Page i Target Bodybuilding Per A. Tesch, Phd Page ii Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Tesch, Per Target bodybuilding / Per A. Tesch. p. cm. ISBN 0880119381 1. Bodybuilding. 2. Weight training. 3. Muscle strength. I. Title. GV546.5.T47 1999 646.7'5dc21 9840334 CIP ISBN: 0880119381 Copyright © 1999 by Per A. Tesch All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying, and recording, and in any information storage and retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. Developmental Editor: Kent Reel; Assistant Editors: Rebecca Crist, Coree Schutter, and Leigh Lahood; Copyeditor: Marc Jennings; Proofreader: Ann Bruehler; Graphic Designer: Robert Reuther; Graphic Artist: Tara Welsch; Cover Designer: Jack Davis; Photographer (cover): Per Bernal; Photographer (interior): Per Bernal; Models: Lisbeth Wikström, Swedish Champion and Stephan Haertl, M.Sc, European and German Heavyweight Champion; Printer: United Graphics Human Kinetics books are available at special discounts for bulk purchase. Special editions or book excerpts can also be created to specification. For details, contact the Special Sales Manager at Human Kinetics. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Human Kinetics Web site: http://www.humankinetics.com/ United States: Human Kinetics, P.O. Box 5076, Champaign, IL 618255076 18007474457 email: [email protected] Canada: Human Kinetics, 475 Devonshire Road Unit 100, Windsor, ON N8Y 2L5 18004657301 (in Canada only) email: [email protected] Europe: Human Kinetics, P.O. Box IW14, Leeds LS16 6TR, United Kingdom (44) 1132 781708 email: [email protected] Australia: Human Kinetics, 57A Price Avenue, Lower Mitcham, South Australia 5062 (088) 277 1555 email: [email protected] New Zealand: Human Kinetics, P.O. Box 105231, Auckland 1 (09) 523 3462 email: [email protected] Page iii Contents Chapter 1 1 Muscles and MRI How the Technique Works 3 Applying the Technique 4 Making Sense of the MRIs 6 Chapter 2 9 Front of Upper Arm Standing Biceps Curl with Straight Bar and Wide Grip 10 Standing Biceps Curl with EZ Bar and Wide Grip 12 Standing Dumbbell Curl with Palm Up 14 Standing Dumbbell Curl with Neutral Grip 16 Standing Dumbbell Curl with Lateral Rotation 18 Incline Seated Dumbbell Curl with Lateral Rotation 20 Incline Seated Dumbbell Curl with Neutral Grip 22 Incline Seated Dumbbell Curl with Palm Up 24 Standing Biceps Curl with EZ Bar and Arm Blaster 26 Standing Biceps Curl with Straight Bar and Arm Blaster 28 Standing Biceps Curl with Straight Bar and Narrow Grip 30 Chapter 3 33 Back of Upper Arm French Press with EZ Bar 34 French Press with EZ Bar on Decline Bench 36 Supine Triceps Extension with Dumbbell and Neutral Grip 38 Overhead Triceps Extension with Dumbbell and Neutral Grip 40 Overhead Triceps Extension with Dumbbell and Rotation 42 Overhead Triceps Extension with Reverse Grip 44 Standing French Press with Straight Bar 46 Triceps Push down with Straight Bar and Narrow Grip 48 Triceps Push down with Rope 50 Triceps Push down with Angled Bar 52 Onearm Triceps Push Down 54 Onearm Triceps Push down with Reverse Grip 56 Overhead Triceps Extension with Rope 58 Bench Press with Narrow Grip 60 Parallel Bar Dip with Neutral Grip 62 Bench Dip 64 Pullover with EZ Bar and Narrow Grip 66 Kick Back 68 Military Press with Straight Bar behind Neck 70 Standing Dumbbell Press with Elbows In 72 Page iv Chapter 4 77 Thigh Lunge 78 Seated Knee Extension 80 Seated Knee Extension with Toes In 82 Seated Knee Extension with Toes Out 84 Back Squat with Narrow Stance 86 Classical Back Squat 88 Front Squat 90 Front Squat in Smith Rack 92 Hack Squat with Feet in Front of Body 94 Hack Squat with Feet under Hips 96 Oldstyle Hack Squat 98 Sissy Squat 100 Leg Press with Feet High 102 Leg Press with Feet Low 104 Stifflegged Deadlift 106 Stifflegged Deadlift with Elevation 108 Seated Leg Curl 110 Supine Leg Curl 112 Adduction in Machine 114 Chapter 5 119 Calf Donkey Calf Raise 120 Donkey Calf Raise with Toes In 122 Donkey Calf Raise with Toes Out 124 Standing Calf Raise 126 Standing Calf Raise with Toes In 128 Standing Calf Raise with Toes Out 130 Calf Raise in Hack Machine 132 Seated Calf Raise 134 Seated Calf Raise with Toes In 136 Seated Calf Raise with Toes Out 138 Chapter 6 141 Targeted Bodybuilding Programs and Prescriptions About the Author 153 Page 1 Chapter 1— Muscles and MRI Wouldn't it be great to be able to look inside your arm and see which of the three heads of the triceps brachii (the elbow extensor muscle group) is used in the military press? This book shows you that the long head is not used to do the military press! You know the best way to stress the soleus muscle in the back of the calf is to do seated calf raises. Now you can see why. Would you believe that the hamstring muscles in the back of the thigh are not really the ones stretched as you lower into that deep squat? It is really the powerful adductor muscles of the thigh that are pulled, and you will see this. In this book, you will see which specific exercises for the arms and legs can be used