Call for Dates and Locations

3 March 2003 / Performance Press 1-800-344-3404 www.parrillo.com

has won the NPC Maryland Statetitle, took 2nd at the NPC Junior Mr.USA a few years back and 4th

place at the 2000 NPC nationalchampionships, the premier ama-teur bodybuilding competition inthe United States. Ron grabbed 2nd

place to the great Willie Stallingsat the Eastern Grand Prix andamong top national amateurs Ronis a known commodity and re-garded as a deadly serious com-petitor. His has a classic combina-tion of symmetry, balance and pro-portion with outstanding chest-to-waist ratio and mile-wide shouldersthat bear testament to his amplegenetic gifts. Physically Ron putsone in mind of the first super freak,The Myth, Sergio Oliva.

Ron cut his iron baby teeth as ahigh school wrestler and was apowerlifting prodigy. “From anearly age, I have always been se-rious about my weight training. Bythe time I was in 9th grade Iweighed 152-pounds and couldbench press 305-pounds. As a se-nior in high school I weighed 230and bench pressed 455.” Ron re-lated in his soft-spoken way howpowerlifting provided him with asuperb muscular foundation. “Thesquat, bench press and deadlift af-fect the core muscle groups of thetorso, legs and back and power

For a whole lot of reasons thestate of Maryland produces

a disproportional numberof top bodybuilders.

IFBB immortals likeKevin Levrone andVince Taylor hail fromthe crab state and aseemingly endlessnumber of top ama-teur and professionaliron pumpers comefrom a state about thesize of Switzerland.

Wedged east of Wash-ington and south of Balti-

more, Annapolis is the home theNaval Academy and Maryland’sbest kept bodybuilding secret: RonAdams. Ron is 32-years old per-

sonal trainerw h o

4www.parrillo.com 1-800-344-3404 Performance Press / March 2003

training is fantastic basic trainingfor a future bodybuilder.” Wrestlingmade Ron lean and fat free andtaught him the rudimentary factsabout food, conditioning, cuttingweight, diet and bodyweight. In 1990 at age 20,Ron decided to get seriousabout bodybuilding. As a re-sult of his heavy, basic train-ing, he’d built a consider-able amount of musclemass and Ron had been delta great genetic hand: wideclavicles, narrow hips, goodmuscle insertion points andproportional limb length. Hewas a bodybuilding natural.“My original goal and mycurrent goal are the same:to win a pro card and be-come a professional body-builder. I’ve come close afew times and I intend toturn my dream into realitythis year at the NPC Na-tional Championships.” Thetop finisher in each weightdivision is awarded a procard and rest assured thatRon Adams will be in con-tention for top honors.

Ron stands 5-foot 8-inchestall and intends to enter theNovember NPC’s weighinga shredded 226-pounds; hecurrently weighs 250 andcarries less than 10% bodyfat. “No doubt about it, I willbe in the shape of my lifethis coming November. Mypreparation will be perfectsince I now have the vari-ous aspects of my life in balance.I’m in total control of my sched-ule, my bodybuilding-related activi-ties, my professional career…forthe first time everything is in align-ment. If I can hold onto this groove

between now and November I feelextremely confident about winningmy class.” This is no pipe dreamof some never-was also-ran; Rontook 4th in his last NPC outing back

in 2000 and he’s a whole lot betternow than he was back then. Backin 2000 Ron weighed 235 in theoff-season and competed at 205;now he weighs upwards of 260 inthe off-season and will compete at

225; He’ll present his usual sym-metrical and balanced physique –but now combined with some seri-ous size. It all adds up to a physi-cal package that will be impossible

to ignore. Ron Adams isa Fitness Professional andworks as a personaltrainer in Annapolis,Maryland at an unusualfitness facility called Evo-lution Studios. At Evolu-tion they find room formany different and diver-gent physical disciplines.Yoga and Pilates classesare conducted along withcardio classes of everytype and description andthe hardcore weight train-ing taught by Ron fits rightin.

Mr. Adams is an ex-tremely popular instructorand he has a waiting listof clients, “I typicallyteach ten to twelve peoplein one-on-one sessionsevery day, five and sixdays a week.” The worldis beating a path to Ron’sdoor for his fitness advicebecause he knows whatworks and what doesn’twork. “My business de-pends on getting results formy clients. Anyone canget a client and keep themfor a few sessions but thereal professional turnsnew clients into perma-nent clients by getting re-sults and getting them

quickly.” What does it take to suc-ceed, in Ron’s opinion? “If the in-dividual is motivated and deter-mined, I can get guide them towhere they want to get to.” Ronagrees with John Parrillo’s view

Ron stands 5-foot 8-inches tall and in-tends to enter the November NPC’sweighing a shredded 226-pounds; hecurrently weighs 250 and carries lessthan 10% body fat.

JOHN PARRILLO’S PERFORMANCE PRESS


that radical physical change occursonly as a result of super-intensetraining, using both weights andcardio. Ron shares John’s conten-tion that a strict approach to nutri-tion is required for maximum suc-cess. “I’ve been influenced byJohn Parrillo in an indirect fashionfor many, many years: I workedwith Todd Swinney since the off-season of 1996. Todd introducedme to Parrillo’s “Big Calorie” theo-ries and incorporating this conceptmade a massive difference in myphysique.”

Todd is a big reason why Mary-land produces a disproportionalnumber of card-carrying pro body-builders and high level fitness par-ticipants. Todd is a one man ath-letic factory who has worked withOlympia level competitors, proballplayers, national powerliftingchampions and all kinds of fitnessfanatics. One of Todd’s many fit-ness specialties is nutritional prepa-ration for athletes prior to compe-tition. After the articulate Adamsbegan serious discussions withTodd, Ron decided to give the mas-sive-calorie Parrillo approach atest ride. After a caloric ramp-upperiod, Ron began consuming10,000 calories per day, each andevery day. Within three weeksRon’s body blew up like he’d swal-lowed an air hose. “I was kindayour normal bodybuilder eating3,500 calories a day of food be-fore I met Todd and he started talk-ing this wild and exciting talk aboutadding muscle mass by eating hugeamounts of clean food. I was in-trigued and gave it a try. Inside ayear I added twenty pounds ofmuscle while actually dropping mybody fat percentile a few notches.”

