Check out these great training videos with IFBB hall of famer, Rich Gaspari. The first Training Series dives into heavy Mass Training during the off season, then on to the Pre Contest Training Series. Following the Training Series videos are the Gaspari Nutrition product line videos. So if you are interested in any of the Gaspari supplements, you can watch Rich Gaspari talk about each product individually. Also, don’t forget to explore the Gaspari Forums too!
GASPARI TRAINING SERIES
LEGS
ARMS
SHOULDERS
BACK
CHEST
LEGS
ARMS
SHOULDERS
BACK
CHEST
GASPARI NUTRITION
SUPPLEMENTATION
The Gaspari Philosophy: Push Hard With Your Supplementation. "Just as your training needs to be taken to a higher level for outstanding results, so does your supplementation. Most guys don’t get much out of their supplements. You can write off a lot of that as being due to their failure to put out enough effort into their training in the first place. But many others will buy either the cheapest stuff they can find, totally ignoring the time-honored adage that ‘you get what you pay for’ or buy simply on the marketing promises of companies who never bother to prove or validate anything. Companies with zero scientific evidence to back up the claims they make, except for maybe a few obscure studies done on single ingredients, but not on their finished products. If you’re serious about supplementation, you’ll use Gaspari Nutrition products. I made sure from the very start that anything with my name on it was going to meet label claim, contain only the highest-quality ingredients available, and would be backed by independent research studies. Gaspari products work, and that’s why thousands more bodybuilders every day trust them to improve their physiques. Another reason for supplement failure is the fact that many athletes take products haphazardly. They will use something for a couple days, then forget to take it for a while instead of being consistent. It takes a little planning and discipline to stay on schedule with all the various supplements a bodybuilder may use, but that extra effort is what will separate you from the other guy that puts little or no thought into what he uses or how he uses it."
Victor Prisk MD, wrote an article published in the September 2008 issue of Muscular Development Magazine that I believe almost all bodybuilders and bench press enthusiasts will find beneficial. Hopefully this will help you in your training.
Click image to enlarge for reading:
Arnold said that heavy bench pressing is one of the best exercises for developing a thick massive chest.
We all naturally assume this to be true anyways, but Arnold also said that this exercise is most important and will have the most positive impact when used in the first two years of a bodybuidler’s training. This is when an aspiring bodybuilder should be training like a powerlifter using heavy weight and low reps in order to establish mass on his frame. If a bodybuilder never really trains with heavy weight & performs heavy core lifts, then the individual will never develop a truly powerful looking build, but more of a magazine clothing model look. After the first two or so years of heavy training, then training methods should change to more of a bodybuilder’s style. Shifting from barbell to dumbell training is highly recommended at this point to avoid shoulder injury & before you get caught up in the endless bench press (powerlifting) race with other people in the gym.
If you have questions or have no idea what I am talking about, then let me refer you to Arnold’s BodyBuilding Encyclopedia as well as a previous posted article written by the crew at AniamlPak.com that is titled, BodyBuilder’s Home Economics 101. This is how a beginner should approach his training.
Jay Cutler was vulnerable after last year’s displeasing 2007 showing (and victory), but here are a few points about this year’s results that I will go ahead and make that I found to be shocking:
Probably the most shocking thing to me was Dennis Wolf’s 4th place placing. Leading up to the competition, Wolf was tagged to be Jay Cutler’s biggest threat. With Dexter Jackson’s victory, perhaps the Olympia has taken a turn away from the freak show builds of the Ronnie’s and Jay’s to return to the more proportioned but smaller physiques of champions such as Dexter Jackson, Frank Zane, and Franco Columbu. Being one of the larger bodybuilders, how will Dexter Jackson’s win affect Dennis Wolf’s chances of ascending to the throne of the Olympia in the future? What kind of package will Jay need to bring to the 2009 Olympia to reclaim his throne as best bodybuilder in the world?
Point two, Jay came into the competition in better condition than he showed up in for his 2007 victory. It is reported that he even dropped 12 lbs over night between pre judging and the finals. Coming in noticeably better than he did last year, I really thought that this would be enough for Jay to be able to retain the title. Jay said that he came in ‘off’ on Friday night’s Prejudging and felt that he was battling from behind by Saturday’s Finals competition, and that being the reason why he dropped 12 lbs in between nights.
