By Marty Gallagher

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elly O’Brien has been in-volved in the world of fit-ness since the 1980s. She

became a fitness professional at age 19 and has been involved with fit-ness and bodybuilding ever since. It is no accident that this seasoned professional uses Parrillo Perfor-mance Products and has for de-cades. Those that have been in the game for any protracted period of time are not swayed or impressed by the latest fitness fad, product, de-vice, gimmick, guru or supplement. True fitness pros, longtime fitness pros, understand that there are no magical shortcuts or miracle prod-ucts that will enable you to avoid the intense physical effort needed to build muscle and melt off body fat. Kelly O’Brien is a Pro’s pro and falls into this category; any client lucky enough to obtain her services gets results – but only in return for intense effort in the gym and dis-ciplined nutrition outside the gym. “Those that tell you they have dis-covered a way to obtain sensational results without intense training are trying to take advantage of you and get your money. The key to suc-cess is hard, hard work in the gym, both in lifting and cardio, and strict

Parrillo-style nutrition. The com-bination of hard work and perfect eating – combined with tenacious consistency – is the only way in which real gains are obtained. This combination works every sin-gle time that it is implemented fully and completely.”

Kelly should know; she is in fabulous shape for a woman in her 50s and those that heed her advice and follow her fit-ness strategies always obtain sensational results. She is a treasure-trove of health, fit-ness and dietary informa-tion. With three decades of hands-on experience, Kelly knows how to morph the hu-man body. She had to morph herself: Kelly graduated high school weighing 78 pounds and wrestled with anorexia be-fore Karen Carpenter’s death brought this silent scourge to the public’s attention. Kelly had an unusual upbringing and came into contact with a who’s who of bodybuilding greats very early on. “I was born in Santa Monica, CA and lived in Topanga Canyon

near Malibu until I was 12. My dad raced motorcycles for a living and we had horses. I competed in West-ern Showmanship and Gymkha-na events when I was young. My

By Marty Gallagher

Iron Woman’s Long and Winding Road

Photos by Ralph DeHaan

Photo by William Welsh

Kelly O’Brien training her client Marisol Letcher at her gym in

Weaverville, California.

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parents moved us to Bend, Oregon when they bought a small ranch. I never had the opportunity to get into the athletics in school because I was always busy bucking hay, cleaning stalls and carrying milk buckets. I really believe that hard work on the farm built a strong foundation as I was growing up.” Her farm girl physique was emaci-ated yet functional. Her farm work built muscle and she developed a strong work ethic that would serve her well in her future bodybuild-ing career. When Kelly graduated from high school she moved to San Diego to start college.

She began bodybuilding and put

her anorexic tendencies behind her. She began her fitness career when quite by chance she took a part-time job at the wonder-fully named Slender Lady gym. She became a bit of a wonder woman on the SoCal gym scene. “By the time I was 23 I had worked up to managing five facilities as the district man-ager for a fitness corporation. I made enough money to start my own gym in Santee, Cali-fornia. I opened my small gym on the super exclusive Catalina Island, in California.” Dur-ing this time she would travel to Venice Beach to train at Joe Gold’s World Gym. She met Joe and the two hit it off. “I was mentored by Joe Gold. Joe ran his facilities with an iron hand and I learned the finer points of proper spotting techniques and how to work hard from Joe. I met a lot of bodybuilding leg-ends: Franco Columbo, Arnold, Lou Ferrigno, Dave Draper and

Frank Zane to name a few.” Kelly began competing in bodybuild-ing “mixed pairs” competition; a now dead format where male and female bodybuilders would appear onstage together and perform syn-chronized dual-posing routines. “My first husband was a hardcore bodybuilder and he and I quali-fied for the National Champion-ships (twice) in mixed pairs.” She competed in various bodybuilding competitions in San Diego and the Los Angeles area and was quite successful.

Life and circumstance intervened and Kelly found herself mov-ing from Southern California to

Kodiak Island in Alaska where she opened a fitness facility. She loved Alaska and became good friends with Lindsay Knight, former Par-rillo Performance Press cover man and Alaskan fitness guru. She eventually ended up back in Cali-fornia; she had long since stopped competing to concentrate on the fitness business. The next decade was one of business, financial and interpersonal ups and downs (“mostly downs”) that saw busi-ness destroyed by floods, untimely deaths, marriages dissolve and ul-timately, redemption and resurrec-tion. In 2009 Kelly moved to the Trinity Alps in Weaverville, Cali-fornia. She opened Kelly’s Fitness Plus, a training center featuring Boot Camps, TRX, Women with Weights, Advanced Spin class, Zumba, Cardio Sculpt, Yoga, Kar-diokix. “In 2010 I ended up pur-chasing the local gym as well, and

moved my training facility to the gym location. The facility, now called Kelly’s Fitness Plus & White Wolf Gym is 7,000 square feet and I run it as a wellness center and gym. No chalk, no heavy bags, no cussing and no loud music. My cli-ents run the gamut from preteens to members in their 80s. Our facility is truly a community fitness center. 70% of our gym members are over age 45 and our members are all part of a large extended family.”

Kelly has been a Parrillo Product user for decades. “I want the best products for myself and my clien-tele. I order thousands of dollars worth of Parrillo Products every month. Quite a large percentage of those orders are for the Parrillo Protein Chew Bars™ and Soft Chew Bars™. I love the Soft Chew Bars™ and will eat upwards of five per day. I am so busy during my work-day, running classes, taking care of the facility and making time to talk with members that many times the only way I can get enough protein

during the day is by eating Chew bars and drinking Parrillo protein shakes. I seem to need anywhere from 150 to 180 grams of protein a day. I teach so many cardio classes (great for staying lean) that if I let my protein in-take dip below 150 my energy nosedives. I often have to skip a food meal on account of the thousand-and-one things that arise during the course of a workday. I depend on Parrillo protein products to keep me going.” Kelly is also a huge fan and user of CapTri®, the Parrillo proprietary MCT oil. “I started using CapTri® over 20 years ago. I had read one of John’s articles on MCTs and was intrigued; I knew I needed lots of clean

calories to sustain my level of activity. CapTri® was the answer. This is a phenom-enal supplement and I go through a bottle a month. I use CapTri® as cooking oil; I make salad dressing with CapTri® and put CapTri® in my shakes and on my oat-meal. I drizzle CapTri® on my steamed vegetables and cannot say enough good things about this amazing supplement.”

Kelly got the competitive urge a few years back and decided, after a decade

hiatus, to compete again. “I got back into competitive bodybuild-ing in 2011. I had retired in 1999 to raise my son. I felt that I was

Kelly onstage at the 2014 NPC San Jose ‘Muscle Evolution’ competition, where she won her class as well as the Overall Title

for Masters Women Figure

�

Kelly with her granddaughters Lily, 3, and Zoee, 5.