If you’ve ever wondered how

much food it takes to provide10,000 calories a day – you’re inluck – we’re going to lay out amenu Ron used when devouring10K per day. First however, youhave to go food shopping for thecoming week. Ron’s first stop wasthe sea food market. “I’d buy 25-pounds of fish a week, usually acombination of orange roughy,salmon and tilapia. Then I’d be offto the poultry wholesaler to pur-chase 30-pounds of boneless-skin-less chicken breast. Finally, I’d stopby Sam’s Club and buy 20-poundsof ultra-lean beef and twenty bagsof broccoli; I’d eat three bags ofbroccoli per day.” Plus he boughtrice, eggs (three dozen egg whitesevery day for breakfast), oatmealand bags and bags of salad. Hedeclined to provide us the totalweekly dollar amount spent onfood, calling it, “Significant.” Rondoes his own cooking and is quiteaccomplished. He whips every-thing together on Sunday andstores it for use during the week inthe refrigerator.

“To beat the man you’ve got toout eat the man.” Ron Adamsreveals his 10,000-calorie-per-day mass-building diet

“I like variety in my foods and di-vide my 10,000 calories up be-tween six daily meals. This re-quires I eat roughly 1,700 caloriesat each feeding. I grill my chickenbreasts and over time have learnedhow to make them quite tasty us-ing a particular combination of sea-sonings and cooking time. Grillingis the way to go on fish as welland I look forward to my grilledfish meal every day. I mix groundturkey or ground beef with brownrice and red beans. This is a po-tent combination and I eat it for a

meal or two every day. I use fat-free strawberry vinaigrette dress-ing on my salads and this is realtaste treat. Just because food islow in fat doesn’t mean it has tobe bland and tasteless.”

Meal I 6am36 egg whites w/ onions, peppers,salsa; two cups oatmeal

Meal II 9am4 large chicken breasts, 2 cupsrice, 2 cups broccoli

Meal III 12pm1.5 lb. turkey breast sloppy Joe; 2cups rice, 2 cups broccoli

Meal IV 3pm1.5 lb. lean beef; mixed with 2 cupseach red beans and rice

Meal V 6pm1.5 lb. orange roughy, salad w/strawberry vinaigrette

Meal VI 9pm1.5 lb. salmon, asparagus, salad

This is a lot of food any way youslice it, particularly when com-pounded seven days a week, weekafter week, for months on end. Thetrick to eating this much food is tohave a system with rules and ad-here to them for the duration.

1.Build up to big calories: Don’tleap from eating 3,000 calories perday to 9,000 in a single bound oryou’ll be a hurting unit. JohnParrillo and Todd Swinney call thescience of systematically increas-ing calories ‘building the metabo-lism.’ Over time the body becomesaccustomed to handling more andmore nutrients. Clean calories de-rived from foods devoid of sugar,refined carbohydrates, saturated

RON ADAMS


fat or other insulin-spiking foods areused exclusively.

2.Hard cardio is not an option. Oneway to get real fat real fast is todrop cardio and eat 10,000 calo-ries a day. Without cardio the me-tabolism grows sluggish and calo-ries are compartmentalized as bodyfat instead of muscle. By blastingaway using hard and intensecardio, and lots of it, the body be-comes more efficient at oxidizingfood. The basal metabolic rate iselevated and additional calories areoxidized as a direct result of theintense, mitochondria-buildingcardio.

3.Weight training must be hard,heavy and varied: John Parrillo andTodd Swinney both recommendplenty of weekly weight sessionsfor those eating massive amountsof clean calories. In addition totraining often, it is advised to use awide variety of exercises and awide range of reps within the work-out. Every pound of muscle addedcauses the basal metabolic rate toincrease by 30-40 calories per day.A 10-pound muscle gain oxidizes300-400 additional calories daily.

Contrary to what you might thinkhis degree of conditioning, Ron’sbody fat percentile, hardly suf-fered. “People naturally think thateating 10,000 calories of food eachand every day will get you fat fast.If you train really hard, as hard asyou’re supposed to, if you lift longand heavy and hit the cardio oftenand intense, all those 1700-caloriemeals get broken down and distrib-uted very efficiently. The body getsused to breaking down the samefoods in the same quantities. The10,000 calorie Parrillo diet causedme to explode with muscle growth.

exercise. Reps are generally keptin the 10-12 range and weightworkouts take 90-minutes to com-plete. Cardio in the off-season isdone for 30-minutes per session,six days a week. His pace is de-termined by age-related heart ratemaximum. Often he will rotatethrough three cardio machines inquick succession, using each for10-intense minutes before movingimmediately onto the next machine.In-season he elevates his sessionlength, picks up his pace and oftendoes two cardio sessions a day. Inclosing, Ron wanted to thank ToddSwinney for providing the “criticaldirection at the critical time” andhis brother Pete, who is Ron’s bigbrother, best friend, top fan, busi-ness partner and motivator. Petesets up Ron’s contest preparationprograms and Pete does all the“thinking” regarding routines anddiet. Pete constantly studies maga-zines, video tapes and photos of thecompetition and helps Ron improvewith each and every showing. Peteand Ron are an inseparable and‘Team Adams’ has its sights set onwinning the 2003 NPC nationalchampionships.

