Question of Strength: October
by Charles Poliquin
Shoulder Training: The Final Word?
Q:
Some coaches say there's no need for direct shoulder training because
the delts are hit with other exercises. They say to do a few lateral
raises and that's it. Others recommend full delt specialization
workouts. What do you think? A: I
was one of the first to say that you don't really need direct shoulder
work. I've been saying that for twenty years. But there are some
exceptions, especially for cosmetic reasons. If a guy has
shoulders like pancakes, then I'd prescribe direct shoulder work. In
fact, for bodybuilding purposes, it's fairly hard to get to the top
without direct shoulder work.
The anterior and posterior deltoids usually
doget enough work if you do chins, rows, bench press, dips, etc. But a
lot of people neglect their back, so their posterior deltoids can be
lacking. What I find works best for shoulder hypertrophy is
tri-sets. The shoulders have intermediate-type fibers. They respond
best to multiple exercises with short rest intervals, eight to ten
reps, varying the motor resistance. For example, here's a quick fix for
lagging shoulders:
A1) Seated Lateral Raise, 6 to 8 reps
10 seconds rest
A2) Machine Lateral Raise, 10 to 12 reps
10 seconds rest
A3) Double Cable Lateral Raise (single pictured below), 15 to 20 reps
120 seconds rest, then start cycle over with A1
Now,
the medial deltoid does seem to be the "missed" deltoid, but it's a
myth that there are only three deltoids (posterior, medial, and
anterior). French anatomists showed several years ago that there are
actually seven portions of the deltoid you can selectively activate.
That's why when you look at the sporting world, the best shoulder
development is seen in gymnasts — they apply force at every angle you
can think of!
Now,
the shoulders actually recover very quickly. The delts are slow-twitch,
so recovery can be fast. Frequency is important here. If you have a
lack of shoulder development, you may need to train delts three days
per week.
All Muscle, No "Bulk Belly"
Q: Is it necessary to gain fat in order to gain muscle? And can you lose fat and gain muscle at the same time? A:
It's not necessary to gain body fat when trying to add muscle mass.
That's an antiquated idea. It's one of the dumbest things I see — guys
eating candy bars and fast food when trying to build muscle. The
problem in the weight training world is that people don't give a shit
about good health. I see weight training as being a lifelong activity.
The cleaner you eat the better. Bill Pearl and Dave Draper are
still lifting weights.
It's
quite possible to gain muscle while losing fat. I've seen it hundreds
of times with my athletes. I have a kid from the University of Southern
California who was 25% body fat. I got him down to 12% in eight weeks,
and he gained 25 pounds of muscle. Now,
a cheat day every five to seven days (depending on your metabolism) is
okay when you're trying to gain muscle. I think it's hard to put muscle
on when eating clean
all the time. But there's a difference between a cheat day every fifth day and eating crap at
every meal. Even
on cheat days however, I tell my athletes to avoid trans-fats, which
can do severe damage to the body. I'd rather see a skinny guy who's
trying to gain muscle wolf down a bunch of rice pudding than eat French
fries.
BCAA, Pam Anderson, and the Dominican Republic
Q: Is there a supplement-related trick to retaining muscle while on a strict fat loss program? A: Not only can you retain muscle while losing fat, but as I talked about in the previous question, you can
gain muscle. In fact, you
should gain muscle if you know how to train and eat properly! One
thing to remember: If you're on a fat loss diet, you must be consuming
a lot of good dietary fats. A lot of guys who don't retain muscle when
dieting are basically eating too lean — egg whites and chicken breasts
all day long. You need to add
quality fats, and I'm not talking about a burger from McDonalds. Dr.
Mauro DiPasquale taught me a long time ago that when you go low carb to
lose body fat, you still need to take in a lot of dietary fat or you
won't have any success. We're talking about smart fats here like
omega-3s, which can battle inflammation. You have to realize that our
DNA has only evolved about .02% in the last forty thousand years, and
the meat our caveman ancestors ate had much more omega-3 than the meat
we eat now.
I
realize how anabolic food is every time I go teach in the Dominican
Republic. Last time I taught a Biosignature Modulation course in the
DR, the students took my body fat Monday morning. I was at 8% and
weighed 198 pounds. Now, there's no such thing as grain-fed
in the DR; they can't afford it, so cows eat grass. And if you eat a
mango over there you have to eat it over a sink because it's so juicy.
The eggs too are far more anabolic. They're orange and full of
omega-3s, like all eggs naturally were thousands of years ago. A
DR avocado tastes like butter it's so rich in nutrients. Eating
avocados over here is like eating fiberglass once you've had a DR
avocado. It's like having sex with Pamela Anderson then having to have
sex with Rosie O'Donnell. Anyway, five days later, after
eating only Dominican Republic foods, I weighed 209 at 6% body fat. My
business partner came to finish the seminar, took one look at me and
said, "What happened to you?!" But when I work in the UK or
Ireland, I lose muscle mass and put fat on almost inevitably, even
though I try to eat as cleanly as possible. The quality of the food is
just piss poor. Back to your question. One of the most important supplements to take when on a calorie restricted diet is BCAAs. You need about 50 grams a day. Take it between meals.
Incredible, Edible, and Anabolic?
Q: Are whole eggs okay or should I stick to only egg whites? A:
Only dorks eat egg whites. You see these diets in the muscle magazines;
they always list egg whites and oatmeal for their bullshit breakfasts.
Well, if you took four Sustanons between every meal and seventeen
Anadrols per hour, well, you could eat anything you wanted!
This guy might not be "natural." A
guy training naturally needs whole eggs. What about the reported health
concerns? Well, the studies that showed eating eggs raised cholesterol
were done by the
cereal board. And back then they didn't differentiate between the types of cholesterol, so the studies were invalid. Eggs
can raise cholesterol — HDL, the good cholesterol. The
only caveat with eggs is that you can become allergic to them if you
eat two or three every day. I saw this when I used to run a lot of food
allergy tests. Stop eating eggs for six weeks and the allergy will
disappear, then you can eat twelve every five days. Hey, if you're
going to have them, don't be a pansy.
Carbs, Hot Asians, and Oatmeal
Q:
My Asian girlfriend eats all the carbs she wants and still has abs. I
can eat too much healthy oatmeal and lose my abs in a heartbeat! What
gives? Is this really a genetic or ethnic heritage difference? A:
Two things here. First, Asians are part of the 25% of the world
population that are carbohydrate adapted. Provided they're plain carbs,
they can eat them and still remain lean.
Asians
can tolerate carbs more because their culture has had agriculture
longer than other cultures; they're adapted. (On that same note,
perhaps soy is bad for Caucasians but not so bad for Asians. Think
about it.) But, most Asians can't tolerate diary. It just hasn't been
around long in their diets. Second, you're
not Asian, and oatmeal is the most common food allergen. It comes from the grass family after all.
In
2001 I ran blood work on every single one of my clients using six
different labs. Oatmeal always came out as the most frequent food
allergen. It can raise cortisol and lead to the storage of fat in the
abdominal area. I'm anti-oatmeal, especially for Caucasians. Quinoa may be a better choice.
Accueil 
EMG
But this "innovative" trainer decided that the bar should be held in front
Another