Photo by Ralph DeHaan



JOHN PARRILLO’S PERFORMANCE PRESS

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ready for a comeback and began training with an eye towards com-peting.” She reemerged and won the INBA California State body-building championships in 2011, 2012 and 2013. “In 2014 I won the overall masters title. Last year I competed in NPC and qualified for the 2013 NPC national cham-pionships in the women’s masters Figure category. I placed 7th at the NPC nationals in my division and have done a couple of NPC shows. This year I won the overall mas-ters Women figure title at the NPC ‘Muscle Evolution’ national quali-fier. In October of 2014 I won the overall masters Physique division at the INBA USA Championships in Las Vegas. This qualified me for the INBA Natural Olympia. That competition was held in Novem-

ber in San Diego and I won three gold medals: 1st place in my divi-sion in women’s Physique, 1st place in Grand Masters (over 50 years of age Figure Division) and the overall women’s Masters Figure title.” The photos that accompany this article were taken at the last two shows. “I average about 4 to 5 competi-tions a year. I enjoy competing in both the NPC as well as the INBA. I don’t plan on competing in the NPC Nationals until I am age 55, the next age category.” Kelly never allows herself to get out of shape and stays within five pounds of her competition bodyweight of 112 all year long. She normally walks around carrying a 10% body fat percentile.

Kelly has been a consultant to Tiger Sports, the Olympic track and field training center. “Tiger Sports pur-

chased my gym in Rio Vista as the headquarters for their new training facility a few years back. Getting to know and train with these in-credible athletes motivated me be-yond my wildest dreams.” Kelly is a classical free spirit and has many varied and unusual interests. “I love motorcycles, especially sport bikes. I currently have a 2015 Ka-wasaki Z1000. I don’t think I have ever been without a motorcycle in my life. Almost every year for the last 11 or 12 years my Dad and our friend Jack O’Brien undertake a 7 to 10 day motorcycle ride.” Kelly O’Brien serves as a role model for “women on the wrong side of 40” and shows no sign of slowing up, on the contrary, “I do not envision myself retiring from competition any time in the foreseeable future.” Which is good news for her clients and bad news for her competitors.

Monday legs: squat, hack squat, leg press, leg curls, calf raisesTuesday chest: bench press, DB flyes, DB pullover, cable cross-oversWednesday back: deadlift, rows, pullupsThursday shoulders: barbell press, DB press, front, side and rear delt raisesFriday arms: various bicep curls, triceps extensions, dips, tri push-downsSaturday offSunday off

I will perform up-wards of 28 sets for legs (thighs, hamstrings, calves) while I will hit 15-20 sets for back and shoulders. I will perform 10 sets each for biceps and triceps. I will per-form Parrillo fascia stretching between each set. I perform a ton of cardio teaching various classes at the gym. I normally will put in 7 to 12 hours of cardio each week teaching classes. Currently I teach 2 to 3 spin classes per week, 3 to 4 Zumba/Salsa classes and 2-3 Cardio Dance Classes.

Meal 1 4:30 am Parrillo Soft Chew Bar™ Meal 2 6 am Parrillo Optimized Whey™ shake w/CapTri®

Meal 3 9 am Parrillo Soft Chew Bar™

Meal 4 11 am Chicken, vegeta-bles, rice, CapTri®

Meal 5 1 pm Parrillo 50/50 Plus™ after workoutMeal 6 2 pm Tilapia, asparagus, yams, CapTri®

Meal 7 4 pm Parrillo Soft Chew Bar™

Meal 8 7 pm Vegetables w/Cap-Tri®, Parrillo Hi-Protein™ shakeMeal 9 9 pm Chicken, broccoli w/CapTri®

Parrillo Supplements taken daily: Muscle Amino Formula™, Evening Primrose Oil™, Creatine Mono-hydrate™, Essential Vitamin™, Mineral Electrolyte™, Advanced Lipotropic™, Liver Amino For-mula™, Optimized Whey™ protein, CapTri®

Basically, I stick to clean foods. I eat a few less starchy carbs the last 6 weeks before a show. I love but-ter-flavored CapTri® and I make salad dressing out of the regular flavored CapTri®. I need the extra CapTri® calories without having to be full all the time. I probably eat too many Parrillo bars, but they are delicious. I think of my body as a racecar and if I want it to per-form optimally I need to put quality fuel into the racecar.

Kelly and Marisol Letcher at the 2013 ABA Mr. and Ms. Reno and Mr. and Ms. Millennium

Competition.


Kelly with the Cheer Club girls she coaches at her gym.



Kelly says, “I do not envision myself retiring from competition any time in the

foreseeable future.”

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WhyParrilloinsistsonhighcaloricintake: If you are a serious bodybuilder, cal-

ories can and should be eaten often in meals or snacks that are consumed 4 to 8 times per day, every single day. The calories must be of the right type and kind. We call a proper, body-building-appropriate calorie a “clean” calorie. Clean calories eaten in ample amounts boosts the metabolism and supports the hardcore weight train-ing and the copious cardio John Par-rillo insists we do if we are to fulfill our genetic potential as bodybuilders. We need lots of calories to promote healing and growth. A Parrillo Pro bodybuilder has large, shapely, pro-portional muscles because of what he eats, when he eats and how much he eats; the Parrillo Pro bodybuilder is able to accomplish the most difficult feat in all of bodybuilding: adding muscle size without adding body fat. Anyone can grow muscle; the trick is build muscle without adding an unac-ceptable amount of body fat.

The basic mass-building formula has been known for decades: eat tons of calories on an indiscriminate basis while simultaneously engag-ing in hardcore power training; use super heavy, very basic exercises; train heavy, eat everything that’s not nailed down and be sure and sleep a lot. Using this strategy, anyone with a pulse can grow muscle – and just as surely add body fat. Powerlifters have used this approach for eons: eat big, lift big, rest big, grow big and in the vast majority of cases, grow fat! This “see food” diet is unacceptable to the Parrillo bodybuilder. The amount of body fat accumulation is unaccept-able. Besides, John Parrillo has de-vised a devilishly clever way in which to add muscle size without adding an unacceptable amount of body fat. He bases his approach on the expert use of regular food and amplifies a clean-

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11www.parrillo.com 1-800-3��-3�0� Performance Press / February 2015

A s we make our way through the cold winter months, some

of you might be starting to think about entering your first physique competition in the upcoming contest season. That’s great! I have com-peted in about 30 contests myself since spring of 1989, and each was a memorable experience where I learned something and always made new friends as well. I highly encourage competing as a way to challenge yourself to achieve a new personal best, as well as being a powerful motivational tool. You will never be as focused on your workouts and your meals as you are when you are in con-test preparation mode, called ‘prep’ for short by most.

Still, there are things you really need to know before committing to a contest, things some obviously didn’t know before they competed. An entire book could be written on this subject, but I can give you the bullet points version. Some of what I will be talking about will be geared specifically toward bodybuilding, but much of it will also apply to you if you plan on competing in Men’s or Women’s

Physique, women’s Figure, or Bikini.