I went from being a lean and sym-metrical 195-pound bodybuilder toan equally well-conditioned 215-pound bodybuilder.” Ron will tip thebeam on game day 2003 at aripped 225. Thirty pounds of addi-tional muscle will give Ron Adamsa Flex Wheeler-style combo ofshape and mass. The FlexibleWheeler was just another nicelyproportioned 195-pound body-builder but that all changed whenFlex added 30-pounds of musclein one incredible 18-month period.As a result Flex went from an also-ran to an Iron Immortal. RonAdams will most definitely impactthe top three places at the NPCNational in some manner or fash-ion. When he reemerges at a full225-pounds one imagines him asextremely active during 1st roundcallouts. We’ll keep you posted onRon’s progress as he zeros in onD-Day.

Ron rotates through his weighttraining split in an unusual 4-dayon/one day off cycle that has himcontinually rolling ever forwardwithout regard for day of theweek. Ron typically performs threeexercises per body part, 4-sets per

RON ADAMS


Sometimes Randy would wait un-

til we were done training or at least

well into it before hitting me with

whatever was on his hormone-

soaked mind. At other times the

lad was so excited he couldn’t

make it that long. This was clearly

one of those days. Before he had

even taken off his jacket, he set

his gym bag down and produced a

flyer.

“I want to do this show,” he pro-

nounced, thrusting it into my hands.

I scanned it briefly, mentally not-

ing that the promoter must have

been on a pretty meager budget.

Two of the guest posers were lo-

cal guys who hadn’t yet made the

top ten in national competition, and

the featured performer was a pro

known more for the oil lodged in

his rear deltoids than the high

placings he had enjoyed several

years ago. He probably wasn’t

getting more than food, lodging,

and a date with the promoter’s ugly

sister for flexing his smooth off-

season bulk to the tender strains

of AC/DC for the delight of the

audience. The date of this event

was roughly three months away.

“What do you think?” Randy chat-

tered, a big grin on his mug, “can I

“Wine, okay. . .” I had better get

to the point soon or I was going to

lose him.

“The catch phrase for the com-

mercials was when he said, ‘we

will sell no wine before its time.’

Do you understand the concept of

wine needing to age and mature?”

“I don’t really like wine, I had a

whole bottle at my cousin’s wed-

ding and was throwing up for two

days.”

“Well, I don’t like wine either and

I would be at a loss interpreting a

wine list at a restaurant, but the

point is that it gets better the longer

it sits in some dark cellar. The best

and most expensive wines have

been laying around like that for

twenty years or more. On the

other hand, you can walk into a li-

quor store right now and buy some

wine that was just made last week

for five bucks a bottle. The good

stuff can go up to five hundred

dollars a bottle or more. Think of

your physique like a bottle of

wine.”

Randy eyed himself in the mirror

across the locker room and hit a

get in shape for it or what?” I al-

ready knew the answer to that.

The kid was a naturally lean type

and probably could get properly

shredded in half that time if we

upped his cardio and took some

carbs out of his diet.

“Yeah, I’m sure you could no prob-

lem, but this leads us to the Juras-

sic Park question.”

“Huh?” Randy obviously saw no

connection between deadly

Velociraptors and the situation at

hand.

“Just because they could clone the

dinosaurs didn’t mean they should

have.” I waited for this to register,

but I was still being too vague. His

face was a blank. “Let me try

another pop-culture reference I

know you are too young to remem-

ber. There used to be this guy

Orson Welles, who at one time was

probably the most brilliant writer-

director in Hollywood. When he

got old and gained about a hundred

extra pounds, the only work he

could get was doing these commer-

cials for Paul Masson wine.”



biceps pose, his eyebrows knit in

concentration.

“The longer I work on it, the bet-

ter it gets?” I almost saw the light

bulb flash over his noggin. Good

thing there wasn’t, since he had

enough gel in his hair to start a flash

fire.

“You could do the show, enter the

Novice division, and probably walk

away with a trophy,” I assured

him. “The Men’s Open would be

a terrible idea, you would get your

ass handed to you.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,

Ron.”

“Sorry, I have to be honest. Look,

I started competing at nineteen

years old, long before I really had

any business being on a bodybuild-

ing contest stage. I did three shows

by the time I was twenty and only

made the top five once because

there were only four other kids in

my class.” It was true. I had even

embarrassed myself further by tell-

ing one of the guys that beat me in

my best Arnold tone, ‘if you didn’t

come to win you should have

stayed home.’ I was the one who

should have stayed home.

“I’m not that bad, though, am I?”

Now I was planting seeds of doubt

in his fragile ego.

“No, don’t get me wrong. I never

said that. But two things make this

a bad move for you at this stage.

First, you are making awesome

gains right now. You get bigger

and stronger every week. If you

go on a strict diet and lower your

calories and carbs, those gains will

stop dead in their tracks. Secondly,

this is not the body I know you can

bring to the stage in a year or two

from now. Ever hear of a guy

named Dorian Yates?”

“Yeah, he was Mr. Olympia before

Ronnie, the guy from England with

the tattoos who never smiled.”

“Dorian didn’t compete until he

had been training for two years,

which isn’t very long really, but the

gains he made in that time were

what most bodybuilders see in ten

or twelve years of lifting. The point

is, he waited until he knew he was

good enough to win, which he did.

Then later when he turned pro, he

took two years to make the im-

provements he knew he needed to

take second in his first pro show,

which he did. The guy took his

time and did everything the right

way.”

“So I can’t compete now, you’re

saying,” Randy mumbled, dejected.

“You can if you really want to. It’s

a whole lot of fun and I really don’t

regret starting as young as I did,

but you have the advantage of me

to guide you through this. You lis-

ten to me, and you can win your

first show. Can you imagine what

that would be like?”

“Pretty sweet,” he said.

“Look, I started competing at nineteen years old,long before I really had any business being on abodybuilding contest stage.”

A BODYBUILDER IS BORN


“Not only sweet, but it would help

give you more of that champion

mindset. You would expect to win,

and you would think of yourself as

a winner. That type of confidence

shines through and everyone picks

up on it.”

