3 Quality training the New Breed way is achieved by getting the most out of what you do. The minimum amount of work will be 3 sets of 8-10 reps per muscle group three times per week. The maximum amount will be 15 sets of 6-12 reps per muscle group 3 times per week. Somewhere between these two limits will be ideal for you. The New Breed method takes into account the fact that there is a certain amount of training that is perfect for inducing maximum muscle growth and anymore than this becomes detrimental. This is best accomplished by determining your own best recuperative rate. Though I will be listing the progression levels of training that I will be following according to Steve Davis’s New Breed advice, remember that I have been training for well over 40 plus years and am considered an advanced bodybuilder. For many of you it will be best to experiment with 8 to 15 sets per muscle group. Some of you will find eight or nine sets adequate while others of you will find fifteen to be superior. Step 4 The New Breed philosophy suggests that a bodybuilder should train for optimum gains within a given time period. This is accomplished by basing your training on T.E.R. (Training Efficiency Rate) by which your workout time is kept to no more than 1 ¼ - 1 ½ hours. When Steve Davis trained to get into peak shape he was able to do as many as 78 sets in one hour and fifteen minutes while using fairly heavy poundage and sets of 12 reps.

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