1. You should look like you belong on a stage.Nobody expects you to look like the best in the world the very first time you compete. But you should have a body that’s better than the average gym rat. How do you

determine this? I strongly urge anyone considering competition to attend at least one or two local/regional amateur events to get an idea of the standard of com-petition you would be up against. First-timers should compete in the Novice di-vision if one is offered, or teenage or Masters groups if you meet those age speci-fications. Take a good look at the men or women you would be standing amongst, and honestly ask yourself if you would compare favor-ably to them, or be awkward-ly out of place. I’ve been to many contests where it was clear to me that a couple of the competitors either had no idea what they would be up against and what they were expected to look like, or they were delusional and saw something in the mirror that bore little resemblance to re-

ality. If you have very little mus-cle mass, you’re not ready to com-pete in bodybuilding. If you have a good deal of bodyfat on the day of the contest, you’re not ready to compete in any division. Building muscle and losing fat take time, and some people are too hasty to compete before their bodies are in the same realm as those they will

“You should look like you belong up there.”


Facebook: Ron Harris WriterTwitter: @RonHarrisMuscleInstagram: ronharrismuscleYouTube: RonHarrisMuscle

JOHN PARRILLO’S PERFORMANCE PRESS A BODYBUILDER IS BORN: Generations

12 February 2015 / Performance Press 1-800-3��-3�0� www.parrillo.com

share the stage with.

2. You will be judged. . .by judges . . on a stage. . .from all angles!Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have done quite a bit to get more people exercising and into better shape. That’s because they allow the user to post photos of themselves, which they hope will gain them likes, followers, and comments gushing with praise and admira-tion. Far be it from me to steal anyone’s thun-der, but you must know this. The reactions you get from your selfies is not going to necessar-ily translate to success in competition. Why? For one thing, your self-ies show only what you want to show. Maybe you have great abs or arms or a killer butt, so you post endless pho-tos of those. You also use filters to make your photos more appealing and to make yourself look better. On stage, judges will see your en-tire physique from all angles. You can’t selec-tively show only your best features and hide the others. There are no filters. And the men and women judging you are going to be very critical. Their job is to fairly place each weight, height, or age class from first to last. Everyone can’t

be a winner, and what you look like by yourself doesn’t matter. They are comparing you to every-one else in your group/category/division. If you are used to being told by your friends, family, and random Instagram followers how

perfect you look, it can be deeply unsettling to be judged less than the best in a given group. But understand that the people com-menting on your photos typically

have no idea what judges at a con-test would be looking for, and on top of that - they are usually be-ing nothing but complimentary anyway. This goes double for you ladies out there. Men stalk Insta-gram and Facebook like starving

hyenas, ‘liking’ photos of any reasonably at-tractive female they see and lavishing them with praise; usually because they would like to sleep with you. Don’t make the mistake of taking these types of compli-ments very seriously. When you are up on stage, the judges will judge you, and only one person will win. It might be you, or it might not be, which leads me to the next tidbit.

3. It all depends on who shows up that day.Here is the biggest real-ity of contests: how you finish, how you place, really comes down to two factors - how you look, and who you are competing against. And unless you are a pro, you really won’t know who you will have to stand next to that day. So you train and diet to look your very best,

and that may or may not be good enough to win. I took second place many times over the years in pretty weak lineups as well as tougher groups. Sometimes there

was only one other guy, and he beat me - but I still could honestly say I took second. There are times when there will be only one com-petitor in a class, and they win by default. The times when I placed first were in small groups of guys. Then there’s the flip side. The best condition of my life was at the 2013 NPC Masters Nationals in Pittsburgh. Yet it was also where I received the worst placing ever in 24 years of competing, 14th! It also happened to be in a group of 31 Over 40 Heavyweights, the biggest and toughest class I had ever competed in. The way I looked that day would have been good enough to blow away most of the contests I had competed in over the years, but this time, in this group, it was barely good enough to crack the top 15. You never know what you’re up against until the day of the contest, and unless you are the second coming of Phil Heath, chances are you will get beaten sooner or later.

4. Your friends, family, and followers have no idea what judges look for.Every day after a contest, I see tons of postings by competitors who did not win the contest they competed in the day before. And their photos are usually accom-panied by plenty of comments from people assuring them that they were robbed and cheated out of a rightful win due to ‘politics’ or inept judging. If you are new to all this, you might think they are right. Most of the time, they have no idea what they are talking about, and they have no idea what

judges look for. Your support-ers will focus on whatever strong points you have, and ignore any physique flaws. If you are big but were out of shape, they will point out that you were bigger than those who beat you. If you were tiny but lean, they will point out how much more ripped you were than those who beat you, and so on. They don’t understand that things like blocky structures, lagging body parts, carrying too much bodyfat, and so on will count against you in judging if you are competing against other men or women who don’t have those flaws. Your fan club means well, but they aren’t doing you any favors. They are commiserating with you and mak-ing you feel as if you were done an injustice, when most of the time you got exactly the placing

you deserved. You need to know this going in, because otherwise you will set yourself up for a com-petitive career of low placings due to you never making the improve-ments you need to. Why change anything? The comments on your Facebook and Instagram said you looked perfect!

I have plenty more to talk about on this subject, so let’s pick this up again next time.

“How you place can depend on who else shows up.”

“You will not be judged by edited and filtered selfies!”


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We get a lot of requests for help from bodybuilders that are stagnant and un-

able to make any physical progress. They seek John Parrillo’s advice and consul and want his help in devising a solution to overcome their stagna-tion. He helps as many as he can and over the years has encountered some ex-tremely interesting people and some very unusual circumstances. Some situ-ations and circumstances are so challenging and so unique that when they are overcome, when the hero has triumphed, it makes for a tale worth retelling. However, for a lot of rea-sons, not everyone is com-fortable having their name used when their transfor-mational tale is told in a magazine. They might need a low profile, for a lot of reasons, yet their amazing tale deserves retelling for the inspi-rational aspect alone. John Parrillo routinely encounters and works with this type of intensely private

person. For example, “Todd” (not his real name) is a lifetime military professional in a very specialized line of work. He needs to pass an exacting physical test every year

and this past year at age 38 (and on bad knees) he barely made the cutoff. He knew he needed to get serious about fitness and rehab this year or there was a strong chance of his being forced into early retirement.

