The Official Blog of Frank Zane

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Jul 2017 12:02:00 +0000

How to Get in the Absolute Best Shape of Your Life!

Over the years I’ve received many questions, most of which are beyond the scope of what I can answer in an email. One of my favorites starts with something like this: “I have a structure similar to yours, please give a program that will make me look like you.” Then they go on to list their measurements, height, weight, diet, and workout routine.

But the most important factor is missing. I do not know what this person looks like; a photo would have been helpful. In any case I am not ready to do a detailed analysis of what this person should do, mainly because I don’t know. I not only need to see what they look like, I have to see how they train—how they do all the movements. This is something I can only do in person. Measurements are a moot point and so is percentage of body fat. They are only numbers and in themselves mean nothing.

I’m often asked my measurements to which I reply “I never took measurements, only photos since judging in the competitions I entered was always based entirely on appearance.” I never had my body fat composition measured because it was never a consideration in determining who the winner of a competition was. I learned that numbers don’t mean much when it comes to accessing who looks the best. I never cared about them and I don’t focus on them with my clients either. When I work with someone the first thing I do is to photograph them and then show them the photos. In order to improve, one must first become aware of exactly what they look like. Awareness is a prerequisite for change.

It’s all about body awareness. Numbers have nothing to do with it. Getting hung up on numbers is analogous to not seeing the forest for the trees. If numbers are useful at all it’s only when they are correlated with photos. I’ve learned not to rely on them at all when it comes to ascertaining my degree of physical development. Photos are the most useful measurement of appearance we can have. They are essential to the visualization process. You focus on what you look like as you see in the photos and then imagine your body changing to look the way you desire. As you continue to practice body visualization your body will gradually begin changing to eventually resemble the look you want.

Fact is nobody has complete body awareness. It takes more than just looking in the mirror—you must learn to see yourself the way other people do. You might say there are two kinds of people in the world in this respect: those who look better than the image they see in the mirror (typically this is what people with low self-esteem experience) and those who look worse than what the mirror reveals to them (those with big egos fall into this category). Do you realize that the only way you’ve ever seen yourself is backwards – this is what you see in the mirror–And that there are parts of your body you can’t see? (your whole back side – and this is why people’s backs and hamstrings are usually less developed than their fronts).

Furthermore, the way you see yourself in the mirror is a product of your belief system. You see what you expect to see. An anorexic person actually sees a fat person in the mirror because this is how they believe themselves to be — it’s a product of their prior conditioning. Bodybuilding champions are no different either. Once I asked one of my former competitors who was competing what kind of shape he was in for his show. “I’m in the best shape of my life” was the answer. “I’m bigger, stronger, and weigh more”. But he didn’t look better. The extra bulk obscured the definition he had the previous year.” He’d been doing the Mentzer system of static contractions where you do the first rep let’s say on leg extension with an enormously heavy weight, hold it at the top until it falls down on its own as you fight against it, and then do an addition rep with the help of your training partner. Not much movement, just holding the contraction for long periods. From training this way he had developed heavy quadriceps above the knee but not up higher on his thighs. The shape of his thighs (and definition) was ruined. But he felt strong.

So there’s really very little accurate information I can give people without the above knowledge. Advice I give in this case is what might be called generic, i.e. the same for everybody. But I do tell them where they might look to find the information they seek. I suggest they peruse my literature, find a recommended program, take photos every 6 weeks, keep track of their training by writing everything in a journal (including diet) and then correlate what they are doing to how they look. If they are improving then keep practicing what they have been doing, if not improving try something else. Eventually one can become a genius in retrospect.

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Frank Zane's MOST PO'ERFUL Secrets to BodyBuilding Success

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 13:46:00 +0000

Want to take your workout to the next level?

Here is one of the most important parts of your daily rituals - DAILY PROTEIN POWER SMOOTHIES made with Frank Zane's Egg White Perfection Powder. Order yours today and drink right before your workout for a burst of energy and to build your High Def Body. Check out my favorite recipe below and order yours today here... www.frankzane.com/supplements/protein_egg.html

Here is one of my favorite recipes...

PROTEIN POWER SMOOTHIE

1 cup of spinach or power greens

1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk or water

2 scoops of Frank Zane's Egg White Perfection Powder

1/4 cup frozen blueberries

1/2 fresh banana

2 to 4 ice cubes

BLEND in Nutribullet or Blender just until all ingredients are mixed.

FRANK ZANE'S EGG WHITE PERFECTION POWDER - The HARDEST HITTING PROTEIN POWDER ON THE MARKET! http://www.frankzane.com/supplements/protein_egg.html

Two scoops (50 grams) of my delicious Egg White Perfection has no fat or cholesterol, trace of carbs, only 150 calories and provides 36 grams of highest quality pure protein. This makes it easy to get an ample amount of protein in your diet for growing and maintaining lean muscle mass while minimizing carbohydrates, fats and calories.

My Egg White Perfection formula contains L-Glutamine in free form to fuel brain and body, boost immune system*, plus digestive enzymes papain and bromelin, sunflower lecithin, vanilla flavors and sweetening (stevia). It is flavor engineered to enhance the taste and mix easily with your favorite liquid in seconds. My formula with all FDA approved ingredients including free form L-Glutamine, helps me train harder and feel my best. For a quick protein fix pour 8 ounces of juice in a shaker, add one scoop of protein, and shake for 10 seconds. As a delicious dessert take ten strawberries, add yogurt, two scoops of protein, mix with a spoon, add handful of walnuts, and eat. Or sprinkle on top of freshly cooked oatmeal and sweeten with agave. My secret of great muscle tone and definition is to maintain an optimum protein to carbohydrate ratio while you keep fats in check.

Frank Zane's MOST PO's MOST POWERFUL Secrets to BodyBuilding Success

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 16:02:00 +0000

Hi everyone,

A few years ago I was interviewed by BodyBuilding magazine about my quest for muscle and the things that I did - and continue to do on a regular basis to ensure my success.

The article below outlines my approach and the philosphies that I promote in my books and in my one-on-one training sessions at my studio here in the San Diego area. Check it out and I hope it helps you in your quest to achieve your Hi Def Body!

Find more tips, tools and nutritional products - such as my popular Egg White Perfection Protein Powder at www.FrankZane.com.

--------------

Bodybuilding legend Frank Zane teaches his disciples how to achieve physical perfection through one-on-one training at The Zane Experience. Bodybuilding.com makes the pilgrimage to Zane's retreat to give you an inside look at his philosophies.

The Zen Of Zane

The ideal modern male physique has shifted from the wasp-waisted men of the past to 5'9" behemoths who tip the scales at 250-plus pounds with 3 percent body fat. This superhero mentality has even found its way into our kids' plastic toys--GI Joe and other action figures now look more steroidal than baseball's all-star game.

Yet, most American guys prefer a more natural, smaller-yet-muscular look. So where did it all change? And how can you achieve the physique you really want?

The answer to both questions may reside with Frank Zane. It's hard to find a guy, straight or gay, who doesn't want Zane's body from the late 1970s in one way or another. In 1968, a young Frank Zane achieved one of his most important bodybuilding milestones: He not only won the 1968 Mr. America and Mr. Universe titles, but he also beat Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Who doesn't want Zane's body from the late 1970s in one way or another?

Zane was a throwback to Steve Reeves--and the Greeks before that.

"Arnold wasn't ready to win, yet," Zane says. "He was just a big smooth guy without a tan. I didn't see him as competition in that show. "But Joe [Weider] was all over Arnold," Zane says. "Everyone could tell he was destined for greatness." Zane won that battle, but he would lose the physique war.

"I just got beat by a chicken with 17-inch arms," Zane says Arnold said of him at the time. Zane was 5 inches shorter and more than 50 pounds lighter than Arnold, but he was also better proportioned and in better condition. "Arnold's comments fueled me, but you couldn't stay mad at him. He's such a diplomat."

Arnold would go on to win six Mr. Olympia titles and then retire before Zane would win his three. Then, in a typical outflanking maneuver, Arnold came back in 1980 to snag a seventh win in Australia, where Zane was expecting to pick up his fourth. Game, set, match to the Terminator.

That helped set the stage for today's bodybuilders, whose size often rivals that of blue-ribbon winners at the state fair.

Zane cites Steve Reeves, who would go on to star in numerous Italian Hercules films in the 1950s, as his role model. "Everyone can relate to the way he looked," Zane says. "Who can relate to Jay Cutler?" Cutler, the current reigning Mr. Olympia is nose to nose with Zane, but outweighs him by upwards of 70 pounds at their Olympia-winning weights.

Who can relate to Jay Cutler?

Judging standards have shifted to favor athletes like Jay Cutler.

If your goal is to achieve a muscular physique with excellent conditioning, but without any sort of enhancement, Frank Zane may be the man with the answers you seek.

The good news is that today Zane leads one-on-one training seminar sessions through his business "The Zane Experience." You can go directly to this font of physique wisdom.

That is, if you can find him.

