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Q: Lately I’ve been busting my butt trying to increase my bench press, but it seems to be completely stalled. My shoulders are killing me too. The pain even keeps me up at night.A: You know, almost anyone who trains near 100% intensity for more than 8-12 weeks on the bench, will experience shoulders that really start hurting. There could be many reasons for your stalled progress such as under-eating, over-training and under-sleeping -- for three! Bear in mind too that the longer you train, the more unsteady and slow progress becomes. Keep in mind that you don’t have to do set after set of heavy benches in order to increase your bench. There are a lot of assistance exercises that will increase your bench. You know, many people that fail on a bench press fail because of weak triceps.
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Heavy triceps work such as close grip benches, various triceps presses, including French Presses off the bench or floor, can help you develop triceps power to get your bench going again. You might specialize on triceps awhile and give your chest and deltoids a bit of a break.
We are hardly medical doctors and that shoulder pain could have a variety of causes. You need to find out with a proper medical diagnosis. Many who experience these same symptoms have underdeveloped rotator cuff muscles. The rotator cuff consists of a group of four muscles known as the SITS muscles, subscapularis, infraspinatous, teres and supraspinatous. They may get strained or even torn because they become so imbalanced in strength compared to the anterior rotation muscles (internal rotators) of the shoulder.
Almost everything we do in sports --throwing a baseball, swimming, tennis serves, golfing to bench pressing involves violent internal rotation – rotating the arm and shoulder inward, toward the body. External rotation almost never occurs in a standard workout or typical activity. But, on the other hand, a lot of sports movements really place the arm in great external rotation- we have all seen the amazing pictures of professional baseball pitchers! So, there is great stretch without appropriate strength. Not good.
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Whatever apparatus you use tuck your elbow into your side and rotate your forearm outward away from your body. One of the easiest movements outside the shoulder horn is the lying “L” Flye with a light dumbbell. Lie on your left side, tuck your right arm into your side, keep your forearm and upper arm at a 90-degree angle, then rotate the dumbbell up and away from your body.
For this exercise or the SHorn, do 2 sets of 15-25 reps twice weekly. We recommend doing this on chest days. Make sure to start out light (2.5- 5lbs). We have seen 550 lb. bench pressers who had a hard time with 5-10-lbs. when beginning this regimen. Use strict form on each set and use a slow cadence of no quicker than 1 second positive and 1 second negative. You can work up on the weight, but never ever sacrifice form on this exercise. This is not an ego exercise. 15 lbs. in each hand would be about the max ever needed.
Besides specialized exercises, rest, massage and possibly physical therapy, another key factor in dealing with and alleviating your shoulder pain is nutrient support for tissue repair and regeneration. A well-planned cycle of Beverly Joint Care may just be the solution! It is the only product we know of that contains the medically-approved and measured tested doses of Glucosamine, Chondroitin, and MSM. Joint Care also includes a full antioxidant load, including EPO, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Boron, and Manganese.
For larger males experiencing joint pain or ache, we suggest 12 capsules per day for 5 days, then maintaining with 4-6 caps per day. For females, 9 gel caps per day for 5 days, then maintain with 3-4 per day. Try Joint Care for 60 days and you should experience great relief, provided your shoulders are not more seriously damaged than you think. Again, get the diagnosis. As well, to avoid prodding the inflammation, pack your shoulder and upper arms in an ice pack or on bagged ice for 5-15 minutes after every chest or shoulder workouts and try to heat these areas prior to training!
Combine all this with the training regimen above and you might find that all your problems go away.
Q: After hearing so many good things, I’d like to try some Beverly, but I have limited funds. I don’t compete, but I love to workout and build muscle. Since I can’t afford to take tons of supplements, what is your best ‘short list’ of supplements?A: You don’t have to compete to use Beverly. Beverly is about building muscle period. Products used by champions are also the best for a fitness and health enthusiast!
Start with the bodybuilding basics: a quality protein to add the nitrogen retaining nutrients you need for growth, maintenance, and simple convenience. For this we strongly recommend Ultra Size (and man-oh-man, wait to we unleash Ultrasize Plus in 2002 – if almost every other protein does not go out of business, we’ll be surprised!)
Ultra Size makes bodybuilding nutrition fun. You can make puddings, crepes, pancakes, pudding pops, and more with Ultra Size. Shoot for 4-6 meals a day. You can replace up to half of your whole food meals with Ultra Size or add in an Ultra Size treat as an extra meal.
| Logic dictates the best and most widely used product by dompetitors is also the best product for fitness enthusiasts to build with too! |
Next on the list is Ultra 40. Old school? Hardly! Liver tablets add another outstanding protein and amino acid source, plus growth supporting B Vitamins, minerals, and a host of other nutrients to build health and muscle. We recommend a minimum of one tablet for every 10-lbs. bodyweight per day. For best results, take 4 – 6 with every meal.
