Body builders are uniquely set in their ways, probably more so than any other athletes in the whole sporting world. Whilst scientific research continues to mount up and the entire sporting world embrace the evolutions in weight training, body builders are still governed by an insular set of laws that have existed since time began, or so it seems.

The most tiresome “unwritten law” within the body building world comes to the fore when body builders get ready to hit the contest trail. Whilst it is readily accepted that our dietary practises must be dramatically altered if we are to be successful in our fat-loss race, it seems that the old adage “If it aint broke don’t fix it” still applies to the training philosophies of today’s body builder.

Have you ever wondered why sporting stars all over the world achieve great physical-condition without resorting to the overtly-Spartan, mind-bogglingly bland diet practises that body builders blindly adhere to?

Whilst the answer cannot lie in the nutritional intake of these athletes (afterall who can eat cleaner than body builders?), it may lie in their training practises and their open-acceptance of modern-day scientific research. For years self-appointed body-building experts have coined the phrase “ If you lift heavy to build muscle, you have to lift heavy to maintain muscle”. In my opinion, this is nonsense.

Heavy training and cardio- Is this the best way to maximise the fat-burning hormones?

The traditional body building approach has always been to lift as heavy as possible, eat a low-carb diet and spend hours on varying mind-numbing cardio apparatus. Over the last few years, the more educated body building writers and researchers have begun to accept and introduce us to the idea that the combination of unstructured slap-dash weight training and hours of plodding cardio, just isn’t the ideal way to maximise the fat-burning hormones in an attempt to melt fat and maintain (or even build muscle).

In the early part of 2000, I began reading Charles Poliquin and his ideas regarding specific weight-training for fat-loss. Poliquin cites researchers such as Romanian scientist Hala Rambie and American exercise expert William Kramer, who have both conducted radical experiments into the effect of high-rep (10-15), coupled with short-rest period weight training, on fat-loss and the fat-burning hormones.

Why body builders spend all year training hard with weights, only to suddenly switch to hours and hours of cardio come their pre-contest phase has always baffled me and has never been my approach. Why would an athlete primarily interested in anabolism, revert to traditional aerobic training which has been linked to an increase in cortisol and a decrease in testosterone? For years I have believed that the ideal way for the majority of body builders would be to simply evaluate their weight-training program, structure their rest-periods and rep ranges and turn themselves into an anabolic, fat-loss melting pot.

Poliquin has always argued that the reason this approach works so well is due to the relationship between lactate and Growth hormone (GH). He suggests that by elevating your lactate levels by doing a lot of resistance training in a short period of time, you will enable your pituitary gland to release GH at a previously unheard of rate. The relationship between elevated GH levels and fat-loss is an undeniable one.

In an attempt to maximise my competitive potential during the 2004 season, I embarked upon the quest of designing the ideal weight-training program to:

1) Maintain my muscle mass

2) Elevate lactate and GH levels to burn body fat

3) Train each body part once every 5-6 days

4) Perform sufficient volume, over a sufficiently short period to elevate testosterone levels, without elevating cortisol levels.

My entire 2004 contest training schedule did not include 1 minute of traditional aerobic work. Instead, the shortened rest intervals, slightly higher-volume incorporated into my weight-training program and reduced training to gut-busting failure (something which has never been proved to be the best way top build muscle tissue) have allowed me to get into the best shape of my life, whilst maintaining the muscle mass that cardio work has previously wasted away.

A typical day in my training week would now read something like this.

Chest and back.

A1- Incline barbell bench press 3 sets of 10 reps. (pick a weight you could do to 15 reps if your life depended upon it)

Rest 1 minute

A2- Barbell Rows 3 sets of 10 reps. (again with a weight you could hit failure with at 15 reps).

Rest 1 minute and return to A1.

Both the exercises above will be performed in alternating fashion for 3 sets each

B1- Flat dumbbell bench press 3 sets of 10 reps (same loading parameters as above)

Rest 45 seconds

B2- Wide grip chins 3 sets 8 reps.

Rest 45 secs and return to B1.

Again perform each exercise for 3 sets.

C1- Cable fly 3 sets of 10 reps (same loading parameters)

Rest 45 secs

C2- Cable row 3 sets of 10 reps.

Rest 45 secs and return to C1.

By setting the load to a weight you could feasibly hit for 15 reps, the 2nd set of each exercise will be hard, whilst the 3rd and final set should take you to failure, or very close to it.

This workout would last me around 25 minutes after an extensive warm-up. The remainder of the week’s training would follow a similar loading and resting protocol.

Give it a try, ditch the cardio, up the weight training, decrease the rest periods and grow whilst burning body fat!!

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