The Quest For Muscle

Frank Zane is considered by many to have been the most Greek God-like bodybuilder, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that The Zane Experience seminars are held at his personal gym in his home atop a Greek-monikered mount. Mt. Helix and a nearby peak jut from the California desert suburbs east of San Diego.

They look a bit like mismatched breasts: imagine a gigantic Tara Reid sunbathing nude on her back and you have a pretty good idea of what the landscape looks like from a distant vista. Zane's abode is near the top of the larger mount, about where the aureole might start.

To get Experienced, you must complete a series of semi-mysterious tasks that are the requisite of any worthy quest. "I'll give you directions to my house after you get to the hotel," Zane says. No further information is imparted until you have successfully completed the first assignment of a long night in a third-rate hotel (you learn patience, Grasshopper).

In the morning, Zane provides complicated (but extraordinarily clear) directions to the location of The Zane Experience. Test Two: Can you follow directions? When you pull into his driveway, you feel like you're beginning to feel the power of The Force. You're starting to see the point of "paint the fence."

Zane himself remains in great shape. He is approaching his 70th birthday, but at a first glance, Zane doesn't look that much different from any other healthy Southern Californian in his age bracket. But, with Zane dressed in street clothes, you begin to notice his proportions are much better than those of a typical 69-year-old-bigger chest, smaller waist, thicker thighs.

Inside Zane's equipment-heavy gym, he explains why getting to The Zane Experience is so complicated: "I never write down directions to my house or send them by email. I only deliver them over the phone." Cool. It enhances the mystique, the legend. Ultimately, it would be a letdown if you could Google Earth Obi Wan Kenobi's place in the Hamptons, wouldn't it?

Let's Get Frank

"At its inception, bodybuilding was the yoga of the West," Zane says. "Back when I first started competing it was about camaraderie; there was no money. It was about community." Even back in his day, though, Zane was considered somewhat of an outsider.

In addition to poesy, Zane's other endeavors include playing harmonica (he considers himself quite good), playing guitar, (he's learning but still a neophyte-see "wife opinion", below), fashioning wooden flutes, and studying the algorithms of math. He asks if I want to play a math game, and, despite the challenges of the third-rate hotel and a lack of sleep, I'm pleased to accept the challenge.

"No one's ever beaten me," he intones ominously. It's hard not to envisage Alec Guiness wrapped in a chocolate-brown cloak. We play about ten games, and I beat him only twice. "You're starting to see the algorithm," he says, but explains that I haven't understood it fully. (He's right). I'm still trying to blow up the Death Star with my goggles on.

Zane speaks about the importance of effort. "Christine [Zane's wife] tells me I'm terrible at the guitar. So, I don't play when she's around. I wait for her to go to the gym. But I try to play almost every day." This is one of the most impressive takeaways from a day at Zane-adu: Embrace the things that you aspire to be good at but understand that you never will be.

So much of our culture rewards the honing of innate talent, but today, Zane celebrates improvement over natural proclivity. That's an inspiring shift in perspective from a personality who was the world's best at what he had once dedicated his life to.

Embrace the things that you aspire to be good at but understand that you never will be.

Zane was never satisfied with his physique, even when it was the world's best.

The Zane Experience

Today, Zane makes the bulk of his income from his books and the quarterly mag "Building the Body" and from The Zane Experience. So, what does Frank offer at his personal fitness retreat? First, the opportunity to bask in the company of a man who developed one of the world's best physiques in the history of humankind; second, the opportunity to learn.

The Zane Experience may not be for all tastes-Frank has training philosophies that speak to certain training mentalities more than others. Here's a smattering of what you'll be taught at one of his individual sessions:

At its inception, bodybuilding was the yoga of the West," Zane says. "Back when I first started competing it was about camaraderie; there was no money. It was about community.

1. Learn the Zen/Zane of the set.

"When you're performing a weight set, there is nothing else." Zane says that you must learn to get in touch with the sensation of performing the exercise. "Don't focus on anything but the sensation, not even the breathing. When you've advanced to a state where you are one with the set, your breathing will be in sync with the movement."

Zane recommends that you focus on feedback sensations against the background of counting reps. "It's analogous to a meditation process."

2. Focus on quality.

Zane says that an over-emphasis on the number of reps or weight undercuts the quality of your set. This is kind of the Western-negative to the Eastern-positive of the previous point, but it's important to grasp it from both perspectives. "Don't work to a pre-set number of reps. Don't work to failure. Who wants to fail?

Improving your body has nothing to do with failure. I only work to success." Zane explains that you should conclude your weight set with a rep that you know you can complete with perfect form. Then stop. Rest no more than 90 seconds and perform your next set.

3. Use the proper range of motion.

Back to Zen: Is the full range of motion best for you? Are partial reps better? "When you're performing a set, you should work through the range of motion that helps you achieve the results you want," Zane says. He explains that this is physically intuitive. "If you want to improve a particular part of your body, then you should perform a weight exercise that allows you to feel that part of your body working.

It's about isolation and focus." If you're trying to build your pecs, and full-range benches pump up your tris or front delts, then switch to a range of partial reps that tax your pecs to the max. Can't do as many reps? Can't press as much weight? That's muscle-building bliss--use the range that works your pecs most effectively.

When it comes to flyes, Zane recommends getting a deep stretch, but stopping at the point where your hands are about a foot apart above your chest. Taking your hands closer together allows your chest to rest rather than working it optimally.

4. Picture yourself

"No one has an accurate assessment of themselves, not even champions," Zane says. "You need external feedback." Pictures are a very neutral form of feedback because they are not filtered through other people's psyches. And you can view yourself more objectively in pictures than you can in the mirror, he says. Plus they have the advantage of comparative advantage.

If you take frequent shots of yourself from the same vantage point (lighting and all other variables being relatively equal), you have a much more objective place from which to judge yourself. And don't be too harsh (or flattering) about the way you look; be as objective as you can. While this is an old bodybuilding maxim, Zane explains that it's one of the most important tools for anyone striving to improve the way they look.

This is one of the most impressive takeaways from a day at Zane-adu: Embrace the things that you aspire to be good at but understand that you never will be.

5. Learn appreciation

"When I was at my peak, I was never satisfied with the way I looked. I always wanted more. Now, I look back at pictures of me from the past, and I think, That wasn't half bad." Okay, guys, that's an important lesson: FRANK ZANE wasn't happy with the way he looked at his peak in that moment when he had the best physique in the history of the world! Here's the lesson: celebrate your improvements; don't beat yourself up for what you can't achieve.

6. Take the long view

What's the most important personal attribute in perfecting your physique? Genetics? Drive? Testosterone? "Continuity is how you build a physique," Zane says. Follow his other philosophies with discipline and continuity and you'll have the best physique your genetics allow for. A lot of guys (the hares) have better genes but if you work hard and consistently, you (the tortoise) can outperform them.

Zane And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance

When you work out with Frank Zane, you gain a deep understanding that your body truly is a machine. A more shallow reading might view Zane as a series of contradictions--that he has been excessively focused on the exterior while speaking about the importance of the interior.

But--and this is highly interpretive--one could say that Zane transcends that, believing that perfecting your exterior comes from within. Without the existential connection between your inner being and an understanding of the universe itself, it's truly impossible to build a better, more beautiful body, however deep or shallow that goal may be.

Suck It Up

Frank Zane is famous for his "vacuum" abs pose, confoundingly difficult for many modern-day bodybuilders to perfect. To perform the pose, Zane, would lift his arms over head, dropping the forearms below the elbows (basically the start position of a two-arm dumbbell extension).

Then, he would pull in his abs so that they collapsed under his rib cage, giving his abs that impressive hollowed out look. To perform this pose, you need impeccable midsection control. Zane recommends the following abs routine to work up to it:

Dumbbell Pullovers: 4 sets of 15 reps

Roman Chair Sit-Ups: 1 set of 50-500 reps

The Mind in BodyBuilding

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 15:26:00 +0000

THE MIND IN BODYBUILDING

Today, I'd like to share with you one small tip that makes a huge difference in your workout -- FOCUS.

Focus is the act of putting all your attention on one thing and keeping it there. Good focus is what is needed for successful workouts. Fixed attention is what is required during a weight training workout.

You must pay strict attention to what you are doing. If you don't, you won't get a good pump at the end of the set and even worse you might get injured if you lose control of the movement. Fixed attention involves narrowing down your focus to a single point to where nothing else exists.

Learn how to use your mind to improve your body and your life in Frank's Amazon Kindle eBook called The Mind in Body Building. http://www.frankzane.com/books/The_Mind_in_Bodybuilding.html

Train Zane's Way: Spread Your Lats

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 04:09:00 +0000

Want lats that other people can see from the front? Here’s how “the Chemist” got his.

Check out this recent article from Muscle & Fitness Magazine...

by Frank Zane

I did lots of bentover barbell rows while training for the Olympia in 1976. I’d start each workout with this exercise, working up heavy. This gave me much improved lats but also a tennis-elbow-like injury from excessive pronation of the overhand grip. So what to do? Switch to a neutral grip and employ the leverage row, aka the T-bar row.

