"The Truth" w/ Eric Broser (Q&A and Training Articles)

[bodyfx2]

Military press on the Smith...2-3 working sets of 4-6 reps @ 30-35 lbs on each side.

Seated DB press...2-3 working sets 6-8 reps with 40s

Front raises....2-3 working sets of 6-8 reps usings 20s

Side raises....2-3 working sets of 10 reps with 15s....almost straight arm, no hard bend

Reverse pec dec...2-3 working sets of 10 reps with 70 lbs

I also started doing smith bench press on chest day. I never did bench but decided to add it since it seems like the guys in the gym with the boulder shoulders always do a lot of bench (in fact that's all some of them do). I never do delts and chest on consecutive days.

Suggestions:

-Do one major shoulder workout per week (like above) and then a minor one after 2 days rest with just one exercise for anterior and posterior delts. It is possible that you need more direct stimulation of these two delt heads.
-Vary the repetitions week to week. Week one, use reps in the range of 6-8; week two 9-12; week three; 12-15 (all to failure).
-Try these exercises or variations:

1) DB Presses...press with palms facing ears rather than straight ahead.
2) Reverse Grip Military Press...on smith or with free bar with palms facing toward you.
3) Incline Bench DB Front Raise...lie facedown on incline set to about 75 degrees...do simultaneous front raises with palms facing eachother.
4) Cable Front Raise...face away from low pulley...grab short straight bar and perform front raise through the legs...lean forward slightly at waist.
5) Superset Reverse Pec Deck with WG Bent BB or Seated Cable Row pulling with elbows high and into mid-chest.

[GirlyMuscle]

Thanks a bunch, Eric! I'll make these changes and let you know how it goes.

[bodyfx2]

Thanks a bunch, Eric! I'll make these changes and let you know how it goes.

My pleasure!

[Toddbz]