Point three, I was very shocked to see a smaller bodybuilder win “The Big Man’s Show”. As great as Dexter looked, the trend for the more than two decades has been for Mr Olympia to be freakishly massive – to the point where guys can barely imagine being that “swoll” and their girl friends are saying how sick and deformed MR OLYMPIA looks! Perhaps we are seeing a redefining of the physique of what the top bodybuilder in the world is going to be expected to look like.
Shocker number four, Phil Heath placing over Dennis Wolf. I’m not saying this is a wrong placement at all- Phil Heath could have won the Olympia and I would not argue about it, he was on the money. What was surprising was Dennis Wolf was expected to place 2nd or to dethrone Jay, but he actually placed at 4th, under Phil Heath, Dennis Wolf’s main competition for Olympia’s to come . Phil said it himself, he would be very ecstatic if he placed 3rd, and he did; look for Wolf and Heath to battle neck and neck for the Olympia title in the future. Right now, chalk up the score as: Phil Heath-1, Dennis Wolf-0.
One other shocker was the placing of Silvio Samuel all the way down to 7th. Silvio was probably the most shredded competitor in the line up. Silvio was very impressive with his full rounded, diced up physique. 7th place was an absolute shocker to fans and Silvio himself. The only reasoning I can see for such a low showing is just his lack of size/mass in a show competing with other bodybuilders that are much larger than he is. Perhaps Melvin Anthony and Toney Freeman’s size just out weighed Silvio’s superb conditioning. The Olympia being a big man’s show, I think Silvio dropped in his placing because unlike Dexter Jackson, who was able to add some weight prior to competition, Silvio was still just a superbly conditioned “smaller” competitor who is dwarfed when standing next to the mass monsters of Jay Cutler and Dennis Wolf. I think Dexter was able to add enough weight to be elevated into a class able to stand next to Jay and Dennis without being dwarfed.
Since 1984, the reigning MR OLYMPIA’S physique has been an ominous and overpowering muscle mass as opposed to being thought of as perfectly proportioned. For the past two decades, MR OLYMPIAS – Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler set a standard of a 250 lbs plus champion. Prior to Lee Haney ascending to the Olympia throne in 1984, 7 out of 8 consecutive years ranging from 1976-1983 had seen a trend for well proportioned champions with “smaller” physiques, usually around 200 lbs and definitely under 250 lbs, winning the Olympia competition and being named as the best bodybuilder in the world.
1976 Franco Columbu
1977 Frank Zane
1978 Frank Zane
1979 Frank Zane
1980- Arnold (read contest article here) breaks the trend of “smaller champions” and makes a surprising entry into the Olympia competition and wins his 7th Sandow becoming the 1980 MR OLYMPIA. In his 1980 win, he does not appear to be as massive as in his previous victories, although Arnold’s height alone, separates him from other bodybuilders.
1981 Franco Columbu
1982 Chris Dickerson
1983 Samir Bannout
So the question is, will Dexter’s win set the same kind of trend as the Franco/Zane era did?
In pondering this notion, we all have to take into account that Jay Cutler stated that he is not finished or retired. In this interview on BodyBuilding.com, Jay Cutler states that he feels like he is still the leader and ambassador of bodybuilding, and that he will be coming back as an aesthetic mass monster next year to win the Sandow back. Jay says he has always had a goal of winning at least 3 Sandows and that this year’s loss is only a setback.
Check out Jay Cutler’s interview with BodyBuilding.com on his plans for regaining the Olympia crown. Listen to Dexter Jackson’s thoughts and plans for defending his MR OLYMPIA title as well:
(Click Image to Listen)
BodyBuilding.com has made the webcasts of the entire Olympia Weekend available for viewing.
Muscular Development and BodyBuilding.com both have features that allow you to compare pictures of competitors performing the same pose or posing on stage side by side. The MD photo comparisons offer a greater diversity of pictures, just click the View Comparisons link under Mens BodyBuilding.
