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RESEARCHSARMSUGFREAKeudomestic
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Rich Gaspari Training Series

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Freelance Writer
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Bigger Arms

by Rich Gaspari
The body part that most people want to develop to impress others is arms.

The problem is that most guys end up doing too many sets and over train them or they do sloppy form so that they are not trained properly making the individual not get the proper extension and contraction.

I usually train arms separately and on different days. I've also done arms the same day and felt good. So it's all up to you.

Triceps Workout

The body part that most people want to develop to impress others is arms.

I usually train triceps with chest. I do chest first since my triceps are warmed up and go directly to triceps.

My first exercise is a tricep pushdown. I usually either do rope or v-bar and do 3 sets of 12 reps.

I then go to a more size exercise like pullover press. This is an old-timer exercise and you don't see it in the gym much because of all the new machines available. I usually use an e-z curl bar and load the weight. I grab it with a close grip and do a close grip bench press. After doing one rep on the way down with the weight on my chest I keep my elbows together and bring the weight over my head to stretch the triceps out. I then return the weight over my face and head back on my chest. That is one rep. It takes time to get the form but the exercise is great for putting mass on the triceps. I love it! I do 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps. It's an exercise that really pumps the triceps as well as stretches them!

I then go to either cable overhead tricep French press or I use an e-z curl bar and do overhead tricep French presses. I do 3 sets of 12. I make sure on all tricep movements that I stretch the triceps out by bringing my arm over head and grabbing my wrist with my other arm and pulling to get a nice stretch on the triceps. You can also get someone to pull on your arm that's overhead to stretch out the triceps even more.

I then finish off with cable kickbacks. This is done on a cable crossover. Use a rope and grab one end. Get into the bent over position like you are doing a kick back facing the machine and pull the rope making sure you keep your arm against your body and the only thing that should move is your forearm and elbow going from a bent position to having your arm straight against your side. I do 3 sets of 12 reps.

That usually is my last exercise for triceps and it's enough to give them a great pump.

Here is my whole workout:

TRICEPS WORKOUT

Tricep pushdowns 3 sets of 10-12 reps
Pullover press 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps
Overhead cable French press 3 sets of 10 reps
Cable kick-backs 3 sets of 12 reps

Biceps Workout

The body part that most people want to develop to impress others is arms.

Now biceps. I usually train with shoulders. I like doing a 4 dat slip with my bodyparts training Chest and triceps on day 1, Back, lower back and calves on day 2, Shoulders and biceps on day 3 and Legs on day 4.

My bicep training is changed every time I train them. I like to do different exercises. I'll show you and example of a typical bicep routine.

First exercise is standing barbell curls. I make sure I do the exercise strict. This means no swinging my back but total control on the way up and down. I also make sure I increase the weights slowly on the way down. I do 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps.

From there I do incline dumbbell curls. I do them at a 30 degree angle. I also like to do both arms at the same time. As I go up and down I make sure I keep my arms straight. This is unlike others who twist the dumbbells up and down. I like to do them this way to get that tight contraction on the way up and that extension you get on the way down.

From there I go to preacher curls. I do this with a straight bar but I sometimes use an e-z curl bar. I like to use the 90 degree angle straight up and down then on an angle. I do strict reps squeezing the way up and down. I do 3 sets of 12 reps.

I then go to either hammer curls or reverse curls. I sometimes do them on a preacher bench or I do them standing. I change for variety. Remember to stretch you biceps out after each exercise. I do this by grabbing an object from behind and straightening my bicep fee that stretch on it. Also, message the biceps after each exercise to stimulate and move the blood in them.

Here it is in a nutshell:

BICEPS WORKOUT

Biceps Barbell curls 3 sets of 12 reps
Incline curls 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps
Preacher curls 3 sets of 10-12 reps
Reverse curls 3 sets of 12 reps

There you have it. My complete workout to arm size.
Give it a try and tell me what you think.




Calves Worthy of a Mr. Olympia

by Rich Gaspari

The goal in calf training is to keep the muscles so confused that they can't adapt to any one program. I rarely do the same workout two days in a row.
Increase calf training intensity with advanced training techniques - descending sets and forced reps. For example, I do donkey calf raises with extra weight tied around my waist and a training partner on my back. I do 10-12 reps in this manner. Then, the training partner hop off before my grinding out another 10-12 reps.
This is immediately followed by an additional 10-12 rep set - minus the training partner.
If there is one exercise I use consistently, it's the seated calf raise - that's about the only exercise specifically designed for hitting the soleus muscle.
Calf machines were primarily designed to hit the larger gastrocnemius muscle. However, calf machines can be used to hit the soleus if you keep your legs bent while doing the exercise.
Rep range: I nearly always keep my reps in the 12-to-15 range, only occasionally going down to 6 or 8 or as high as 20 to 30. Any more and I overtrain.


