One of the perks that often come with being a top level athlete is the regular massages you get. Massages aren’t just great for relaxation and recovery, but are also used to help treat and prevent injuries caused by intense exercise. A good massage can be painful at times, but the end results are usually very favourable – and most of the pain is the kind of pain that in a way feels good even though it hurts – I know people are addicted to that stuff (most hard training gym rats should know what I’m talking about here).

While I’m personally not a professional athlete I do go for a professional massage on a fairly regular basis, and if I’m in place like Thailand – where you can get a decent two hour massage for $15 – I sometimes take a massage almost every day. There’s no doubt in my mind that I benefit from the stuff both mentally and physically.

Here’s a video demonstrating how massage therapist Von Jackson works on four time Mr Olympia Jay Cutler and what goes into working on someone with the almost absurd amount of musclemass that Jay carries around. Worth watching:

Professionals working on Ron Coleman at the Arlington Good Health clinic:

Here’s a quick tip for you skinny guys who are struggling to pack on the pounds. Use the oily fruit juice trick for a massive calorie hit.
Here’s how it works: One liter of fruit juice contains roughly 450 calories, and adding fruit juice to your daily diet can in itself help you gain weight faster. Fruit juice is really not at all a bad weight gain food – as lots of obese people who drink a lot of fruit juice have discovered for themselves. But when you add some oil to the juice, it becomes really effective as a weight gain tool.

Just consider this: One gram of fruit juice provides about 0,45 calories. One gram of oil gets you a whopping nine calories. So what do you do? You drink one liter of fruit juice a day in addition to what you’re already eating. That gets you 450 calories. Now add just 50 grams (three to four tablespoons) of healthy plant oils to that liter of fruit juice, and the calorie count is doubled! We’re talking nine hundred calories here, which should be enough for even the skinniest guys to start adding weight, provided they’re already eating a quality, calorie sufficient diet.

What kinds of oils should you use? I would recommend that you go with a blend of things. Udo’s Choice is good, but pretty expensive, so mix that with flax seed oil and maybe a little extra virgin olive oil. The reason I do not want you to use a lot of olive oil is because most guys trying to gain weight are already getting way too much omega 6 fatty acids, and not enough omega 3 acids. That imbalance is a decidedly unhealthy one, and it could potentially get in the way of your muscle building efforts. Adding olive oil makes that imbalance even worse. Personally, I’d say go with 50% Udo’s Choice and 50% flax seed oil, as even Udo’s Choice could have more omega 3 fatty acids in my opinion – and flax seed oil has plenty of them. Make sure your oils have not been heated in any way – these types of plant oils become decidedly unhealthy once they’re exposed to high eat.

Will it taste horrible? No. I add these oils to fruit juices a lot myself, and don’t mind the taste at all. It’s definitely something you will notice, but it’s not bad. Having a glass of oil fortified fruit juice here and there throughout the day will be easy, and won’t kill your appetite.

You can also add oils to other foods. A client of mine used the oily fruit juice trick along with a daily oil fortified Mutant Mass weight gain drink over the course of november, december and january, and it was a definite success for him. Recommended! Don’t overdo this, though, as these healthy oils are only healthy until you overdose on them – like anything! Do also discuss radical dietary changes such as this one with your doctor before starting.

Most protein bars are decidedly simple concoctions: make a chocolate bar, add some kind of protein – usually in the form of a vry simple milk derivative like a whey protein – and voilà: you have transformed that candy bar into a nutritional supplement (or, at least, that’s what most manufacturers would have us believe – I’m not sure I always agree with that). True to form (check out our review of their high tech weight gain supplement Mutant Mass), Canadian sports supplement manufacturer PVL has done something quite different: Their Mutant Pro protein bars do not come with one source of protein, they come with ten.

