Heavy or Not?

I was reading an interview with Phil Heath. Referring to Ronnie’s trainings protocol, 180 kg for warming- up, 275 kg for 10 reps , 365 kg for 2 reps, training after training, year after year - squatting and deadlifting with 365 kg, bent over rowing with 180 to 225 kg.

” I do not know if it worth it,” says Phil Heath, ”I think I would say no. I think there comes a point when you say squats or bent-over rowing with four or five plates, is not worth that. That kind of training was also cool for Dorian (Yates), until he tore his biceps. Remain injury free is very important to me. I want to be healthy during my career and after my career. That does not mean that it is less important for me to be M. Olympia than it was for Ronnie. I just do not think you have to use all those insane weights.”

It is the old discussion: Do you need immense weights to build muscle? Known as Heavy Duty. Mike Mentzer was one of its first and most notable adepts. In the seventies these trainings protocols were the opposites of Arnolds. After that Dorian used the Heavy Duty system, but were Dorian is relatively healthy after his retirement, Ronnie is injured permanently.

Ronnie’s known and unknown injuries started in 1996:

“I had a herniated disk. I did that in 1996 and it just never really healed up. They never do. Once they pop out, they stay out.”

• December 2007 – Laminectomy of L4-L5 discs • July 2011 – Disc decompression of L3-L4 discs • December 2011 – Fusion of neck C4-C5-C6 • July 2014 – Left hip replacement requiring 2 screws • August 2014 – Right hip replacement requiring 4 screws • July 2015 – Fusion of L3-L4 discs

• February 2016 – inserting cages and screws

Ronnie on Instagram: “This is the hardware from my last surgery. What you guys are looking at is 11 hours of hard work neurosurgeons performed on my back. What you also see there is 6 hard titanium screws specially made for a rough and tough back like mine, there are also 2 large cages with plates separating both of them. The screws are screwed into my bones, very painfully if I have to say so myself. The cages are so big that the Dr had to open me up from the back to take out some hardware that was broken which caused me to have this surgery. So now I have incisions on my back and my side serratus. There are 6 screws here, 2 more and I’d have one for each Olympia. So let me ask you again, you still wanna be 8 × Mr Olympia? As you can see, the price you have to pay is pretty painful.”

The majority of acute low back injuries will get better on their own with no intervention within 4-6 weeks, but if it's a chronic problem, the muscles will begin to atrophy and weaken, making future back injuries more likely to happen.

Ronnie lives and breathes bodybuilding and he loves his fans, an example of his dedication is the following phrase after his hip replacements:

“One day I was in so much pain that I needed to slow my ass down and see a Dr. I replied to him that I was gonna roll with this pain until the wheels roll off and that's exactly what I did, made all my appearances until there was absolutely no cartilage left in my hips, and when it was impossible to walk I grabbed some sticks and on long distances I grabbed me a chair. There's no quit in a winner, winners never quit because quitters never win and that's what's up. I'm officially on my long road to recovery. I love all my family, fans, and friends and I wouldn't exist without you guys.”

In his training DVD “The Cost of Redemption” Ronnie carries out a barbell squat with 800 pounds (363 kg). With a pre-existing injury (herniated discs in his lower back), he wears a compression suit and places a weight belt tightly around his waist, creating a compressing effect that, coupled with the huge weight, could not have possibly been good for the state of his lower back — and subsequently the rest of his body.

Some of his other phenomenal lifts include: 800 pound (363 kg) deadlift and squat, 200 pound (91 kg) dumbbell bench press, 585 pound (265 kg) front squat14, 160 pound (72.5 kg) dumbbell shoulder press, 735 pound (333 kg) shrug and a 2,300 pound (1.04 tonne) leg press.

“So you guy’s still wanna be like me, you still want to have the same work ethic is I had. Well as you can see I’m 8 X Mr Olympia and I can’t walk. I endured an 11 hour major back surgery last Tuesday. Do I have any regrets?, if I had a chance to do it all over again would I change anything? Yes if I had a chance to do it all over again I would change one thing. That is when I squatted that 800lbs I would do 4 reps instead of 2, that is my only regret in my career. Those 2 reps I did still haunts me today because I know I had 4 in me but the coward in me only did 2. That is my only regret.”

R“Tryingou guys I would do from time to time. This is my first time on the treadmill and although I did 7 minutes, only 6 seconds was recorded. After I did those 7 minutes I was totally exhausted for the rest of the day. Just got my schedule for tomorrow and the treadmill is on it again. I will do much better the 2nd time around. I’m going for 15 minutes which means I will do 15 minutes or more. Pray for me y’all, I mean if you like. I will walk before I leave this hospital.”#yeahbuddy

Using insane amounts of steroids and growth factors changes your perception of pain and your mind-set and aggression towards training. It’s the T-feeling, you feel like being a superhuman capable of doing everything. If you combine those roids and growth with painkillers and other drugs, you can work your way through all levels of pain.

But pain is a warning signal, it warns you that you are ruining your body, you work too hard or too heavy, you are in constant pain, your joints, tendons and ligaments keep you from training, resting and sleeping, so you take more, and end in a vicious circle, that ruined many athletes from different disciplines. The semi-gods like Ronnie, but more so the unknown..

The First Signs

The human body is normally not symmetrical, very few are perfectly symmetrical on both sides.  Most people are already smaller on their left side. But bodybuilding focusses on perfect symmetry and aesthetics. Thus most bodybuilders strive to bring up lagging body-parts/ muscle groups. And Ronnie was mostly very symmetrical. Than fans noticed something disproportionate on Ronnie, it appeared that his left lat (latissimus dorsi) and triceps were atrophied.

