The Copperfield Physique Commercial
gyms are a fun place. The various people training there never fail to
provide me with a lot of entertainment. From the macho man curling 50
pounds in the power rack to the hot shot speaking on his headset cell
phone while squatting, I’ve seen it all! A game I often
indulge myself in is called "Name the Physique." You have several
categories to choose from for each person in the gym. Here are a few:

• The Light Bulbs: Big upper bodies supported by toothpick legs. • The Neanderthals: Head lurching forward, rounded shoulders, VLS (virtual lat syndrome). •
The Runway Cats: Dressed as if going out and avoiding exercises that
may make them sweat and, God forbid, muss their $150 haircuts. •
The Legends: Guys who act as if they're king of the gym, seeing
themselves as big and muscular as Mr. Olympia despite looking more like
Pillsbury doughboys. • The MTV's: Mostly young guys suffering from the illusion that they're participating in a rap video.

That’s only scratching the surface; I may very well write an entire book on the "Name the Physique" game! A
recent addition to my list has become quite a common sight these days.
I call it the "Copperfield physique." Why Copperfield? Because from the
front the guy looks to have a decent physique, but when he turns
sideways his physique magically disappears! As I've already mentioned
in my Big Back Stack article, your body is actually being seen from all
angles. You might look impressive from one angle but do you have the
whole package? Do you have a 3-D physique? What’s
required for a 3-D physique? Thickness, that’s what! You need a thick
upper body. That means a beastly upper back, a "tractor-tires" lower
back, and big traps. To be thick you also need to be strong. There’s no
way around it. Sure, you can train the upper back and lower back with
light isolation exercises. This might get you some decent development,
but it won’t make you thick. Furthermore, we want to be
thick all the time, right? Not just when we’re pumped from doing twenty
sets of isolation work (another sign of the Copperfield physique:
muscles that disappear once the pump goes away). To look thick all the
time you need to have good myogenic tone, and that requires heavy
lifting. I've included a few photos of myself to illustrate
what I mean by thickness. Remember, I’m actually not a very big guy,
around 210 pounds in these pictures, but a lot of people in gyms are
much bigger without actually looking as thick from the side. As
you can see, even when standing relaxed my upper back looks just as
thick as when it’s flexed. Furthermore, notice how when I’m sideways
you can still see my upper and lower back. How can you
build that kind of thickness? Years and years of heavy pulling! Not the
answer you wanted to hear, huh? I don’t blame you! So here's a short
term fix to the Copperfield physique.

The Contrast Triple Threat What
if I told you that to build maximum thickness in minimum time you’d
only need one exercise? Would you believe me? Well, you’d better
because it’s true! There's a catch however: it’s going to be one
helluva tough ride! If you want to take a short cut, expect to pay the
price with sweat and blood! What we're going to do is what
I call a contrast triple threat. As you may (or may not) know, contrast
training refers to alternating between several types of contractions
for the same muscle. You can go from light and explosive to heavy and
slow, switching back and forth. I call my method the "triple threat"
because we're going to contrast three types of contractions:

1. Concentric Explosive: Lifting a light load (50-70%) with maximum velocity. 2. Concentric/Eccentric Near-Maximal: Lifting and lowering a very heavy load (85-100%). 3. Eccentric Supramax loading: Lowering a supramaximal load (110-130%) under control.

Our
basic exercise is going to be the Olympic-stance deadlift, so the
variations we'll use are the clean pull, the clean-grip deadlift, and
the eccentric deadlift. Let's take a look at each.

Clean Pull The
objective is to pull the bar to a height close to the bottom of your
rib cage when standing up. The key is to lift the bar under control
from the ground to the knees (pushing the floor away) and to explode at
the knees. Your traps and calves should contract maximally at the same
time.

