TWO HOURS PER BODYPART BY GUSTAVO BADELL 2004 MR. OLYMPIA, THIRD PLACE What it takes to finish third in the Mr. Olympia I’m a crazy man when a contest approaches. I train a bodypart for two hours straight — hard, heavy, cruel — smashing it with more weight than most guys even dream of using, even during the offseason. With every mass-building exercise, I’m grinding and twisting my muscle every which way, ending with brain-piercing pain-wrenching failure – not a perfectly cadenced metronomic pump that creates little more than a virgin’s blush in the muscle. My repetitions are those of a battering ram, not a baton-pumping majorette. Just because I have an hour and 58 minutes to go with that bodypart after my first set doesn’t mean I’m saving myself. Every set, from the first to the 30th, 40th and so on, is dragged kicking and screaming into complete tongue-dragging bloody-eyed fatigue. That’s how I trained through 2004, and it was my best year yet. For the Mr. Olympia, I worked even more furiously by adding 30-45 minutes of cardio at the end of each workout. Beyond human tolerance, you say? At first, yes, but pushing myself in this manner not only increased my strength, energy, endurance and conditioning, but it also stimulated my metabolism. Look how it worked for the 2004 Mr. Olympia. If the Challenge Round had continued for another half-hour, maybe I could have won the whole show. This type of training evolved out of my need to build confidence for pro shows. I was motivated, but I wanted to prove to myself that I could raise my conditioning beyond that of any pro. That being the case, my muscularity and density should naturally follow. Of course, two hours of nonstop training for a single bodypart cannot be applied during every workout, but two or three times a month is feasible. Using my back workout as an example, I start with four sets of chins for eight to 12 reps. These are used not only as a warm-up and stretch, but also as a mass-builder to activate every muscle across my upper back, with reps performed at a restrained pace to induce early failure. At the bottom, I get a full hanging stretch. I then flex my upper lats, using their contractions — not my arms — to pull myself to the top, where I force my scapulae to rotate inward, knotting and cramping the rhomboids. Without resting, I continue with behind-the-neck pulldowns for four sets of 12-15 reps each. Again, concentration is intense, with a full reach at the top and a hard full contraction of all upper-back muscles at the bottom of the pull. Next, it’s back to the horizontal bar for more front chins, this time with a weight belt. I pyramid upward in weight through four sets, starting with 15 reps and ending with 12. Since I’m already exhausted from the two previous overhead exercises, I usually have to power up my last few reps. Now, the basics. Barbell rows are my favourite, so I blast them with five pyramided sets of 12-10 reps, going up to 405 pounds. I like to slam the barbell into my gut with explosive reps. The more I rattle the plates, the more I’m motivated. This is just before a contest, so I have to do crazy things. You can’t train normally and expect to beat your competitors in every pro show. You have to improve every time. T-bar rows are next — four pyramided sets of 15 down to 12 reps each. The T-bar places more of a pull on the lower back, so the reps can’t be as explosive as during barbell rows. That doesn’t mean they have to be lighter; I just make sure I’m tighter on the initial pull. Without hesitation, I go to Hammer Strength rows, again pyramiding four sets beginning with 15 reps, getting a full range of motion all the way back. That same movement is duplicated for pulley rows, which are next. For these, I puff out my chest and pull my shoulders back to get an even greater contraction. I do another four pyramided sets of 15-12 reps. Next, deadlifts! I love this exercise. It’s fun because you’re using pure animal strength, and you can measure real numerical progress. The exercise also forces you to control the movement. When you use “deadlift weight”, every muscle in the body is stimulated. Deadlifts just feel right. Check my lower back; you’ll notice it’s very thick in comparison with my competitors. All my life, I’ve done a lot of deadlifts with a lot of weight. This workout is so intense and so high in volume that, at this point, I get everything I need out of these by putting 315 on the bar and doing four sets of 12-15 reps each. By now, my back is so knotted that I have to finish with four sets of hyperextensions just to relieve the tightness. I hurt, I’m exhausted, I’m drained and numb — but I made it, and I feel like a limp superman. Sure, I’ve overtrained, but overtraining only stops growth if you’re not eating enough or getting enough sleep. Otherwise, go beyond what you thought was your capacity so your body can follow. FLEX