Ronnie has had arthritis issues in his left elbow since 2000. He used a sleeve to compensate for the weaker left side. It looks like those issues gone worse and that could be one reason for atrophy.

The DVD’s "Relentless" and “ The Cost of Redemption” also show Ronnie using a compression sleeve on his left elbow when doing dumbbell bench presses. For heavy sets (anything more than 100 pounds, which most of his sets are) he uses elbow wraps over the sleeve. He uses dumbbells up to 190 lbs for 8 reps, both flat and incline.

In Relentless, after a set of dumbbell behind the head tricep extensions, you can hear Ronnie say, to the dude spotting him, "That side is my weak one!" and he is talking about his left triceps.

In The Cost of Redemption, Ronnie wears an elbow sleeve on his left arm during his barbell bench press. Without knowing the primary cause of Ronnie’s elbow pain, the support sleeve is more of a psychological benefit than physiological. In between sets, Ronnie can be seen pushing a weight stack pin into his left pec, an indication that he is attempting to alleviate tension and discomfort in his chest. The elbow and chest issues were signs of worse things to come, and both were apparent in 2003. It cannot be a coincidence that eventually his left lat and triceps would atrophy.

At the end of this blogpost I’ll post an explanation from an orthopedic surgeon about muscle atrophy in bodybuilders, I found on the net.

Know When To Stop!!

Many buff people identify themselves with their impressive bodies, like Ronnie says: Its who I am.” They can’t see themselves a “normal individual” let alone a normal senior citizen. When you lift yourself on stage year after year, there is a time fans make jokes about even the biggest bodybuilders, when the have to pay their dues, for all those years abusing all drugs, the dieting, the diuretics the.. Some call this stage “Palumboism” I believe the successful should stop on their top.

I”ll post some really true remarks from the discussionforums:

“ This is indeed very sad to hear. The man who was once at the pinnacle of the most prestigious bodybuilding show in the world, has now been reduced to a wheelchair. One can’t help but wonder the kind of thoughts that would go through your mind; you were the top bodybuilder for eight consecutive years, your combination of mass and muscle quality has not yet been equaled, nor the feats of doing 1-ton leg presses in preparation for a show.”

“Problem is that most bodybuilders have body dysmorphic disorder, so they are willing to put their bodies through all kinds of pain and do all kinds of damage to look like they want to.”

“Looks like Ronnie just can't accept the fact that Father Time doesn't make exceptions. He had bilateral hip replacements and 2 lumbar surgeries, and the dude was still hitting the iron hard afterward. I have to admit I thought that was pretty dumb.”

“The mindset that helped Ronnie become the greatest, is now becoming his worst enemy after retirement.... Ronnie's mindset made him a champion, but he is paying for it now.”

“Man, he should look after his health and well-being, say goodbye to the heavy barbell work for good, and stick to machines and cardio, like Cutler or Arnold, but I'm afraid he'll be squating and tbar rowing in no time.”

“You need to know when to let go. Especially when he has other responsibilities like kids. How well will he be able provide or be there for them in a wheelchair?”

 “I get that he doesn't have an "off switch" and being strong and big has been his identity for the past 25 years but if being unable to let that go is the issue, then he needs some kind of intervention and therapy. He is 51, with a literal bionic back and hips. If he can't see the big picture of health and well-being, then I honestly hope someone convinces him to get help. If his mentality really is, 'I will continue to lift heavy ass weight until it puts me in a wheelchair or kills me' then he has a serious identity and psychological problem.”

“He should be turning the page and opening a new chapter in his life as most pros do. Let go of lifting heavy weights and trying to big huge. I don't understand how he can continue to lift so recklessly following such major surgeries, causing more and more damage to his body.”

“All the best to him and his recovery but I really hope he actually listens to his Doctors and lays off lifting for a year and just does PT, walking and swimming. Then if he is able and cleared, move onto machine weights, high reps, low poundage. There is so much life left at 51. Just super sad to see. This is one of those things people need to understand. Weights can be HORRIBLE for you if you overdo it. Lifting heavy is neither smart, or needed. Lift light to moderate weight, with TOTAL control and focus on the contraction.”

The explanation of orthopedic surgeon Victor R.  Prisk, M.D

All bodybuilders strive for muscle hypertrophy-- making the muscle larger either by producing more contractile proteins or by fusion of growing myoblasts.  The opposite of this process, where the muscle gets smaller, is called muscle atrophy.   Muscle atrophy can have many causes-- injured limbs that are not in use, tendon tears and pain (tendinitis), or tendon ruptures that result in a failure of the muscle to lengthen and thus experience tension.  Remember, muscle stretch and tension are critical for stimulating muscle hypertrophy.  Tendinitis or muscle strains cause pain that limits the use of that muscle and thus decreases the amount of weight that can be used.  In bodybuilders, decreasing the heavy poundage stimulus can result in atrophy of that particular muscle group.  Similarly, arthritis in a joint where a particular tendon crosses can result in atrophy of the muscle belonging to the tendon.  This is due to the lack of range-of-motion and stretch of the muscle, and limited use of the extremity due to pain.   Since the lat crosses the shoulder joint, shoulder arthritis can severely limit the ability to perform lat-stimulating exercises.

Besides stretch and tension, a muscle needs constant stimulation by nerve endings.  Clearly, cutting or damaging a nerve can result in dysfunction, weakness, or paralysis of a muscle.  Stab injuries or direct trauma to a nerve may result in profound muscle atrophy that is potentially irreversible unless the nerve is repaired.  Furthermore, compression of a nerve can result in nerve dysfunction.  This compression can occur anywhere from the nerve's origin to its motor endplate on the muscle.