It’s best to to stick a seven-foot Olympic bar in the corner and load one end with small diameter plates so you have a big range of motion. (If you’re really getting the bar up, 45s can hit your chest.) I use 10s and wouldn’t use more than 25s.

Straddle the bar and interlace your fingers. Bend your knees so your upper body is parallel to the floor. I pull the weight up until it touches my chest and then lower it slowly, being sure to round my back slightly (but safely) as I let the weight down. It’s important to round your back to maximize the stretch. If you keep your lower back arched you’ll contract upper-back muscles, but you won’t target your low central lats. You have to stretch the lats to ensure full development.

Quick Tip: Stretch the lats with front-lat spreads of 30 seconds between sets and hold the down position of one-arm rows for 15 seconds.

Check out some of Frank's most popular bodybuilding products:

Ultimate Bodybuilder Package - Franks 3 best-selling books and training DVD http://www.frankzane.com/specials/BookBonusBundle_2016.html

Train one-on-one with Frank in his studio in San Diego, CA area http://www.frankzane.com/zane_experiences/experience.html

Best Selling Books -

High Def Body http://www.frankzane.com/books/high_def_body.html

Let's Grow http://www.frankzane.com/books/letsgrow.html

Symmetry http://www.frankzane.com/books/symmetry.html

The Growth Program, Then and Now - Frank Zane

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 16:35:00 +0000

The Growth Program, Then and Now - Frank Zane

In 2013, I was interviewed about the specific workout plan I used when training for Mr. Olympia between 1976 and 1983 to add muscle mass. In the article below, I take you though the steps I took along the way of my transformation and following that, I explain what changes I would make to this routine if could I replay that whole period. I hope you enjoy it! FZ

Note: The entire routine outlined below is included in my book "The Workouts -Personal Training Diaries" with over 180 different workouts that I did over a 40 year period. It is available on Amazon/Kindle. Learn more here http://www.frankzane.com/books/The_Workouts.html

I used this workout plan when training for Mr. Olympia and it was very successful for adding muscle mass during those years that I was at my best, between 1976 through 1983. First, I'll explain how I used the workout then. Following that, I'll show what changes I would make to the routine could I replay that whole period.

Growth Program

How I Did It Then

This is a three-way split, emphasizing Pulling muscles on Day One, Legs on Day Two, and Pushing muscles on Day Three:

Day 1 - Back, Biceps, Forearms, Abs.

Day 2 - Thighs, Calves, Abs.

Day 3 - Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Abs.

This routine helped me grow because I incorporated one (modified) power lifting movement into each workout. On day one it was the wide grip deadlift using straps (regular grip). I'd start my back workout with 6 sets of wide grip deadlifts, the first three from the floor - 15, 12, 10. Then I'd elevate the barbell so the plates would sit on boxes a foot high, or I'd use a power rack - 10, 10, 8, and sometimes a set of 6 if I felt up for it. I'd do plenty of stretching with the two-arm lat stretch between sets and take my time before venturing into the next set. My upper back, traps, and spinal erectors got much thicker doing this and my back got wider.

Next came T-Bar rows - 12, 10, 8, of course increasing the weight each set, and doing the two-arm lat stretch between sets. This is a great size-builder for the low central lats. My favorite way of doing it became using a 7-foot Olympic bar with one end in a corner, small diameter plates on the other end and using an interlocking finger grip right behind the collar. My upper body would follow the weight downward, stretching low to the floor and the plates would touch my ribcage at the top of the rep.

The remainder of the back routine consisted of front pulldowns - 3 x 8-10, two-arm lat stretch between sets; one arm dumbbell row - 3 x 8-10, two-arm lat stretch between sets. That gave me a total of 15 heavy sets for back. Then it was on to biceps.

A favorite routine of mine was to start with one arm dumbbell concentration curls, 3 x 8-10 each arm using more weight each set. I would very deliberately hold the dumbbell for one second at the top of the curl and squeeze the biceps for peak contraction, and then start lowering the dumbbell very slowly.

Alternate dumbbell curls came next, 3 x 8-10, increasing the weight each set. Each dumbbell would travel down and up and down completely before I curled the other dumbbell. Each negative would begin very slowly and I would pronate the dumbbell (turn it inward) on the way down.

Finally, 45-degree incline dumbbell curls, with lighter dumbbells, 12, 10, 8. I did a great deal of dumbbell work for biceps in those days, because it was the best. You can curl and supinate at the top of the movement with dumbbells.

After a total of nine sets for biceps, I'd tackle forearms with barbell reverse curls, 12 reps super-setted with seated barbell wrist curls, 20 reps. Two super sets. After each set of curls and forearm exercises I held the pronated arms back stretch for 15 seconds. This gave me a total of 15 sets for back, 9 for biceps, and 4 for forearms, adding up to 28 total sets in the workout, which proved to be enough for growth.

Because of the heavy deadlifts, I preferred to take the next day off from training because squatting was my main movement. Not a good idea squatting with a sore lower back. So, after the rest day I started my leg routine with a few sets of one-legged top extensions to get some blood in the knees, and then started my 6 sets of barbell squats - 15, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8. I did below parallel squats doing slower negatives than positives.

Next exercise was the leg press - 15, 12, 10. Leg presses always felt light after heavy squats and I did higher reps to get an overall pump in the thighs. I never went extremely heavy in this one, but concentrated on going deep into the negative and then not quite locking out at the end of the rep. This it was lying leg curls - 12, 11, 10, followed by the one leg up stretch between sets.

I ended the thigh workout with 3 sets of leg extensions - 12, 10, 8 on my trusty old Nautilus machine. Training for the Mr. Olympia in 1979 I became very strong on this one, doing 10 slow reps with 275.

Calves were up next and I did the calf stretch for 15 seconds after each set. Standing calf raise - 3 x15-20. I kept my knees slightly bent so I could get a deeper stretch at the bottom. Donkey calf raise - 4 x 20-25. Seated calf raise - since it's hard on the Achilles tendon, I always do this one last, usually one four-part drop set, without rest doing 120x5, 110x5, 100x5, 90x5, then do calf stretch for 15 seconds after wards.

Ab work ended the leg day routine, which was usually anything except hanging knee ups in order to give the upper body a rest.

My main exercise on day three's program was the barbell bench press, with a shoulder width grip to put more emphasis on pecs, front delts and triceps. I didn't quite lock out at the top, and did doorway stretches between sets - 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2. These were all done with slow negatives. After I finished the bench presses I did 70-degree incline dumbbell presses - 10 reps, drop angle for 8 reps, drop angle for 6 reps, drop angle for 4-6 reps. All with slow negatives, not quite locking out at the top of each rep. By now my pecs and front delts were really pumped and I'd keep doing doorway stretches between sets.

Next came 10-degree decline dumbbell flies for 12, 10, 8, doing the doorway stretches and flexing the pecs between sets. Then it was the dumbbell pullover lying across a bench, mainly for serratus.

It also expanded my ribcage, pumped up my lower pecs, and really developed the posterior head of my triceps. I got quite strong on this one and did 12, 10, and 8, doing the one arm overhead shoulder stretch between sets.

Next, I moved on to triceps and started with close grip bench presses with hands about 12 inches apart, elbows pointed out to emphasize outer triceps, lowering the weight to the chest slowly and not quite locking out at the top. 12, 10, 8, arms back stretch between sets.

One arm overhead extensions came next. I'd hold onto a support and lean slightly backwards, making sure to let the weight down deeply behind my back and then, keeping my upper arm close to my head, not quite lock out at the top of the exercise. 12, 10, 8, holding one arm shoulder stretch for 15 seconds with each arm between sets.

My final exercise for triceps was the V-grip pressdown, holding the contraction for a full second each rep. 12, 10, 8, doing arms back stretch between sets. After triceps work I was ready to finish off deltoids. I already worked the front delts with the pressing, so all that was left now was an exercise for rear delts and something for the side or lateral heads. Bent over dumbbell lateral raise was my preferred exercise in those days. I'd get behind a T bar or leg roller on a leg curl machine and lean as far forward as I could, grab not-so-heavy dumbbells and do 15, 12, and 10 with rear delt stretches between each set. My last exercise for delts was the side cable raise - 12, 10, 8. Sometimes I'd do 3 x 12 nonstop arm-to-arm.

Ab work was always at the end of my workout and my plan was to gradually increase the total amount of reps right up until contest time until I was doing 1,000 total reps at each workout. Often I came back to the gym later in the afternoon to do this and it usually took me a half hour of nonstop ab exercises to complete it. The minimum program was leg raise 4x25 superset with ab crunches 4x25, followed by 100 seated twists. As I progressed in my ab work I'd add to this 4 sets of 25 hanging knee ups superset with 4 sets of 25 two-arm overhead cable crunches followed by 100 more seated twists. After that I'd ride a stationary bike for 15-20 minutes or run a slow mile and a half.