Randy was looking at the flyer

again and scowling.

and Janet will take you and what-

ever girlfriend you happen to have

at that time out for a lobster din-

ner. You can even order some fine

wine, how’s that?”

“Okay, but I don’t really like lob-

ster,” he said.

“That’s fine, you can have the

chicken salad and water to drink.”

Yes, I am a generous bastard. I

paused, wanting to make sure he

wasn’t too disappointed. “You

alright? You won’t go home after

this and set up a Ron dart board in

your room, will you?”

“No, you’re right about all that. I

just wanted to get up there and

hear the crowd cheer for me.”

“Next year, Randy, next year. And

they will cheer a lot louder for you

when you win the whole damn

thing.”

Ah, the impatience of youth. I

wondered how the young Ron

would have taken all the older

Ron’s advice and recommenda-

tions. Thinking back to how stub-

born I used to be and how I was

convinced I knew it all, I probably

would have told the older Ron to

go screw himself. Luckily for

Randy he was a little more recep-

tive to well-meaning guidance from

those who have been in his shoes

before. Because of that, this kid

would someday become ten times

the bodybuilder I ever was. And

that’s cool with me.

“What if we go to this show and it

turns out I could have won?” This

had happened to me before, but I

didn’t think Randy was going to

experience that particular frustra-

tion just yet.

“If that happens, and who knows,

anything is possible, I promise me

“Ron pumps up.”

A BODYBUILDER IS BORN


You wouldn’t think that a “lipid,”otherwise known as a fat, wouldbe beneficial in a fitness program.True, you want to keep your di-etary fat intake low to shed bodyfat and stay healthy. However,there is one supplemental lipid thatbodybuilders, exercisers and otherathletes should have in their nutri-tional arsenal (in addition to ParrilloCapTri® of course!), and that’sParrillo Evening Primrose Oil.

Evening primrose oil is an essen-tial fatty acid (EFA). EFAs arecomponents found in unsaturatedfats that have beneficial effects onhealth. They are called “essential”because your body can’t makethem. You have to get them fromfood.

EFAs have several important func-tions in the body. They’re requiredfor normal growth and develop-ment and for the healthy function-ing of the blood, arteries, andnerves. As well, EFAs keep yourskin smooth and lubricated and pro-tect your joints. They also assistin the breakdown and metabolismof cholesterol. Without sufficientEFAs, cholesterol can end up asplaque on the inner wall of the ar-teries.

Evening primrose oil contains abeneficial constituent called GLA,which is a building block of an anti-inflammatory chemical in the bodycalled prostaglandin PGE1.Supplementing with a GLA-rich oilsuch as evening primrose oil in-creases production of these pros-taglandins and may help control thepain and inflammation associatedwith arthritis and other joint prob-lems. If you suffer from stiff joints,you will be amazed by the improve-ment after taking evening primroseoil. An associate of mine, whotrains five times a week, takes fourcapsules daily. But whenever sheruns out of the supplement anddoesn’t take it for a few days, herjoint stiffness returns.

Evening primrose oil may be ananti-fat agent too. GLA has beenresearched for its involvement inweight loss in both animals andhumans. In studies with rats, GLAreduced body fat content.

As for humans, some scientistsbelieve that people with GLA de-ficiencies tend to produce more fatin their bodies. Supplementing withevening primrose oil has helpedthem lose weight.

Signs of an EFA deficiency are dry,flaky skin and stiff, painful joints.These symptoms may indicate thatyour heart, brain, liver, and inter-nal organs are EFA-deficient aswell.

Evening primrose oil, one of thebest supplemental sources of es-sential fatty acids, comes from aplant that grows wild along road-sides. It is so named because itsyellow flowers resemble in colorreal primroses, and these flowersopen only in the evening. Downthrough the ages, evening primrosehas been used to treat premenstrualsyndrome (PMS); heart disease;diabetic neuropathy, a type ofnerve damage that is a complica-tion of diabetes; and arthritis.

For athletes, exercisers and body-builders, evening primrose oil holdsparticular interest because of itsbenefit in joint health and weightcontrol. A growing number of medi-cal experts and scientists, for ex-ample, now believe that takingevening primrose oil can effec-tively fight the inflammation - themajor cause of swollen, painfuljoints - that is so characteristic ofarthritis. (1)



Research has found that thesupplement works best if you aremore than 10 percent above yourideal weight. And, in some people,evening primrose oil promotesweight loss without reducing ca-loric intake. It is also believed tohelp rev up the metabolism, so thatyou burn more calories.

Evening primrose oil may helpcombat fluid retention, medicallyknown as “edema.” When you re-tain water, you look and feel “fat,”even though you aren’t. Encour-aging the body to get rid of extrawater can make you look moretrim. One way to do this is bysupplementing with evening prim-rose oil, which can help your bodyregulate water more normally andprevent fluid retention.

Among oilseeds, evening primroseis among the most powerful anti-oxidants in nature. In one study,evening primrose oil was able to

Without question, evening primroseoil has many health benefits. If yoususpect you’re suffering from anEFA deficiency, consider using theParrillo Evening Primrose Oilsupplement. This supplement con-tains 1000 milligrams of eveningprimrose oil. This includes 100 mgof GLA, 760 mg of linoleic acid(which has numerous health ben-efits of its own), and 30 IU of vita-min E, an important antioxidant vi-tamin. The amount of GLA in thissupplement is superior to manyformulations on the market.

I recommend that you take one tothree capsules daily, for generalwell-being. There are virtually noside effects from supplementingwith this friendly fat. It’s what hard-training, diet-conscious individualsneed as part of their total nutritionand supplementation program.

References

1. Jill, J.F., et al. 2000. Eveningprimrose oil and borage oil inrheumatologic conditions.American Journal of Clini-cal Nutrition 71: 352S-356S.

2. Darlington, L.G., et al. 2001.Antioxidants and fatty acids inthe amelioration of rheumatoidarthritis and related disorders.British Journal of Nutrition85: 251-269.

