Tom Venuto's BodybuildingSecrets.com - New Tom Venuto 5-Star Bicep Routine! Amazing!

New Tom Venuto 5-Star Bicep Routine! Amazing!

Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT

Tuesday, September 13th, 2005. A couple of months ago, I discovered that EZ bar curls supersetted to dumbbell hammer curls made a great combination that really brought out some excellent development in my biceps. I planned to come back to that combination again today, but on the spur of the moment I got a brainstorm on how to add yet another level of intensity to that superset. I don’t know what made me think of adding this extra exercise to make it a tri-set, but holy biceps batman, my arms freaking exploded! The pump was off the charts (especially considering how depleted I am). This one definitely goes into the 5-Star workout book!

CHEST

A1 Incline Bench Press (all drop sets): 2 warm up sets; Set 1: 185 lbs x 12 reps, rest 15 seconds, drop to 135 lbs X 20 reps; Set 2: 185 lbs x 10 reps, rest 15 seconds, drop to 135 lbs X 15 reps; Set 3: 185 lbs x 8 reps, rest 15 seconds, drop to 135 lbs X 13 reps
B1 Swiss Ball Dumbbell Press: 3 sets X 65 lbs X 12, 10, 10 reps X 4021 tempo
B2 Push up with feet on swiss ball: 3 sets X bodyweight X 12, 12, 9 reps; no rest between supersetted exercises B1 & B2, 60 seconds rest between
C1 Cable Crossovers: Set 1: 60 lbs X 20 reps low, strict, with squeeze in contracted position; Set 2: 60 lbs X 10 reps low, step forward, 10 reps middle; Set 3: 60 lbs X 18 reps X multi angle (1 rep low, 1 rep mid, 1 rep high, repeat); Set 4: 60 lbs X 15 reps from high pulley, pull low, switch to low pulley, pull high X 12 reps

BICEPS

A1 EZ Bar Curls: Set 1: 95 lbs X 13 reps; Set 2: 125 lbs X 7 reps; Set 2: 65 lbs X 12 reps, close grip, elbows on stomach, then switch to regular
A2 Dumbbell cross body hammer curls, (thumbs up) alternating: 3 sets X 40 lbs X 10-12 reps, very strict (3032 tempo)
A3 Dumbbell cross body curls, (palms up) alternating: 3 sets X 25 lbs X 12 reps, very strict (3032 tempo); no rest between tri-setted exercises A1, A2, A3, 60 seconds rest between tri-sets
B1 Icarian Curl Machine, one arm: 2 sets X 40 lbs X 10-12 reps, strict
C1 Two arm cable overhead pulley curl: Set 1: 55 lbs X 15 reps; Set 2: 55 lbs X 12 reps both arms, then alternate left, right for 8 more reps

ABS

A1 Hanging straight leg raises: 3 sets X bodyweight X 15-20 reps
A2 Hanging Knee Ups: 3 sets X 15-20 reps; No rest between supersetted exercises A1 & A2, 60 seconds rest between supersets
B1 Kneeling Cable Crunch: 3 sets X 60 lbs X 25 reps
B2 standing oblique cable crunch (holding rope): 3 sets X 50 lbs X 25 reps per side
C1 Incline reverse Crunches

Workout Commentary

I started the “party” today with incline barbell presses (free weight) for chest. After doing them on the smith machine for a long time, it was time go back to the barbell. As per all my previous blogs about being careful of the pec tear, I didn’t go very heavy, only 185 lbs, but I made these very intense with light to medium weight by doing drop sets on all three sets.

Second exercise was more of the same from last time: Swiss ball dumbbell press supersetted into Swiss ball pushups with feet on the ball. By the way. The easiest way to do push ups off the Swiss ball is with your feet, ankles and shins on the ball, which requires the least core stability. A little harder is to only have your feet (shoelaces) on the ball. But try these with only your tippy-toes pointing down on the top of the middle of the ball and see how much more torso/core stability is required.

The last chest exercise was cable crossovers for three sets of fairly high reps using a variety of angles and working really hard on the contracted position of each rep. In between each set I hit most muscular poses and held them, so I wasn’t really “resting” between sets. Getting striations in your chest is mostly a matter of very low body fat, but if there is any exercise that will help bring them out more, cable crossovers is it. I can take a pass on these in the off season, but crossovers are a staple in pre-contest training.

Bicep time!

For many weeks during my earlier training this past summer, I was supersetting the EZ bar curls into hammer curls. This was a departure from the straight bar curls I had been doing most of the year previously. I found this was a great combination, especially when I varied the loads and reps (for example, heavy 5-6 rep EZ curls into 12 rep hammer curls, or vice versa).

This is the routine I was planning on coming back to today because although I change workouts constantly (usually every 3-6 workouts), I also journal all my best workouts and come back to highly effective workouts often.

Just as I was finishing my first set of hammer curls, I was feeling downright unstoppable, so I said to myself, “why stop here?” Without really thinking about it, I picked up a lighter set of dumbbells and kept going with dumbbell curls, but I did them differently than ever before – instead of curling elbows in, dumbbells out, or the regular way, hands and elbows in line, I curled them elbows out, dumbbells in, across the front of my body (alternating), and I leaned forward slightly so what I was really doing was a standing concentration curl.

It was one of those exercise combinations that simply “HIT THE SPOT.” After two more tri-sets of that, and a pump that threatened to split my shirt sleeves like the incredible hulk, I knew this one was going in the 5 star workout book!

Since it was a tri-set, I was through that sequence very quickly, and I continued on for two more sets of two additional exercises: one arm Icarian machine curls and the overhead high pulley cable curl.

I generally accept that at three weeks out from a contest and on a piddly 2700 calories per day, I’m going to gain little if any muscle, but I’m telling you, I could see a difference in my biceps the next day… something was going on there - and whatever was going in - I liked it!

My workout concluded with the same ab workout as last week, and then it was time for chicken, broccoli and a blessed yam!

By the way, exactly as predicted, I lost two pounds last week and yesterday I was down to 187 lbs, looking markedly leaner than last week. I’m expecting another two pound drop between now and next week (to 185 lbs) and I should be pretty well “shredded” and “shrink wrapped” at 183 lbs this year, one week out. I had to turn on the heat and pick up the pace a bit here at the end, but it’s all coming together.

Ok, I’m outta here, gotta go do daily cardio session #2!

Posted 13 September, 2005 in Workouts