great read for all...

Im sure most of you have read this, this is for those who havent or who may benefit from a re-read....

originally posted on www.abcbodybuilding.com

So You Want To Be Freaky?
by Jacob Wilson

How many times have you neared fainting, and asked yourself, " why am I doing this? " Or, " what is it that drives me to push myself to limits I've never known before? " The answer is inherently the same for all bodybuilders. I say inherently because you must be born with the will power to succeed in this sport, and quite frankly, not many have this extreme gift, or curse if you will. It is a curse that cry's out in the middle of the night, and consumes your thoughts on a day to day basis. You have the innate desire to become freaky. The question is, do you have the will to become freaky? We shall see…

Today I’d like to analyze some of the greats in this sport and see what they had in common. What is it that they did, that made them so successful in achieving this much sought after goal? We will begin with a hypothesis, and see how it pans out. You see, I believe that in order to be freaky, you will have to do freaky things, and if you want to be insanely freaky, you will have to do insanely freaky things!

Arnold Vs. Dorian

Absolute giants; two monsters who dominated two generations. What did they have in common? They were both insanely freaky! I am not going to stand here and say who’s physique was better, because they developed different sculptures. Some of you may prefer one over the other, but I would be hard pressed to judge between the two.

Aside from them both having incredible physiques, they also have this in common: In order to gain freaky mass, they trained and ate equally as freaky as each other. I believe that Dorian’s training style however is the most misinterpreted on the planet earth. Or any Hit variation for that matter. Where as Arnold’s is easily interpreted. Let me qualify that statement. Today we have a generation of athletes who brag about only doing 1-3 sets total for their arms, feeling that they are following Dorian Yate’s, or Mike Mentzer’s training style, when this couldn’t be further from the truth!

It is rare when you actually run into a bodybuilder who truly implements the freaky principles that Dorian used. Rather they trace the dotted line, or follow what looks like his pattern if you will.

You have to understand something. Dorian Yates did not retire because he was tired of competing, he retired because his body basically snapped! Why? Because he trained so intensely, so insanely, and so hardcore that he could only continue for so long. This absolute monster fell on a very bleak day in the world of bodybuilding, while performing pullover presses! Giving it all he had, his left triceps muscle just snapped three fourths off of the attachment site. The kind of snap that you could hear round the entire gym floor! Dorian knew he was pushing his body to the limit, but he also knew that this is what he had to do to attain his ultimate physique! Incredibly enough, the reigning Mr. Olympia kept the injury to himself and still competed. By the time he entered the show all he could train was his legs. He then retired after having surgery on his arm. And if you looked at Dorian before his last show, he had more braces on his body to hold it together from his style of training than Patrick Ewing!

How a human being could endure the pain he placed himself through is astonishing to say the least. For example, in 1994 he damaged his left rotator cuff, further in the year he tore his left quadriceps and then nine weeks before the O he tore his left biceps muscle! After all that he still competed!

The man was an absolute animal! This is how he trained, this is how he thought, and that is what created one of the greatest physiques of all time! Unfortunately many an athlete feel that doing a few sets every workout as he prescribed is going to get them a freaky big body. No, this is far from the truth. What will get you a freaky body, is to mimic Dorian’s unmatchable intensity! An ability to go inside yourself and conquer a workout in the same time frame as Dorian did, will take nothing short of pure blood and guts on your part. You will literally have to leave a piece of yourself at the gym every time you train!

Dr. Fred Hatfield commented best on HIT style training when he compared it to contest performance. I remember him stating that when Hit was performed right, it could take a person weeks to recover from it. Just think about it. If you’ve ever competed in a tournament, or a power lifting event. Everything you are, and everything you've trained for comes down to a few short moments, in which you must pore out your very being into the actions you take. This can drain you mentally, physically, as well as emotionally. A true Dorian style workout, will give you butterflies in anticipation of the training session, in which you will place your body underneath relentless agony! Indeed, there are few who can carry such a workout, out correctly.