Greenwood-Robinson, M. GoodFat vs. Bad Fat. New York:Berkley Books, 2002.

destroy the hydroxyl radical, aform of hydrogen peroxide. Oncegenerated, this nasty free radicalattacks whatever is next to it, set-ting off a dangerous chain reac-tion that generates many more freeradicals. The result is cellular dam-age. In the same study, eveningprimrose reduced the formation of“superoxide” free radicals — atype of free radical that is particu-larly harmful to heart cells. (5)

Taking evening primrose oil mayalso help fight high cholesterol. Ina small study of 10 patients withhigh cholesterol, supplementationwith 3.6 grams a day of eveningprimrose oil significantly reducedartery-clogging LDL cholesterol –by 9 percent. In addition, animalexperiments show that eveningprimrose oil reduces plaque, fattydeposits that build up in arteries,clog their passageways, and con-strict blood flow. (6)

“Taking evening primrose oil may alsohelp fight high cholesterol.”

A FRIENDLY FAT


Step One:Eat fewer starchy carbohy-drates.

Reducing your intake of starchycarbohydrates – potatoes, yams,whole grains, and brown rice, forexample – is an amazing way tostart stripping away fat. Metaboli-cally, this dietary reduction helpsshift your body into a fat-burningmode. Your body simply startsburning fat for energy, since thereis a deficit of carbs in your body.How much of a reduction willwork? A good rule of thumb is toadjust your carbohydrate-to-pro-tein ratio to between 1 to 1 or 1.5to 1.

Be aware that one problem withreducing carbohydrate intake is a

go as high as two to three table-spoons per meal - a level they havefound to be beneficial.

Step Two:Increase your dietary pro-tein.

Protein is now recognized as anutrient that helps stimulate themetabolism, and by that token, it isessential to consume ample proteinin order to promote fat loss whilemaintaining muscle. You can meetyour higher-protein requirement byeating between 1.25 and 1.5 gramsor more of protein per pound ofbody weight. At least 1 gramshould come from chicken, fish,turkey, or egg whites, with at leastanother .25 or .5 gram of additionalprotein per pound of body weight

potential decline in your energy lev-els. To compensate, try supple-menting your diet with CapTri®,our medium-chain triglyceride oil(MCT oil). This is a special typeof lipid that provides quality calo-ries and, unlike conventional di-etary fats, is not likely to be storedas body fat. Calorie for calorie,CapTri contributes less to bodyweight gain (fat gain) than carbo-hydrates or conventional dietaryfat. Think of CapTri as an imme-diate energy source that will getburned before the body has timeto store it. It is an excellent meta-bolic-support supplement.

Start with 1/2 tablespoon at everymeal. After a few days, increaseto one tablespoon with each meal.During hard training, many athletes

Muscularity describes the relative development of each muscle — its size, shape,separation, and the degree of body fat present. With most physiques, the lack ofmuscularity is immediately obvious, with flaws ranging from poor quadriceps sepa-ration to poor lower lat development. In many cases, muscularity is there, but it isobscured by body fat. But let’s not focus on the negatives; let’s focus on the posi-tives: how to hone your physique so that there are no flaws in muscularity.

Although muscularity is a highly desired attribute among exercisers, bodybuilders,and other athletes, few really know how to attain it. Basically, it requires a multi-prong approach, something I call my six-step formula, mapped out for you in thiscolumn. If one of your physique goals is muscularity, I’d advise the following:


from vegetable sources, whichcontain some protein as well.

Step Three:Gradually increase yourcaloric intake.

To lose body fat, thereby unveilingmuscularity, most people are un-der the mistaken impression thatthey must severely restrict theircaloric intake. But when deniedfood, the body begins to feed onthe protein in the muscles. Becausemuscle is the body’s most meta-bolically active tissue, depleting itinterferes with your ability to burncalories. Plus, restrictive dietslower your metabolic rate, makingit easier for your body to store fat.With this step, you should gradu-ally increase your calories 200 to400 calories for a few days to re-charge your metabolism for fat-burning. This will stimulate yourmetabolism for increased muscu-larity.

Step Four:Place greater emphasis onheavy weight training.

The development of muscularity isnot all nutrition. Certain trainingtechniques are required as well, butthey do work best in concert withthe nutritional guidelines I just cov-ered. If you want to obtain mus-cularity fairly rapid, there is a spe-cial set sequence that I recom-mend following. It is as follows: onewarm-up set, three to five heavypyramid sets (increasing thepoundage each time and loweringthe number of reps), and one to twohigh-rep sets (exhaustion sets). Put

pend, and the more fat you burnbecause you’re doing more work.

Train consistently like this, andsome important metabolic changestake place inside the body. First,the mitochondria (cellular furnaceswhere fat and other nutrients areburned) increase in size and totalnumber inside muscle fibers. Sec-ond, muscle fibers build up moreaerobic enzymes — specialchemicals involved in fat-burning.Third, aerobic exercise appears toincrease levels of myoglobin, amuscle compound that acceleratesthe transfer of oxygen from thebloodstream into the muscle fibers.

Larger mitochondria and more ofthem, greater levels of aerobic en-zymes, and increased blood flow— these factors all boost the fat-burning capability of muscle fibers.The more aerobically fit you be-come, the more your body learnsto burn fat for energy. So you cansee why aerobic exercise is so im-portant for leaning out.

Endurance athletes have knownthese things all along. That’s whybodybuilders can learn a lot fromthe training regimens of enduranceathletes. They train regularly andat long durations at near VO2max,and as a result, their muscles areconditioned to rely more heavily onfat for energy and less on storedcarbohydrate (glycogen). To ap-proach the training level of an en-durance athlete, perform aerobicsseveral times a week, for 45 to 60minutes each time. But don’t“coast.” Work out hard, so thatyou’re breathing hard. The harderyou breathe, the more fat you burn.

another way, you start off traininga muscle slow and heavy like apowerlifter trains. You then finishtraining the muscle fast and intenselike a bodybuilder does. This is theright training sequence for muscu-larity.