GROWTH PROGRAM

How I'd Do It Now

If you refer to my book, Workouts From Personal Training Diaries, you will find over 180 different workouts I did over a 40-year period of time. Variations of the above routine will be found in there as well.

AVAILABLE ONLY IN KINDLE OR NOOK>>> Learn More Here

http://www.frankzane.com/books/The_Workouts.html

In general, I'd go to the gym with a routine in mind but as I trained, I made slight variations in it, like changing the order of the exercises, or substituting a new movement. Nothing drastic, but no two workouts, although similar, were ever exactly the same. I used the Growth Routine in my training for the 1979 Mr. Olympia and something similar for the 1982 Mr. Olympia competition as well. I did a 4 day cycle, training 3 days out of 4, three days in a row and resting the fourth day. I was hard and I got really sore from it. I needed lots of rest and noticed a tendency to become over trained after about a month on this 4 day cycle so I took a few extra days off every month.

If I were to do that again, I'd do a 5, 5, 5, 6 day cycle (train 3 days out of 5 three times in a row, then train 3 days out of 6 once; repeat). This is something I recently thought up and I like the idea because it forms a 3 week cycle and gives enough rest so you can grow.

When I did 3 days on, 1 day off, (i.e. the 4 day cycle) I was tired a lot and usually became over trained after about one month of this kind of torture. But with this new cycle over training has less of a chance of occurring. You'll get more rest between workouts, be stronger and grow more.

FRANK ZANE'S 5, 5, 5, 6 TRAINING PROGRAM

1 = back, biceps, forearms

2 = legs

3 = chest, shoulders, triceps

R = rest day

Here's how the 5, 5, 5, 6 program repeats itself:

CYCLE ONE - Train 3 days out of 5

Mon - 1

Tues - R

Wed - 2

Thurs - 3

Fri - R

--------------

CYCLE TWO - Train 3 days out of 5

Sat - 1

Sun - R

Mon - 2

Tues - 3

Wed - R

----------------

CYCLE THREE - Train 3 days out of 5

Thurs - 1

Fri - R

Sat - 2

Sun - 3

Mon - R

----------------

CYCLE FOUR - Train 3 days out of 6

Tues - 1

Wed - R

Thurs - 2

Fri - R

Sat - 3

Sun - R

REPEAT AGAIN STARTING AT CYCLE ONE ABOVE

The cycle repeats itself exactly in the pattern every three weeks providing you don't miss. So, every 3 weeks you train each workout 4 times, you have 9 rest days and 12 workout days.

Notice you always have Fridays off. And you can always have the same day off depending on when you start the cycle. Start in on Monday and every Friday off. Start on Tuesday and get every Saturday off. Start it on Wednesday and get every Sunday off, etc.

Of course, there are other ways to arrange your workouts in this three way split, but why do a three way split in the first place?

1) Since you divide your body into three sections instead of two you can do more work for each section. You have longer to recuperate between each time you work a specific part of the body.

2) It's easier to tolerate only a small part of your body being sore from exercising instead of your entire body or entire upper body being wiped out.

Footnote: Actually instead of training three days in a row and resting the fourth, I'd do the 5-5-4 day cycle, the 5-5-5-6 day cycle should produce more growth because there's more rest so you'll be stronger each workout and be able to train heavier.

Frank Zane's Tips for Massive Muscle Growth

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 13:49:00 +0000

Frank Zane's Tips for Massive Muscle Growth

Everybody wants to grow. Adolescents and teenagers would like to grow muscle and so do mature adults. They’d like to but don’t know how. I do from almost 60 years of continuous training and experimentation.

My goal in training was to develop all parts of the body equally. In order to do this, one must first become aware of the work that needs to be done by studying photos. The next stage was planning the training. I was doing a split routine when I was 18, working legs one day and upper body the next. Being 18 and full of drive and energy I trained 6 days a week alternating workout doing upper body one day and legs the next.

At first I did three to four sets of 10 reps on everything. Then one day, this big guy who trained at the gym told me to work up in weight on every set and let the reps decrease according to my strength. So, it became 12, 10, 8, 6 reps and I did big muscle group exercises: bench press, rowing, squats, some deadlifts, press behind neck, curls, all with barbells. My strength grew and so did my bodyweight. I went from 170 to low 180s by 1964.

By the end of 1965 I’d bulked up to over 200 pounds from a lot of heavy squats. My thighs grew so much that I became ‘bottom heavy’ since the other muscle groups didn’t grow nearly as much. I’d wasted a whole year bulking up and the results were not satisfactory… so I trimmed down to 194 and moved to Florida where my training took on a whole new direction once I found a great gym to do my training. I also found a good training partner and we worked out 6 days a week from 5 to 7 pm.

During the three years I trained in Florida, I was able to win Mr. America and Mr. Universe weighing in the low 180s even beating Arnold Schwarzenegger. Then, I realized that in order to reach my potential I needed to be in a more fitness oriented area.

So, I moved to Southern California in the summer of 1969. I was able to train at the original Golds Gym in Venice with Arnold during 1969, 1970, and 1972 and won Mr. World and two more Mr. Universe titles weighing in the 180s. In 1972, I bulked up to over 200 pounds by training heavy and won Professional Mr. Universe in London weighing about 198.

I was encouraged by ‘bodybuilding experts’ to get bigger so I went all out in 1982 and trained very heavy in an attempt to win a 4th Olympia weighing over 200 pounds. I did win, but in reflection, I think my chances would have been better if I weighed 5 pounds less.

My bodyweight gradually went up and then came slightly down to look my best for competitions. It all depended on how I looked in the photos I took on a regular basis. And looking back this is one of the best things I accomplished in my bodybuilding career, I took thousands and thousands of photos which provide a record of my progress. In bodybuilding it’s all about how good you look not about how much you weigh or measure. I suggest you start collecting photos of yourself if you want to maximize your potential.

The Let’s Grow Workout is a two way split routine. It should be done three times a week, or two times a week at a minimum. It’s not how often you do it. It’s how well you do it, how good your workouts are. Get a pump on every set. And feel a little soreness the next day in the areas worked. You’ll know your making gains when this happens.

Here’s the workout:
Day One — front of body, abs
Day Two—back of body, abs

It’s important to develop a trim waistline with good abs as you grow - that’s why abs should be done every workout.

So what is front of body routine? It’s Chest, Front delts, biceps/forearms, abs, quadriceps. Back of body? Back, rear & side delts, triceps, hamstrings, calves, abs.

Why this kind of split? Because the amount of work each time is equal, the two workouts are approximately the same length. Even though you are working upper body each time you always get a day of rest in between. You might even do a train a day and rest two days cycle. That would be even better for growth because more rest between workouts means more recuperation time for your muscles to grow and get stronger. Especially if you train heavy you need more time to recuperate. If you don’t get it you won’t grow in size or strength.

Let’s Grow is based on the EARN model where E is exercise, A is attitude, R is rest, N is nutrition. Growth is a product of exercise, attitude, relaxation rest recuperation, and nutrition. For maximum growth you must a perfect score in each category. This bodybuilding equation is a mathematical way to track your growth.

So what’s the workout routine? I suggest doing the Let’s Grow routine twice a week at first, something like Tuesday Saturday, Wednesday Sunday, Thursday Monday. Where you train a day, rest three days, train a day rest two days. This would be a great maintenance program done this way and a good program to do if you don’t have much time to devote to your training. Instead of telling yourself you don’t have time to train and skipping workouts, do this program instead twice a week on a regular basis. Get a good pump and you’ll be moving a the right direction.

“Let’s Grow” is part of Frank's newest product, the Frank Zane's Ultimate Bodybuilding Bundle...check it out here
http://www.frankzane.com/specials/BookBonusBundle_2016.html

Frank Zane Launches his NEW Ultimate Bodybuilding Bundle!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 17:53:00 +0000

Frank Zane - 3x Mr. Olympia - releases his NEW Ultimate Bodybuilding Bundle!

Here's my ultimate special for bodybuilders where you get 3 of my Best-Selling Books and a FREE Training DVD - all at one low price that includes shipping!

This bundle will give you my total system with all of my powerful weight training, posing tips, nutrition, and motivational programs for beginners through advanced trainees. Never before was all this information available for one low price. This is a great reference manual for personal trainers too!

You'll save over $40 - here's what's included:

BONUS OFFER: Order today and you'll get my Train with Zane DVD!

Order Yours Today Right Here...
Frank Zane's Ultimate Bodybuilding Bundle

The Winter 2015 Issue of Building the Body Quarterly

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 23 Jan 2016 21:58:00 +0000

The winter 2015 issue of Building the Body Quarterly will be mailed the week of January 25^th, 2016.

This issue features:

Fernandez’s Ferrigno Classic

- Training for it: about the tremendous amount of work needed to get in shape after bulking up 30 pounds.

- Contest Report: He won his class over 50

- Sara and Michael are a couple of PhDS from Australia who did a Zane Experience recently. Here’s the progress they made.