As for Arnold Schwarzenegger, everyone knows how legendary his routines were. Most people do not even attempt to try them out. Labeling them as too high in volume, or too unorthodox! Phrases such as, 20 sets for biceps, that’s stupid, ring throughout many an ear these days. However, I still maintain that Arnold did what it took to develop a freaky body. His physique reflected his training style, just as your body is reflected in a mirror. Therefore, the question is not who’s training style was more sane for today's standards. But rather, who’s training style was more insane! I firmly believe that an awe inspiring physique will always follow an insane approach to lifting. Dorian illustrated this, as well as Arnold. Not to say, that you should not stay within the realm of science, only that you realize that the science of this sport is an extreme one!

You Wanna Be Freaky? Then You Gotta Eat Freaky!

We have now entered what many deem as the most difficult aspect of this sport.

I've said this before, and I will say it again, you cannot get a highly competitive physique and maintain your abs all year long! It doesn’t work that way. And unfortunately, the majority of today’s magazines make this out to be the case.
The quickest way to gain mass is to eat, like you have never eaten before, and ask questions latter! If you have ever been to Venice Beach, you will understand exactly what I am talking about. Bodybuilders are absolute tanks in the off season!

I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with Ian Harrison, but he is actually one of the founders of the massive physiques you see on stage today. He is one of the first athletes to bulk up to over 320 pounds on a consistent basis, and as far as pure size is concerned, he was right up there with Yates, Rhul, and Nasser. Ian has stated that he literally doesn’t care what he looks like in the off season, as long as he’s gaining size. In fact he has been quoted with eating three liters of ice cream a day while bulking. Literally, as long as he doesn’t throw it up, he will eat it!

And even then he may force feed it. During a seminar he told a very inspiring story. He ate 30 desiccated liver tablets, felt sick and threw them up. They went flying across the room. What did he do? Casually rinsed them off, and re-downed them, because he knew that was what it would take for him to get the physique he wanted. Ian has a difficult time gaining weight, so he did what it took to gain it!

“ If you want to be one of the big boys, you can't just say eat when you are hungry. Or I'll just eat this, or I'm full, I can't eat that. You've got to just eat it. You're not eating cause you like it, you're eating to grow! If you have to force feed yourself, then do it! When I stopped competing it took me months to regain my appetite. I mean since I was 15 I force fed myself constantly, and you get to hate the idea of eating. But that’s what it took“

Quote - Ian Harrison

It’s a fact that bodybuilders do not stay within 5-10 pounds of their contest shape, not if they are one of the monsters up there. Ian has an extremely insane regimen, in which he eats anything he can get his hands on all day, and essentially just makes sure that he gets 50 grams of protein in him every two hours to keep his amino acid intake up.

Lee Priest is the same way, in one interview he stated that he had lost, something like 300 pounds over the last three years! That’s insane! But do you think he could have developed a physique that freaky by staying lean all year long? Absolutely not! If you have ever seen his videos, you know that Lee feasts on Kentucky Fried Chicken, Mc Donalds, and other tasty food sources in the off season. One of my favorite quotes from him during a contest was this:

Just three more days, and no more chicken and rice. Actually I will eat chicken, but it will be Kentucky, and I will have rice, but it’ll be fried. “

Lee’s got a good sense of humor. Another story that comes to mind is Mike Mattarazzos off season shakes! Here is a quote from the man with the freakiest arms of all time!

If I couldn't finish a meal during the day, I would put a cup and a half of apple juice in the blender -- and this is the honest-to-God truth -- and throw steaks, fish, whatever I couldn't chew, into the blender. Then I would hold my nose and suck it down. That's a fact. Many times I puked that stuff back up, but it did the job….If you have been working hard in the gym, but you're not making the gains you want, there's one very simple reason: You're not eating enough.

As you have also noticed and heard, many bodybuilders eat junk food in the off season, because it is impossible to stay clean and get the amount of calories needed for these mammoths to gain size! Some of the most hardcore athletes in the world will actually bring their fast food meals with them to the gym so that they continue to stay in a state of anabolism! That’s no joke, its what they do to obtain freaky big size( you can’t pick that up in a text book)!

Junk food is so calorie dense, that if you maintain a high protein intake you can gain quite a bit of muscle mass off the stuff. Take the Austrian Oak for example. When he went in the military, all they had was junk food. However, he had to eat, or he couldn’t continue to grow. He rolled up his sleeves and ate as much of these foods as possible, and ended up putting on about 40 pounds! More than he had ever gained!