Step Five:Increase the duration, in-tensity, and frequency ofyour aerobics.

Doing more aerobic work improvesthe muscle fibers’ ability to oxidizefats for energy, and you get leaner,with more muscularity, as a result.Let me explain the optimal way totrain aerobically so that you canachieve the best results.

For a long time now, exercisershave been urged to achieve their“target heart rate” during aerobicactivity. This is the elevation ofthe pulse to approximately 60 to 80percent of your maximum heartrate (220 minus your age). Reach-ing target heart rate and keeping itthere for at least 20 minutes is sup-posed to boost general cardiovas-cular conditioning. Also, it’s al-ways been assumed that if youexercise at your target heart ratelong enough, you burn fat.Optimal cardiovascular condition-ing is not achieved by just raisingyour target heart rate, however.It’s achieved by increasing your“oxygen uptake” or VO2max.This represents your body’s maxi-mum capability to deliver oxygento the working muscles. So howdo you boost your VO2max? Byexercising so intensely that you’rebreathing hard. The harder youbreathe, the more energy you ex-



Step Six:Stretch for mass and mus-cularity.

A special training technique I de-veloped called “fascial stretching”

rates their layers and groupings.The fascia encloses other struc-tures too, including tendons, joints,blood vessels, nerves, and organs.The fascia functions like a “shockabsorber” for the tissues it sur-rounds, protecting them from blowsof athletics or the stresses of train-ing and competition. On the mo-lecular level, fascia tissue is stron-ger than structural steel.

To perform fascial stretching, youstretch between sets of weighttraining exercises when the muscleis fully pumped (the pump has anadditional stretch effect on themuscle). Special stretching exer-cises are used, and these are ex-plained in detail in the ParrilloTraining Manual. Done consis-tently during workouts, fascialstretching stimulates muscular de-velopment and improves strength.The reason for this response issimple: When you stretch the fas-cia, you give the muscle underneathmore room to grow. The result islarger muscles and better separa-tion between muscle groups. I’veseen this happen in working withathletes who use fascial stretch-ing. What’s more, I’ve observedthat their strength levels can in-crease by as much as 20 percent.

I have just really scratched thesurface of muscularity with thiscolumn. If you’d like to knowmore, call Parrillo Performance forinformation on the Parrillo Nutri-tion Program and the ParrilloTraining Manual – and how youcan make both of these books partof your training library.

1-800-344-3404 or 513-874-3305

can be incorporated into your train-ing program to develop muscular-ity. This technique strengthens andstretches the “fascia,” a thick, fi-brous sheet of tissue that envelopsindividual muscles and groups ofmuscles and, like a divider, sepa-

Fascial stretching can be used todevelop muscularity.

MOLD MORE MUSCLE


John Parrillo constructed an entiretraining philosophy on a bedrockfoundation of hard work. Systemsand methods and theories are allfine and good and make for greatbrain candy but the Parrillo tacti-cal approach to bodybuilding isdependent on superhuman inten-sity, both in weight training andaerobics. We asked the MasterBlaster to outline his approach tohard work and he offered an ex-tremely illustrative example. “Wehave had tremendous response(and packed-house attendance) toour newly-instituted Parrillo TwoDay Intensive Bodybuilding Train-ing Camps; lots of serious physiquemen and women travel in fromaround the country to our combi-nation seminar/workshops. At thecamp’s conclusion I informally pollparticipants on what their strongestimpression had been and almost toa person the first thing out of theirmouths is that they had no idea howhard we trained.” John expoundedon the revelations camp partici-pants undergo. “It shocks the hellout of them. I personally try and

up and push their max 10-repweight for 11 or 12 reps. At thatpoint they’ll assume that the set isterminated and expect to rack theweight, jump up and get a big paton the back for breaking their per-sonal best by a rep or two….Noway! We’re just getting started!”They’ve unknowingly boarded theParrillo Pain Train and simply ar-rived at the first stop of many alongthe route. John describes the pro-cedure used once the lifter has hitpositive failure. “After maxing outfor 10-12 reps, Tracy and I willjump in and help the bodybuilder;but barely enough to complete afew more forced reps. Subtle touchis required: the idea is to give thebodybuilder just enough help to al-low them to complete additionalreps – but not too much help – atleast for now.”

Forced reps make sure maximummuscular inroad occurs and hardscience backs up Parrillo’s conten-tion that pushing past failure ismore effective than pushing to fail-ure and stopping. Further, there is

guide each camp attendee througha Parrillo-style work set.” Thewhole world of bodybuilding is con-tained in a single Parrillo work setand the best way to understand itis to experience it but short of thatwe can let John explain his proce-dure, “We’ll pick a participant andan exercise, leg press for example,and ask them their best poundagefor 10-reps. After a warm-up setor two we’ll load the big poundagefor an all-out set.”

“I’ll man one side of the leg pressand have Tracy (Anderson) or oneof the other Parrillo-certified in-structors man the other side of theleg press.” While the other campparticipants watch, John will coachthe lifter through the extended set.The person is usually pumped up;lifting in front of John and the restof the group they naturally want tomake a strong impression. Whatthey don’t understand is that re-gardless their degree of conditionor experience, Mr. Parrillo is aboutto take them way past their previ-ous best. “Usually they’ll be all fired



nothing inherently unsafe aboutforced reps if they are treated withrespect. “There is a proper way touse forced reps and if you exer-cise caution you can push past fail-ure while maintaining perfectsafety. I find the limiting factor isthe pain tolerance of the body-builder.” After pushing his/her gutsout for 11 or 12 positive reps, andbeing on the receiving end of 2-3forced reps with just a hint of help,the bodybuilder yelps like awhipped puppy and wheezes likea black lung victim. “We just ig-nore all the noise; I yell at them to‘keep going no matter what’ andboy, do they ever!” John and Tracywill now start tugging hard on theleg press weight handles, effec-tively lighting the load by hundredsof pounds. The poor lifter keepspushing even though remainingstrength nosedives with each suc-cessive rep. “Now we’re up to like16-18 positive reps and our legpresser is crispy fried; so time forsome negative reps!”