These bars weigh in at 70 grams each, providing 25 grams of protein. That’s a pretty good score. And what’s the advantage of using ten different types of protein? Two words: time release. If your protein bar – like most – come with only whey protein – a so called fast release protein, you’re going to get a quick hit of amino acids in your blood stream, with the supply of these muscle building nutrients dying out fairly quickly. Combining several types of protein, on the other hand, makes for a more sustained supply of amino acids to the muscle tissue. Now, isn’t that something you’d want in a protein bar? I mean, these types of products are what we mostly use while on the go, right? So if you’re out and about and reach for a protein bar because in between meals, isn’t it an advantage if that protein bar delivers a more sustained flow of nutrients? I personally think so. If, on the other hand, you’re having a protein bar right after a workout and want a quick hit of amino acids, a pure whey protein bar may be your best bet. I do think, however, that putting together a time release protein blend like the one in the Mutant Pro bar is a great idea considering how most of us tend to use these types of products.

As far as taste goes, this is a pretty good tasting protein bar. PVL has called the flavor “Double Decadent Chocolate” and wow, did they ever hit the nail on the head. That name describes the rich taste of this bar perfectly. In fact, this is such a rich tasting bar that I could not imagine having two of them at a time, which, say, I easily could with the lighter tasting caramel flavored Nanox Isolox protein bars. Being “restricted” to just having one at a time is probably a good thing for me, though, as I’m a bit of a chocolate addict. There’s also a little crunch in these bars, which I like.

Mutant Pro Bars Ingredients and Nutritional Profile:

Mutant Pro Extreme Multi-Staged Protein Ingredients: Mutant Pro Protein Blend [3 Cold Pressed Whey Protein Concentrates, Micellar Casein, Milk Protein Concentrate, Calcium Caseinate, Egg White Albumen Protein, Cross Flow Micro-Filtered Whey Protein Isolate, Milk Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Hydrolysate], Coating (Sugar, Fractionated Palm Kernel Oil, Cocoa, Nonfat Milk Powder, Soy Lecithin, Natural Flavor), Soy Protein Isolate, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Soy Crisps (Soy Protein Isolate, Rice Flour, Cocoa), Glycerine, Canola Oil, Fructo-Oligosaccharide (natural extract of chicory), Natural Flavour, Cocoa, Soy Lecithin, Guar Gum, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate.

Each 70 gram bar will provide:

Total Calories: 260
Protein: 25g
Total Carbohydrates: 28g
-Sugars: 9g
-Dietary Fibre: 2g
Fat: 7g
-Saturates: 3g
-Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 5mg
Sodium: 110mg

I think those values are pretty good – there’s a tad less fat than in many competing products, and less carbohydrates as well, although this is far from a low carb product if you’re looking for that. The bar also contains no trans fat – which means that I might buy it again. Boycott nutritional supplements containing trans fatty acids, people!

The price is okay – I suggest looking around online for a good deal, as I’ve seen some worthwhile discounts on these.

All in all, I think the Mutant Pro bar is another home run from PVL – a quality product which taste does not disappoint. An ideal product to keep in your pockets when you’re out and about and need a quick snack!

And once again: this is an unsolicited review that we have not been paid for. We do not sell these bars either (we don’t sell any kind of supplements – we just review them for our readers). Just so you know.

Here is a basic whole body workout based on one of Bradley J. Steiner’s workouts from the seventies (saying “based on” might be a stretch – it’s very much the same thing) that has remained a favorite of mine for two whole decades now. While it’s workout that is usually prescribed to beginners, it can also work extrememly well for intermedia and advanced bodybuilders, and I still return to it from time to time myself. As it’s one of the first workouts I ever used, it feels a bit like “coming home.” The workout makes use of Presses

Do the workout three times per week (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays). Here’s what it looks like:

Bench Presses 3 x 8-10
Standing Presses 3 x 8-12
Bent Over Barbell Rows 3 x 8-12
Barbell Curls 3 x 10-12
Squats 3 x 10-12
Chrunches 3 x max (as many as you can do)