- Specialization is what to do in the off season when you are not training as hard or as often. Working your weak points is essential for a complete physique.

- Egg White Perfection – We are eagerly anticipating the new batch of this unique product containing L-glutamine in free form. Here’s why it’s the best supplement available only from us.

- Tom Rutherford got some valuable posing tips in his Zane Experience program and took some nice photos while in San Diego.

- Mia Morissette has an amazing physique and tells about her training and how she feels about women’s bodybuilding.

- Carbon 60 is a powerful free radical scavenger and may enhance training. Learn about the research.

- Blood Pressure – Bodybuilders, do you know what your blood pressure is?

- Build Horseshoe Triceps – Here’s a great routine to build and shape the biggest muscles of the upper arm.

- Frankly Speaking about stuff we are doing besides training

- Classic Physique Rules – It’s official. NPC and IFBB have OK’d the classic bodybuilding physique division. Good news is that are many height/weight categories so there will be lots of winners.

This is a very informative issue with lots of impressive photos available currently in hard copy mailed out four times a year.

Subscribe today and take advantage of this unique publication by going to www.frankzane.com.

Mailed USPS hard copy it's only $24 in USA, $26.28 in CA, $30 in Canada, and $35 overseas.

All the best,

Transform Your Abs & Upper Quads with Frank Zane's Training Secrets!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 17 Jan 2016 18:49:00 +0000

I get a lot of questions from my fans on how I built my abs and developed such separation in my upper quads. I recently came across this interview in my archives that answers many of these questions.

Check it out below and as always, don't forget that my three books - High Def Body, Symmetry, and Let's Grow contain all of my exact workout routines, mental focus tips and diet/nutrition programs.

Thanks for your continued support and here's to your High Def Body in 2016!
FZ

Get all three books and training DVD here http://www.frankzane.com/specials/HolidaySpecial_2014.html

Interviewing Bodybuilding Legend Frank Zane

Frank Zane

Frank Zane is a three-time Mr. Olympia (1977 to 1979). His bodybuilding reign was marked by a shift of emphasis from mass to aesthetics.

Zane is one of only three people who have defeated Arnold Schwarzenegger in a bodybuilding contest and one of the very few Mr. Olympia winners under 200 pounds.

His nickname is “The Chemist” due to his BS degree and his scientific approach to reaching his peak on the exact day of competition, year after year. (Also he taught mathematics and chemistry for 13 years.

Zane’s proportionate physique featured the second thinnest waistline of all the Mr. Olympias, with his wide shoulders making for a distinctive V-taper. He stood at 5 ft 9 in (1.75m) and had a competition weight of 187-195 pounds when he won Mr Olympia. In this interview, Frank Zane shares a host of never-before-published photos spanning his career and beyond, taken by his wife, Christine, a talented photographer and his most ardent supporter for more than 40 years.

How did you come to formulate your first bodybuilding training routine?
It was all by people I’d met, things I’d read and trial and error. When I first started out, I was about 18 actually younger I was about 16 or 17 when I really got serious. I worked out every other day after school, doing upper body one day, legs the next. I kept that routine for a while and it worked well for me.

Then, in the mid-late ’60s, when I was living in Florida, I increased the number of workouts so that I was training six days a week, but it was still upper body one day, legs the next. My upper-body workouts took about three to three and a half hours. The leg workouts were about an hour and a half, and that’s how I trained right up until I won the Mr. America and Mr. Universe in 1968.

When I moved to California, we all pretty much trained the same way, like Arnold did. We still trained six days a week, but on a three-way split. A typical routine was chest and back on Mondays and Thursdays, legs on Tuesdays and Fridays. Wednesdays and Saturdays was delts and arms.

It was a volume routine. We’d do at least 10-12 sets for the small bodyparts and 15-20 sets for the large bodyparts. We’d train heavy, working up to the heavy weights. We worked real hard, but what I learned was that as you get older it’s better to train a little less frequently but harder. Your body needs that extra time to recuperate.

Changing styles

Around 1978, I graduated to a different style it was still a three-day split program but I trained three days in a row and then rested the fourth day. I found that I grew better on a routine like that and it’s the one that I used throughout the rest of my career.

Precontest I, like most everyone else, would do a double split, but normally it would be one workout a day, maybe coming back to do abs. So I changed it to back-biceps-forearms on day one, legs on day two, chest, shoulders, triceps on day three. Of course, I always worked abs every day, and did a good 400 and upward for total reps of abs. Before a contest, I’d move that up to as many as 1,000 reps a day.

Would that come at the end of the workout?
Yeah. Sometimes I would come back to the gym later in the day and just do abs because it would take a while.

What were your preferred ab exercises?
Usually crunches and/or Roman-chair situps for upper abs. Leg raises or hanging knee-ups for upper abs, seated twists for obliques.

Not a lot of guys devote that much time to their ab training these days.

Worked for me. I just went by the example of those who had been training at Gold’s Gym [in Venice] when I got there. You know, in the late ’60s Zabo Koszewski was there and he had the best abs and I figured, Well, I’ll try it. He would do 500 Roman-chair situps in the morning and 500 leg raises in the afternoon and so that’s what I did. I figured if you had great abs and you had everything else, you’d look even better, and it worked. Not only did it give me great abs, but it gave me great upper-quad separation.

That’s true, you did have that great detail in your upper thighs. What about cardio? I didn’t do much in the way of cardio maybe two hours a week.

So, did diet account for your conditioning?

My diet was always very good, but volume training in itself really conditions you. if you go heavy, you’ll grow too, but boy, volume training really works you down to your core. To this day, I still practice volume, except now I will train three days a week or so.

I know that early on you dabbled in some powerlifting.
Just initially. Where I grew up in Pennsylvania it was really the center of weightlifting in the United States. But I wasn’t really into the Olympic lifts and, actually, the area where I was in northeastern Pennsylvania there wasn’t even powerlifting yet. They called it “odd lifting” and they sort of organized their own competitions.

They picked the lifts that the greatest number of guys were good at. But through my whole career in bodybuilding, until I moved to California, nobody was that good at squats, except for me. So the lifts were bench press, curls and deadlifts, and I never did deadlifts. I mean, I did them to get into the contests. At a bodyweight of 175, I ended up doing a 425 deadlift, 285 bench press and 155 curl. But if they’d had squats in there, I would have been squatting with over 400 because I was always a good squatter.

Was that early heavy lifting important for giving you a foundation on which you later built your physique? Well, it gave me mass, but I’ll tell you one thing if I had to do it all over again, I don’t think I would have done it. It just gets you injured. You’re just focusing on the weight and often ignoring the subtle signs your body is giving you and once you’ve hurt yourself, that’s it. It never really goes away. Now I’m paying the price for all of that heavy lifting.

The old injuries are catching up to you? Absolutely. I think as you get older, it’s inevitable that you feel the effects of the injuries you incurred years earlier. I mean, joints can only take so much. I think shoulders are very susceptible to wearing out all that upper-body work, especially if you’re training upper body heavy, training upper body two days in a row.

My shoulders have been traumatized and now I have to back off shoulder work. I did so much shoulder work and they got so developed that now almost anything I do goes to my shoulders. So I’m fortunate in that I don’t have to train shoulders. But I can’t they hurt. So, even if I just do chest and back, that’s a lot of shoulder work. Even training arms is a lot of shoulder work.

So, knowing what you know now, if you had the chance to go back to, say, ’68, ’70, would you do things differently? In those days, I did what was necessary for me to win. This included training with heavy weights: a precursor for injury. So if I could do it over again I’d train with lighter weights, higher reps, no sets below 10 reps, with negatives slower than positives, and avoid injury. If I had done that, my physique wouldn’t have been quite as bulky, but with more definition and with less pain.

How does your training today compare with the training you were doing 30 years ago? Obviously you aren’t training for competition any longer, but is it fairly similar to what you were doing then? On the whole, it is, with lighter weights and less volume, of course. I have to say that I rely heavily on muscle memory these days, and it is a pretty amazing thing. I don’t have to train that much anymore to stay in decent shape, which is good because my joints couldn’t handle a lot of this work now. But there comes a point in your 60s when you hit a kind of age barrier, and the gains come slower and the accumulated stress you put on your body all those years adds up.

It’s a bit of a balancing act–knowing how much to train to elicit results without aggravating old injuries. I now subscribe to the parsimony principle. I no longer want to carry that much mass on me. I want to be lean and lighter. It’s easier to carry around less weight and I’m more comfortable. It also doesn’t require as much training, which equals less stress on the joints.

I have the same structure, similar metabolism, amount of blood, organ reserve that I did all those years ago, except now I’m carrying around 15 pounds less body weight, so it’s much, much easier on my system. I don’t eat nearly as much as I used to, but what I do eat is very nutritionally dense. I don’t even need to sleep as much, although I do make sure to get plenty of rest.

But you know, these days I get great satisfaction from training other people rather than focusing on myself. I like to help steer them toward their goals. For me, it’s a matter of living as long a quality life as I can. It’s more a matter of health and longevity for me than trying to impress people.