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Favorable Mass Amino research has shown that during extreme stress such as intense weight training, peptide bonded aminos provide up to 16 times the benefit of regular protein. Thus, the 30-grams from Mass Aminos may be just as effective as 480-grams of bottled protein and sugar that many bodybuilders drink during or after their gym session.
Q: My calves suck. They won’t grow even though I train them very hard (with quads once per week). Is there any supplement or training routine that will help?A: Maybe Dianabol. No, sorry -- there is no single supplement that will directly increase your calf growth although if you take enough creatine you might retain enough water so that they’d swell a bit. Some supplements create an environment in your body that will facilitate growth.
You need a protein intensive diet spread over 4-6 meals a day. You will need a quality protein powder to supplement for convenience. Ultra Size is perfect for adding protein, and creating a positive nitrogen balance for growth. Along with that, a high potency and quality vitamin-pak such as Super Pak or Ms Power Pak will give you micronutrients and cofactors your body needs to grow. Creatine and glutamine are great growth facilitators too.
Our feeling is that hitting calves once a week is not sufficient for the genetically average person. Your calves are structurally designed for long periods of stress and tension. Think about it – your calves have to support all your bodyweight for your entire life. Despite what Mike Mentzer taught, for most, once a week and one set, will not even begin to make inroads into your neuro-muscular system for growth.
We recommend at least twice per week, and you might see even better gains training your calves every other day. If you train every other day, we suggest alternating a heavy and light day. Your calves have a blend of red (slow) twitch muscle fibers (mainly in the soleus) and white (fast) twitch muscle fibers (primarily in the gastrocnemius). Because of this it would also be advisable to do a mixture of training styles such as low heavy reps and high (heavy as possible for recommended reps) reps.
The next key principle you should follow is prioritizing your calves. Try doing them at the beginning of your workout instead of at the end when you are spent and can’t really hit calves as hard as you need to. Train your calves as hard as you do your arms and we guarantee they’ll grow. One tip on form: Do a full rep on every rep and use a slow, deliberate rep style. Work the muscle; don’t just lift the weight. We see guys in the gym that look like they’re riding a pogo stick rather than doing calf raises. It’s not a speed race. Above all else, you’ve just got to train them…intensely. Vary the reps and train your calves more frequently!
Here’s a sample routine – Train every other day, and alternate heavy and light workouts:
Heavy Days: Standing Calf Raise 4-5 sets X 20-25 reps Seated Calf Raise 4-5 sets X 20-25 reps Donkey Calf Raise 4-5 sets X 20-25 reps Light Days: Use same weight as heavy day, but only perform 3 sets X 15 reps on each exercise.
Q: Some of these protein blends sold in the magazines seem expensive compared to whey concentrate. What’s the difference, if any?A: Have you ever heard the term, “you get what you pay for?” When you go to the butcher counter, do you buy the cheap scraps off the floor or do you buy a fresh, lean, choice cut of meat? The principle is the same when dealing with protein powders. You know, at one time, before advanced filtration, whey was that scrap on the floor!
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Beverly manufactures only one single source protein, 100% Egg – that’s 100% not 50 or 60%. That’s because Egg Protein has the best amino acid profile of any single source protein in existence and has the best protein utilization of any protein source. Our best whey species is Muscle Provider and it has an unheard of 35% whey peptides, the best in the business!
Amino Acid content is the true measure of the strength of a protein. That’s why we add Egg white protein (albumin) to all our Beverly Proteins including Muscle Provider – it increases the amino profile and efficacy of the entire product.
Compare labels and do the math. That’s not just protein in grams-per-serving, but figure the protein grams per 100 grams of powder. You’ll find Beverly at the absolute top! No other protein is even close. You’d have to be a moron to choose a cheap protein that only gives you 25% of the results over a product that gives you 75% better results. And morons are NOT reading this magazine. Choosing Beverly is a no brainer!
Q: Are you guys going to eventually dilute your magazines like all the others with all kinds of big-breasted unfit stripper babes? And please feature routines of some of the big pro bodybuilders.A: What we don’t get is why if you can go to any newsstand and buy about 50 T&A magazines why muscle mags need to fill up with it. At least our industry mags should be T&A with fitness girls or bodybuilders. At any rate, BodyMuscle teaches real stuff about building bigger leaner muscle without silicone or saline excesses.
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I’m sure lots of you strive towards the look of a pro bodybuilder and we will feature the occasional pro bodybuilder for motivational and informational articles, but let’s face it – the successful pros are another genetic species, not to mention perhaps owning stock in pharmacies. What a pro bodybuilder does to prepare for a show or improve has very little in common with what a person with normal genetics (99% of us) needs to do.
