Let's Be Frank
I was sorting through some boxes of old magazines a while ago and I rediscovered my issues of the Frank Zane newsletter I subscribed to a few years back. It was a quarterly mag with some pretty interesting articles.
Anyhow, in the Summer 2000 issue, his "Winning Mr. America" article discussed one particular summer he spent just training. I thought it was pretty interesting:
"There were 2 months of solid training before I started my new job teaching math at a High School in St. Petersburg, some 20 miles away.
It was a simple lifestyle: Up at 7am, have 6 eggs for breakfast and hit the Tampa Bay beach by 10am. After a few hours of sun, get lunch consisting of one pound of fish at the nearby Mullet Inn, go home, take a nap and start my workout by 3:30pm, finishing by 6pm. Dinner was a pound of flank steak with a scoop of cottage cheese and a salad. After reading a few hours I'd go to bed 11pm...
That summer I trained 6 days a week with simple equipment: dumbbells, barbell, squat rack, preacher bench, leg extension/leg curl, lat machine, power rack, dip bars. I did a 2 way split routine: back, biceps, forearms, thighs, calves and abs one day, followed by chest, shoulders, triceps, abs the next. I did no aerobics and once a week would drive to Tampa to train at Smith's Gym.
These workouts were heavy (I was squatting 10 reps with 375 pounds, doing press behind neck with 220, and doing parallel dips with 100 pounds around my waist.)"
Probably not the worst way for a guy to spend his summer, if he has the available time (but that's a big if. A biiiiig if.) Have a big breakfast, rest a while, grab a big lunch, nap, lift a bunch, big dinner, get to sleep at a reasonable hour. Just something to think about.
Frank Zane is one of the most completely developed bodybuilders of all time and his book, Mind, Body, Spirit
is also a great read.
Anyhow, in the Summer 2000 issue, his "Winning Mr. America" article discussed one particular summer he spent just training. I thought it was pretty interesting:
"There were 2 months of solid training before I started my new job teaching math at a High School in St. Petersburg, some 20 miles away.
It was a simple lifestyle: Up at 7am, have 6 eggs for breakfast and hit the Tampa Bay beach by 10am. After a few hours of sun, get lunch consisting of one pound of fish at the nearby Mullet Inn, go home, take a nap and start my workout by 3:30pm, finishing by 6pm. Dinner was a pound of flank steak with a scoop of cottage cheese and a salad. After reading a few hours I'd go to bed 11pm...
That summer I trained 6 days a week with simple equipment: dumbbells, barbell, squat rack, preacher bench, leg extension/leg curl, lat machine, power rack, dip bars. I did a 2 way split routine: back, biceps, forearms, thighs, calves and abs one day, followed by chest, shoulders, triceps, abs the next. I did no aerobics and once a week would drive to Tampa to train at Smith's Gym.
These workouts were heavy (I was squatting 10 reps with 375 pounds, doing press behind neck with 220, and doing parallel dips with 100 pounds around my waist.)"
Probably not the worst way for a guy to spend his summer, if he has the available time (but that's a big if. A biiiiig if.) Have a big breakfast, rest a while, grab a big lunch, nap, lift a bunch, big dinner, get to sleep at a reasonable hour. Just something to think about.
Frank Zane is one of the most completely developed bodybuilders of all time and his book, Mind, Body, Spirit
is also a great read.
posted by Chris Colucci at 1:24 PM