RICH'S CALF ROUTINE

Donkey calf raises 5 descending sets of 12-15 reps
Standing calf raises 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Seated calf raises 4 sets of 12-15 reps


Rich's Chest Routine

by Rich Gaspari

There is nothing more impressive as a pair of striated, carved in stone, vascularized pectoral muscles...
By varying the angle of the incline bench on which you do your presses, you can shift the stress from one muscle group to another. A similar method is to change the width of your grip.
The real key in in Dumbbell Bench Presses is lowering the weights down to as low a position beside your torso as possible, which completely stretches the pectorals before they are fully contracted at the top point of the movement.
By varying the angle of the incline bench in Incline Dumbbell Flyes, you can intentionally shift stress to specific areas of your upper-pectoral muscles.
In Pec Deck Flyes you can vary the stress of this movement - perform it with the seat set markedly higher or lower than normal.
You can also do the exercise with only one arm at a time - movements performed with one arm or leg at a time intensifies the stress of the exercise, since you no longer split your mental focus between two working limbs.

RICH'S CHEST ROUTINE FOR THE OLYMPIA

Incline Dumbbell Presses 7 X 8-10
Dumbbell Bench Presses 3-4 X 8-10
Incline Dumbell Flyes 3-4 X 8-10
or
Pec Deck Flyes 3-4 X 8-10


Shoulders; Thick, round delts as Rich Dreamed of

by Rich Gaspari

When I first got into serious bodybuilding, I wanted thick, round delts more than anything.

But no matter how hard I trained - or what new tricks tried - I just couldn't develop those deltoids i was dreaming of - cannon-ball delts so incredibly big I'd have trouble fitting through doors.

I began my quest with trial and error - lots of it.

Finally I found out how to accomplish superior deltoids which made me seem a whole lot weider. Here my delt training tips for you all! If you follow them, you should make some outstanding shoulder gains.

Take a radical approach, shocking the deltoid mucles into growth. That may be the key.
Behind-the-neck presses or front shoulder presses aren't enough to build thick, round delts. Those moves are excellent for the front delts, but they don't directly affect your side heads.
Form is very important on lateral raises. This exercise is done incorrectly 90 percent of the time. You need to raise the dumbbells out to the sides, making sure your elbows are higher than your forearms. As you raise the weights, turn your wrists toward the front and put all the tension on the side heads. Imagine that you're slowly pouring water out of two pitchers.
Throw in drop sets whenever you are doing lateral. Grab a weight, pound out a specific number of reps, then switch to lighter dumbbells and continue doing more reps. Decrease the weight three or four times. That really burns out the delts and hits every fiber, promoting growth.
Arnold presses, made famous by Mr. Schwarzenegger himself, also shock the delts. To do this exercise, you either sit or stand, holding dumbbells at your shoulders with your opalms turned in toward your body - as in the top of a dumbbell curl. As you press the dumbbells overhead, twist your hands so your palms face each other about halfway up and face forward at the top. It's important to avoid fully locking out at the top so you get constant tension on your delts.
RICH'S SHOULDER ROUTINE FOR THE OLYMPIA

Arnold Presses Increase the weight on each set. The last set is a drop set; decrease the weight by 10 pounds three times. 4 X 10
Lateral Raises The last set is a drop set; decrease the weight three times. 4 X 10-12
Cable Lateral Raises or wide-grip upright rows 3 X 12
Bent-over laterals Face forward on an incline bench and keep yuor elbows up when raising the dumbbells. Tip the dumbbells forward as for side raises. 3 X 12
Barbell Shrugs Keep your hands shoulder width apart. 4 X 10