Todd was not some out of shape slob; he was a competitive long distance runner and had been for over ten years. Tall (6-3) and thin, he has extraordinarily long legs and

his normal bodyweight was a skinny, somewhat emaciated 160 pounds. Over time, Todd’s en-thusiasm for running had worn out his knees. He had also worn down his immune system. He recalled, “Because I ran a lot and because I was thin, because I had good endurance and low body fat, I thought I was fit. Actually I was anemic and didn’t know it. I was running on average 20 to 25 miles per week and eating next to nothing. I ran and starved for 15

years. This ‘aerobics and low calo-rie’ approach was the recommend-ed ‘fitness’ approach of the 1990s when I first joined the military. On paper I was the model of fitness; thin and lean, I was able to run a marathon; in reality I was weak as a

kitten and sickly and exhausted all the time.” Todd ran all the time and starved all the time and after twelve years his body broke and he had the first of three knee surgeries. “All my knee injuries were directly at-tributable to running – I was a run-ning junkie, I knew I was wearing my knees out, but I couldn’t stop running and wouldn’t stop running until injuries and surgeries forced me to stop running.”

His starvation eating and contin-ual running had given him a clin-ical case of iron deficiency ane-mia. “I was always sick, any cold or flu going around, I caught it. I was pretty much a vegetarian; I lived on 1,000 calories a day for ten years. Food was never im-portant to me, it was a hassle; as a result, I was thin and lean – but sickly and weak.” Three knee surgeries forced Todd into run-ning retirement, though he could lead a normal life otherwise, he just couldn’t jog more than ten paces without excruciating knee pain. To make a long story short, Todd, deprived of running, got involved in resistance training. The knee surgeries forced Todd to confine his fitness efforts to weight training, upper body ex-ercises done exclusively on re-sistance training machines. Todd happened to come across some of John Parrillo’s philosophies and products when researching anemia and became intensely intrigued with Parrillo’s unique approach. “Everything mainstream fitness experts advocated, Parrillo had an opposite view and a different ap-proach. I liked that. So I contacted John and asked him for advice. I found him open, informative and

forthcoming.” Todd had two goals: 1. Add muscle 2. Regain full use of his broken legs. He could not squat down more than halfway without pain and he looked to be a surefire bet to develop arthritic knees later in life unless he found a way to re-gain full range of motion.

At John Parrillo’s prompting, Todd began experimenting with squats

– he had purposefully avoided squats; they pained him to perform and besides, after hearing for years that squats were bad for a person’s knees, why do them? Parrillo coun-tered, telling Todd that, “On the contrary, squats are the key to you regaining use of your legs. Squats add leg strength and add muscle all over your body. To puncture

the popular myth, squats are knee-builders not knee-destroyers.” This, John cautioned, was all predi-cated on the understanding that the squats are to be done properly. John Parrillo told Todd that squat mas-tery held the key to his regaining a full range of motion, full use of his legs and restoring his lost knee functionality. Parrillo concluded that squat mastery also held the key

to Todd’s future career with the military. Todd listened hard and began squatting in earnest. Todd started off with “no weight” squats. Initially, he was unable to squat down to parallel without pain. He persevered and within a few weeks he ‘broke through” and was able to squat all the way down with no weight and no pain. He had regained full range of motion, now he needed to cre-ate leg strength and build some muscle. It took a full month of squatting three times a week with body-weight for Todd to work up to three sets of 20 reps, each squat all the way down and done with an upright torso. His knees felt fantastic; Todd’s perseverance had broken apart calcification and now unimpeded, he could squat all the way down without pain. Coming erect was tough, but in a muscular way – not a

painful way. He was “leg weak” but because he was diligent his leg strength came up quick. When he was able to do three sets of 20 deep squat reps with just body-weight, he began “plate squats.” Todd would grasp a barbell plate to his chest and squat. Over the next four weeks Todd worked up to 12 deep reps holding a 45-pound plate

Squats, Anemia & Amino Acids

How one man used SQUATS and PARRILLO to gain 15 pounds of muscle By Duke Nukem


“I was a running junkie, I knew I was wearing my knees out, but I couldn’t stop running and

wouldn’t stop running until injuries and surgeries forced me to stop running.”

“Squats are the key to you regaining use of your legs. Squats add leg strength

and add muscle all over your body.”


Photo by Tony Harrell

1� February 2015 / Performance Press 1-800-3��-3�0� www.parrillo.com 1�www.parrillo.com 1-800-3��-3�0� Performance Press / February 2015

clutched to his chest. Now Todd was ready for barbell front squats and back squats. He would squat twice a week, one session reserved for front squatting and one session for hi-bar back squatting. He would perform hack squats on hi-bar day and leg presses on front squat day. He threw in lots of lying leg curls and seated and standing calf raises to round out his leg training. Asked about his newfound love for squats and leg train-ing, Todd was thoughtful, “It seemed very natural for me, a runner that depend-ed on his legs, to come to love weight training for my legs.” Contrary to injuring his knees, squatting “tight-ened my knees up. The con-tinual throb in my left knee, something I had been con-tending with for two years, went away after a month of deep, consistent perfect squatting.” Here was the squat/leg training template Todd followed… Monday:Hi-bar back squat Hack squat Standing calf raise Lying leg curl Thursday:Front squatLeg pressSeated calf raiseSeated leg curl

On Monday Todd would work up to a heavy, all out set of five reps in the hi-bar back squat. On Thurs-day, Todd would hit an all out set of five reps on the front squat. Each week he’d push the 5-rep top set

poundage upward ten pounds. On the hack squat and leg press, he would max out with an all-out set of eight reps. Todd would super-set his calves and hamstrings: calves utilized 12-30 rep sets while leg curls used 8-10 reps. It took Todd a month to work through his initial issues and get to a point where he was able to start barbell squatting. The bad news was he was patheti-

cally weak; 55 pounds for five reps in the front squat and 85 pounds for five reps in the back squat were all he could handle. The good news was how quickly he improved once he gained squat traction. He pushed his squat poundage up ten pounds a week, all the while maintaining the perfect (deep and upright, all leg) techniques he’d developed for both front and back squatting. At the end of ten weeks, Todd was front squat-ting 155 for 5 reps and back squat-

ting 185 for 5 rep sets. After ten weeks of barbell squatting, Todd had added 15 pounds of pure mus-cle and his thighs had grown two full inches. His entire physique was transformed: Todd looked healthy. “I learned how to squat, I started eating and I began supplementing with Parrillo Amino Acid formula-tions,” Todd said by way of expla-

nation. “I needed to come to grips with preparing my own food; something I had always avoided. Once I came to grips with food prep, I was able to start adding bodyweight. I be-gan to like the food I made, so I began eating more, a lot more, but always eating clean.” Todd’s bodyweight took off: in ten weeks his bodyweight jumped from 160 to 175 pounds and it was all muscle. He looked like a different person. Whereas before he had been slightly slump shoul-dered, squatting not only built legs, the sheer act of standing erect between reps with a loaded barbell built his traps, rhomboids and rear delts. Squats add-

ed strength in ways Todd had not even considered. Todd trained his chest, shoulders and arms on Tues-day and Friday. There was one final piece to Todd’s radical physical transformation: nutritional supplementation – but with a twist. He explained, “I can-not consume any kind of traditional protein powder. I have a rare food allergy and cannot consume whey or caseinate without having an

allergic reaction, weird but true. I mentioned this to John (Parrillo) and he suggested a radical idea, one that had not occurred to me: he said, “why not douse your body with an assortment of Parrillo ami-no acid-based pills and capsules? Let’s see what that does.” Here is the arsenal of “Parrillo Pills” Todd supplemented with…

• Muscle Amino Formula™:sci-ence has shown (for decades) that if an athlete is able to obtain a qual-ity source of branched-chain amino acids and take them after an intense workout, recovery from that work-out is accelerated; BCAAs are used “directly as fuel, by the muscles.” Muscle Amino Formula™ is a high-ly potent source of BCAAs. • Ultimate Amino Formula™: this Parrillo mainstay contains no less than seventeen amino acids. This is a powerhouse product that covers the amino spectrum from alanine to valine, and all the impor-tant amino acids in between. Think of Ultimate Amino Formula™ as an amino acid shotgun approach that covers all the amino bases.

