• Home
• Archives
• Galleries
• Contact
• About

“Those 30-pounders too heavy for you, Tom?”

Tom Venuto

Although I’m not a national champion or a pro bodybuilder yet, I’m not a novice either. My competition this fall will be my 27th. At age 36, I’ve been training 22 years and competing for 16 years. I’m not keeping count, but I figure I must have logged at least 4,000 - 5,000 workouts, never taking more than 7 days off in a row for planned recovery or vacation time. Despite my consistency and experience, whenever I get a training session with Richie Smyth, my ego always gets humbled. How “humbled?” Well, how about doing 30 lb dumbbell curls and getting “abused” because they were “too heavy”… then ending with 45 pound barbell curls and reaching total muscular failure by the end of the set? Sissy weights? Too light to possibly get a decent workout you say? Yup, that’s what ANYONE would say… BEFORE a workout with Richie! Read on to find out how a teensy little 30 pound dumbbell could make a grown man cry uncle…

It’s virtually impossible to put Richie’s workouts into writing because they are so complex. Within a single set, Richie changes the tempo, range of motion, joint angle, body position and too many other variables to keep track of. I often don’t even know how many pounds are on the stack or bar because Richie changes the weight several times during the set, and I’m too occupied (stretching, straining, pressing, pulling, and pushing) to care.

I’m going to do the best I can to reproduce the workout here, but my written account of “The Richie Sessions” will never fully capture every idiosyncrasy. In fact, this very moment as I’m writing this, I’m asking myself, “What the hell did we just do?” I can’t even remember it all and it was just 30 minutes ago!

The only way is if a 3rd person were standing there with a pen and notebook, jotting down the workout as it occurs, rep by rep, or by videotaping it. Frankly, I think it would be a crime not to get this stuff captured on video, and I’ve talked to Richie many times about doing it. If I can convince him, then some videos may just happen in the near future.

CHEST

A1 Cybex Chest Press Machine

1 set X 80 lbs X 12 reps (warm up)

1 set X 100 lbs X 12 reps (warm up

1 set X 100, 120, 140 lbs ascending set 6, 6, 6 reps, drop to 120 lbs X 5 reps to half range of motion with peak contraction

1 set X 140 lbs X 6 full range reps, 6 partial reps in top range of motion, increase rep speed then, 6 full more range reps

1 set X 140 X 6 full range reps, 6 partial reps in bottom half range of motion, increase rep speed then, 6 full more range reps

B1 Smith Machine Incline Press

1 set X 115 lbs X 12 reps

1 set X 115 lbs 135, 155 lbs ascending set X 6, 6, 6 reps

1 set X 135 lbs X 8 reps 3/4 range, drop to 115 lbs X 6 reps full range, 5 reps top half range

C1 Nebula Pec Dec Flyes

1 set X ?lbs X 8 reps X 3022 tempo

1 set X ?lbs X 3 reps in arc, 3 reps press out, 3 reps in arc, 3 reps press out

1 set X ?lbs 6 reps full range, 4 reps bottom half range, 4 reps top half range, 4 reps full range, all reps squeeze in contracted position

D1 Decline Barbell Bench Press

1 set X 135 X 10 (warm up)

2 sets X 185 lbs X 8 reps, 7 reps X 4031 tempo (very, slow strict reps)

BICEPS

A1 Standing Dumbbell Curls

1 set X 30 lbs X 10 reps X palms facing out to sides of body, then 8 reps X elbows on stomach, palms facing front X 4131 (failure at rep 9)

1 set X 25 lbs X 8 reps X palms facing out to sides of body, then 8 reps with elbows on stomach palms facing front X 4131

1 set X 25 lbs X 6 reps with elbows on stomach, then 6 more reps, alternating palms up (bicep curl), thumbs up (hammer curl) every other rep

B1 Close grip Straight barbell curls (fixed barbell)

