Training

When I work out immediately after a show, my overall focus and goal is to pump up the muscle as much as possible. Keeping the muscle full will allow it to continue to grow as I’m rebounding from a show. It’s also important to train smart. Your mind says “lift heavy,” but your body says “not ready.”

You know that feeling you get after smashing some weights in the gym—that muscle fatigue and depletion, but satisfaction knowing you just killed it? Now imagine that feeling twice a day.

They say you have to have big tree trunks to carry big branches. If that’s the case, then you better not skip leg day.

Bodybuilding is nothing if not a game of balance. The end goal for each of us is a balanced physique where all muscle groups are maximally developed. Once we realize this, we almost always want to know how we can develop each muscle group to its maximum capacity.

Most guys dream of big, 20 inch arms when they first start weight training. I probably over emphasized arms and chest when I first started.

Nowadays, everyone wants to reinvent the wheel. Whatever happened to keeping it simple?

When I first began pursuing my goal to be a bodybuilder, I encountered a number of widely held ideas that I assumed were true.

I have to give CrossFit a lot of credit. Although it’s currently popular for many bodybuilders and powerlifters to bash the CrossFit movement, you won’t hear me doing that.

It’s deadlift day. I head over to Skiba’s Gym in Carteret, NJ seven weeks out from competition.

Bodybuilders are often seen as simple minded creatures that don’t do much more than train and eat. IFBB Pro Roman Fritz, however, is no such creature. He takes training and eating to another level, like a well-oiled machine that runs like clockwork and with great precision.

As a young and avid weightlifter, I looked up to IFBB professional bodybuilders for advice in training and diet. I would search for videos online of Jay Cutler, Evan Centopani, and others for motivation and to use as a guide for what exercises I would train for the muscle group I was working that particular day. At first, I would do exactly what was shown in the video—the same exercises, number of reps and sets, and amount of time under tension. Over the years, though, I’ve developed my own way of training based on 5 principles, or “pillars,” that can be applied to every body part. Keep in mind that on some days, you will have more energy/strength than other days, but the approach should still be the same.

When we last checked in with amateur bodybuilder Vincenzo “MASS” Masone and IFBB Pro Roman “Rex” Fritz, Roman was putting Vincenzo through the paces with his signature hardcore approach to training in “Chasing the Pain”.