That’s it! As you can see, it’s a very, very simple routine that has you in and out of the gym in no time. The use of basic exercises makes effective both in terms of strength and muscle building. One might object to things like the fact that the biceps effectively get more work than the legs, but trust me: the program works, and it works very well. More advanced bodybuilders might want to add in some stiff legged deadlifts (one of Steiner’s favorites) – or even a set or two of regular deadlifts. I’ve known people who also alternate between deadlifts and squats on a routine like this, doing four sets of deadlifts one workout, and four sets of squats the next – and so on. For beginners, however, it’s best not to deviate from the program described here. Just do the stuff you’re told to do, and go home.

I usually have my clients do a workout like this for the first three months of their training, before moving on to different stuff – either a 5×5 program (my preference at that stage), or a traditional bodybuilding two way split (a push-pull routine) depending on the clients goals, situation and personal preferences.

One thing I’d like to mention here: it is important to do the exercises listed here, and not substitute them. This is especially true for the squats. I’ve sometimes start beginners on this program and as soon as I’m out the door they will be doing leg presses instead of squats. That kind of cheating doesn’t just make the program less effective, but it sets them up for injuries later on when they start doing heavier lifts (like the squat) because of the simple fact that they’re leg muscles are too strong compared to the stabilizing muscles needed for these lifts. All healthy beginners should be doing squats – just like all healthy advanced lifters!

If you’re just starting out, or if you’re looking for a basic whole body routine to do for a few weeks, give this workout a try. Good luck!

“Glutezilla” Tommi Thorvildsen isn’t just one of the best professional bodybuilders to ever come out of Norway. Nicknamed after his striated glutes, this guy has competed in more than 30 competitions nationally and internationally. That’s a feat in itself, but Tommi hasn’t stopped there. He is also a successful businessman, owning a couple of gyms and a supplement store that also retails online. Curiously, between juggling business commitments, selling sports supplements (yes, you can buy a tub of whey protein from Tommi personally) and living the life of a professional bodybuilder (which, as everyone should know, is a 24 hour a day job), he also finds the time to work as a personal trainer in his Oslo gym and coach some of Norways most promising up and coming bodybuilders on the side. Tommi Thorvildsen should possibly publish a book on time management one day.

Tommi’s first win in a bodybuilding competition was back in 1997, when he competed in Sandefjord Open (which was actually founded by my old friend Geir Hansen, whose gym I trained at back in the late eighties). Tommi has since won a couple of Norwegian championships, and shared the stage in competition with the world’s absolute top bodybuilders of the last two decades. He has also trained with legends like six-time Mr Olympia Dorian Yates and the ageless one himself, Al Beckles.

Leaving the IFBB

After many years as an IFBB Pro and a Weider sponsored athlete, Tommi Thorvildsen left both organizations in 2007-2008 and then joined the young organization UPBF (United Professional Bodybuilders and Fitness Competitors, founded by Norwegian Roar Innlagen). Tommi cites financial reasons for leaving the IFBB, and also wanting to spend more time in Europe while building his businesses.

We hope to see Tommi back in competition soon!