Set 1: 65 lbs X 9 reps X 4131 tempo, elbows on stomach, strict

Set 2: 65 lbs X 8 reps, drop to 55 lbs X 6 reps, elbows on stomach, strict

Set 3: 45 lbs X 10 reps X 4131 tempo, elbows on stomach, leaning slightly forward (like concentration curl), flexing with every rep as if posing

C1 Straight barbell DRAG curls (fixed barbell)

2 sets X 65 lbs X 10 reps, 9 reps X 4122 tempo, strict, squeeze top

Supreme Fitness. Hoboken, New Jersey. This is one of the gyms where Richie trains his clients. It also happens to be 2 blocks from home, so I gladly agreed to meet him there for today’s beating…. Er, I mean, workout. We started with chest. But before we began, I showed Richie my latest “battle scar”…

As Richie poked and prodded the gnarly-looking 2” indentation in my left pec and the funky “strand” of tendon in my armpit, he asked, “Is there pain when you’re training?”

“There’s an uncomfortable sensation there as the weights get heavier, but I haven’t pushed it at all in over a year. Heaviest bench presses have been 190 lbs, incline smith machine 205 lbs, incline dumbbell presses 60 to 75 lbs, dumbbell flyes only 40, 45 lbs max. No pain with those weights.”

“How did you do this?”

“I was at Strong and Shapely Gym last summer (2004). I was at the peak of a strength phase - I was as strong as I had ever been… Using 110 & 120 lb dumbbells for reps on presses with no spotter, no lift off. 75 pound weighted dips, 3 plates and quarters on the hammer strength chest machine. On the very last set of the very last exercise - dumbbell flyes with 75 lbs- I felt a strain or pull in my left pec/delt area. I had to end the set immediately. There was no pain after putting the weight down, unless if I flexed the pec against resistance. It hurt to do a bodyweight push up or even to push my left fist against my right palm.”

Richie shook his head and replied, “75 pound flyes… uhhh huh…. Yeah, that’ll do it.” If I was reading his facial expression correctly, I’m sure he was thinking something like, “Venuto, you dumb ass!”

I continued to explain, “Actually, I didn’t think it was that bad. I had experienced the exact same type of “muscle pull” before, only to a much lesser degree, so I thought it was just a bad “pull” or “strain” or something. Partial pec tear didn’t even occur to me and I didn’t go to a doctor.”

I skipped one chest workout, so that was 12 days with no chest training, then started up again with push ups and light weights, like 25 pound dumbbells and started building back up from there. But I never built all the way back up. I haven’t done any heavy chest training in over a year. I have a feeling that this is going to be like my lower back… I can work around it, but I’ll have to be careful… forever.”

Still with that “Tom you’re a dork” expression on his face, Richie agreed, “You’d better be careful, or that pec will show you who’s boss.”

After Richie got the details about my pec situation, we headed off to the chest press machine for exercise number one… followed by Incline Smith Machine, The Nebula pec deck machine (killer piece of equip), and decline barbell bench press.

Laugh all you want at the light weights… but not until AFTER you’ve hauled your ass out here to Jersey and made it through a session with Richie. Richie could take the strongest “Power bodybuilder” and turn him into putty in his hands… (he likes to embarrass the strongest ones with the biggest mouths the most…and then when he’s finished, he recites his world famous line, “It’s been a pleasure kicking your ass”).

How does a reasonably strong bodybuilder get a good workout with a 25 pound dumbbell? It’s really simple. It’s all about FORM, LEVERAGE, TENSION and TEMPO. All you have to do is slow down, take 100% of the momentum out of every rep, maintain constant tension, and your weights are instantly cut by 30-40% while the target muscle receives 100% of the brunt of the remaining weight.

I’m not against heavy training. In fact, I believe that the ultimate training method for bodybuilders is to combine heavy work (that allows some safe, controlled cheating), with lighter work and super strict form. How else can you hit every type of muscle fiber? However, the training gurus who say that you MUST train heavy all the time or you’ll never grow, are flat out wrong.

