Flex magazine speaks the truth! (kind of)

[Sh8rk3y]

There was a copy of Flex lying in the canteen at work. I read it mainly out of boredom but also for a laugh.

It contained upwards of a dozen suggested routines in one form of the other, every single one of them total BS. The usual suspects, bodybuilding splits, far too many sets, no squats/deadlifts, too many isolation exercises, dumbell presses balancing on a blue ball etc etc etc.

The main article was an interview with the biggest best bodybuilder ever, Ronnie Coleman. Right at the end of the article, in a tiny paragraph hidden under a photo, was this gem...

When asked what his advice was to young aspiring bodybuilders, his reply was "All you need to do is focus on progressing with the big five compound lifts, squats, dls, bench, military press and barbell rows."!!!

Ironic eh!!???

[Dabs]

No power cleans? Or maybe he substituted barbell rows for that. So what Flex is saying:
Young Aspiring Bodybuilders = 5 compound lifts.
Old Retiring "feeling intermediate or advanced" Bodybuilders = 10,000 isolation machines.

[KAG]

Ronnie always squatted, benched, and deadlifted heavy. He was one of the few bodybuilders who maxed out right before competitions. If I remember correctly he would always start each workout with heavy sets of 1 of the big 5, then do a ton of accessory work afterward. There are a few bodybuilders who preach the heavy lifts. They're just few and far between.

[Dastardly]

I think a lot of high level bodybuilders do not actually realise the how their training works, and the hierarchy of exercise values.

I was reading Dorian Yates Website one time and he was going on about how he thought that the bench press isnt a good exercise. That it doesn't target the chest very effectively and how it is a very poor choice for bodybuilding. With isolation work and machines being far superior.

He was addressing beginners too.

[cannibal.horse]

I have a subscription to flex magazine. don't ask why.

Honestly minus the supplement ads its not that bad. In the last issue they did a segment on 'texas training' where they looked at the lifting of branch, jackson and coleman stressing heavy weights on the basics - they gave an example of Branch's 'chest' routine which was 3x10 of bench followed by incline bench, dumbbell bench and weighted dips. Apart from some of the semi pros who tend to be brotastic I'm yet to see an interview where they don't push constant progression on the squat, bench and deadlift.

If your average brotard took a step back and said 'okay lets look at all the big bodybuilders - ronnie, levrone, branch, jackson. Minus the super freaks like flex all of them lift big heavy weights for the compound exercises and focus on progression. I'm going to do that, but since I'm not a pro bodybuilder I'm going to halve the volume and do 3-4 days instead of 5-6.' they'd likely get somewhere.

That said, it would be better if we just skipped the shit and went straight to starting strength and 5/3/1.

[Jonathan Vechet]

That said, it would be better if we just skipped the shit and went straight to starting strength and 5/3/1.

But how are you going to make a magazine and sell supplements with just that?

[B4PJS]

My thoughts on Arnie's split routine.

Too many people have taken the split routine out of the original context of why he devised this routine. Originally, when he first starting lifting, he did the main compound movements. The reason he went over to a split routine was so he could train twice a day when he was in the army.

[BryanM]

The man started out using the Reg Park routine, or so they say. It's a pretty decent one.

[nevermind]

My thoughts on Arnie's split routine.

Too many people have taken the split routine out of the original context of why he devised this routine. Originally, when he first starting lifting, he did the main compound movements. The reason he went over to a split routine was so he could train twice a day when he was in the army.

But then all his literature ran around screaming multiple exercises per body part and didn't say how he really got started. I think even off season he mainly went compound exercises, and cut to isolation during the long cut to olympia stage.

[FatButWeak]

There was a copy of Flex lying in the canteen at work....dumbell presses balancing on a blue ball etc etc etc.

Blue balls? Really? How the mighty have fallen. I used to read FLEX 15-20 years ago and although they used to preach way too many isolation exercises, supersets and pro-bodybuilder bullshit training routines, Mickey Mouse crap like blue bosu balls never would have made the cut. Flex was HARDCORE whereas Muscle & Fitness magazine, FLEX's little brother was full of bosu ball crap.

RIP should have a magazine. Called it "RIPPed"