Science has shown that a musclecan resist 30-40% more in the ec-centric portion of an exercise thanit can lift on the concentric ‘loaded’portion of the same lift. Eventhough a muscle is exhausted andunable to do additional ‘positive’reps, the muscle still retains re-sidual strength and can success-fully resist lowering the poundage.Parrillo sets his sights on exhaust-ing this remaining pocket ofstrength. “The muscles can do it ifthe mind is willing.” John throwsprofundities around in such a ca-sual, offhand manner we often missthem. “We begin pulling the legpress weight sled back up to thelock-out position and bodybuilder– on the verge of going into men-tal shock – begins lowering the

even more negatives but with lessand less poundage.” After all, toParrillo’s way of thinking, sinceyou have strip off plates and re-place them on the iron plate tree,why not have the hapless body-builder continue to do assisted

poundage for additional negativereps. They still exhibit some con-trol.” The lifter is virtually coma-tose by this point but the pain trainhas one final stop. “Tracy and Ithen start stripping plates off andassisting the bodybuilder in doing

The Parrillo Belt Squat machine has seen it’s fairshare of Parrillo style torture.

THE PAIN TRAIN


negatives in a final drop set?

In addition to helping the athlete liftthe weight to lockout the two spot-ters now tug upward on thehandles on the negative portionthereby lighting the load even fur-ther – and keeping it safe. TheMaster Blaster is now done. It’sbeen suggested that John andTracy wear leather masks andstudded bracelets and wield cat o’nine tail whips like medieval tor-turers in a castle dungeon as theyconduct Parrillo-style work sets.

Finished, the bodybuilder is a com-plete mess. Unable to stand up ontheir own, they need to be liftedoff the leg press seat and guidedto a nearby section of the floor tolie down. John is hygienic and haslearned from past experience thatfolks often react by becomingphysically ill. “We’ve learned thehard way to place a wastebasketnext to them as they lay gasping.I’d say 50% of the camp partici-pants throw up at this point.” Howthoughtful…who’s next! And thisis just one top set in a two hourweight workout stuffed with lotsof Parrillo-style extended worksets. John advises serious body-builders to use training tactics thattake them past the point of initialmuscular failure.

Another popular Parrillo tactic de-signed to take training past posi-tive failure is drop sets. “Drop setsare not quite as effective at dig-ging a deep muscular inroad as apartner-assisted Parrillo-styleforced-reps and negatives, but dropsets are a great way for someonewho trains alone to blast a musclepast failure.” John says. “You can’tvery well give yourself forced repsand negatives, but by stripping

ous bodybuilder the deeper you cansafely journey into the mythicalpain barrier the more muscle you’llbuild – assuming you’ve got thenutrition portion squared away.Arnold S. once said, “Those whocan drive deep into the pain zone,perhaps someday they can be-come a champion. Those who can-not stand the pain and refuse toenter the pain zone – forget aboutit!” John calls the ability to with-stand the self-inflicted pain of highintensity weight training and cardio‘mental acuity’ and sums it up withpithy succinctness, “One of themain things attendees learn aboutat Parrillo Camp is our definitionof hard training; this type of train-ing triggers muscle growth. It’s atough lesson and a shocking les-son but super-hard training is theheart and soul of the Parrillo Phi-losophy. Without it, nothing of con-sequence occurs.” Want to un-dergo the Parrillo experience upclose and personal? Are you manenough or woman enough to climbaboard the Parrillo Pain Train?Why not sign up for a Parrillo TwoDay Intensive Training Camp. At$300 per person this has to be thegreatest bargain in all ofmuscledom. And wastebasketsare thoughtfully provided….

weight off the bar and using ‘downthe rack’ procedures you cansaddle up on the pain train withoutresorting to spotters.” Sets of aparticular exercise are done oneafter another, allowing only enoughtime to strip poundage off the bar-bell or machine before commenc-ing again. Drop sets are well suitedfor barbells, exercise machines ordumbbells. The Parrillo procedureis simple: pick an exercise (dumb-bell bench press for example) andstart with poundage you can do for15-perfect reps using a full rangeof motion on every rep with nocheating, arching or heaving. Let’sassume you are capable of fifteenperfect reps in the dumbbell benchpress with a pair of 80-pounders.After completing fifteen perfectreps with the 80’s replace them onthe dumbbell rack and immediatelygrab a pair of 70’s. Back to thebench and rep until failure; you’lllikely squeeze out 10-12 reps asyou’re still relatively fresh. Re-place the 70’s and immediatelygrab a pair of 60’s. Push the 60’sto failure, say eight or nine reps,re-rack and repeat the procedurewith a pair of 50’s, again reppingto failure. Your chest is nowpumped to the point of bursting.With zero rest hit a final drop setwith 50% of your starting weight;in this case push a pair of 40’spushed to failure before terminat-ing the extended set. You can seewhere the bodybuilding term‘down the rack’ comes from.

Parrillo-style training intensity hasto be felt to be truly understood andonce you’ve undergone the hands-on treatment as administered bythe Master Blaster all preconcep-tions about training intensity anddiscomfort and previous limits areblown to smithereens. As a seri-

THE PAIN TRAIN


With so many weight-loss supple-ments to help you in your nutritionefforts, it’s easy to feel over-whelmed. As you think this through,you might begin to wonder: Whichones should I buy?

The first step is to give somethought to your personal weight-loss situation. Analyze your goals:Do you need to tweak your me-tabolism, gain more energy, ormaintain the fat you’ve shed?