to develop individual muscles—and even parts of them—like never before. If you want to train smartly do the right exercises for specific muscles, and see which different exercises can and cannot be used to train those specific muscles, then this is the book for you. What does this book provide that is so new? Why is it different from the 50 or so other bodybuilding books on the market? A powerful technology, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), was used to definitively show you which individual muscles are worked in different bodybuilding exercises. No more guesswork based on where a muscle starts and stops: "Oh, it goes across this joint, so it must do this." No, this book is much different. MRI is the most advanced technology available today for visualization of soft tissue inside the human body. An MRI image of the left upper arm shows individual muscles with remarkable clarity (figure 1). Page 2 Figure 1 Native MRI of the upper arm. This MRI is a slice taken where the line is drawn across the bodybuilder's left upper arm. To get oriented to the image, hold your left arm out like he does, and imagine looking into a slice of it. The large vein that runs down the middle of your biceps is evident on the right side of the image as a black dot. In the middle of the image, there is a black doughnutshaped object. This is the bone of your upper arm, the humerus. Now look at the muscle tissue! The elbow flexors (EF) are on the right side of the humerus and appear dark gray. The long head (LT) of the triceps brachii appears on the far right of the image and is also dark gray. The lateral (LAT) and medial (MT) heads of the triceps brachii, however, are much lighter. They are "lit up" because this MRI of the left upper arm was taken after the bodybuilder had performed five sets of ten repetitions of the military press with a load that gave a pretty good pump. While the physiological reason for this difference in contrast, this change in color, is not known, it's accepted that this occurred because these two heads of the triceps brachii were used to do the exercise. The long head (LT) was not used and remained dark gray, even though this exercise requires considerable elbow extension. The elbow flexors (EF) were also not used—and remained dark gray—because they do not help with elbow extension. The takehome message is that you cannot use the military press to train the long head of the triceps brachii. I've divided the pattern and extent of muscle use into three levels of gray for the remainder of the book, so you can easily see the most important thing: which individual muscles are used to do a given exercise. Light gray means the muscle worked hard during the exercise, medium gray indicates moderate involvement, and dark gray means the muscle was not used. When shades of gray are applied to the muscles in Figure 1, Page 3 the lateral and medial heads of the triceps brachii appear light gray because they are really taxed by the military press (figure 2). The long head and the forearm flexors are shaded dark because they contribute little to this exercise. No muscles appear medium gray in this image because none were moderately involved in this exercise. This is the first report, using the stateoftheart technology of MRI, to show in detail which muscles do the work in the most important arm and leg exercises bodybuilders perform. Experienced bodybuilders performed a variety of common exercises to the level of getting a good pump—five sets of ten to twelve repetitions. Then, using magnetic resonance imaging, it was possible to "look inside" their bodies to see which muscles were used to do the exercise. You'll see a concentration on exercises for the back and front of the upper arm, thigh, and calf. You won't find coverage of every arm and leg exercise ever used in bodybuilding, but you will see many of the more common ones. How the Technique Works Regardless of whether you use weight training for muscle toning, rehabilitation, or hardcore bodybuilding, you need to know which muscles are used in a particular movement or exercise. The action and functional use of different skeletal muscles is described in detail in almost any standard textbook of anatomy. Such information, published and available early in the twentieth century, is invaluable and has been the foundation for developing exercise routines used in the weight room over the years. Today, monthly muscle and fitness magazines describe muscle involvement in established or more novel and complex exercises. Such information shall not be ignored, but is often based on personal experience rather than scientific evaluation. More objective information on muscle use is Figure 2 Page 4 available through electromyography (EMG), which measures the electrical activity of a muscle. It's well established that EMG activity increases in a linear fashion with increased load or muscle force. Unfortunately, though, this technique has limitations. EMG recordings using surface electrodes are limited to superficial muscles, and insertion of