Tommi Thorvildsen’s competition history

• Sandefjord Open, 1997 (1st)
• Oslo Grand Prix 1997 (1st)
• Danish Invitational, 1997 (3rd)
• Oslo Global Invitational, 1997 (1st)
• Oslo Bodybuilding Trophy, 1997 (2nd)
• Norwegian Championships, 1997 (Overall, 1st)
• Norwegian Championships, 1998 (Overall, 1st)
• Toronto Pro Invitational, 2000 (18th)
• England Grand Prix, 2000 (9th)
• Toronto Pro Invitational, 2001 (4th)
• Night of The Champions, 2001 (6th)
• Arnold Classic, 2002 (11th)
• Grand Prix Austria, 2002 (3rd)
• Ironman Pro Invitational, 2002 (6th)
• San Francisco Pro Invitational, 2002 (6th)
• Mr Olympia, 2002, (22nd)
• IFBB Iron Man Pro 2003 (13th)
• IFBB Arnold Classic And Internationals 2003 (12th)
• IFBB San Francisco Pro 2003 (12th)
• IFBB Grand Prix Australia 2003 (5th)
• Night of The Champions 2003 (19th)
• IFBB Grand Prix Hungary 2003 (13th)
• IFBB Toronto Pro 2004 (7th)
• IFBB Grand Prix Russia 2004 (7th)
• IFBB Grand Prix Holland 2004 (10th)
• IFBB Grand Prix England (2004 9th)
• IFBB New York Pro 2006 (did not place)
• IFBB Montreal Pro Classic 2007 (14th)
• IFBB 15th Annual Sports/Fitness Weekend & Europa IFBB Super Show 2008 (17th)
• IFBB Atlantic City Pro 2008 (16th)
• IFBB Romanian Pro Grand Prix 2008 (13th)
• UPBF Battle of The Giants 2009 (3rd)

Looking for a premium quality whey protein powder that might just get you better results than other similar products and don’t care too much about the cost? Maximuscle Promax might be just what the doctor ordered. This is a classy tasting product that that has top quality written all over it. While I tend to use more inexpensive whey protein concentrate products these days in an effort to be a little more frugal, I do like to go for a high end product from the top shelf now and then. And Maximuscle Promax is just that.

This is a pure whey protein product consisting of Maximuscle’s Biomax, a proprietary blend of whey protein isolates, hydrolosates and whey peptides. The percentage of protein is high, with 24.3 grams of protein per 120 calorie serving, but not quite as high as we’ve seen in some of the other high end products on the market. As an example, Ultimate Nutrition’s Iso Cool (which we have not had a chance to review here yet), has a whopping 23 grams of protein per 90 calorie serving. Promax is still miles away from the super popular and great tasting Syntha-6, though, which has only 22 grams of protein per 200 calories. Protein percentage isn’t everything, of course. Many feel that they get better results from using Promax than they do using a similar product (and I’ve heard people say that about Syntha-6 too). While this product could be a little lower in fats and carbs, that would probably also have an adverse impact on the taste -  and taste does matter quite a bit, in my opinion.

Promax ingredients:

Biomax, (90%, a Maximuscle proprietary high quality blend of whey protein isolates, hydrolosates and whey peptides), cocoa powder in Promax chocolate, Flavours: either vanilla/cocoa/strawberry/banana depending on the flavour displayed on each tub, Colours: riboflavin in vanilla and banana, beta carotene in vanilla, chocineal in strawberry; betain hydrochloride, patented in zinc stabilised purified prolase preparation derived from carcia papaya, Glutamine peptides, N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), L-ornithine-keto-glutarate (OKG), Sweetener: Acesulfame-K, chromium picolinate.

Taste & mixability

This product tastes very good, and I’d love to order another tub of banana flavoured Promax again. Mixability is also pretty good, even though I could easily name a few products that mix even easier. And to everyone who wants more reviews of chocolate flavoured protein supplements here: I’m sorry, but after more than two decades of chocolate protein drinks I’m starting to get more than a little sick of them. Maybe I’ll start buying them again in the future, but for now I’m most fond of the fruit flavoured stuff.

Maximuscle Promax is no longer just a whey protein powder

Promax has become a whole series of products, so you’re not just limited to the protein powder reviewed here. You can also get the Promax Extreme, which is fortified with creatine and other potent ingredients like beta-ecdysterone (Suma extract), methoxyflavone and chromium picolinate. If you don’t feel like messing around with a blender or a shaker to get your protein needs met, the Promax Meal Bars (which we will review here as soon as we can get our hands on them), RTD protein drinks, breakfast oats, the Crisp bar (another snack my sweet tooth has ordered me to check out),  and the Promax amino acid blend. If you wanted to, you could probably live on Promax products alone (which would obviously be very, very silly, so don’t).