Clean-Grip Deadlift This
is not a powerlifting deadlift; it’s an Olympic deadlift. On the
powerlifting deadlift you start with the hips higher and the shoulders
behind the bar. On the clean-grip deadlift your hips are down and the
shoulders are above the bar. This is a great exercise to develop the
lower back and the quadriceps, along with the hamstrings. Start
position: feet are hip-width, toes are turned slightly outward. The
grip is narrow (approximately shoulder width). Legs are flexed at the
knees slightly (around 110-120 degrees). Trunk is flexed, back is
tightly arched. Shoulders are in front of the bar. Arms are straight,
traps are stretched. Head is looking forward and down. Pull:
the bar is lifted via a knee extension from the ground up to the knees.
The back angle remains the same, albeit tight and arched. The arms stay
long (remain extended) and the bar should be kept close to the body.
From the knees up to the standing position, the bar is lifted with a
combined back extension and knee extension. The back stays tight and
the arms stay long. The lift is completed when you're standing up
completely.

Eccentric Deadlift This
exercise consists of lowering a supramaximal load (more than your
maximum) under control. Ideally you should lower the bar in…

10 seconds if the load is 110-115% (of your maximum)
8 seconds if the load is 115-120%
6 seconds if the load is 120-125%
4 seconds if the load is 125-130%

Obviously,
because of the nature of this exercise, you can only do one rep per
set, so make it a good one! To do this drill you’ll either need boxes,
a stack of weight plates, or the open side of a power rack. Since
you're going to lower a load heavier than what you can lift, you must
start it higher. Do a half-deadlift to bring the bar in the starting
position, take two steps back, and lower the bar under control.

Exercise Organization The
following guide gives you a set by set breakdown of your workout. Note:
The load is in relation to the deadlift 1RM (maximum).
Set 1

Exercise: Clean pull
Reps: 5
Load: 50%
Tempo: 20X

Set 2

Exercise: Deadlift
Reps: 3
Load: 90%
Tempo: 301

Set 3

Exercise: Deadlift
Reps: 2
Load: 90% + 10 pounds
Tempo: 301

Set 4

Exercise: Deadlift
Reps: 1
Load: 90% + 20 pounds
Tempo: 301

Set 5

Exercise: Eccentric deadlift
Reps: 1
Load: 110-115%
Tempo: 10-0-0

Set 6

Exercise: Clean pull
Reps: 5
Load: 55%
Tempo: 20X

Set 7

Exercise: Deadlift
Reps: 3
Load: 90% + 10 pounds
Tempo: 301

Set 8

Exercise: Deadlift
Reps: 2
Load: 90% + 20 pounds
Tempo: 301

Set 9

Exercise: Deadlift
Reps: 1
Load: 90% + 30 pounds
Tempo: 301

Set 10

Exercise: Eccentric deadlift
Reps: 1
Load: 115-120%
Tempo: 800

Set 11

Exercise: Clean pull**
Reps: 5
Load: 60%
Tempo: 20X

Set 12

Exercise: Deadlift**
Reps: 3
Load: 90% + 20 pounds
Tempo: 301

Set 13

Exercise: Deadlift**
Reps: 2
Load: 90% + 30 pounds
Tempo: 301

Set 14

Exercise: Deadlift**
Reps: 1
Load: 90% + 40 pounds
Tempo: 301

Set 15

Exercise: Eccentric deadlift
Reps: 1
Load: 120-125%
Tempo: 600

** Do only if preceding set was successful. Stop workout when you can't complete a set as prescribed. See our FAQ section if you're unfamiliar with tempo prescriptions.

Program Notes and Additional Details The
workout is to be completed by performing three to five sets of shrugs
and/or some form of rowing. As you can see, this is a lot of work.
Don't do more than prescribed if you want maximum progress. This
routine can be performed up to twice per week (first and last training
days of the week), but most people should start with a frequency of
once a week. Don't do any additional upper or lower back work in the
week for maximum progress. It's also possible to replace the clean pull
by a power clean if you're able to do that lift properly. This
program should be followed for four to six weeks, no more. I prefer to
use a certain program for four weeks for maximum results.

Conclusion
If
you want to be thick fast, this is the program for you. It’s hard work
and honestly not everybody can, or should, do it. However, if you have
the guts and dedication to stick to it, you’ll be rewarded tenfold! Now
go get thick!



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