• Enhanced GH Formula™: When GH is secreted, wondrous things occur, muscle is built and body fat is melted. The human body is notoriously stingy with GH and rarely secretes it. Medical sci-ence has determined that if arginine and lysine are taken when GH se-cretions are most likely (after an in-tense workout, deep in REM sleep) the likelihood of GH secretion sky-rockets. Enhanced GH Formula™ is pure arginine and lysine.

• Liver Amino Formula™: liver is a wondrously potent source of high BV protein and liver contains a powerful blood enhancer, heme iron. Beef liver tablets are blood builders, assuming the source of the liver is pure and potent. Parrillo liver tablets contain 1.5 grams of protein and are the single most ef-fective supplement for overcoming iron deficiency anemia.

Here is how John laid out Todd’s daily amino acid supplementation regimen (see the chart below)…

With 14 weeks of concentrated squatting, Todd was able to rehab

his legs, add 15 pounds of lean muscle and banish his iron defi-ciency anemia. He also regained his energy and mojo. He went from a squat hater to a squat advocate. I guess you would too if you added 15 pounds of muscle and added two inches to each thigh. Todd added an inch to his calves and his chest size went from 42 to 45. He no longer looked like a slump shouldered anemic dragging himself around; he morphed into a bounding athlete whose transformation everyone noticed and commented on. While Todd’s unusual circumstances might not match yours, his use of Old School leg training, clean and big eating and Parrillo amino acid supplementation points the way to creating momentum where none exists. This tale gives some valu-able insight into how to use alterna-tive strategies to bust up stagnation logjams. Todd did it with hardcore leg training, high calorie eating and lots of potent Parrillo amino acids. Rip a page from Todd’s playbook and let’s get the New Year started off right!

5 am upon awaking Enhanced GH™ 4 capsules

7 am 1st food meal Liver Amino™ 5 tablets Ultimate Amino™ 4 capsules

9 am snack Liver Amino™ 5 tablets Ultimate Amino™ 4 capsules

Noon 2nd food meal Liver Amino™ 5 tablets Ultimate Amino™ 4 capsules

3 pm snack Muscle Amino™ 4 capsules Liver Amino™ 5 tablets

6 pm post workout Muscle Amino™ 4 capsules Liver Amino™ 5 tablets

8 pm 3rd food meal Ultimate Amino™ 4 capsules Enhanced GH™ 4 capsules

10 pm before bed Enhanced GH™ 4 capsules Liver Amino™ 5 tablets

Daily totals: Enhanced GH Formula™, 12 capsules; Liver Amino Formula™, 30 tablets; Ultimate Amino Formula™, 16 capsules; Muscle Amino Formula™, 8 capsules.



Todd’s Parrillo Arsenal


18 February 2015 / Performance Press 1-800-3��-3�0� www.parrillo.com 1�www.parrillo.com 1-800-3��-3�0� Performance Press / February 2015

Calories 32Protein 3.02g Fat .61gTotal Carbs 5.42g

Fiber 4gSodium 17mgCholesterol 0mgCalcium 232mg

Iron .47mgVitamin A 5019 IU Vitamin C 35.3mgVitamin K 213mg

CapTri® recipe idea using collard greens:

Nutritional Information for 100g, raw:

Training Tip of the month:

tipsof the month

tidbits&RECIPE

spotlight

18

News & Discoveries

In Fitness & Nutrition

InterestingArticle Fact:

Carnitine is a great recovery supplement because it helps muscles repair and replenish following workouts. Read more in John Parrillo’s article on page 20.

19

Demographics Drive Fitness Partner Decisions Online, Penn Study Finds

FooD of the month:

Supplementof the month:

Clean as you go! No one likes finishing a delicious din-ner and then having to face a real mess in the kitchen. It can actually save you time to clean as you go. Put your trash can and compost collector in a handy spot while cooking, and use ‘hands-off’ cooking or bake times or time spent waiting for skillets to warm up to wash bowls, knives and cutting boards.

• Crunchy Collard Chips: Wash 8 oz. collard greens and dry well with a towel. Tear into 2 inch pieces and place on baking sheet. Drizzle with CapTri® and sea-son with No-Salt and pepper, tossing to coat. Bake at 300˚ until greens are dry and slightly darker, about 15-20 minutes. Burns quickly so be watchful!

Who would you rather have as an online fitness partner: a par-agon of athleticism and dedication who could motivate you to exceed your current level of fitness or an equal, with whom you could exchange tips and encouragement on the road to bet-ter health? Or neither? According to a new study, participants in an online fitness program ignored the fitness aptitude of their potential partners. “Instead they chose contacts based on characteristics that would largely be observable in regu-lar, offline face-to-face networks: age, gender and body mass index,” Damon Centola, study leader, said. As more people turn to the Internet to help them improve their health and fitness, Centola wanted to examine how people sought out health partners in an online forum. Centola and Professor Arnout van de Rijt partnered with an existing online fitness website to recruit 432 participants to be part of their new “Health Improvement Network.” All of the participants shared ten pieces of information: their age, gender, ethnicity, body mass index, fitness level, diet preferences, goals for the pro-gram and favorite exercise, as well as their average exercise minutes and intensity level. The researchers anticipated that group members would select health contacts who shared similar exercise routines or interests, or even fitness “lead-ers” who were very fit and could serve as motivational role models. Yet in five of the six communities, participants did neither. Rather, the community members showed a strong inclination to choose contacts whose age, BMI and gender were like their own. Health programs can work around this human tendency, Centola noted, by actively recommending “health buddies” based on characteristics that are hard to connect to offline, but easy to find online, such as people who are good motivational partners, or partners who prefer similar exercises, or are working to increase their endurance to similar levels.

Questionof the month:?