Last night I tried rack deads for the first time during my Power back routine. What an amazing exercise to fully exploit literally all of the back muscles. Rack deads do a wonderful job of working the back without the spinal compromise that full deads put on you. Not saying that full dead lifts should be thrown in the can, but I am certainly not ‘built’ for dead lifting and tend to always walk with a hitch in my giddy up after I do them. My traps are just nuked today.
I should share the whole story.
Monday night was Power back. I have become very fond of working back since P/RR/S and Eric has become my friend. Before this time I would do back and seemingly work ‘intensely’ at it with little results. That is a thing of the past. I have seen such a massive change not only in physique but power and control. That alone keeps the fires lit.
Now being 6’ tall and knowing I was going to be performing exercises that could potentially put my lower back in peril, the first order of business was to warm up really good. This for me means getting my sweat on. Some wide and narrow grip pull downs and hyper extensions do the trick. So as I meander over to the Smith Machine (my chosen place for said rack deads) I read on this little sticker on the side that states ‘400lb limit’. Remember that as it will come into play later. Since I have never done these before (I’ve never seen anyone at my gym do them) I start with just one plate on each side to get the feel of it. To my surprise I get the feel…and the feel is way to light. 2 plates…o.k. I get it. I’m down with the motion of the ocean. 3 plates (now remember I have zero idea what my working weight will be). I just do a few reps to feel the weight. Weight still feels pretty darn light. Now remember back about that warning sticker? I just kind of pretend I never saw it and blow that limit out of the water. Now I’m ready to get to work. Wow there’s a lot of veins in my neck. Rack deads do their best to lengthen your arms. Which I suppose is why so much trapezius is engaged. With each labored rep I can feel all my back muscles stretching and contracting to keep up with the load. Quite empowering actually to feel all that going on. Once I hit the 3rd and final set I’m at 3 times my body weight. I have no time constraints so 6 reps will be only focus. First 4 are nice, smooth and quite honestly not as hard as I’d have thought, haha, but then come Mr. 5 and Mrs. 6 to the party. Those reps took all I had to lock out. My entire head had a very Christmas season glow about it…and I was breathing. One exercise down and I’m sweating like I just went for a dip. You always have to like it when the calluses on your hands get all doubled up and about ready to be torn free from your palms. Good stuff. Must be time to start another exercise.
Next would be T-bar rows with a medium V grip. I have grown to love this exercise lately and it has worked wonders as well. I think that any row is a perfect marriage to rack deads now. Seeing as how this is a different kind of contraction I will be doing some warm ups again just on safety’s sake. Now I like 25 pound plates for T-bars. My reasoning is that I can pull the weight up just that much closer to my chest. Therefore employing a harder contraction and working the muscle that much harder. My working weight will challenge the remaining space in the barbell. Pretty cool to see that thing filled with weight and knowing that I’m going to be the one cranking it out. I do 3 sets of these and at the end of each working set my back feels like the boy scouts are at a camp out on my back. Full on smoke signals and everything. Now I’m getting that ‘I know I’m working back’ line from my wrist straps. Yep they’re working to.
At this point I’m feeling fairly done, but wait…what’s this. I can hear the calling of the chin bar. Its saying ‘Todd, come over here and strap some weight around your waist. You’ll love it.’ Now who could resist those come hither? Not me. I remember like it was yesterday the last time I did these and what I had accomplished. I fully intent to just smash that to bits. Of the 2 sets I did the first started out with 10lb more than my heaviest last time, and the second was 25lb heavier. All for a full almost chest touching reps. I could have smiled if I could stand up straight. Maybe the smiles will have to wait a bit.
Oh look at that. Right next to the chin bar is none other than the seated cable row machine. Exactly what I had planned on finishing with. Now I’m not a big guy. Nor am I the strongest guy, but I can pull some weight on cable rows with damn good form I must say. It’s a shame this machine only goes to 300lb kind of thing. 2 sets of these with a narrow V grip and all those muscle that were contracted during chins get stretched like puddy. Oh yeah I can feel it. Feels like my spine wants to split in two. I’m also surprised to say that my hamstrings (that were sore for 5 days after last weeks Shock leg day) are feeling rather toasty also. My white shirt that I started with is now a semi transparent and I can hear in my head Eric Clapton’s ‘Let it Flow’.
What better way to cap this all off but by doing 25 minutes on the stationary bike. During which I have no idea where to but my dead arms. I must have moved hand positions 100 times if I did it once.
I’m looking to sprout wings and this was just one of many steps in that evolution.

[hossjob]

Inspired by Toddbz and of course my very own Coach, ERIC BROSER I thought I type a little story about one of my dates with P/RR/S:

Monday, October 1st would figure to be just another day in the life of an amateur bodybuilder getting ready for a show. I didn't think anything out of the ordinary when I arose from my slumber at 5:00 AM, semi crankily following turning after 11:45 the night before. I grabbed my shaker cup and mixed bodyfx2's famous cocktail (7 grams bcaa/7 grams glutamin/2 grams cee) and enjoyed the delicious taste of watermelon Xtend. Proceeded to get my iPod and my woke my dog Hondo as well. Hondo and I set out the back country roads I live on for an hour of power walking. Hondo, being a 6 month old lab, was his usual self sniffing everything, I on the other hand was extremely focused on my walk and listening to MD's No Bull Radio podcast. After my cardio I had my first meal (asparagus and egg whites) and showered. Of to work. I taught a full day (high school health & PE) and had my 2 meals throughout (proteien shake & chicken with asparagus). Around 2:45 I hopped on the treadmill for another hour of cardio. Afterward I hit a shake and headed home. About an hour later I left for the gym to hit back, my favorite body part to train. What ensued was a nasty and ridiculously painful, yet gratifying REP RANGE workout. Having had no carbs for the last 3 days and being 3 weeks out weighing a ghastly 168 pounds I didn't know what my body had in store for me, but I was surprised and enthralled.