It sounds like growing up. Yeah, that’s what it is. It’s becoming a mature person. I’m comfortable with the idea of passing the torch helping others to aim for the same kinds of goals I once aimed for. In the end, I think it’s a very natural progression and a good thing. His bodybuilding career and what he accomplished inspires awe, doesn’t it?

Frank Zane's Shoulder Specialization Routine

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 07:46:00 +0000

Frank Zane's Shoulder Specialization Routine

Competitors can bring out the best in you. In 1967, Don Howorth won Mr. America and defeated me with his super shoulders and outstanding poses. This inspired me to want to build out my physique even more and I went to work to revamp my lifting routine. I crafted a plan to build out my deltoids using my mind and my muscle. I did my homework and through trial and error was able to develop a specialization plan that built my shoulders to perfection.

Check out the fabulous article below from Gene Mozee, former editor in chief of Muscle Builder Magazine, where I share this exact shoulder routine that catapulted me to the top. It took inspiration from a competitor to build out my High Def Body and round out what became to be known as my "classic V-taper." This story serves to demonstrate what can happen when we truly embrace a negative situation or event and focus on turning it into a learning experience instead.

Frank Zane

-----

Frank Zane's Unity-Training Delt Specialization - Gene Mozee (1995)

Some years ago when I was the editor in chief of Muscle Builder magazine, I interviewed Frank Zane many times. The articles he contributed to that publication were always of the highest quality in terms of both information and result-producing routines. Zane was probably the most scientific bodybuilder of his era. He kept detailed records of every workout and routine that he ever used. He was constantly analyzing every facet of his training, including his diet and sleeping habits.

Zane's philosophy was that you don't have to have 20-inch arms and weigh 250 lbs to look impressive. He contended that most men become obsessed with obtaining huge size and making bodyweight gains. While he acknowledged that a certain amount of size and bodyweight are necessary, he believed that these are not the factors that determine a top physique. He rated muscle density, shape and symmetry and how those qualities are displayed as more important than who has the largest measurements or who weighs the most in competition. The person who looks the best is the one who wins the show.

Here, in his own words, is the shoulder specialization program that helped make Frank Zane one of the most popular bodybuilders of all time.

I've seen fantastic deltoids on fellows like Sergio Oliva and Larry Scott, but to me the all time champion of superior deltoid development was Don Howorth. I was awed by Don's width. Delts like that seemed preposterous, unreal -- except that they blended perfectly with his arms, chest and the sweep of his lats. It is my conviction that well-developed delts give any physique the stellar touch.

After I lost the Mr. America contest, I made a solemn vow. At any cost I would develop deltoids like those of Howorth, who shouldered me out of first place. I knew what I had to do, and I've been blasting them hard ever since, turning my defeat by a deltoid into many victories. I really believe that.

I like what my delts have given me. It took a lot of hard work and some fine-tuning of my workout program to reach my present degree of development and proportion.

I realized that if I wanted delts like Howorth's, that total development of all the parts -- front, back and middle -- I needed to use more than simple motion. Abstract contraction of muscle doesn't do it. I've seen too much failure coming from thoughtless exercise.

When I first started giving my delts priority, I was exerting tremendous effort. Each rep, each set seemed like a foreign entity, something that is tolerated for a necessary exchange. Gradually I began to feel that I was becoming one with the weight, uniting myself with it on each movement. In my opinion this is the trouble with the average bodybuilder's workout. He thinks of himself as being separate from the weights and must therefore exert a tremendous amount of effort to move a weight that he perceives as something outside of himself. That idea doesn't work for me.

Here's a tip that has paid off for me. I've learned the anatomy of each muscle, including its origins and insertions and how it functions. During workouts I close my mind to all else except the muscle I'm working. I envision it contracting and becoming pumped and growing larger with each rep. I try to think positively right through my training session, practically willing the muscles to grow.

I proved to myself that if my concentration was keen enough, I could close the breach between myself and the exercise apparatus. I riveted my attention on using proper form to the extent that no external environment existed for me. I became a part of the workout. Distractions were filtered out. You have to get into this process and work at it to experience what I mean. It transcends simple training. You feel like a baseball player who has just made the perfect swing and connected for a home run.

After experimenting with several different exercises and routines, I discovered that the following deltoid program really delivers the goods -- size, shape, muscle density and definition. I eased into it slowly and progressively intensified each workout by adding weight and shortening the rest periods. The program consists of five exercises, and I performed the first three -- dumbbell presses. lateral raises, and cable upright rows -- in tri-set fashion, one right after the another without pausing. I started fairly light and increases the poundage for each set, completing five tri-sets using the following reps and weights:

Tri-Set One:
Dumbbell Presses, 50s x 12
Lateral Raises, 25s x 15
Cable Upright Rows, 50 x 15.

Tri-Set Two:
Dumbbell Presses, 70s x 11
Lateral Raises, 30s x 14
Cable Upright Rows, 55 x 12.

Tri-Set Three:
Dumbbell Presses, 70s x 11
Lateral Raises, 30s x 13
Cable Upright Rows, 60 x 9.

Tri-Set Four:
Dumbbell Presses, 80s x 9
Lateral Raises, 32.5s x 12
Cable Upright Rows, 65 x 9.

Tri-Set Five:
Dumbbell Presses, 90s x 8
Lateral Raises, 35s x 11
Cable Upright Rows, 70 x 8.

I rested about two minutes between tri-sets. Gradually I reached the point where my endurance and willpower permitted me to go through all five cycles without resting at all. Those 15 nonstop sets, performed one right after another, became a real adventure in training. The pump is intense, and the muscles burn. You start to rise above the pain, and that's when you approach UNITY, the junction of yourself and the apparatus.

The tri-set exercises primarily work the front and lateral-deltoid areas, so I followed them up with five fast sets of incline lateral raises for the posterior delts. These are bentover laterals performed while you're sitting backward on an incline bench with your chest resting against the incline. The following is typical of my sessions on this movement:

25s x 15
27.5s x 14
30s x 13
32.5s x 12
35s x 10

Then, to complete the program, I set the weight on the pulley machine at 20 lbs and performed five sets of one-arm pulley lateral raises for each arm without resting at all.

After I completed the full program, which totaled 25 sets, my delts were so pumped that I could barely raise my arms. The result was a remarkable increase in delt size, shape and definition in a relatively short period of time.

Unity-Delt Specialization Program

Tri-Set:

Dumbbell Presses, 5 x 12, 11, 11, 9, 8

Lateral Raises, 5 x 15, 14, 13, 12, 11

Cable Upright Rows, 5 x 15, 12, 9, 9, 8.

Incline Bench Lateral Raises, 5 x 15, 14, 13, 12, 10.

One-Arm Pulley Laterals, 5 x 10-15.

This is a very tough program that's much too severe for anything except pre-contest training/peaking. Don't try to jump into it immediately. Instead, I suggest the following plan for a starter.

Basic Delt Specialization

Dumbbell Presses, x 3-4

Lateral Raises, x 3-4

Upright Rows, x 3-4

Incline Bench Lateral Raises, x 3-4

Use this program two or three times a week, depending on your training needs and schedule. You can intensify it by performing it in superset fashion, as follows. Remember that supersetting involves performing two different exercises, alternating them without pausing to promote a greater pump stimulate muscle growth in a specific area. One superset equals one set of each of the two exercises.

Superset Delt Specialization

Superset One:

Dumbbell Presses, x 4-5

Lateral Raises, x 4-5

Superset Two:

Upright Rows, x 4-5

Incline Bench Lateral Raises, x 4-5

Learn More about Frank's Training Routines in his book Symmetry - http://www.frankzane.com/books/symmetry.html

Train one-on-one with Frank Zane in his San Diego Training Studio - http://www.frankzane.com/zane_experiences/experience.html

Meet & Greet Christine & Frank Zane - Sunday, Dec. 27th

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 17:29:00 +0000

Meet and greet Christine and Frank Zane at Spanish Village Studio 21, 1770 Village Place, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA this Sunday, December 27th from 2 to 4 pm, refreshments will be served, hope to see you there!

DETAILS...
Christine Zane, Exhibiting at the Visual Translations Art Show Featuring "Art that Speaks to You" with Eleven Other Water Media Artists

WHERE: Gallery 21, Spanish Village, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA

WHEN: Dec. 16 - 28 (closed Christmas)

TIME: 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

MEET CHRISTINE at the Following Special Events:
Saturday, Dec. 26th from 1 - 4 pm (Open House)
Sunday, Dec. 27th from 2 - 4 p.m. (Festive Reception)

FEATURED ARTISTS: Christine Zane, Nell Bartlett, Beverly Berwick, Roberta Dyer, Martha Grim, Elaine Harvey, Alice Kayuha, Carol Mansfield, Michele Morga, Diana Ruark, & Bonnie Woods
Learn more here... http://frankzaneblog.blogspot.com/…/christine-zane-to-exhib…

Christine Zane to Exhibit at Art Show Dec 16th to 28th, 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 03:42:00 +0000

Christine Zane to Exhibit at the Visual Translations Art Show

We are excited to announce that Christine Zane will be participating in the Visual Translations Art Show Featuring "Art that Speaks to You" with Eleven Other Water Media Artists.