So the answer is no. After all, would you rather we put our money into purchasing pictures of big breasted wonders and over steroided pro bodybuilders or put money into research and product ingredients to help YOU GROW faster? We think bodybuilders feel more comfortable getting advice on supplements and nutrition from a source that’s NOT putting their effort into being a poor man’s version of Hustler. Bodybuilders seem to forget their sexual organ is NOT a muscle!
Q: I’m what you’d term an intermediate bodybuilder. I’ve made some really good gains but I’ve recently switched jobs and I feel very stressed. Are there any supplements I can take that will help with the stress and recovery?A: Bad stress can kill muscle gains. Stress raises cortisol and that is generally anti-muscle. There are some things you can do to reduce stress levels. First of all, continue to train hard but BRIEFLY and take out stress on the weights. You need adequate sleep and nutritional support to help you recover. If you don’t recover properly from your workouts, you are screwed!
Taking a Beverly Super Pak or Ms Power Pak once a day is the foundation for proper micronutrient support in the body. Take one Beverly Pak once a day with your largest meal. The next supplement for your assault on stress is Beverly’s Advanced Antioxidant Compound. This is loaded with free radical suppressing elements including Alpha Lipoic Acid, Co Enzyme Q10, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and Selenium among others. Beverly, unlike others, includes enough of each ingredient to produce real results. To help combat stress and fortify your immune system take 2-4 tabs after each workout, and 2 tablets in the evening.
There are two more products that will really help workout recovery --- Beverly Gutamine and Ultra 40. Glutamine is a conditionally essential amino acid that is strongly implicated in building new muscle. It is considered an immune strengthening and recovery amino acid. Unless you are eating a lot of cottage cheese and drinking a lot of milk, you are probably not getting enough glutamine. Ultra-40 will supply more amino acids, protein, and metabolic support nutrients to all your meals, and give you endurance and energy to get through your long days and hard workouts. Give these Beverly products an honest try and we guarantee you’ll see a difference.
Q: There are so many types of creatine out there, it’s got me confused. Which one should I use?A: Use real powdered creatine monohydrate. Creatine powder has worked great from the time it was introduced in the early 90’s. Since then, a lot of companies have tried to gimmick up creatine. You can go into your local health food store and find serum, fizzed, effervescent, sugary, gelled, gummed and the dumbest of all, creatine in some kind of syringe.
Sorry to burst your Creatine fizzy bubble, but what a real bodybuilder needs is pure creatine monohydrate powder. Why? Well, in reality, when quality creatine is put into liquid or serum it degrades to creatinine (a waste product) quickly. You might be getting only one tenth of the amount of creatine that is supposed to be in the product unless you down it immediately.
It’s probable that loading creatine with carbs can cause a greater weight gain than creatine alone, but you should use a quality carb source such as Mass Maker – not a sugar based product or fruit juice. Did you ever stop to look at the grams of sugar in one of these products? Some of the leaders contain up to 75-93-grams of sugar in each serving. That’s like 20 teaspoons! Gee, get out the insulin.
Is it any wonder so many athletes are complaining that creatine makes them hold too much water? If your creatine is causing you to hold water under the skin, chances are it’s laced with sugar or sodium based filler. Dump it and try Beverly.
Q: In his new magazine Planet Muscle, Jeff Everson editorialized against several products and one was carnitine, when used to theoretically mobilize stored body fat. In fact, there have been other authors, such as Jerry Brainum, who have argued that carnitine does little. But many others such as Brian Leibovitz of Muscular Development have spoken very highly of carnitine for fat mobilization. I have your literature and notice that you sell, and of course, recommend Lean Out which contains carnitine, and also Energy Reserve which is 600-mg (per tab) of carnitine. Why such differences in opinion and do you still recommend carnitine as strongly?A: You bet we do. And it’s not just because we sell products with carnitine. Jeff Everson
has probably addressed the differences in opinion on supplements more than any other writer and this is one reason he used to argue against Mike Mentzer that bodybuilding hardly qualified as a science. We have known Jeff very well for years. He’s a friend and he does speak his opinion even if it often runs against the common thread. We don’t know Jerry well, but we do know that both Jerry Brainum and Jeff have “research” backgrounds and usually make their opinions based on that research.
In particular, Jeff’s background is medically oriented. His mother was a registered nurse and Jeff had mentioned to me at some point once, that she became a specialist in emergency cardiac ECG medicine over 30 years ago, long before most Doctors were. Jeff studied pre-medicine at Wisconsin while obtaining two under-graduate degrees, one in English and one in Physical Therapy. He eventually earned his Doctorate in Exercise Physiology.
We mention his background as we say, because on one hand he takes more of a conventional scientific research basis to make judgements on supplements, while on the other he often disparages many doctors’ opinions on bodybuilding and supplements -- so go figure. Once more, he can not be 100% convinced carnitine is useless or why would he accept our Lean Out ad in Planet Muscle? That would be hypocritical right?