Am I telling you to go out and start eating junk food? No and no wise although you may advance to a point in which it is necessary). What I am telling you, is that you are going to have to eat like you want to be freaky, or you will never be freaky! If you can’t finish your meal, tuff! Rest pause for 5 minutes and force it down. There is no excuse for not gaining mass, you just need to do what it takes to gain it!

You Want to Be Freaky, Then You've Got To Train And Think Freaky!

Tom Prince is an example of exaggerated intensity, and he boasts one of the most impressive physiques of our era!

“ When I deadlift I keep the bar close to my shins. My intensity is such that I've cut myself during sets, and didn’t realize that it was blood dripping down my legs as opposed to sweat. My whole body was in pain, how could a few cuts from the bar sway my attention from the task at hand? “ --- Tom Prince

That is called a championship mentality, a mentality that would not allow anything to stand in his way. Mike Mattarrzzo will do up to four hours of cardio a day, pre-contest to get cut for the show! In order to attain his incredible forearms Sergio Oliva would perform reverse barbell curls for hours on end! Lee Haney trained all of his body parts, balls to the wall 3 times a week! Frank Zane would train a body part 3 days straight, and Franco Columbo had enough Lung power to blow up a water bottle until it exploded!

Many athletes believe that fear releases growth hormone, and testosterone. Which is one of the reasons why they do such insane routines. For example, if you look at old photos of Dave Draper, you would see him performing rock bottom squats without a safety rack( don’t try this at home!)!

Tom Platz is perhaps most famous for saying:

“ Welcome to The Pain Zone, This is Where We Live “

This is an extremely important statement to analyze. When you step into the gym, do you put your hard hat on? Are you willing to go the distance and live in this extreme zone from start to finish? When my quads are on fire during a triple drop set of leg extensions, I try and realize what the pain I am experiencing signifies. In reality it is carving out what I came to the gym for! A four headed monster! When an athlete grasps this concept they can understand what Arnold meant when he said:

“ That was when I realized that pain could become pleasure. We were benefiting from pain. We were breaking through the pain barrier and shocking the muscles. I looked at this pain as a positive thing, because I grew.

It was a fantastic feeling to gain size from pain. All of a sudden I was looking forward to it as something pleasurable. The whole idea of pain became a pleasure trip. I couldn’t tell anybody about it then, because I knew they would say I was weird. Which wasn’t true, I had just converted the pain into pleasure - not for its own sake but because it meant growing. We bragged to each other about how much our workouts hurt. “ --- Arnold Schwarzenegger

What the Oak said, to a normal bystander is pretty sick, but to you reading this, it is motivational! It says something about yourself does it not it!? That you have what it takes to succeed in this sport!

When you get right down to it, you have to have a freaky mentality.

You are striving after an ideal in the sense that you are molding your physique correctly, you are developing your body, changing the shape, and the contours of your muscles. So that it looks a certain way. The way you want it to look. Molded out of that certain mental perception that was perceived beforehand. You are trying to gain matter, or trying to make yourself into that perception.

There is allot of mental training involved in bodybuilding. You have to cultivate your feelings. It’s as if you have a need, almost like a calling. An inherent need for something, that you must do, and you will not be happy unless it’s fulfilled. That is where I’m at and that’s why I'm here today. ( he made this statement the day before the 1980 Mr. O contest )

In fact, I believe very much that bodybuilding is more mental than physical. You are concerned first of all with a mental perception. What you want to look like, what you want to be like as far as the contours of your body. You are concerned with daily feelings of exercises, handles, muscles, you are concerned with putting your mind literally inside of your muscles. ---- Tom Platz – “ The Comeback “

Amazing focus! And this is from the man who perfected the shake and bake pose( that is the pose in which you shake your quad from side to side and then flex it )! Essentially what he is saying is that your mental preparation must be more intense than your physical preparation. You need to focus, and envision your body developing way before it actually does so!

However mental prep goes beyond focus and envisionment, and also tremendously into the realm of knowledge! Which is why I go to such great lengths to present abcbodybuilding members with detailed information. I mean lets face it, when you know the actual attachment sites of over 12 muscles in the lower leg, and you start having conversations about the digitorum longus, you have reached a freaky stage, mentally in this sport! And the members of this site can say that for certain! Which is very exciting. By doing this, you have literally conquered your calves.