Maximuscle Promax is a bit too expensive for my liking, but seeing as the quality is so high I’d be happy to buy it again – soon! And that’s even with my Scottish genes, so the price can’t be that bad! You won’t get the highest amount of protein for your money here, but what you’ll get is very high quality protein, and if that is what matters most to you  I urge you to give this product a try.

A box of Nanox Isolox bars might be a good investment for anyone looking for a small (because they’re really not very big) protein bar to use between meals or during a workout. This is one of the tastier bars I’ve had in long while, and the nutritional profile is also good. Like the two other Nanox products we’ve discussed here recently (the Androx Q12 testosterone booster and the Protilox whey protein powder), it comes across as a high quality product that I would be happy to recommend to anyone who feels bad about all the “real” candy bars they eat and want something that at least has some quality protein in it.

As the protein content of these bars hovers right around 35% they certainly make a good alternative to a regular candy bar or a hotdog, but do expect to have to chug down a couple of them if you’re a little hungry. Each bar weighs in at a measly 45 grams, so this isn’t meant as a meal replacement bar. Then again, that’s a good thing if you crave something sweet and candy-like but don’t want to have to spend 90 minutes on the stair master to punish yourself afterwards. Do be advised however, that this is not in any way a low carb bar, with each bar containing 18 grams of carbohydrates (10 grams of sugar).

I’ve tried this bar in two flavors, namely the coconut and the caramel. I really, really liked the caramel version, but you will never catch me buying another set of the coconut ones. The coconut flavor is not like the coconut flavor you would find in, say, a Bounty bar, but more like a coconut-cake flavor. If that’s your thing you might enjoy the coconut flavored Isolox bars, but otherwise I say go for the caramel flavored ones as they actually taste terrific. Or you could try the raspberry flavored ones, which sadly don’t seem to be available in my country at the moment (when they do become available I’ll give them a try and promptly update this review).

Nutritional Value Per Nanox Isolox Bar (45g):

Energy (760KJ) 180 Kcal
Protein 16 G
Carbohydrates 18 G (of which sugars: 10g)
Fat 5.4 G (of which saturated: 2.8g)

Ingredients: Milk protein, milk chocolate coating (sugar, cocoa butter, milk powder, cocoa mass, emulsifier:soy lecithin), flavor, glucose syrup, hydrolyzed collagen, fructose syrup, thickener: glycerol, vegetable fat, glucose, caramel crisps (sugar, vegetable fat, caramel falvor, salt, emulsifier: soy lecithin) flavor, low fat cocoa powder,  ice crispies, dried egg-albumin. May contain traces of nuts and gluten.

Final Verdict?

Taste : 4/5. The caramel flavored bars taste great, and many would easily give these a 5/5. I give them a 4/5 because I’ve had even better tasting protein bars. Unfortunately, the coconut flavored ones I bought will be given away to people (or animals) I don’t like.

Nutritional value: 4/5. High in protein and high in carbs, with decent fat values.

Value for money: 3/5. These bars are a little expensive in my opinion.

These are great tasting, nutritious but rather small protein bars. Recommended!

Here’s more evidence that eating fruit does not make you fat: Canadian pro fitness model Erin Moubray looks absolutely stunning, and she follows Dr. Doug Graham’s 80-10-10 diet, a carbohydrate rich diet that prescribes a high fruit intake, and a low intake of both fats and protein. Throw that in the face of the next neanderthal theoretician who tells you to avoid eating fruit if you want to look your best, or that low carb is the only way to go if you want to lose that last bit of body fat. More and more people are discovering the insane benefits of following a raw vegan diet, and with any luck silly myths like those will be put to rest soon. Unlike most fitness competitors and bodybuilders, she also uses no supplements.

In the video Erin Moubray discusses how the 80-10-10 has helped her, and made her feel even better than the previous high fat raw vegan diet she was on (which was, admittedly, more along the lines of the diet we discussed here in our raw vegan bodybuilding article a few weeks ago).