Building Huge Arms For Stubborn Gainer

by Rich Gaspari

Since the beginning of my bodybuilding career I have always wanted to have huge arms. The first book I picked up when I was just 13 years old was by Arnold Called the Encyclopedia of bodybuilding. Well the front cover of that book has an amazing picture of Arnold posing somewhere in the mountains doing a One Arm bicep pose. Well I tell you the peak on that arm was just spectacular! It had a peak on top of a peak so Arnold in that mountain scene looked perfect and his arm looked bigger than the mountains around him! I actually at 13 years old went to a book signing and had Arnold sign a piece of paper because at the time I could not afford to buy the book. I said to Arnold "Someday I want to be big like you and be a famous bodybuilder!" "He smiled at me and said, "Just keep it up kid and stay focused. It takes time to build a body, but little by little you can do it!" I tell you I took in those words of wisdom and dedicated my life to bodybuilding. I told Arnold about that day at the book signing on what he said years later when I won his prestigious Arnold Classic and he smiled and said I did hundreds of books signings in my day and it would be hard to remember you at that time but I am glad I was able to effect you to keep going and become successful!

Well persistence and dedication was what I was all about! I wanted to be the best in bodybuilding! To me I knew it in my heart I would be a champion! It all was a matter of time. The thing was my arms were not as easy to develop as Arnolds and I did not have the genetics to have that super peak. So I needed to focus on training my arms smart to get them the best that I could get them. This took learning about my body and what was best for a stubborn arm gainer. Well I started lifting for arms I thought it was more important to lift as heavy as I could to get them big! The thing was I lifted heavy but did not focus on good form. So doing really heavy cheat curls did not help in getting my arms any bigger. They need to be stimulated correctly. I learned that arms can be over trained very easily if you train them with other body parts like Chest and Back. I learned that you needed to focus on good form as well as do both high reps and low reps on arm training to stimulate growth.

I found what was best for me was to cycle arm training. This meant training them with more of a higher rep system on their own and going into the next cycle of heavy strict form with my larger body parts like chest and Shoulders.

With this cycle training I was able to build my arms to a good 20 ½"!

Here is the routine:

Superset both Biceps and triceps together on a 5 day Split.
Day 1: Chest
Day 2: Back
Day 3: Off
Day 4: Legs and Hams
Day 5: Shoulders
Day 6: Arms
Day 7: Off

Arms Day:

I start with standing DB Curls super-setted with Cable tricep Pushdowns: 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps.
Next do Preacher Bench curls super-setted with close grip bench 3 sets of 12-15 reps.
After this I do: Incline DB curls with Seated French Press: 3 sets of 12-15 reps.
I finish off with Standing Reverse Easy curl bar curls with Lying Skull crushers for 3 sets of 15.
Afterward I do 4 sets of 15 forearms curls with reverse forearm curls.
I follow this system of arm training for about 5 weeks and than change to my heavy arm training system.
I change the body parts I train for the week to this:
Day 1: Chest and triceps
Day 2: Back, lower back abs
Day 3: Off
Day 4: Legs
Day 5: Shoulders and biceps.

I separate both the Biceps and triceps and concentrate in lifting heavy but with perfect form to really stimulate growth.

Here is the training:

Day 1: Triceps:

Tricep pushdowns for 8-10 reps using either a V-bar or rope. 3 sets
Tricep Pullover press. This is a great bulking movement which you lay on a flat bench grabbing an easy curl bar in a close grip. You do a close grip bench and on the way down on your chest you pull over the bar over your head for a stretch on the triceps. Keep elbows in and return back to the starting position of a close grip bench with the bar on your chest again. Do 3 sets of 8 to 10.
Overhead Tricep Cable: From behind your head grab a V-bar attached to a cable either on your knees or seating. 3 sets of 8 to 10
Day 5: Bicep Training:

Standing Barbell curls. Strict curls for 8 to 10 reps increase weight but make sure no swinging at all and on the last set finish off with a drop set taking off 10lbs off each side and do another 6 to 8 reps.
Incline DB curls 3 sets of 8 to 10.
Preacher Curls: Use an easy curl bar and curl strict for 3 sets of 8 to 10
Reverse Preacher Curls: 3 sets of 8
Finish off with Bent over DB Concentration curls. I do this the same way Arnold Use to. Bend over and place your elbow on the inside of your leg near your knee. Do 3 sets of 8 and make sure you turn your wrists at the top and squeeze the biceps.
Well that's it for arm training and give it a try to see if it can work for you to build those stubborn arms.
 
I did so many varying forms of squats and so many sets you could not count them on an Abacus. In fact, as a 19 year old, I actually squatted to depth with 780 lbs. I was about 218 pounds and someone told me at that time it was close to a 220-pound class world record.

