OnFitness Magazine - September/October 2014 - 65

Arms back stretch

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that difﬁcult if
you know
how to do it.
Gaining
muscle in the
right places is
more
challenging than gaining 10 pounds. It's all
about selective muscle growth and growth
in the right places.
Muscle growth can't be assessed by
physical measurements: not by tape or
scale - only by photographs. That's where
you can see what's what: what needs more
development and what needs reduction.
It's sculpting and it happens when
exercise form is perfect. That's the main
thing: There are other factors like nutrition
and rests, but if you don't have good form -
if you don't get a pump in your workouts
on the parts of the body intended - then
you are not getting the job done.
Think of yourself as a sculptor, carving
the shape and proportion to your body
you feel is ideal. How do you know what
is ideal for you? It's about knowing what
or whom you want to look like.
It's best to pick a role model you
resemble in some respect, whether it
pertains to physical structure or attitude.
There are plenty of images out there
from which to choose. Many people are
interested in attaining the development I
did. If you are one of these, you should be
able to learn how to do this.
When you have your role model, or
"idol" as we say in bodybuilding, study
each body part, comparing yours to those
of your role model. Now work that body
part in your workout and check yourself
out in the mirror after you pump up.
Didn't pump up? You need to get a
pump in the target body part. Now, once
you get your pump, compare it to your
role model as the model appears in various
photos.
Take the triceps. It's not too hard to get
a pump in your triceps. Here's a quick
superset routine that guarantees a pump if
you do it right. The ﬁrst exercise is a close
grip bench press done with a barbell or
on a Smith machine.
Your thumbs should be 12 to 18 inches
apart with elbows sticking slightly outward
to the sides. Be careful to get your grip
width just right because too narrow is hard
on the outer wrist.
Lower the weight slowly and then push
it up to a soft lockout (in other words, do
not lock out with force; gently ease into
it), and then lower the weight to the

Close grip
bench press

GAINING
MUSCLE isn't

W W W. O N F I T N E S S M A G . C O M

BY FRANK ZANE, M.A.,
3-TIME MR. OLYMPIA

6 5

Selective growth

If you ﬁnd that the close
grip bench press hurts
your wrists, make sure
that you're not excessively
extending them when
pushing the bar up. If they
still hurt, see if your gym
has the shorter style, preweighted barbells. The
drawback is that these
usually aren't heavier than
120 pounds, but the
shorter length will be less
straining on the wrists.

Dumbbell
kickback

pectoralis and push back up immediately.
Get a gentle rhythm going, letting the
bar down slowly and pushing it up with as
much force as necessary to go to an easy
lockout. Do 10 to 12 reps and then go
immediately to dumbbell kickbacks, face
down on an incline bench.
On your way over to the dumbbells do
an arms back stretch, which you can do
as you walk and hold it for 15 seconds.
Now go face down on a 45 degree
incline bench and pull the dumbbells up to
your shoulders, keeping elbows in this
position. Kick them back to a complete soft
lockout. Doing 12 to 15 reps should lead to
a burning sensation, which will turn into a

full pump after you do the stretch again.
Rest a good two minutes before your
next set, increasing the weight slightly.
Then do your last set with the same weight
and reps.
Pumped? The close grip bench press is
a compound exercise which not only hits
the triceps but gets the pectoralis and front
deltoids as well.
When this exercise is combined with an
isolation movement that works all the
heads of the triceps along with the rear
deltoids, you can get a terriﬁc triceps
pump along with some nice pectoralis and
deltoid work. This makes for a concise
triceps routine. Z

PROTEIN TIMING
If you want to build muscle, it's not just the total daily protein intake that matters, but
how it's distributed throughout the day. ■ New research shows that the way that
protein intake is spread throughout the day really makes a difference. ■ Doug PaddonJones, from the University of Texas Medical Branch, is a muscle metabolism expert. In
the U.S., the typical breakfast is carbohydrate-heavy and very light on protein. Lunch is
similar, but then Americans heap up on the protein at dinner. ■ The study says that the
potential for building muscle is less than optimal when protein intake is overloaded at
night and skimpy in the morning and afternoon. ■ Muscle protein synthesis was
measured for this study, which involved participants who ate protein evenly throughout
the day at each meal, and others who went light on protein for breakfast and lunch,
then heavy at dinnertime. ■ The subjects who took in the evenly distributed protein
meals had a 25 percent greater muscle protein synthesis rate than did the participants
who ate the same amount of protein but with a distribution of light for breakfast and
lunch, and then an overload at dinner. ■ "So we're not taking enough protein on board
for efﬁcient muscle building and repair during the day," says Paddon-Jones. At night, he
notes that most people consume too much protein. "We run the risk of having this
excess oxidized and ending up as glucose or fat."

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OnFitness Magazine - September/October 2014

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