After a few warm-ups of rack deadlifts, pulling from about 2 inches from the floor (low shin area) I decided to see what I could do with 315. BAM! I pulled it 12 times. Stoked, I dropped the weight, shuffled my iPod to Rage Against the Machine and proceeded to bang out another 10 reps at 345. Hurting a little bit, I added 30 more pounds and banged out 375 for 7 excruciating reps. Being as depleted as I was, I probably should have stopped, for some reason I had an inner demon fighting to get out. I re-racked the weight and piled 4 wheels on each side bringing the bar total up to 405. I hadn't pulled 405 in probably over a month. I strapped myself in tight, took a few deep breaths, and stared at myself in the mirror trying to encourage my intrinsic drive to rise like the Phoenix. After a few loud grunts, the sweat settled and I had somehow willed out 5 slow, methodical reps. Being a galutton for punishment, and beaming with self pride, I piled on 2 tens on each side of teh bar for my final set. I took a swig of Xtend, closed my eyes, and to the voice of Kid Rock I exploded for 3 more painful reps! WOW! What a way to start my workout. I felt euphoric and drained, both physically and mentally. However, the workout had just begun. Being a little light headed I decided I better do my heavy barbell rows next. DORIAN style baby! I unloaded the previous aformentioned bar until it weight only 225 pounds and I proceeded to complete 3 sets of 6-7 reps. A tad bit lower than Rep Range recommendations, but it's a modification I have made because of the feel I get. With my lower back and lats completely thrashed, I knew it would be the ideal time to harness the energy I had left to hit WIDE GRIP Pull Downs. Nothing too crazy here, just 3 working sets of 12, 11, & 10 reps respectively. I stuck with a weight of 140 pounds and on each set I got progressively wider with my grip, mentally focusing on my lats stretching out each time. And don't worry, i didn't forget about tempo, I used a slow 2 second negative, 1 second stretch pause, 2 second positive, and a 1 second peak contraction! OUCH! Talk about a back pump from the depths! Alas, my friends, as Ozzy Osbourne once sang, NO REST FOR THE WICKED! Off to close grip seated rows. A painful attempt at bludgeoning the inner back was semi thwarted by a lack of strength, due to previous battles with the iron today. I bared through though and pounded out 2 work sets of 14 & 13 reps, working the stretch portion more. My back was toasted. DONE. KAPUTE! The masochist in me was not. I ran over to the high pulley and strpped in a bar for 2 slow, squeezing sets of straight arm pull downs, concentrating on the contraction and squeezing for close to 2 seconds. 1 slow, painful, BODY BURRYING set of 19 repetitions. Full of sweat, stinkcy, tired, cranky, yet with a sense of self-pride and gratification, I sauntered over to my bag and pounded my cocktail of BCAA's/Glutamine/CEE. It was off to home for a green salad & tilapia. Oh wait, I forgot, I still had to give 3 batting lessons tonight!!!! Hoping my back would hold up another 3 hours, I smiled at myself and began planning my next workout.....CHEST....REP RANGE!

[Toddbz]

Sitting here at my office desk eating my second meal of 1 whole egg and 5 egg whites with some yummy hot sauce, I found myself eating like a beast reading Kyle's workout story. Man I am flat out fired up Teach! Get it done baby! And you said I could write a story. Well brother you never cease to amaze.
Truly inspiring
Thank you for that my friend
By the way I did chest and shoulders last night and I am fully wrecked

[hossjob]

awesome Todd! I did chest last night too. It was aon okay workout. Thing with contest prep is that I have great days and days I struggle. Monday was GREAT. Yesterday, very rough. Yesterday I fat loaded and had no energy. However I somehow incline benched 245 for 7 with a 2/1/2 tempo. Today I feel good. Leg day today! Maybe I'll hve another story.