Next, look through the followingprofiles. See where you fit in, andwhat the supplement recommen-dations are. Once you’ve identi-fied your niche, follow the guide-lines, and you’ll be well on yourway to a fitter physique.

Your personal fat-fighting strategymust also include diet and exer-cise. After identifying whichsupplements you might need, besure to bone up on John Parrillo’sNutrition Program and TrainingManual when planning your dietand exercise program.

You’re Overweightand Want to MaximizeFat-Burning

Reducing carbohydrate intake tolose weight has long been the ba-sis of many diets. And for goodreason — it works. But there arepenalties. Carbohydrate is yourbody’s leading nutrient fuel. Dur-ing digestion, carbohydrate is bro-ken down into glucose. Glucosecirculates in the blood to be usedfor energy. If your muscles aredeprived of glucose, your physicalpower suffers. You’re low on gasand feel it. It becomes tough tostick to your eating program, andanother attempt to lose weightcould bite the dust.

But an MCT oil such as CapTri®can come to the rescue. You canstill apply the low-carb dietingstrategy, but without the corre-sponding loss of energy! That’sbecause CapTri® is burned in thebody like a carbohydrate andspares glucose fuel for an energy-boosting effect.Is your goal to build fat-burningmuscle? With the help of a nutri-tious diet and a strength-trainingprogram, supplementation withParrillo Creatine Monohydrate isa must.

Much research demonstrates thatcreatine enhances physique devel-opment in two possible ways - by

You’re committed to changing yourdiet and becoming more active.But you want to give your body alittle shove on its way to trimness.Natural fat-fighters such as ParrilloAdvanced Lipotropics contain nu-trients that help the body utilize fatproperly. Examples of lipotropicsinclude carnitine, chromium, cho-line, inositol, methionine; betaine,and certain B vitamins, and theseare found in this product.

You’re an ExerciserWho Wants to Vitalize,Energize — and GetLean

An excellent supplement in yourcase is CapTri®, a medium-chaintriglyceride (MCT) oil. The beautyof CapTri® is that you can use thelow-carbohydrate strategy (aproven dietary fat-burner) by re-placing some of your carbs withthe oil and not feel the correspond-ing dip in energy levels.When you reduce your intake ofcarbohydrates, you suppress therelease of insulin. Low insulinstimulates the release of anotherhormone, glucagon. As glucagongoes to work, it signals the body tostart burning fat for energy.



increasing metabolically activemuscle tissue (which in turn leadsto more efficient fat burning) andby boosting strength levels formore intense workouts.

To use creatine monohydrate inyour supplement program, JohnParrillo recommends taking four 5-gram doses a day for five days.This is known as the “loadingphase.” From there, two to fivegrams once a day — about half ateaspoon — will keep your musclessaturated with enough extra cre-atine. This period is called the“maintenance phase.”

You’re a MaintainerWho Wants to KeepLost Weight Off

Nearly 95 percent of those who goon diets and lose weight regain thatweight, plus interest, within fiveyears. So the real key is keepingweight off. No one supplement willhelp you do that per se, althoughthe supplements just discussedtaken in maintenance doses can behelpful.

Success or failure at keepingweight off ultimately depends onother multiple factors. Amongthem: fat intake, diet, and exercisepatterns. In an intriguing study, agroup of dietitians explored justwhat makes people take offweight, then keep it off. They sur-veyed people who had participatedin a worksite weight control pro-gram held at a Midwestern univer-sity campus between 1987 and1990. Six months long, this particu-

pearance issues in which someonebecame disgusted after seeing hisor her body in a photograph.

On average, the maintainers hadcut their fat intake to under 30 per-cent of their diet, ate five mealsdaily (recommended on the ParrilloNutrition Program, incidentally),and exercised regularly. Most lostbetween 66 and 100 pounds andwere able to maintain an averageloss of 30 pounds. This was a verylarge study, with 629 women and155 men participating.

Both studies provide importantclues on how to keep pounds off.Some tips:

• Keep your fat intake low — inthe 15 to 20 percent range of totaldaily calories.

• Eat frequently through the day.Eating at least five meals daily hasa stimulating effect on your me-tabolism — just what you need tokeep your body’s fat-burningwheels in motion.

• Exercise regularly, choosing anactivity you enjoy.

• If you’re a yo-yo dieter, get yourmind off dieting for awhile. Instead,put your energy into becomingmore active.

ReferencesHaus, G., et al. 1994. Key modifi-able factors in weight mainte-nance: fat intake, exercise, andweight cycling. Journal of theAmerican Dietetic AssociationApril 94: 409-413.

lar program was behaviorally ori-ented. The dieters met once aweek for an hour for the first sixto eight weeks, and then twice amonth for the remaining sixmonths. Fourteen men and 15women participated in the study.

Information from the dieters wastaken both six months and 42months after completing the pro-gram. The dieters completed ques-tionnaires on their diet; weight lossand regain patterns; exercise hab-its; and social support from spouse,children, friends, and co-workers.Measurements such as weight andheight were taken as well.

Some interesting findings emergedfrom both follow-ups: Twenty ofthe dieters had regained weight. Ofsignificance was that theseregainers had a chronic history ofyo-yo dieting (going on an off di-ets and bouncing up and down inweight). The regainers ate moreof their calories at dinner than themaintainers did. And, the nine di-eters who had maintained theirweight tended to eat less total fat.Plus, they exercised more and forlonger periods of time.

In another fascinating study ofmaintainers, formerly obese menand women who had kept theirweight off for more than five yearssaid that a “trigger” event hadprompted them to shed poundspermanently. Trigger events in-cluded medical problems such aslow back pain, constant fatigue, orvaricose veins; emotional traumain which a wife lost her husbandbecause she was too fat; or ap-

YOUR PERSONAL FAT-FIGHTING STRATEGY

PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDCINCINNATI, OHPERMIT NO. 855

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