Milos Scarvey is an exemplarity illustration of this. He applied his knowledge to Dennis James last year, and he literally grew, as if it were his first year in the gym! Scarvey is a genius! Frank Zane is similar in his approach. In fact, he knew so much about the human body, that to this day, he is still referred to as the “ chemist. “ Without his knowledge of manipulation of such hormones as glucagon and insulin( see 13 weeks to burning fat ) he would have never been able to go on stage and claim the title as the most shredded human being to ever live!

Everyone's mentality is different, but almost every athlete in this sport has an extreme one! The other day I found myself dwelling on negative thoughts. What happened? My thoughts carried over to my workout, and I ended out having a sub par session. Then the sub par session brought me lower, and effected my sleeping patterns. I woke up the next morning with the same negative pattern, only this time I realized what it was doing to me! Listen, self induced stress, and wandering thoughts will slow your gains in this sport more than anything else!
It is for this reason that I feel every athlete should condition his mind to be that of a warrior’s. You cannot afford to let negative thoughts infect your training, sleeping and eating patterns. Which is why you can do one of two things. The first is to simply try and dwell on positive thoughts, and not allow negative ones to affect you. The other is to literally become cold:

If you want to be a champion you cannot have any outside negative force come in and defect you. Lets say before a contest I get emotionally involved with a girl. That can have a negative effect on my mind and therefore destroy my workouts. So therefore I have to cut my emotions off and become kind of cold in a way. If somebody stills my car outside right now, I don’t care, because I can't be bothered with that. The only thing that I will do is call my insurance agent and have a laugh about it. I trained myself to be totally cold and to not have things go into my mind that could negatively effect me. ----- Arnold Quote

While that is rather extreme, I think you get the point. In order to develop a freaky physique you've got to have a freaky mind set! I am not saying that you need to grow cold toward your friends and family. What I am saying is that you need to be extremely mindful of your thoughts( and yes I am a star wars fan ). If a negative thought seeps into your brain, I would suggest immediately flushing it out!

The Sacrifice It Takes To Obtain A Freaky Physique

Even with the will power to train hard, as an athlete you are going to have to make decisions. Do you stay out till three in the morning or get those extra hours of sleep, that are so vital to growth?

My life revolved around my training program. No more evenings killing time at the movies. No partying with friends. What a fantastic outlet for my adolescent fury! Lifting weights taught me physical awareness. It forced me to respect the sanctity of my body. I would never do anything that would even remotely hinder the development of my body!

---- Lee Haney / 8 Time Mr. Olympia

Its that mentality that permeates throughout countless champions, past and present. It is this self control that makes people look at us and ask why we are so fanatical about developing our bodies. But again, it is this self sacrificial set of ideals that separates us from the rest of society!

“ The dedication I have for this sport is very intense. Ill give anything, Ill give whole commitment to do it. Because I must do it, to the best or better than I can possible to it to my ability. That’s what its about tomorrow night on stage. All year long I’ve been doing this and now the final day is here to show what I've got. “ --- Tom Platz – Mr. Universe

Conclusion

The best way to conclude this would be to simply quote the Austrian Oak one last time:

The body isn’t used to the 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th rep. But that’s what makes it grow! Going through that pain barrier, experiencing the muscular pain, aching, and continuing to go on and go on. That’s what divides a champion from everyone else. If you can go through this pain barrier, then you may get to be a champion, if you can’t go threw it, then forget it. And that’s what most people lack. Having the guts to go threw, the guts to go in and say I don’t care what happens! If it aches, or I fall during a workout, I don’t care. I know it could happen, but I have no fear of fainting in the gym. I've thrown up many times while I was training, but it doesn’t matter, because its all worth it.

What I want you to walk away with today, is a sense of what it will truly take to develop a physique that truly is freaky. And this does not reflect how your body looks now. Everyone has to start at some point. It has to do with your mentality, your will power, and your ability to train your guts out every time you go to the gym! Ask yourself, do I have what it takes to accomplish this? If you do then you are one of the select few warriors who can make that statement!

Yours In Sport

Jacob Wilson [email protected]
President AbcBodybuilding / Beyond Failure Magazine