At Beverly the original company background under Jim Heflin, was also heavy in medicine and research, mostly in the area of innovative amino acid nitrogen profiles. But -- my wife Sandy and I have taken the fight against fat as a war of reality, into the real world gym trenches. Now bear in mind, Jeff Everson has spoken extremely favorably on Beverly products – extremely, for good reason. In fact, we bet, if you were to ask him man to man personally, we believe he would tell you straight out that Beverly makes the best protein and products in the world. If you see him some time just ask him and see!
The big problem -- there are not any so-called scientific studies on carnitine as we recommend its use— in very high doses. Compare this situation to sciences old views on protein – that bodybuilders did not need more protein than the average man needed. For years the medical and scientific view was exactly this, based on faulty energy studies. Yet science eventually proved our views correct didn’t they?
The front and back is that we believe Jeff to be in error on carnitine (although he does know the meaning of Brobdingnagians, which we suppose, is a reflection of that English degree). Although we can see how he came to the conclusion that L-Carnitine is ineffective for general weight loss, there are flaws in the data, studies, and observations that may have accounted for his, and others, erroneous conclusions.
Most studies on carnitine have been based on ineffective dosing, too short of duration of use, poor quality substrate and/or the carnitine was taken with an ineffective diet or unrealistic expectations (carnitine won’t do much when combined with pizza and donuts).
There is a reason why Beverly’s Lean Out and Energy Reserve have tripled sales over the past 2 years alone (and 90% of those sales are repeat purchases). They work and continue to be one of our most highly demanded supplements because of quality and pharmaceutical grade ingredients, like all Beverly products.
There has been valid, double-blind research done by independent health experts that show that the active dose for enhancing fat loss has to be at least 1000 mg. per day in divided doses. High-grade carnitine is expensive. This is why most companies use marginal amounts - just enough to say it’s in the product. Obviously we don’t.
Energy Reserve contains 600- mg per tablet and Lean Out contains 600-mg. carnitine (plus a slew of cutting edge proprietary co-factors) in 4 capsules. Beverly products have been tested in the real world especially with non-steroid users.
We know bodybuilders cutting on our carnitine supplements define faster and better than those not using carnitine. Bodybuilders will simply not use something if it does not work. As I mentioned, we have seen 300% sales increase over just the past two years on these products.
But, carnitine needs to be taken in a specific manner and under specific circumstances to be most effective. If you use carnitine for long periods of time (more than 6 weeks), you should cycle it 2 weeks on and 1 off to keep its peak effectiveness. It doesn’t work with donuts, Carnitine is not effective as a fat burner if the diet is above maintenance calories or is very high in carbohydrate or fats.
Carnitine works by speeding up the process of mobilizing fat from storage, moving fat around the body (so it’s less likely to stick where it’s not wanted), and getting it into fuel-form to be burned as energy. It helps the mitochondria (miniature fuel furnaces found in every muscle cell) utilize fat as fuel, especially when the favored ‘sugared-fuel’ is deficient or calories are lacking. It also helps to maintain stable blood sugar levels – something very appreciated when we’re dieting and maintaining an active training program and lifestyle.
So, while experts may disagree, (and gee, maybe Jeff hasn’t tried the best carnitine in the world—ours), the real question is do you want to go with real observation or incomplete research science? Our carnitine works. Trust us on that.
Q: I have heard at least three bodybuilders talking about the Beverly Diet? What is it?A: Who knows? They may be speaking metaphorically. A true definition of a Beverly Diet is the diet that works best for you. We have developed literally hundreds of different diets at our National Nutritional Research & Science center. We use high carbs, low carbs, moderate carbs, moderate fat, low fat – it just depends on a particular clients metabolism, and goals.
The thing that sets us apart, is that we are not small minded enough to think there is only one way of dieting and getting into shape. We use whatever method will work best for the individual. If there is one consistent factor in our diets, it is ample amounts of quality protein.
We assume that the theory of the “Beverly Diet” got started because we have a few diet methods that are used very frequently in our literature. We have found these diets work best for a wide range of people. The full spectrum of athletes -- from less than average to above average genetics, benefit. We have determined from thousands of real world cases that it takes an above average metabolism to handle high-carb diets. Generally a 50-30-20 or 60-30-10 (protein grams, carbohydrate grams and fat grams) breakdown works best for everyone, no matter what his or her metabolic level is.
The Beverly diet is far from being a fad, and yes you can use Beverly principles year around and you should if permanent growth and improvement is desired. We have developed zillions of diets and many of our athletes cycle their eating styles every 6-12 weeks.
However, if you want to get best results, there is a second half to the equation. Proper nutrition and supplementation with high end Beverly Supplements is the true secret of any Beverly program or diet!
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