WHERE: Gallery 21, Spanish Village, 1770 Village Place, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA

WHEN: Dec. 16 - 28 (closed Christmas)

TIME: 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

MEET CHRISTINE at the Following Special Events:

Sunday, Dec. 20th from 2 - 4 p.m. (Festive Reception)
Saturday, Dec. 26th from 1 - 4 pm (Open House)
Sunday, Dec. 27th from 2 - 4 p.m. (Festive Reception)

FEATURED ARTISTS: Christine Zane, Nell Bartlett, Beverly Berwick, Roberta Dyer, Martha Grim, Elaine Harvey, Alice Kayuha, Carol Mansfield, Michele Morga, Diana Ruark, & Bonnie Woods

Christine Zane - Artist Bio

I like combining a variety of mediums and sizes and seeing what happens. Using watercolor, watercolor collage, alcohol inks, acrylic paint and mediums, oils, and basically anything available enables me to create art that has depth and interest.

These compositions come from whatever is in my head at that moment. Being light and whimsical is part of what I want to convey with my art whether it is abstract, non-objective or objective. I love line and bold color and want everyone to have art in their lives.

Christine has previously exhibited at the San Diego Watercolor society at Liberty Station, San Diego and has won numerous awards for her work. Contact Christine at cigarcigarcigar1@hotmail.com.

Franks Secret for Developing Your Legs & Calves!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Frank Zane Leg Blaster!

Now it is possible to develop your legs without having to endure the discomfort of barbell squats! Forged from heavy 11 gauge steel, Zane's Leg Blaster gives you the benefit of all versions of squatting while reducing stress on lower back and knees: full or parallel squat, front squat, hacks, sissy squat, plus standing calf raises, even lunges.

Learn more and order online by clicking here...http://www.frankzane.com/equipment/leg_blaster.html

Build Lower Lats

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 17:44:00 +0000

Build Lower Lats

Back development has always been a priority with me. You can’t see your back because it’s in back of you so it’s conditioning is taken for granted. But unless you train back in a special way your future for good v taper is in danger of never happening. Here’s why:

Upper lats aren’t that hard to develop, I rely on front pulldown with a wide neutral grip, pulling the bar down to touch my upper pecs and then letting it slowly back to a non-lockout position. Stopping before lockout keeps the pump centered in the upper lats. Going to lockout activates the deltoids which is OK but if you want more lat stimulation (after all you are working lats) then try non lockout pulldowns.

Then there’s the low central lat area and for that some kind of rowing is necessary. The key here is to get a low stretch on the negative part of the movement, rounding your back as you stretch deep down with back parallel to the floor. If you keep your back arched while stretching downward you will not develop a nice rounded sweeping curve to the low central lats.

I prefer low cable row or leverage row with a long bar stuck in a corner using small diameter plates so I can get a good range of motion to the movement. Both of these exercises are more user friendly than bent over barbell row. I use a neutral grip making it easy of the elbows.

An upper lat exercise like front pulldown and lower lat movement such as leverage row are two basic exercises for complete lat development if you do them correctly. The just out Autumn 2015 issue of Building the Body Quarterly has a nice article on How to Build the Lat Spread based on the points mentioned. Check it out.

High Def Body

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 06:41:00 +0000

Been busy with everything here and all’s well. The Autumn 2015 issue of Building the Body Quarterly just arrived and we’ll be sending them out via USPS over the next several days. There are lots of photos as usual and the issue is one of my favorites. Training is going well too working out twice a week, upper body one day and legs the other day with some ab work each workout. Love shooting archery on the 6 target 3-D range on my lower hill. Joined by Fernandez we manage to lob 30 TO 40 arrows at bulleyes twice a week. So between walking up and down hills on the range to fetch arrows and pulling a recurve I’m getting enough exercise along with my twice weekly weight training workouts. Judging from how I feel it’s just about right.

Shipment of the new edition of High Def Body just arrived, updated and with some new photos, it’s been my bestselling book and a most complete guide to training for definition along with extensive nutrition advice. Looking thru the new arrival I notice the reproduction of the photos is even better than the first and second editions.

If you want a copy when ordering please specify ‘New Edition’. I’m gonna try to blog every week, so stay tuned. FZ

Building the Body Quarterly Autumn 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 16:31:00 +0000

Building the Body Quarterly Autumn 2015

Building the Body Quarterly Autumn 2015 is being published and expected to be mailed to subscribers before the end of October. I’ve been publishing this 32 page ‘grass roots’ magazine for 17 years with goal being to keep traditional ‘old school’ bodybuilding alive especially now in the face of more recent trends that make me ask “Is this really bodybuilding?” Major case in point is Men’s Physique competitions or as I call it ‘Bermuda Shorts Contents’ which look more like casting calls for a TV commercial. Hidden by Bermuda shorts down to the knees what we don’t see on these contestants is their lack of leg development. Why bother training legs, it’s just more hard work. And they don’t develop their legs. This is not true bodybuilding which is about developing the entire body. The other end of the spectrum is the extreme development witnessed in the hard core pharmaceutically enhanced competitions, which while it is interesting to watch, not many people want to look like this. That’s why I’m glad IFBB and NPC are now officially recognizing ‘Classic’ physique completions which hopefully will be judged with more emphasis on symmetry, proportion and presentation, not just on how much muscle a competitor exhibits.

This issue presents a broad look at what I’ve found to be of interest to those who are looking for views and tips on sensible training, topics that approach working out from lots of angles. Here’s the contents:

Mr. America – What a great show it was in Rochester, NY a weekend in August, it could be the start of one of the most coveted titles in bodybuilding.

Mr. America Production – This is why Gold’s Gym owner Bruce Ebell acquired the rights to the Mr. America title, his plans are a step in the right direction.

Gene Wood Success – After a Zane Experience program Gene trained and dieted as instructed to get into his best shape in recent times.

Bodybuilding has Changed by Master Trainer Larry Kay – Larry is a personal trainer in Scottsdale Arizona and his insight on what is happening in today’s bodybuilding is right on the mark, laughable, and sad.

Maintenance Training – You can’t train hard all the time, best to peak once a year and then afterwards train less frequently for a few months while you specialize on your weak points. Here’s how I do it…

Coming soon:

91 Day Wonder Body – my next book should be coming out early 2016, it integrates the workouts from my High Def Body and Let’s Grow books into a day by day three month instruction program including nutrition.

Banded Weight Stacks – Wrap a rubber band around your weight stack and increase the time under tension of a set. Get a great pump and make it easy on your joints.

Aging and Attitude – Best to find ways to make yourself happy as you get older, here’s how I do it.

Sin & the Art of Archery – Missing the mark is called ‘sin’ and our goal is to hit the center each time, on every shot.

Expect Pec Work with Age – Pecs can sag if you don’t watch ‘em, here’s what to do to avoid saggy man boobs.

Lat Spread: how to build it – Secret to developing low central lats is to round your back as you stretch deep down on each rep.

Critiques and Compliments – the best of the emails I get.

The El Centro Range – It means ‘the center’ but it’s not the town 100 miles east of here.

My Training Progress – Been a year since rotator cuff surgery, shoulder keeps getting stronger and I’ve been training upper body and legs each once a week with an average of 8000 steps a day (via Fitbit) and two to three archery shoots a week (been getting sore lats, delts and obliques after shooting). Lots of Zane Experience clients have kept me exercising.

Frankly Speaking says my most popular book High Def Body was just revised and updated with current information and new photos.

Amino Acid Formulas – Encapsulated free form amino acids have been part of my nutritional program for almost 50 years. This is what I do.

This is first-hand information with no other goal in mind than to promote correct training methods, procedures I’ve used and tested over a lifetime of bodybuilding. And there’s no paid advertising, only descriptions of what I personally use and do to get results.

Subscription gives you 4 hard copy issues a year sent in the mail (USPS) to your physical mailing address, it’s not digital although a kindle edition usually comes out afterwards. Subscribers like getting a neat high quality little magazine nestled in the massive bunch of junk mail makes up most of today’s snail mail.

Subscription is $24 a year in USA,
$26.28 in California, $30 in Canada and Mexico,
$35 overseas.

The importance of protein and amino acids

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 03:31:00 +0000

The importance of protein
and amino acids

One of the most important ingredients for successful bodybuilding is protein. How well your body uses protein is indicated by it's protein efficiency ratio (PER) which tells as a percentage how well the body uses the protein you ingest. We can divide proteins into animal and vegetable proteins. And while vegetable proteins are claimed to be very healthy, they do have low PER ratings. Soy, pea, hemp, bean protein all have PERs in the 40% range while protein from animal sources: meats, dairy, and egg protein sources have much higher values. The highest is from egg white protein with PER in the 90 percent range and along with whey protein from milk sources are the proteins your body assimilates the best. Meats, containing connective tissue (especially beef) have lower PERs somewhere in the 70% range.. So in my book it makes sense to use egg white or whey protein.

