Tom Venuto

Tom Venuto, author of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, and natural bodybuilding champion, did his first interview in years. Here’s the link –

Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle Interview with Tom Venuto

It’s a good read, if only for the story of how he got to where he is today. But if you read a little deeper, you’ll find some good information there about losing bodyfat while maintaining your muscle mass.

Summer is upon us; it’s time to “rip up” and show off the muscle you build over the winter. Tom’s expertise can help you get there.

In my last post, I talked about my new favorite chest exercise, the incline bench press. I am now following that chest work with a deadlift program. It’s really quite simple, but super-effective.

(I never knew how hard I could breathe until I started doing heavy deadlifts. Very similar effect to squats.)

I start out usually on the floor with a light weight, mixed grip (alternate your grip, though, so you get even development). Get down low by bending at the knees and hips, keeping the back flat. Then simultaneously push with the thighs, glutes, and hips, while lifting with the lower back, too.

Typically, I only do a few sets:

• One warmup, minimal rest (30 seconds tops)
• One with a midrange weight for 5-8 reps (60 to 90 seconds rest)
• 2 sets of 3-5 with increasing weight (120-180 seconds rest)

Deadlifts are funny (not “Ha-ha” funny) in that you’re better off doing fewer reps with heavier weight, using super-strict form, rather than doing higher-rep, lower-weight sets. It is so critical that you do these with the strictest form possible that getting carried away with too many reps will literally get you carried away!

The more reps you focus on, the less you focus on your form; so, do fewer reps but in strict form!

Please. No back injuries.

Deads are so great for your core strength that they ought to be a staple in your weight-training programs. They stimulate muscle growth and Growth Hormone production in a way similar to a squat program, but they really blast the upper body (all areas of the back and traps), including the biceps and forearms.

They may be a better exercise than bench presses!

I’m a slow learner. It took me a really long time to figure this out. This fact, coupled with my lower back issues over the past 10 or so years, has really kept the blinders on.

But now that I can see clearly again, I’ll never turn my back on the deadlift! I love them now!

I’ve been very fond of the flat bench press my entire bodybuilding career, but I’ve lately developed a love of the incline bench press. It offers similar benefits as the flat press, but with little of the ill effects (for me, at least) that flat benches bring.

First, the flat bench press tends to overemphasize the lower pecs; you can get that “droopy pec” syndrome, where your lower pecs completely overpower your upper pecs and you lose some balance in your pecs. Incline bench presses eliminate that because they really focus on the upper pecs. These are especially great if you’ve been doing flats and declines for quite some time.

Second, for me at least, a lot of the shoulder joint discomfort I was having with the flat benches is completely gone. I’m in a new groove. And it’s helping me build stronger delts, too!

I want to mention that I use a Smith machine. I’ve never been one to train well with partners (I have too many individual idiosyncrasies that I drive training partners nuts), and rather than rely on somebody I don’t know to spot me, I just use a Smith machine. I am aware that I lose some of the benefit of the exercise in terms of almost completely giving up on strengthening the stabilizing muscles (but I do other work for them, like dips and dumbbell work, which are better than barbells any day of the week), but I’m focusing here on maximal effort.

I do a rest-pause with these. Here’s a typical set/rep combo:

• Set #1 10 reps, mostly a warm up, with about a minute rest
• Set #2 10 reps with increased weight, with about a minute rest
• Set #3 8 reps with more weight, followed by 10 seconds of rest
• Set #4 As many reps as possible with same weight (usually 2-4), followed by 10 seconds rest
• Set #5 Same as #4
• Set #6 As many reps as possible with substantially-reduced weight (try to get at least 10 reps out, but I’ve been known to pump out 15-20)

I’ve found this system, practiced on my 3-day split (Chest and Deads day one, Legs & Arms day 3, Back & Delts day 5), allows me to beat the hell out of my pecs yet gives me a week to recover (it sometimes takes 6 days for the soreness to wear off).

I follow up this chest workout with my Deadlift routine (it’s short, but it’s killer!) – this will be the topic of my next post.

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If I had to narrow building the body you want to 5 steps, they would be:

1. Train harder than you think you can
2. Train less frequently than you think you need
3. Eat more than you think you need
4. Sleep more than you think you need
5. Train with fewer exercises than you think you need

See that pattern here? If you’re currently in a rut or aren’t making the kind of progress you want,

C-H-A-N-G-E

This quote has been attributed to a few people, but no matter who said it, it still rings true: The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again, expecting a different result.

It’s true. Most of us don’t train heavy enough. We don’t push ourselves. We think we can make up these deficiencies by training more often. Training heavy and training frequently are TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT things!

If we are trying to build muscle mass, we try to “eat more.” But it’s almost never enough! If you consume 2500 calories right now, and you’re not gaining weight, you probably won’t gain any mass at all without upping your calories by at least 1000. Yeah, one thousand.

Why? Because our bodies are terribly resistant to change!

We also live on too little sleep. Yes, I fall prey to this all the time! I certainly burn the candle at both ends (but I’m better today than I was at half my age – and I always wondered why I couldn’t gain muscle…), raising two very young children, working a “Joe Job,” building my internet businesses, training and consulting with people, writing books, etc. Oh, yeah, the hobbies, too! My gosh, 24 hours is not enough time!!!

Oh, another thing. Why do we have 17 different exercises for the biceps but only 7 for the pecs (count them: Bench press, inclines, declines, flyes, pec-deck, crossover, dips), when you really only need 2 (incline bench, dip – one builds the upper, the other the mid and lower)?

We stress ourselves out by making our workouts longer than they need be (anything over 45 minutes and you’re either a ‘roided out bodbuilder or professional athlete – OR you’re training for failure), more frequent than they ought to be, less strenuous than they have to be, and we eat crap (but not enough good stuff), and then, THEN, at the end of the day, we have nothing to show for it and only 5 hours of sleep time.

It’s no wonder progress is so hard to attain.

Simply. Say it out loud.

S-I-M-P-L-I-F-Y

1. Train intensely
2. Train less frequently
3. Eat more quality food
4. Sleep more (if you need an alarm clock to wake your ass up, you’re not sleeping enough)
5. Pare down the number of exercises you do

It’s really that simple. KISS still works. You gotta stimulate the muscle fibers; you cannot overtrain them. Then you gotta feed them, repair them, and make them bigger through high-quality food. Finally, you gotta rest (that really means sleep).

In future posts, I’ll cover these topics in more depth.

Now, get to the gym and train hard but simple. Eat before, during, and after your workout. And for goshsakes, get 8 hours of sound, restful sleep tonight.

(I think all the above was a pep talk for me!)