Training secrets of Mr. Olympia title holders - Part 1

The Mr. Olympia title is the greatest achievement in the world of bodybuilding. Since 1965, we've been selecting one man to represent maximum muscular development. It is only natural that bodybuilders around the world would look to this man as a fountain of knowledge for their own endeavors. We've put together 50 of the best training tips from six Mr. Olympia winners, who have shared a total of 34 titles between them. In this first installment, we'll post advice from Jay Cutler and Dorian Yates.

JAY CUTLER
Mr. Olympia 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010

Shifts will improve your back. "It's plain and simple. Shifts are the best exercise for the back in my opinion. I was quite surprised how bad I was at them when I skipped them for a few years. It wasn't so much the weight. I can load up a ton on pulldowns. It was more about technique. Now I put them in every back workout."

Forget about how many reels you have loaded. "The back is one of those areas where people focus too much on the weight. They think that if Dorian loaded 200 kilos for the deadlifts and Ronnie loaded 250 that maximum weight would work for them. Most of the time, however, they just jerk the weight upwards and let it drop down. Stimulating the lats is out of the question. If they'd forget about those stupid discs and concentrate on the feeling in their backs, they'd do much better."

First, do an isolation exercise. "In my shoulder training, I often did the abduction drill first to pump and preload the lateral heads of my shoulders. I believe that a pumped muscle responds better to load, and that you'll benefit from preloading during complex exercises."

For huge shoulders, you need to improve the back heads. "Not many people know this, but without back shoulders, their overall volume will never look huge. In any lateral pose, good back shoulders will add tremendously. Most bodybuilders are blind to this fact."

Jay's back workout, circa 1992 - age 18:

• Front pulldown 4 x 10
• Pull-ups from behind 4 x 10
• Close Grip Pull-up 4 x 10
• Rowing on pulley 4 x 10
• Single arm pull-ups 4 x 10
• Big axis pull-ups 4 x 10
• T-bar pull-ups 4 x 10

Jay's Mr. Olympia back workout:

• Pulley pull-ups (regular or reverse grip) 3-4 x 8-10
• Deadlifts* 4 x 8-10
• Single arm pull-ups 3 x 8-10
• Big Axis Pull-ups** 3 x 8-10
• T-bar pull-ups 3 x 8-10
• Rowing on pulley 4 x 8-10
• Pullovers on pulley with rope (FST-7 "Sevens") 7 x 8-10

* Every other back workout.
**In each workout alternate between overhand and underhand.

Load up with a good amount of weight. "I really don't think legs grow from high reps. I've had the best results when I've stayed within 12 reps. If you want to give yourself a workout, do a lot of sets. The legs are used to the reps. They carry you all day. I work my quadriceps and hamstrings for two hours, and I don't get much rest. I want to keep pumping and blood flowing throughout the workout."

Make sure it's the muscle working, not the swing. " People often overload. They end up either not exercising through the full range of motion, using cheating, or both. The weight doesn't matter that much. The main thing is proper contraction and stretching in every rep. That's why we pause for a moment at the bottom of the squat and slow down the negative reps. That way you engage more muscle fibers and the muscles do the work, not the swing. I don't load more than 200 pounds for squats. Which people often mock me for. But I squeeze the most out of every rep. If you load a ton and don't feel the exercise and pump up the muscles, you won't get much out of your leg workout."

Jay's leg workout:

• Leg Extensions 4 x 12 (warm-up)
• Leg press with 45° incline 2 x 12-15 (warm-up), 4 x 10
• Hacken squats 4 x 10
• Leg extensions 4 x 12
• Squats on multipress 4 x 10
• Vertical leg press 3 x 10
• Seated lunges 4 x 10
• Single leg stumbling 4 x 10
• Lying lunge 4 x 10-12
• Deadlifts with legs extended 4 x 10

Jay's chest workout:

• One-arm push-ups on positive bench 2 warm-ups 12-15, 3 x 10-12
• Presses on multipress 3 x 10-12
• Single arm stretches on positive bench 3 x 10-12
• Bench press on negative bench 3 x 10-12
• Single arm pullover 3 x 12

Single arm pullover for a bigger chest. "I've always done the pullover, all these years. I really believe it can stretch your chest. And I think it works even better with pumped up pectoral muscles."

Keep your chest off during the push-ups. " Two modifications to my technique have improved my chest size. One was to keep my back arched during all the push-ups. I always try to get my chest above my shoulders so it doesn't take away as much work. I always tell myself to turn my chest off. The second adjustment was to shorten the range of motion a little. When I touched the chest with the axle, I felt I was getting it back into motion with my shoulders and triceps. I found that if I stopped a few inches from the chest, I could feel a constant pressure in my chest, which did more work."

DORIAN YATES
Mr. Olympia 1992-1997

Axle, machine or pulley pull-ups are better than T-hold pull-ups. "I never liked the T-holder because the loaded discs hitting your chest shortens your range of motion. Someone suggested using smaller discs. But if you have any strength, you'll run out of room at the end of the axle without loading enough weight. The T-holder also puts quite a bit of strain on the lower back. I'd stick to big-axis pull-ups, pulleys, or pull-ups on Hammer machines."

You grow more muscle from intense training. "The training I used to do and still advocate is what I consider high-intensity training (HIT). And what does that actually mean? Everyone has their own definition. For me, it means that the key to growth is the relative intensity of the exercise. The whole thing needs to be balanced with rest and proper frequency and volume of work. So how many sets? That's up for debate. For me, my own variation has produced the best results. Others had it differently. People can argue endlessly about this. I don't worry about that."

There's got to be heart in it. "I've always seen training as a physical, mental and spiritual challenge. You can't separate the two. If you train for ego or fame, success will not come. I was never bothered about my opponents posing in the sun in Venice, with their polished cars and models. They never really had their heart in it. That's how I beat them all, even though they had better genetics many times."

Try other exercises. "I never practiced the ones. I wasn't a triple jumper, but I can give you examples of weights that are used for six to eight reps. I loaded 230 kilos for negative bench presses, 200 for positive bench presses, the same for overhead presses, and I managed 680 for leg presses and 70 for single-arm seated bench presses. The first couple years of training I didn't do free weight squats or bench press. Other exercises gave me better results. Triathletes don't have a choice, but bodybuilders do. I always did deadlifts at the end of my back training, but by then I didn't need to load more than 230 pounds for them."

With calves, genetics play a role. "Here I relied on two exercises. Standing lunges trained with maximum weight for 10-12 reps and to failure, and seated lunges for 6-8 reps. All reps were at maximum range of motion. I lowered it as far as I could and walked up to max lunge. I worked my way up to 680 pounds for the standing lunges. Now I haven't trained my calves at all for about seven years, and they're still better than most pros. So I guess there's something to the genetics."

Recover. "One concept will never change. A muscle grows if it is adequately stimulated by intense loads and if it is given time to recover and compensate. If you exercise too often, that crucial compensation (growth) will never occur."

Practice complex exercises like squats and deadlifts. "Complex, multi-joint exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, shrugs and push-ups on the bars are best for muscle growth. The muscles of the human body are not built to work in isolation. These exercises load the muscles in the middle of the range of motion, which is usually the point where heavy weight gets stuck."

Increasing the volume of work will not increase muscle growth. "This is a very popular and age-old misconception. If volume of work increased training efficiency, we wouldn't need heavy weights or training to failure. So how many sets should you be doing? If three sets are better than one, why not train 10, 20, 50, or even 100 sets? High volume training requires light weight and low intensity. And that's not optimal for muscle growth."

We'll bring you the next installment in the series next week.