The best I can describe the workout is like this: In addition to every rep being done with impeccably perfect form and zero momentum, each rep was like “posing with weights.” I’m not sure if you’ve ever competed in a bodybuilding contest or not, but if you haven’t, let me assure you, posing is very hard work. Simply flexing your muscles to the maximum can leave your entire body sore the day after a contest. Imagine that kind of flexing during every repetition.

Vince Gironda, the legendary trainer from Hollywood, knew about this secret. He called it “Intra Muscular Contractions,” which simply means to flex the muscle HARD during each repetition. In other words, “Feel the muscle, not the weight.”

That reminds me of the time Vince’s friend and student Ron Kosloff told me how he used to win easy money by taking the biggest, strongest guy in the gym and wagering that he couldn’t do 8 sets of 8 reps with a 25 pound dumbbell. Invariably, the big guy, who could cheat curl 75 pound dumbbells for reps, took the bet. It was like taking candy from a baby for Ron. The catch was that the 25 pound dumbbell curls had to be performed thumbless grip, elbows back, and with a certain form, tempo and rest interval.

If Richie would have wagered that I couldn’t do two sets of dumbbell curls with 30 pounds for 10 reps today, I would have lost. He simply had me do curls with the palms out, supersetted to curls with my elbows on my stomach, completely extending the arm and curling with slow tempo and zero momentum, so the bicep had to generate all the force to overcome inertia and move the weight from the dead stop at the bottom. Curling with zero body movement or momentum is more difficult than you think and more growth inducing than you think.

There are two morals to today’s blog.

1) Although a mix of heavy and light training across a variety of rep ranges and exercises is probably ideal for bodybuilders, you can absolutely, positively get a growth inducing workout with moderate and even light weights by adjusting your form, range of motion and tempo. This is very important and useful if you are training around an injury.

2) Anyone who thinks it’s not worth having a trainer has simply never had a good one… period. If you’re serious about your fitness or bodybuilding goals and you can afford a trainer or coach, but you don’t have one, you are retarded.

Tomorrow (Saturday, July 2nd) is an off day… just cardio. Since there will be no training to report, I’ll log in and give you the run-down on my current diet.

Until then, train hard and try some super strict reps yourself… you might be able to win some bets in the gym afterwards… just be sure to send half the money to me!

Published on 01 July, 2005

Subscribe to Tom's FREE Bodybuilding Secrets E-zine

Your Name:

Your E-mail Address:

What Is RSS?

Get all blog updates
instantly by email!

Is Bodybuilding a Sport?

Bodybuilding Secrets Podcast Episode #2: Carlos DeJesus

Bodybuilding Secrets Podcast #1 Pete Siegel

Mega-Muscle Interview with Hugo Rivera Pt 3

Mega-Muscle Interview with Hugo Rivera Pt 2

The Hugo Rivera Mega-Interview

Jim Cordova's World Champion Secrets

Introducing Hugo Rivera

Interview With Fitness & Figure Star Janet Marsico, Part 2

An Inspiring Conversation With A Fitness And Figure Superstar

Is Bodybuilding a Dysfunctional Vanity Sport?

My Big Fat Greek Interview, pt 2

My Big Fat Greek Interview

Will Brink Interview, Part 2

Will Brink Interview, Part 1

Stubborn Fat And How To Get Rid Of It Pt.2

Stubborn Fat And How To Get Rid of It Pt.1

The Stubborn Fat Solution Book Review

Steppin Up To Mega-Muscle E-Book Review

Muscle Building Nutrition

Concurrent Muscle Gain and Fat Loss

The Classic Physique - Pre-Steroid Era

The Ideal Body Measurements

Zercher Squats - The Update

Are You Ready To Compete In Bodybuilding?

Unconventional Leg Training Tactics

Is 'THE PUMP' Necessary for Muscle Growth?

• Home
• Archives
• Galleries
• Contact
• About

All of this is copyright of BodybuildingSecrets.com
Please don't steal it. Thank you.
IMPORTANT Disclaimer.