If you’re a fitness competitor, bodybuilder – or any kind of athlete – following a raw vegan diet, we’d love to hear from you, as we plan to discuss the virtues – and also the challenges – of this way of eating more in depth in the near future. We’re pretty excited about this stuff, to say the least. It’s had a radical impact on our views on nutrition, health and performance, and while we’re not yet 100% raw vegan ourselves we’ve had great results from eating mostly raw plant foods for long periods of time. Try it yourself – you might be very surprised by the results you’ll get.

Anyway, do watch the video, and if it inspires you to check out more 80-10-10 raw vegan videos visit Dr. Douglas Graham’s FoodnSport Youtube Channel.

As I’ve mentioned here on a couple of occasions already, I get sick of protein drinks sometimes. I had my first protein drink (actually, that would be a weight gainer drink) in the late eighties, and only God knows how many I’ve had since then. It is only fair that I never stick to the same product, but instead mix things up constantly and try new brands on a regular basis. And that’s why a can of Nanox Protilox now sits in my supplement cabinet.

Nanox Protilox is a basic whey protein concentrate, and therefore the least expensive protein supplement currently manufactured by Nanox Nutriceuticals. Nanox also make a high end whey isolate powder they call Varcil R2, as well as the protein blend product Orbilox, which consists mostly of micellar casein with some whey and egg albumin mixed in (Orbilox is something you might very well want to check out, seeing as casein may actually be a more potent muscle builder than whey). On the label of my Protilox can it says that the product contains both whey concentrate and isolate, but judging by the nutritional profile of this product I do get the impression that the manufacturer has saved most of their whey protein isolates for their other, more expensive protein supplements.

Taste, Mixability, Ingredients & Nutritional Profile

This product comes in four different flavors, namely Belgian Chocolate, Strawberry, Cappucino (yay, that’ll be one to try out), Vanilla and something they refer to as Belgian Speculaas (sorry, I have absolutely no idea what that is). I’m currently on the strawberry one, and I would refer to this version of Protilox as good, but not great tasting. It’s a little too artificial, and I’m not sure Nanox did the right thing by using just one type of sweetener, as the use of two different sweeteners usually results in a rounder taste (Protilox is sweetened with Sucralose, and is therefore an aspartame-free protein powder). I do enjoy my protein drinks made with this supplement, but they’re not tasty enough to create a, ahem, dependency (which I am embarrased to admit has actually happened in the past with other products). If I buy this product again, I will try a different flavor, and probably won’t miss this one all that much. Don|t get the wrong idea here, though: I do like the taste, I just don’t find it spectacular.

While this protein supplement may not taste quite as great as, say, Scitec’s Protein Delite or BSN Syntha-6, it is easily superior to those guys nutritionally. Protilox comes with 77 grams of protein per 100 grams, as opposed to Protein Delite’s 65 grams and Syntha-6 not-so-impressive 50 grams (which almost puts that product in the weight gainer category).  77% protein per weight is pretty much spot on for a whey protein concentrate, and quite typical for a product belonging in this category. As for grams of protein per calories, consider this: a 30 gram Protilox serving comes with 116 calories, and 23.5 grams of protein. To get the same amount of protein from a serving of Syntha-6 you’d have to use 50% more powder. That means your serving would also give you more than 200 calories, and probably hit your wallet a little harder too. In other words, you get a lot more protein per calorie with Protilox than you get with Syntha-6, and perhaps more protein for your buck as well.

The mixability of this powder is great. It easily falls into the easily-mixes-with-a-spoon category, even though I’d rather use a blender, shaker or a stick mixer (and I do, most of the time).

Ingredients: Whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolate, flavoring, sweetener (sucralose), colorant (red beet powder). Contains soy lecithin and traces of lactose.