Some people are lactose intolerant and don't do well on whey protein. I'm one of them so I do not drink milk and rely on a protein drink of carbonated water, a squirt of half and half and agave for taste, and 25 to 50 grams of my Egg White Perfection shaken in a drink as a meal substitute especially after a workout. Sipped slowly after training puts protein in my system and boosts my glucose levels. I make sure to use only the finest ingredients so I don't buy those huge containers of whey that Walmart sells. Protein is important because it is composed of the amino acids, the body's building blocks. A protein drink is essential for bodybuilders because it supplies amino acids in abundance and is one of the best ways to increase nutrient density while not going overboard on calories. We endeavor to get one gram of first class protein per pound of ideal bodyweight.

Egg White Perfection is unique because it contains L-glutamine in free form. This amino acid increases alertness, feeds the muscles as well as the brains, boosts immunity and endurance. What happens under strict dieting conditions is after about 8 hours of not eating the body taps the branched chain amino acids in muscle tissue, pulls out glutamine, and sends it to the liver where it is stripped of nitrogen and used for energy at the expense of wasting muscle tissue. To prevent this from happening it's a good idea to add a protein rich in glutamine as well as the other amino acids to your nutritional program. I've been doing this for years and I think it's one of the main reasons for my success in bodybuilding. Check out Egg White Perfection at www.frankzane.com

Seminar: Body Transformation: The 5 Keys

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 13:12:00 +0000

Frank Zane will be conducting a seminar entitled "BODY TRANSFORMATION: THE 5 KEYS"

Date: Saturday, August 8th
Time: 2 to 4 PM

IN THE CAFETERIA AT:
Eastridge High School
2350 East Ridge Road
]Irondequoit, NY 14622

Admission is $20 and we hope to see you there to meet Frank and learn his secrets!

NY Bodybuilding Seminar - August 8, 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 22:17:00 +0000

Frank Zane will be conducting a bodybuilding seminar Saturday, August 8th, from 2 to 4 PM.

Eastridge High School

2350 East Ridge Road

Irondequoit, NY 114622

Click here for directions.

Admission is $20 per person.

Frank will also be attending the Mr. America competition that evening at 7 PM at same location.

For compete details of the events go to www.mramerica.freeplay.life

Building the Body: Summer 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 20:25:00 +0000

Summer 2015 issue of Building the Body quarterly will be mailed by the end of the week of June 14th. There are success stories of bodybuilders at both ends of the aging spectrum with photos to show their progress. It's a very motivational issue, archery champ John Dudley's comeback along with my ongoing rehab tell what's needed to keep going forward. the Error Messages article can make a person feel good about his mistakes, it's how we learn. Lots of high quality photos make this one of our best issues yet.

How to Stay Motivated is all about finding a reason to train harder, be it competition or simply getting healthier you need a goal.

Serious about Training my plan is to get into good shape this year as injuries heal. Here's how I'm doing it.

Ralph Cowan’s Discipline at age 79 see what kind of shape a senior bodybuilder can attain.

Clarence Bass in his late 70's explains his training and diet and how it enables him to stay in such great condition.

Archer John Dudley one of the world's best professional archers recently underwent shoulder surgery. Learn how he keeps shooting!

The Zane Experiences provide an opportunity to train with Zane at his facility in San Diego, including ongoing workouts:

Ongoing Personal Training

2 hr private posing seminar

1,2,3,4 Day Private Seminar

James Smith did a Zane Experience program and 6 months later got into the best shape of his life and excelled in competition, see his remarkable transformation.

Abs olutely explains how different styles of abdominal developed can be developed according to how you train them. Here's how:

The Overhead Pose is a classic Zane pose signifying victory, check out Frank's favorite overhead poses.

Are you Symmetrical? What does it all mean?

What is Perfect Symmetry?

Time Symmetry?

Super Symmetry?

Bodybuilding Symmetry?

Musicality and the Muse is some of what inspires me.

Church of Man tells a metaphor of our many sub personalities. Who is really in charge

Error Messages are simply indications of what not to do. We learn by avoiding behaviors that do not work.

Frankly Speaking - Frank's return to archery, summer nutrition specials are what's trending.

Subscribe now by going to www.frankzane.com. Mailed USPS hard copy it's only $24 in USA, $26.28 in CA, $30 in Canada, and $35 overseas.

All the best,

Building the Body Subscriptions

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 14:42:00 +0000

All Building the Body subscriptions that are on automatic renewal through Paypal have been cancelled and notified via email. This means that if you subscribed prior to 2014, Paypal has been automatically renewing your subscription one or two years from the date you originally subscribed.

We will mail you a notice when your subscription has expired with your last issue and it will be up to you to re-subscribe. You can do this by going to www.frankzane.com and subscribing through Paypal, this time it is for one year (4 issue) subscriptions at a time. If you have any questions about when your subscription expires please email zane0001@aol.com and we will get back to you with an answer.

Apologies for the inconvenience to those who want auto renewal but we would like to keep publishing BTB in hard copy and this seems like the best way to continue.

Upcoming Interview on the Super Strength Show

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 18:46:00 +0000

I'm scheduled to do 45 minute interview tomorrow with The Super Strength Show.

Check out this page and this link to see some of their past podcasts.

I'm not sure if you can listen live yet, but if so, I'll update this page with a link to the event as well as link to my interview once it is available!

-FZ

Muscle & Fitness News

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 17:42:00 +0000

What an honor to be awarded Best Physique Ever by the editors of Muscle & Fitness Magazine. This acknowledgement really makes me feel good about myself and adds fuel to my fire. It’s almost like winning Mr. Olympia again! And the good news is that I will be writing a monthly Train with Zane column for M&F just like years ago. Watch for it, hopefully by the May 2015 issue.

Good Luck in your training,
Frank Zane

Building the Body: Spring 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:32:00 +0000

The Spring 2015 issue of Building the Body Quarterly will be mailing out before the end of March with lots of great photos as usual and interesting articles. Why subscribe? Those who do say it's for motivation and they like getting a neat little magazine in the mail every three months. It's available as a digital download one month after the hard copy comes out but many prefer the actual magazine so we keep publishing this way. It's written from my point of view based on my 60 years of training experience. There's lots for the mature senior bodybuilder but there's info and success stories of people of all ages inside each issue. Weight training, stretching, aerobics, posing, competition, nutrition, supplements, diets, meditation, stress management, deep relaxation, longevity, all aspects relating to healthy bodybuilding are included. Here's what's in this issue:

Coming back to Weight Training - Almost 6 months after rotator cuff surgery I'm getting the OK to start back on my regular training program, But I'm being careful and taking my time to gradually build up my exercise poundages.

Squat to Grow - If you are looking to gain weight squatting is how to do it. Butt and thighs are the biggest muscles in the body so if you are looking for sheer bodyweight gain and more overall power give squatting a chance.

Donkeys - No doubt about it this is best calf exercise. And the simplest. All you need is a calf block, a rider to sit on your lower back, and a bench to lean on. Did lots of them training for the Olympias.

Muscles and Longevity - Recent study shows that Muscle Mass Index can be a predictor of Longevity in older results. And of course we know that bodybuilding is the best way to increase muscle mass index.

Do Bodybuilders Live Longer? - Approaching 73 gives me pause to wonder how long bodybuilders live, so I did a Google search of bodybuilders deceased and found the average age of passing was 81. So train healthy live long.

The Double Biceps Pose is the most popular pose in bodybuilding competition because it is meant to show balance and complete development. Mastering it is fundamental to success.

Getting Down to Earth by Ed Kellogg PhD is about grounding and how its practice can boost body, mind, and spirit. Grounding means connecting with the earth.

Practical Grounding Tips - Here's how to connect directly with the earth.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Dessert - We eat at home with simple nutritious recipes and by eating out at restaurants less frequently save money to support our food supplement habit.

Unilateral Weight Training means training one side of the body at a time and might give even more progress than working both sides simultaneously. This means you can train almost all body parts with one dumbbell but it takes twice as long.

A Christian Mantra for Meditation by John White provides helpful emphasis on how to meditate using this special word of power.

Letters and Email relates interesting questions we get thru the Internet and logical answers to them.

The Ferrigno Classic was held this past day after Thanksgiving in Santa Barbara California and Fernandez won another trophy.

How Routine is Your Workout Routine? If you are bored with your workouts here's why and how to make necessary changes to spike your motivation.

Frankly Speaking details how to obtain the same supplements I've been using, my latest workout exercise equipment, and a successful Zane Experience client.

So you can see that Building the Body Quarterly is not just about building muscles, it's about that and everything related to it, the total bodybuilding lifestyle. Subscribe now and learn why you may not be making the gains your are capable of and what to do about it.

Best Wishes in Your Training

Frank Zane