Nutrition Tip of the month:

Behind-The-Neck Press: The most common technique error I see with this exercise is excessive arch-ing of the back. Bodybuilders arch in this manner so they can better lift and maneuver heavier weights to the overhead position. This leads to poor shoulder flexibility, a problem even the most well-devel-oped bodybuilders have. The most effective way to perform behind-the-neck presses is to drop your shoul-ders and flex your lats as you press the weight upward. Then straighten your elbows. As you lock out, press your hips forward while tightening your abs. Then push the weight back slightly, but without arching your back. This entire action isolates your delts. All the emphasis is right on your shoulders. You’ll really feel it! I’ve of-ten been asked about the effective-ness of front presses versus behind-the-neck presses. With front presses, there is an even greater tendency to arch backwards, limiting the efficiency of the movement. My advice is to stick to behind-the-neck presses. Not only will these wid-en your shoulder and pectoral carriage when performed correctly, they will also build the trapezius, which sup-ports the musculature of the back. Perform behind-the-neck presses correctly, and you’ll get bigger traps and a larger back overall.

Great tasting and easy to make, Hi-Protein - Low Carb Pudding™ is the perfect complement to your daily supple-mentation. Have it for dessert, a snack, with your meals, whenever you please! Also comes in Vanilla, Chocolate, and Butterscotch flavors.

Banana Flavor Hi-Protein - Low Carb Pudding™

• Packed with 12 grams of protein, 0g fat and 2g carbs per serving

• Perfect as a snack any time of the day

Creatine has the power to dramatically boost glycogen in muscles. Glycogen, of

course, is pure muscle energy, stored in muscles ready to be used as fuel for both weightlifting AND cardio activity. How does supplementing with creatine work with taking a carb supple-ment? Some British researchers looked into this. They studied 14 men; the men who added creatine to their supplement routine experienced greater glycogen levels in their muscles (the researchers took muscle biopsies) than the subjects who did not supplement with creatine. It looks like creatine might give you ad-ditional fuel power for cardio, allowing your muscles to work longer and harder. To boost your endurance for cardio, try this: Take 3 to 5 grams of creatine prior to your cardio workout. Mix it into 1 serving of our Pro-Carb™. This will maximally tank your glycogen re-serves so that your cardio will feel less taxing.

Question: My bench press hasn’t gotten better in about a year, so what I can do?Answer: You should incorporate negatives in your bench press routine. Negatives, in which the eccentric or lowering portion of the exercise is performed, enhance neuromuscular efficiency - the ability to recruit a greater number of mus-cle fibers during muscular contraction. By do-ing negatives, you totally exhaust low threshold nerve paths, allowing you to systematically work the higher threshold nerve paths. This ultimately trains the whole muscle to fire at once. Negatives build a quick-firing muscle and you become stron-ger as a result. Heavy negatives performed with a spotter, as well as fascial stretching between sets, will increase your golgi tendon reflex threshold. The higher your golgi tendon reflex threshold, the more intensely you can train. This leads to greater gains in strength and size.

1/2 cup boiling water2 tbsp. CapTri®

100 g. oat branPreheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour boiling water over CapTri® and oat bran. Mix well with fork. Shape dough into small 1 oz. balls and press flat into a flat cracker on a cookie sheet lightly sprayed with PAM, making it as flat and thin as you can. Bake 25 to 30 min. or until light brown. Yield around 8 crackers.

Oat Bran Crackers

An Alternative to Oatmeal In the Morning: Try quinoa hot cereal flakes. They are 100% whole grain and take about 5 minutes to cook. Quinoa flakes are a complete protein, very filling and have a great taste. Look for them in health food stores or the Natu-ral section of your grocery store. You can also add qui-noa flakes to your smoothies.

Source: Joseph J. Diorio, U. of Penn. Jun. 2014

Collard Greens• Thick, slightly bitter edible greens• Available all year, but tastes better and is more

nutritious in the colder months, after first frost• Good source of vitamins A and C and soluble fiber,

and also contains many nutrients with potent antican-cer properties and cholesterol-lowering abilities

Quick Tip of the month:

Kitchen TipsIdea Corner


JOHN PARRILLO’S PERFORMANCE PRESS LIPOTROPICS TO TAKE OFF WINTER WEIGHT


From years of working with bodybuilders, athletes, and exercisers, I have found that

in addition to tightening up their diet and working out hard, faster results come when they are us-ing “lipotropics.” Lipotropics are natural supplements that help you utilize stored fat for energy and spare glycogen. Usually after the New Year, people are looking for an edge to help them take off winter and holiday weight. Our formulation, such as Parrillo Advanced Lipotropic Formula™, may help. Parrillo Advanced Li-potropic Formula™ contains:

A B vitamin, biotin activates genes involved in regulating insulin and blood sugar. Bio-tin is required to make four key enzymes called carboxylases. These enzymes are involved in the metabolism of fats, and the conversion of protein and fat to glucose. Without biotin, the body cannot adequately metabo-lize fat. Biotin is also essential for the utilization of other B vitamins (particularly folic acid, pantothen-ic acid and vitamin B12).

This B vitamin is a “first string”

player among lipotropics. Its most vital function is regulating the amount of fat that accumulates in the liver, which is one of the body’s storage sites for excess fat.

Choline is an essential nutrient that your body requires but doesn’t

produce in adequate amounts, therefore making supplementation important. If you don’t get enough choline, you could be headed for health trouble: kidney and liver problems, poor production of red blood cells, and high blood pressure.

Another benefit of choline is that it helps emulsify cholesterol, pre-venting it from building up in artery walls or gallbladder. Also, choline works to rid the body of toxins, poisons, and any drug resi-dues. This is important because toxins can impede fat-burning.

Endurance athletes can benefit from supplementing with cho-line. Studies have found that choline helps your muscles func-tion optimally during long, in-tense exercise. This nutrient has also been found to improve long-distance run time.

Closely associated with biotin and choline is the B vitamin ino-sitol. This nutrient stimulates the body’s production of lecithin, a lipid-based component in the body that transports fats from the liver to the cells for energy. Inositol is thus an important regulator of fat metabolism. It

also helps reduce cholesterol by preventing the build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries that lead to their narrowing.

Another key lipotropic is carnitine, a protein-like nutrient made by the

body but also found in foods. Its main function is to assist the body in burning fat. In studies, carnitine appears to emulsify fat build-up in the arteries and internal organs. Carnitine also stimulates the adre-nal glands, which help the body in using its fat reserves as fuel.

Not only is carnitine a fat burner, it has other attributes that make it attractive to anyone try-ing to get in shape. For one thing, it plays a role in the storage of carbohy-drates – a critical issue to bodybuilders and strength athletes because muscle glycogen (stored carbs) is the main fuel used to lift weights. Carnitine puts more muscle fuel in the tank, so to speak, pro-viding a lot more energy for future workouts, and more intense workouts.

Carnitine has been well-studied in athletes. Sup-plementers report en-hanced energy levels, less fatigue, and greater overall athletic performance. This certainly makes sense, since carnitine boosts en-ergy production from fat-burning and boosting glycogen storage.