needle or wire electrodes into muscles complicates measurements during dynamic exercise—not to mention being uncomfortable for the subject. Other serious problems with this technique include quantification of muscle use and socalled crosstalk between adjacent muscles. Magnetic resonance imaging is the most advanced technology available today for visualization of soft tissue inside the human body. Hence, MRI is an important clinical tool in diagnosing disease. But it's also been proven useful in evaluating muscle use during exercise. In the late '80s, researchers using MRI found that muscles that had performed contractile activity showed a contrast shift; those involved became lighter in images obtained immediately after exercise, and muscles not used remained dark gray, as before exercise. An example of this response is shown in Figure 1. In the native image, a slice taken of the upper left arm where the vertical line is drawn, the lateral (LAT) and medial (MT) heads of the triceps brachii are markedly lighter than the long head (LT) of the triceps muscle or the elbow flexors (EF) to the right of the bone. This is because a previous exercise routine involved the medial and lateral heads. This exerciseinduced change remains for some time after exercise and then fades away. Within an hour after the exercise, muscles will again show normal contrast in an image; they'll all appear dark gray. The subcutaneous fat that surrounds the muscles is white and the bone appears black. It was also possible to quantitate the extent of use by measuring the exerciseinduced contrast shift expressed as spinspin relaxation time (T). Experiments clearly showed that the change was dependent on the intensity of exercise, because the heavier the load lifted, the greater the increase in T. 2 2 Moreover, in studies where the exerciseinduced contrast shift was measured and muscular activity recorded by surface electrode EMG from the superficial biceps brachii muscles, it was shown that increases in EMG activity and T changes in individual muscles correlated strongly. Another study described in detail the use of 2 individual muscles in the parallel barbell squat. The technique has also been employed in research studies aimed at mapping individual muscle use in exercises typical of shoulder and neck rehabilitation programs. Although we don't know what causes this exerciseinduced contrast shift phenomenon, it's obvious that MRI is an exceptional tool for studying muscle use during exercise. Applying the Technique The information in this book describing muscle use during weight training is based on hundreds of experiments. The exercises examined involve muscles of the front and back of the upper arm, the thigh, and the calf. Although all subjects were accustomed to these exercises, they were thoroughly instructed on how to execute each using correct movement technique. For each exercise routine, three or four experienced male and Page 5 female weight trainees performed five sets of 10–12 repetitions to failure. If they failed to maintain proper form, exercise was stopped and weights were reduced. The subjects rested for 90 seconds between sets. After each exercise, they rested one hour to ensure that the contrast shift returned to normal before the next exercise. Subjects were examined with a General Electric 1.5T superconducting magnet four to five minutes after completing the last set of each exercise. Multiple transaxial images one centimeter thick with a onehalf cm gap between slices were obtained along the axis of the lower leg, the thigh, or the upper arm. Ink marks were made at the level of interest and aligned with cross hairs of the imager. Braces were applied to standardize positioning in the magnet bore over repeated scans. Two T 2 weighted images (2,000 milliseconds repetition time; 30 and 60 ms echo time) were collected within a 40or 20cm field of view body or 25cm diameter extremity coil. A 256 256 or 256 128 matrix was acquired with one excitation. Total collection time was 4–5 minutes. Magnetic resonance images were transferred to a Macintosh computer for subsequent analyses. Because the exerciseinduced contrast shift is similar along the length of the muscle, only one image, at the level indicated by the line drawn in the pictures, was examined from each experiment. The exerciseinduced contrast shift was then subjectively rated using a semiquantitative approach. The pattern and extent of use was subsequently partitioned into three shades of gray. Light gray signifies that heavy use was required during the exercise, medium gray indicates moderate muscle involvement, and dark denotes no muscle use. The results presented here are uniform among subjects. The results from analyses of the native images have been displayed in computercreated muscle cross sections of the upper arm, the thigh, and the calf. For each chapter, the results are presented using this standard cross section. Sit back, relax and enjoy this remarkable visual journey inside the human body to see what your muscles do. Good training.