Nutritional values: A 30 gram serving of Nanox Protilox contains 116.5 calories, 23.5 grams of protein, 2,2 grams of carbohydrates (chocolate and cappuccino flavors have  roughly 1 gram less, while the vanilla flavored version has about the same) and 1.68 grams of fat.

Nanox Protilox comes in 900 gram and 2 kg containers.

Don’t Judge a Company by Its Age?

Talking to a supplier, I was informed that Nanox have only been in business for about three years, so it’s a pretty young company. They do seem quite ambitious, though, and some of their supplements, like their Androx Q12 Testosterone Booster (which we wrote about just a few weeks ago) has caused a bit of a stir, and actually seems like a really great product. It is my honest impression that the good people at Nanox are doing their best to establish Nanox as a quality manufacturer of nutritional, bodybuilding oriented sports supplements. For that reason, I’ve decided to review a few more of their products, beginning with their Isolox Bars (here’s a preview: they’re not that big, but they taste great). In our Whey Protein Buyers Guide we ask you to look for a reputable manufacturer, and I think Nanox Nutriceuticals belong in that category.

Unfortunately for our non-European readers, Nanox products may be hard to get hold of for the moment, as this manufacturer seems to focus mostly on the European market at present.

If you’re after a basic, high quality whey protein powder, you’ll do well to check out Nanox Protilox. It does taste good, it’s easy to mix, and the price is fine – this does’t come across as a cheap product in any way whatsoever. We are happy to recommend it!

Here’s one of the silly things most of us are forced to bear witness to in the gym on an all to regular basis: Some kid (or adult beginner) lies down to do a set of bench presses. His training partner stands over him, ready to help him squeeze out a few more extra reps by pulling lightly at the bar when the trainee can’t performa another repetition unassisted. That is, after all, what the spotter should be there for: to extend the set beyond it’s normal range of repetitions, and make the set harder than the trainee could possibly do on his own. However, what tends to happen instead is this: The trainee performs a few reps, and then – before any sign that the trainee is actually reaching momentary muscular failure - the idiot spotter starts pulling at the bar. The result, of course, is that the spotter gets some unscheduled trapezius work done, while ruining the bench pressers set. The bench presser never had to perform even one really hard rep on his own. Bummer. It happens in gyms across the globe every single day.

How to Actually Perform a Set of Forced Reps Properly

A properly performed set of forced reps can be a great way to extend a set and make an exercise harder. It is performed like this: The bench presser performs eight reps. By himself. By the time his arms finally straighten out on that last rep, it should be abundantly clear that he is struggling, and that the likelihood of another unassisted rep is close to slim and none. And when he lowers the bar on for the ninth rep, he is unable to get it all the way back up again. This is where the spotter steps in. Not before. The spotter starts giving his friend just enough help to squeeze out another two to five repetitions, and they rack the bar.

The trainee has just completed an extremely intense set of bench presses. So intense, in fact, that it would be silly to attempt it too often. However, had the spotter stepped in too early and started pulling at the bar while the trainee was still able to finish reps on his won, the use of the forced reps technique would have had the opposite effect of what was intended: It would have been an easier set to perform than a normal, straight set of just 8 reps.

Don’t Ruin Things for Your Training Partner

So attention, spotters out there: Let your training partner do as many reps as he can before you start messing with his set. If you start pulling at the bar when he is still able to complete the rep on his own you are standing in the way of the results he’s after. Don’t give help where help is not needed.

Just to be clear, we’re just talking forced reps here. The same rules don’t apply if, say, one is doing a set of negatives. And we’re not just talking about about forced reps when bench pressing, of course. The bench press is just a good example, because of the fact certain individuals get up to so much silly stuff when benching; the misuse of forced reps is just one thing. Stuff like using the suicide grip and using two spotters, with one on each side of the bar (doing so may on occasion actually be a necessity, but it can create serious balancing problems) is potentially dangerous, and thus even sillier. While misusing a technique like forced reps can lead to lackluster results, it obviously doesn’t hold a candle to what injuring yourself seriously can do.