To stay in great shape and look good all your life, bodybuilding is the key to success. To achieve the best growth in the muscle, you’ll need to train each type of fiber with different reps and weight. My great friend Jack LaLanne, who died at the age of 96, gave me this great training tip: “Train with heavy weight for 5 to 8 reps per set for size, and after two weeks, change to light weight and do from 15 to 50 reps per set.” This type of training will give you size and great endurance.
Do not rest very long between sets so that you can keep the blood in the muscles and get a great pump. In my opinion, it is best to train each muscle twice a week. This will give you enough rest between training sessions to increase the size of your muscles. Keep in mind that high reps, when done, need more rest between sets than heavy weight.
The white fibers in the muscle respond best to low reps (5 to 8) for growth, and the red fibers respond best to high reps for endurance. This is why I suggest changing your training every two weeks. Also, try changing the exercises you do to keep the body fresh. I like to do compound exercises, for example: when I do a biceps exercise, I follow with a triceps exercise and go back and forth to get a great pump. You can do compound exercises with many body parts, like training chest and back together. I like to train my entire body in one workout, twice a week. I usually train on Tuesdays and Saturdays, which gives me enough rest between training sessions to build new muscle.
I am currently 58 years old and will be 59 on October 14, 2017. I started doing chinups at the age of 9, and started weight training at 11. Over the years, I have built my arms up to 18″ with this program that I outlined above. You have to find out what works for you and become your own expert. My friend Ed Urbano is 74 (he will be 75 in November 2017) and he works out three days per week, because that is what works best for him.
I have known my great friend Arnold Schwarzenegger for 40 years, and he has been a great help with my training by giving excellent advice in the gym. For example, the concentric contraction is when the weight goes up, and eccentric contraction is when the weight goes down. Make sure to do both parts of each rep slowly to get the best results.
I hope the information in this article will help you be the best bodybuilder you can be – at any age. Muscle & Fitness and FLEX are the greatest bodybuilding magazines and the Chief Content Driector Shawn Perine is in great shape. He and his team truly live the bodybuilding and fitness lifestyle. To all of the readers, train hard and great health to you. ~ Doug Brolus
Abe Lojero
TRAINING TIPS FROM ED URBANO
Not in my wildest fantasies did I ever think that I’d be featured in a magazine, especially FLEX or Muscle and Fitness. I would like to thank Chief Content Director Shawn Perine for giving me a chance.
I strive to motivate people to live a healthy lifestyle. I used to think that as long as you train hard, you are good to go – but I now know that is not completely true. Training hard is important, but as you get older, your results diminish and quality of life becomes the most important thing. Exercise will give you that. For me, I prefer weight training. All types of exercises and routines work, but not all all exercises and routines work for everyone. As Bruce Lee said, you have to try them all and discard was does not work for you. If you haven’t trained before, everything will work for about 1-2 years. Then you’ll hit plateaus. When that happens, it’s time to adjust your training. Change up your exercises and routines and find what works for you.
Almost everyone has bad form when they first start training, myself included. Using very strict form with machine-like precision (that’s a quote from the Barbarian Brothers) gave me very impressive gains. Lift the weight and pause at the top of the movement, then lower slowly and pause at the bottom of the movement. Training this way is much harder than rushing through the movement. You will have to use less weight, but the results are well-worth the effort. Although it’s not good for your ego (the little man in your head will be telling you to use more weight), do not listen to him. If you do, you will get sloppy and you will regret it. Time under tension is the name of the game. This type of training has been around forever, but it is new to me. Hopefully when you see improvements, it will spark your fire. When training becomes easier, do one more repetition or add some more weight. This will give you additional incentive to train even harder. You’ll be on top of the world! Be consistent, be patient, and keep training. Nothing happens overnight.
Don’t forget the importance of proper nutrition. Most expert say that nutrition is half the battle. Eat chicken, salmon, and some red meat with lots of veggies. NO JUNK FOOD! A good regime of supplements tailored to your needs (i.e. multi-vitamins, minerals, omega 3, vitamin D-3, etc.) will also help a lot.
Remember, QUITTERS NEVER WIN! Stay healthy. ~ Ed Urbano