What’s more, carnitine supple-mentation has been shown to buf-fer acid levels in athletes’ muscles, thereby stalling the fatigue that this normally causes during ex-ercise. Pump up the carnitine in your muscles, and you’re less like-ly to tire out early in your workout, compromising your progress.

There’s more. Carnitine has ana-bolic properties. It enhances blood flow to muscles, which means your muscles get more nutrients, oxygen, and hormones to accen-tuate growth. Further, we know that carnitine is a great recovery supplement because it helps mus-cles repair and replenish following workouts.

This nutrient is a substance from which choline is formed and has similar functions. Betaine can help with joint and liver repair and muscle recovery, as well as reduce inflammation and the risk of heart disease. A big use of betaine is to help keep the liver healthy follow-ing alcohol or drug abuse. This nutrient is an all-around great protector and detoxifier of the liver, the body’s main organ of metabolism.

Not only does it protect the liver, it may also help the heart. Betaine helps to prevent the production of homocysteine, a dangerous ami-no acid that is associated with a greater risk of heart disease.

You can also take betaine to help with joint repair and boost recov-ery after workouts. It is an all-around effective nutrient, as well

as fat-burner.

This mineral has been shown to increase glu-cose tolerance (to help get carbohydrates into your cells to be used for energy rather than stored as body fat) and stabi-lize blood sugar levels (to avoid low-energy periods).

Researchers also hint that chromium picolinate may reduce the desire to binge on carbs you shouldn’t be

eating. In other words, it appears to zap cravings for carb comfort foods. Taming carb cravings is a good thing, since it can keep you from devouring junk food that will ruin your physique and pack on pounds.

Clearly there are a lot of benefits from taking this lipotropic for-mula. When supplementing, take one capsule of Parrillo Advanced Lipotropic Formula™ with each meal.

Biotin

Choline

Inositol

L-carnitine

Betaine

Chromium Picolinate

Advanced Lipotropic Formula™ provides

nutrients for accelerated fat metabolism.

Carnitine puts more muscle fuel in the tank, so to speak, providing a lot

more energy for future workouts, and more intense workouts.


Post your Photos &

Progress Updates

on Parrillo’s

Facebook page!

We want to see your photos and hear about your progress! Be sure to add your pics and tell us about your progress in the gym or how you did at your competitions on Parrillo’s weekly Facebook progress posting!

FINALLY did it, 1st place!!


Vic,Where do you come down on the “volume versus intensity” debate? Arnold, Franco, Robbie, Zane and all the greats of bodybuilding’s ‘golden era’ were all high volume advocates. These guys would train for two hours per session and of-ten twice a day using the infamous ‘double split.’ These guys trained six days per week hitting every body part three times a week! Mike Mentzer, and most particularly, Dorian Yates came along and said, ‘less is better’ – no need to spend all that time in the gym building big muscles – we can build BIGGER muscles training less, like massive powerlifters and we only train four times per week hitting each body part once per week! Obviously

Volume vs. intensity: the eternal conflict…Parrillo Xmas… Resolutions and failure…Cardiovascular density…Ego Curler

great bodybuilding examples ex-ist of each type. The current crop of pro bodybuilders seems to have swung back more towards more volume – is that because a fulltime professional has nothing else to do? Is there a definitive answer? Russ, San Juan

Ah yes, the eternal bodybuilding debate: for bodybuilding purpos-es, actually, factually, for muscle building purposes, which is better? Arnold and the boys thought it more beneficial to perform lots and lots of exercises, cram as many move-ments as possible into a session. The downside with doing a lot of exercises is while you are doing a lot of training volume, you have to

dial back on the intensity or you’ll never last until the end of the work-out: in order to make it to the end of a 2-hour workout, the bodybuilder has to hold back. Yates thought it better to do fewer exercises but do them far, far heavier and with lower reps and use fewer sessions. Most modern bodybuilders are un-aware as to how much training the greats of yesteryear did; imagine you are Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1970 preparing for the Mr. Olym-pia. The first training session of the day would begin in the morn-ing and run every bit of two hours. On average, he would perform four to six exercises per body part for five to six sets each; three to five body parts would be trained in the morning session.



JOHN PARRILLO’S PERFORMANCE PRESS IRON VIC SPEAKS By IRON VIC STEELE

Late that afternoon Arnold would revisit the gym for a second, ‘light-er’ shorter workout lasting about an hour. Included in the second session could be calves, forearms and abs, some light chest, shoul-ders, arms and upper back work. Two different workouts were done three times per week – six days in a row, twice a day. Let us take a look at one day’s worth of training for Arnold…morning - chest: bench press, incline press, flyes, cable crossovers; back: deadlift, chins, rows, cable row; biceps: cheat curl, seated dumbbell curl, arm blaster curls, concentration curls; triceps: dips, single dumbbell overhead tri press, nose breakers, triceps push-downs. 16 exercises for 70+ sets; he then comes back at 6 pm and hits 20 sets of calves, forearms and abs. Six times a week, twice a day, nearly four hours spent in the gym per day, 24 hours weekly. At the other extreme, Dorian Yates would train for 60-minutes four times per week, blasting each body part with bar-bending poundage in one all out set, before moving on.

In my opinion neither approach trumps the other or vanquishes the other, rather, certain men prefer the volume “more is better if more is lighter” approach over the low-volume/high intensity approach espoused by Yates, et al. Parrillo has his elite bodybuilders rotate these strategies. “Optimally, I want the bodybuilder to work towards a happy medium between volume and intensity.” Parrillo trains his bodybuilders to train heavy and over time, increase the volume. No need to train a muscle three times a week, but certainly it is

expected that lagging muscles (we all have them) should be hit twice a week. So I would suggest you experiment with both approaches, all the while striving to, as Par-rillo recommends, have the best of both worlds by establishing inten-sity and over time increasing the volume.

Greetings Vic Steele!I love Parrillo Products and want to give them as presents to some of my bodybuilding friends at the gym – what would you recom-mend if you were putting together a Christmas gift basket of Parrillo Products?

Cyndi, Sacramento

Well this is an unusual question and one I have never seen posed before…I would give a serious athlete a tub of Parrillo Hi-Pro-tein Powder™ and a box of Parrillo bars; pick a bar type and flavor that match the athlete’s taste preference. When I have athlete visitors come by, we always seem to end up lift-

ing in my home gym. Afterwards I always make them a post-workout Parrillo Hi-Protein™ shake and my guests invariably lose their minds over the taste. Those that drink milk swear that a Hi-Protein™ shake mixed with a scoop of raw peanut butter or almond butter and a small amount of raw milk makes a shake better than gotten at a malt shop. If I knew the athlete I wanted to give a gift to had a sweet tooth, I might give them a box of Parrillo Chocolate Almond Coconut En-ergy Bars™ or a box of Chocolate Soft Chew Bars™. That would be my Xmas suggestion.

