The Forearm Secret of Old Time Strongmen
Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT
When you have huge, thick forearms that are so muscular, it looks like you have a bowling pin implanted in them, and when they are so vascular that they look like a map of the Los Angeles Freeway system, and when the cuts are so deep you could lose loose change in there… I think that is pretty darn cool. Gnarly, even. Unfortunately, not many bodybuilders have that “look” because there are two ubiquitous “forearm problems” that almost every bodybuilder experiences… Fortunately, there is a secret remedy for both. It’s not new, it has simply been forgotten, except by those who are students of old time strongman methods…
Posted on 28 March, 2008 in Workouts | Comments (4)
The Ideal Body Measurements
Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT
I’m often asked what my body measurements are and/or what are the ideal measurements for a bodybuilder or a classical muscular male physique. Believe it or not, there are actually many formulas for determining the “ideal body proportions.” On the other hand, you might want to take them with a grain of salt…
Posted on 03 February, 2008 in Articles | Comments (9)
Zercher Squats - The Update
Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT
Ok, so I did a month of Zercher Squats. As a challenging “strongman” exercise, it rocks. As a bodybuilding exercise… I’m still debating…
Posted on 13 December, 2007 in Articles | Comments (2)
Zercher Squats: A Very Evil Exercise
Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT
I was scheduled for front squats today, and previously was gearing up to start moving the poundages back up at least in the ballpark of my former 315 “glory days”… However, I slightly tweaked my lower back on T-bar rows last week so I started thinking about what I could do for legs that would put zero load on my spine but at the same time could build some mass. For some reason, “Zercher Squat” just popped in my head. The thing is, I’ve known about this exercise for ages, but for some reason had NEVER tried it before! Well, today I tried it…This exercise is evil (translation = “I like it!”)…
Posted on 12 November, 2007 in Workouts | Comments (4)
Put Your Weights Away, Or Pull Back a Bloody Stump…
Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT
Remember when I said they are “hardcore” at my gym (Strong & Shapely Gym, East Rutherford NJ), well, I didn’t realize they were THIS hardcore: I checked in for a workout today (Halloween), and there’s this decapitated arm on the front counter with a gruesome warning mesage:
Posted on 01 November, 2007 in News | Comments (0)
The Quad Blaster Returns
Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT
WNBF natural pro bodybuilder John Bartlett was in town this weekend, so we hit a leg session at Strong and Shapely Gym. There’s certainly no shortage of “toys” to play with on leg day at Strong & Shapely, but when I asked John if he had ever used the QUAD BLASTER before and he said no, I knew I had to break that puppy out again, throw it in my car and haul it out to strong & Shapely…
Posted on 29 October, 2007 in Workouts | Comments (2)
Are You Ready To Compete In Bodybuilding?
Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT
How many aspiring bodybuilders do you know who desperately want to compete, but who keep saying, “Im not ready”… “I need more muscle mass”? But how do you really know if you’re ready? How do you know what you will look like when the layer of winter adipose comes off? Naturally, bodybuilding is about muscle mass. Muscle mass is one of the criteria for judging so if you ain’t got any, you ain’t ready. However, you don’t have to be the size of Jay or Ronnie to be ready. For example, at 5’ 8” or 5’ 10” and 175 lbs, you’d never even make it onto the IFBB stage let alone be competitive. But in some of the local and natural competitions, you might very well WIN the whole darn show if your conditioning were on point. But you will never know unless you say “damn the critics,” make the committment, get yourself ripped and get up on that stage…will you? In today’s post, I answer a reader’s question, “Am I Ready to compete?”
How to Get "Ripped"
Body Building Revealed
Mind Power Secrets of Pro Bodybuilders