I could give a shit. I just liked the way it felt to load the weights on a squat bar and see and feel the bar bounce up and down. Later on, when I was in California, I did work out in the same gym as Dr. Squat Hatfield as he was moving in on the 1,000-pound squat and with Cory Everson, along with my partner Lee Haney. I mention Cory because she was one tough cookie, too, and one day on her double split, she actually did 87 sets of legs!

At any rate while still in N.J., my gym owner had to buy special bars because I bent so many of them. Tom Platz was famous for 315 pounds for 50 reps. Well, I did 30 reps once with 495 pounds. I remember fantasizing that I was a Barbarian warrior and that if I could not finish my workout my family and I would be executed.

A guy named David Sinott was my training partner. Today he trains celebrities like Demi Moore. (Now you know who keeps that 40-year-old, Charlie's Angel babe seducing 25 year olds.) I had one goal on leg day and that was to make David lose his stomach contents.

We started the workout with pre-exhaust, direct, thigh leg extensions. I warmed up my quads with 200 lbs. and continuously increased the weights until I got the stack of 350 lbs. with jacked-intensity drop sets, the last two sets.

I would do three drop sets (also called extended sets) and on the last drop set I would go beyond sanity into the world of negatives. When I got to the top of the extension I would hold the weight up and Dave would push on my shins to get the weight down. I would hold it as hard as I could and he would push with all his strength to the bottom. By the end of this, my legs were on fire and severely pumped (and so were his triceps).

Then I went to the 45-degree angle leg press. This was one of my favorites because I could really load on the weights. I did a light set of five, 45-lb. plates on each side for 15 reps. I moved along for sets of 15 reps. On the last set I had 15, 45-lb. plates on EACH side (lots of sets) and Dave was sitting on top of the machine (another 200 pounds). That was 30 x 45 lbs. plus 200 lbs., or 15 reps with 1750 lbs. counting the carriage. After the 15 reps, Dave got off, stripped two plates, and I did another 12 reps. He took two more plates off each time and I'd crank out 12 or more reps.

I couldn't even count the sets. I actually popped blood vessels in my eyes. They were bright, rose red. Dave would try to follow with somewhat less intensity and he would die a dozen deaths and lose his potassium in the garbage can, but at least his blood pressure was not 300/110.

By this time I was solo. I went to Smith machine squats. With this exercise I moved my feet forward to give my quads even more play. Since I was plenty warm I started with three, 45-lb. plates on each side, 15 reps. I increased the weight 45 pounds on each side until I got to six plates each side for 15 reps.

My next exercise was the reverse Smith machine lunge* supersetted with sissy squats. I did three sets of 15 reps on each exercise and I made it as high as two, 45-lb. plates on the lunges. I would hold a 45-lb. plate on my chest for the sissies. My eyes and thighs were even redder and my thighs were like Mount St, Helens, (not the big-breasted girl doing lap dances, but that Volcano in Washington State).



I took a breather for 10 minutes and drank a half gallon of water. I wore skimpy tight Hotskin shorts so I could see my thighs get huge, veiny and ripped to the femur. I was almost capillary comatose!

Now, Dave had regained some cell equilibrium and came back to join me for hamstring hell. I started with lying leg curls. We did five sets and on the last set I used the stack and did three drop sets. From there we did negatives. I would hold my legs straight out and Dave would pull my ankles downward while I tried to prevent him from doing it.

I was about done. At the end, I did stiff-leg deadlifts, super strict and slow four sets of 15 reps with 225 lbs. God that was it. I was totally cooked and felt my legs throbbing.

Those leg days bring back chills. Those leg workouts pushed me to be the second best male bodybuilder in the IFFB pro ranks at the time. I was Lee Haney's training partner, but I never beat him. You can talk to anyone from those days. Relative to those before and his then contemporaries, Lee was the greatest who ever lived. Did I have Lee's genetic size, bone structure and shape? No way, not even close. This guy was an athlete (and gentleman).

But I can say this and Lee would agree – no one, not anyone, ever out-trained me. No one had more gut-busting intensity than I did, especially on legs! I was, after all, the Dragonslayer (Jeff Everson named me that in 1987) and this is the kind of leg workout you must do! Now go get it on!
 
Damn i just read the whole thing, can't help it though Gaspari is one of my bodybuilding idols, he really deserved to be Mr O imho!
 
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