Hello,What is the biggest reason that New Year’s fitness resolutions fail? I am ready to get serious about fit-ness and was wondering about the potholes and dead-ends you can point out ahead of time?

Val, Kansas City

Nutrition. Diet. Eating. Whatever you want to call it. The public la-bors under this massive, never-ending fitness fantasy that if they “just start going to the gym” and be regular about it, they can and will acquire the body of their dreams. They can continue to eat pizza and drink beer but if they train regular-ly they can “overcome” all that bad nutrition. So they trudge off to the health club every January 2nd and ride the stationary bike and “lift weights” on the little push/pull ma-chines. They do this for a while and then quit: the results never measure up to the expectations, time, mon-ey, expense and effort. The key to transformation occurs by combin-

ing intense exercise with Parrillo-style dieting. First off, the normal person does not exert hard enough in the right ways when training. They do not have a clue as to how hard they must push/pull in order to trigger muscle gain, and unless they sweat by the bucketful when doing their “aerobics” then that ef-fort is pretty much a waste of time.

If they do follow or use a diet in conjunction with their meek and mild ex-ercise plan, it is undoubt-edly a low-calorie, low fat, starvation diet. The biggest reason fitness resolutions fail is a lack of results; and the biggest reason for lack of results is poor nutrition and lame fitness training. Starvation diets do not work. You can lose body weight but bodybuilders seek to lose body fat. Every starvation diet must end and when it does the dieter invariably rebounds in the worst sort of way and all the depravation and starva-tion will have been for noth-ing! The key is exercising with enough intensity so that we actually force gains from a reluctant body. To change the body dramati-cally requires dramatic training, bar-bending lifting, and sweaty intense cardio. And all the intense exercise “underpinned” by a high calorie Parrillo dietary approach. John wants his hard-training ath-letes and bodybuilders to train like maniacs then eat big but eat clean. The final piece to the Parrillo puz-

zle is the addition of Parrillo nu-tritional supplements. Adding the right supplements at the right time and in the right amounts allow the bodybuilder to recover quicker, train harder and train more often. I would get on the Parrillo nutrition-al program and commence a high-intensity exercise regimen; I would

stock up on Parrillo supplements. Let us obtain sensational results in return for our herculean efforts!

Vic,What is “cardiovascular density?” I have heard this phrase come up repeatedly and I know it is a Par-rillo Principle – I suspect I know

the answer, but want to hear it from you as you have a good way of saying things so that I can un-derstand them.

Pat, Glenmont

The best way to describe cardio density is how John Parrillo related

it in his seminal book High Performance Bodybuild-ing…

“Aerobic exercise builds cardiovascular density, a phrase describing the size and number of blood ves-sels in your circulatory system. By forcing oxygen through the body aero-bic exercise increases the size and number of blood vessels. Blood vessels are the carriers on the supply route, carrying badly need-ed oxygen and nutrients to muscles and then removing debilitating waste products from body tissue. When this circulatory network is expanded, more nutri-ents can be transported to muscle and tissue. Your muscles are limited in size by the amount of nutrients they are capable of receiv-ing. Improve cardio den-sity and improve muscle

receiving ability and ergo, nutrient uptake; by performing intense aer-obics, you simultaneously improve cardio density and create more potential for muscle mass; intense aerobic exercise increases total blood volume, and as a result you are slower to fatigue and quicker to recover.”

25www.parrillo.com 1-800-3��-3�0� Performance Press / February 20152� February 2015 / Performance Press 1-800-3��-3�0� www.parrillo.com

By performing intense aerobics, you simultaneously improve cardio density

and create more potential for muscle mass.

Photo by Tony Harrell

“Optimally, I want the bodybuilder

to work towards a happy medium

between volume and intensity.”



That is a pretty damned clear ex-planation about what cardiovascu-lar density is and why we all need to strive to improve our current capacities. Bodybuilders need to improve their cardiovascular den-sity and the best way to achieve that is through regular and intense aerobic exercise. You also obtain that extra-added bonus of radically improved endurance, which in turn allows you to engage in longer and harder workouts and re-cover quicker. So Parrillo is saying that (contrary to popular opinion when he first proposed it) aero-bic exercise does not tear down muscle; to the con-trary, if done right and ‘supported’ by perfor-mance nutrition, intense and regular cardio actu-ally raises your genetic potential for building muscle.

Steele,I have been curling for years and don’t have much to show for it – what’s up with that! I am strong as F@#k and can curl a 135 barbell for reps and curl a pair of 70-pound bells for reps – yet my arms are stuck at 17 inches and have been for years. G-Rock, Little Rock

You have terrible curl technique. You may have been curling for years but obviously you are curling wrong! I would bet those curls with 135 look like reverse grip cleans and those curls with a pair of 70s

look like dumbbell high pulls or upright rows. You likely couldn’t curl 100 pounds for 5 reps cor-rectly, i.e., no jolt to get the curl started and no leaning back when the curl gets tough. Here at Parril-lo, we stress the curl ultra-basics: the biceps need to do the work! The arm needs to close, i.e., the angle between forearm and the upper arm must close. You don’t close that angle, G-Rock, and that is why

your biceps suck. You throw up big weights using momentum and ego, but you never close that gap and you never engage and activate the biceps. Ergo your arms suck! Here is how to curl correctly: imagine that when your arm is straight, to-tally open, the arm forms a 180-de-gree open angle; now we need to close that 180-degree angle to 45-

degrees, close the gap, engage the biceps.

John Parrillo has long been con-sidered amongst pro bodybuilders as a ‘bicep expert.’ Many an IFBB professional has sought out John to devise a bicep specialization pro-gram designed to create ‘pro arms.’ One curl a cheater like you ought to consider is an exercise John devised that he calls ‘drag curls.’ John relat-

ed the technique, “In the drag curl, done standing with a barbell, the curler commences without any momentum: no jolting, jerking, bending or heav-ing. Now slide the bar-bell up the front torso. Curl up the body until the bar is just below the pecs. At the top, in the contracted position, drop your shoulders and press your elbows tight against the body. Contract the biceps hard! Flex them to the point of cramping. Finally, don’t just lower the curl, flex the triceps, make the antagonistic muscles do the work – this trick amplifies ben-efits.” G-Rock, you got to check that ego at the door; you need to strip

some weight off the barbell and go back to zero and learn how to curl the right way. Use light poundage and learn how to bend those arms and make those biceps actually do the work. You need to swallow your pride and relearn that which you think you have already mastered.

2� February 2015 / Performance Press 1-800-3��-3�0� www.parrillo.com

You’ve got to check that ego at the door! You need to strip some weight off the barbell and go back to zero

and learn how to curl the right way.

PRSRT STDU.S. PoSTage

PaiDCinCinnaTi, oHPeRmiT no. 855

By Marty Gallagher

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