[Toddbz]

Damn Kyle! 245 for 7 at 168 and 3 weeks out! Man I can't do that now. Although the 80lb db's were moving pretty good last night on incline. Normally if I can kick up the db's (not easy for me all the time) I can get them going.
What show are you doing Teach?
By the way every health/PE teacher I ever had in high school was always a bad mamma jamma. I had a keniseology prof. that was a ultra distance runner and was a nut.

[Toddbz]

Eric,
On your new FDFS would you recommend that someone first start with P/RR/S for a few go arounds first?
Getting my Ironman tonight and I'm super stoked to learn about it. Kyle has me salivating now

[hossjob]

Eric,
On your new FDFS would you recommend that someone first start with P/RR/S for a few go arounds first?
Getting my Ironman tonight and I'm super stoked to learn about it. Kyle has me salivating now

Haha...

Hey, I'm not Eric (although I'm almost as tall as him, ROFLMFAO), but I know he recommends P/RR/S for relatively advanced trainers and I know that he would recommend FDFS for people that have had multiple cycles of P/RR/S under their belts - and for mass gaining phases.

[darkwolfa]

hi again Eric!
I just want to Thank you!
After few days of tests,I finally got the whole IDEA of proper bench position!
I still have my problem with discomfort in Right Side...
But today I felt for first time Standart Flat Bench Press;Incline Bench Press as it suppose to be!
I was removed Flat Bench like exercise who is not for ME!
But now I will include this again and will get max from bench!
I just want to THANK YOU AGAIN ERIC!

[bodyfx2]

hi again Eric!
I just want to Thank you!
After few days of tests,I finally got the whole IDEA of proper bench position!
I still have my problem with discomfort in Right Side...
But today I felt for first time Standart Flat Bench Press;Incline Bench Press as it suppose to be!
I was removed Flat Bench like exercise who is not for ME!
But now I will include this again and will get max from bench!
I just want to THANK YOU AGAIN ERIC!

My total pleasure to help my friend. I am here for you anytime you have a question or concern!! Get big!!

[Toddbz]

Haha...

Hey, I'm not Eric (although I'm almost as tall as him, ROFLMFAO), but I know he recommends P/RR/S for relatively advanced trainers and I know that he would recommend FDFS for people that have had multiple cycles of P/RR/S under their belts - and for mass gaining phases.

As I found out after i read the article last night. Look out lagging parts!
I have 1 more full cycle to do before I think that I can take full advantage of FDFS. What's that? Yep me using my head

[darkwolfa]

Eric so soon but...
When I looked at your web site I saw "http://www.ironmagazine.com/"
I opened and saw follow article:
http://www.ironmagazine.com/viewarticle-3993.html
"
To 'stress' the inner portion of the biceps, do wide-grip, elbows-in curls, focusing on ''squeezing'' the elbows in tight while you lift the weight.

To 'stress' the outer portion of the biceps, do close grip, elbows-out curls, spreading the elbows out while you lift the weight.
"
---> "elbows-out curls" - THIS TOTALY SHOCKED ME!I always keep my elbows close to my body!
How you will comment?

[bodyfx2]

Eric so soon but...
When I looked at your web site I saw "http://www.ironmagazine.com/"
I opened and saw follow article:
http://www.ironmagazine.com/viewarticle-3993.html
"
To 'stress' the inner portion of the biceps, do wide-grip, elbows-in curls, focusing on ''squeezing'' the elbows in tight while you lift the weight.

To 'stress' the outer portion of the biceps, do close grip, elbows-out curls, spreading the elbows out while you lift the weight.
"
---> "elbows-out curls" - THIS TOTALY SHOCKED ME!I always keep my elbows close to my body!
How you will comment?

Wow, that is an old one! When I say elbows in or out it is VERY SUBTLE thing when you are lifting a BB. However, when using DB's, if you want to hit the outer biceps head harder you should turn the elbow outward even more and curl toward the midline of your body. Yes, it is not always best to keep your elbows locked by your sides.