Stuart McRobert, Ellington Darden and Bowflex training.

This article will tell you about the most significant works of the fundamentalists of modern bodybuilding, like natural, so steroid. We will analyze the similarities and differences between their conceptual solutions, but the truth, as is generally accepted, is somewhere in the middle, and it’s up to you to decide which side to take. So, David versus Goliath is the eternal confrontation between experienced theorists and seasoned practitioners. We begin…

1. What does Darden have that is worthwhile?
2. What do we know about McCutchen?
3. What else is interesting about Darden?
4. The next phase is “reverse bodybuilding.”

What does Darden have that is worthwhile?

In the interview given in previous articles on our site, listing the advantages of his book, Ellington Darden tagged the photos. This is true, there are plenty of photographs, they are as informative as possible.

Darden provides illustrations of exercises that almost exactly repeat exercises from the famous complexes of Joe Weider and Stuart McRobert, who is now not very rightly criticized by many domestic bodybuilders and “lifters.”

All exercises, as mentioned earlier, are performed Andy McCutcheon, whose muscles are not too hypertrophied, and this produces an aesthetic impression of neatness and restraint. In general, handsome Andy does not at all resemble the frantic Casey Viator.

Yes and on Constantina Demetrou he doesn't look the same either. Who is Demetrou? Cypriot from Nicosia, his father is Greek, his mother is German. It was Demetrou who is pictured doing all the weight training exercises in Stuart McRobert's book. Which book? Here it is: “An Insider’s Tell-All Hand book on Weight-training Technique” by Stuart McRobert, 1995. Our publishers translated the title as “Comprehensive instructions on the technique of performing physical exercises with weights.”

As is easy to see, Stuart MacRobert's book was published much earlier than Darden's book. McRobert's book has a total of 214 pages and 244 photographs (we'll look at it in more detail later). In all photographs, the exercises are performed by the above Konstantin Demetrou. In Darden's book, bodybuilder McCutcheon is depicted only 93 times.

Any unbiased person will most likely immediately note: Demetrou, as a bodybuilder, looks much more impressive than McCutchen. Compare, for example, the muscles of the legs.

And here’s what’s curious: Demetrou, before radiantly appearing before us in all his glory on the pages of MacRobert’s book, studied for about 8 years. Stuart McRobert immediately warns his readers - do not try to become the same in 8 years - nothing will work, because Konstantin’s father is Greek and his mother is German. That's why he turned out to be so handsome. The genes of the Greeks and the genes of the Germans in combination create such a genome.

What do we know about McCutcheon?

“I first picked up dumbbells back in 1984, when I was 18. Soon after, I started lifting weights in my parents’ garage basement.” He shares his memories on Ellington Darden’s website in the article “High-Intensity Training at Home.” It turns out that McCutcheon trained in his home gym his entire adult life.

In 1992, McCutchen moved to Portland, Oregon and began working as a technical project manager. He worked a lot, often spending 50 hours a week in the office. But despite this, I always found time to train - but again at home.

It turns out that Darden trained McCutcheon using his system for about a year - to photograph him for the new book “The New High-Intensity Training.” In general, McCutchen was genetically well suited for advertising the Bowflex Body Plan. But, probably, Darden was able to make it even better - during the filming of “New WIT”, McCutcheon, at the age of 38, weighed 83 kilograms with his height of 183 cm and had an amazingly minimal subcutaneous fat content - about 3.4% .

Would you like to know about Darden’s own complexes and the combinations of exercises he invented? You, dear reader, have seen so many of them on the pages of this site that it would be frankly overkill to list Darden complexes as well. If you want, read his “New VIT”.

What else is interesting about Darden?

Preference for everything - negative ways to load muscles - that is, lowering or holding the weight - we also saw this in Mike Mentzer, Brian Haycock and Stuart McRobert. And in general, this method of training has not been a revelation to anyone for a long time. And Darden himself, as they put it in ancient printed publications, “has a legacy” from Arthur Jones, from the distant 70s of the 20th century. And we have already read about “this” too. Although, to be honest, Jones was not actually one of the inventors of this “wheel”; he just took a creative approach to negative training.

So let's move straight to the next benefit - full body exercises. Ellington Darden - as well as Arthur Jones - clearly has a preference multi-joint (compound) exercises.

There is an urgent and convincing recommendation, which we have already seen more than once: it is impossible to separately build up small muscle groups in isolation without working out the large ones. Let's remember John McCallum's famous story about a policeman who loved to do squats with a barbell. That's right - only at the same time as the strength of the legs and back, the strength of the muscles of the whole body grew.

Brian Haycock - did he really do isolation exercises? Quite the opposite. And Brooks Kubik?! And Stuart MacRobert, in his “Comprehensive Guide,” was equally strict and categorical on this score. One of his chapters is literally called “The passion for isolating exercises alone is cancelled.” Stuart put it the same way: he says, if he gets into a whim on you, it seems to you that you won’t be able to live without isolation exercises - well, take a couple of episodes for yourself. But it is worth constantly remembering one most important axiom: the main goal in bodybuilding is a progressive increase in load in multi-joint exercises. Therefore, if you do not become stronger in multi-joint exercises, it means that your training is absolutely not working. Naturally, MacRobert does not mean some distant abstract compound exercises in general, but his own set of such exercises.

Darden - again, like Arthur Jones, is convinced that exercises should be performed not just slowly, but So slow, smoothly. After all, muscles receive the greatest number of injuries during the first repetitions of sets, when they are still full of strength and contract very quickly.

Well, and of course, Darden gives unconditional preference less trainingk - it’s better even two instead of three per week, and venerable bodybuilders can achieve the desired effect even with one workout per week.

And then Darden touches on NTF training. The third letter in the acronym, as we saw earlier, means Failure. In this particular context, this word means the impossibility of doing something, that is, refusal. So, Darden recommends, as an option to preserve the body’s regenerative ability, to periodically practice NTF. In practice, this means the number of repetitions in a set is 2 less than the “failure” number of repetitions. We have also already seen this - with the same Brian Haycock, for example.

But where Ellington is a true genius is in what he knows more firmly than all sciences - this is a strict and competent combination of a set of exercises and nutrition to “sculpt” the body. He has a lot of convincing examples where his theory works perfectly.

Here I would like to draw your attention to the advertisement for his book “The Bowflex Body Plan”:

"You:

1. Tired of your flabbiness?
2. Confused by the thick layer of fat around your waist?
3. Depressed while carrying excessive body weight?
4. Are you overwhelmed by the size of your hips?

... In just six weeks you will: Burn fat. build muscle. you will feel the difference.

Let Bowflex take care of the results for you. Do it today!

The vaunted exercise system Bowflex is based on the simple principle of a bow and arrow. Its patented Flexible and Strong Vine technology that bends and straightens to provide strength or resistance. This is a part of the workout that focuses on all major muscle groups. Combine Bowflex's recommended exercises with Dr. Ellington Darden's guidelines for nutrition, hydration, and rest, and you'll be well on your way to getting the results you've been striving for your whole life.

With a little discipline and patience, you will see that excess fat begins to melt away, revealing the strict lines of muscles. In just six weeks, a man can lose 35 pounds (16 kg!) of fat and 5 inches (12.7 cm) from his waist circumference. A woman will be able to lose 19 pounds (8.6 kg) of fat and 4 inches (10 cm) of her hip circumference. And both will be able to gain 3 pounds (almost 1.5 kg) of muscle. But, most importantly, you will gain the strength of experience, firmness, and your muscle tone will be higher than ever before.”

Honestly, I immediately wanted to sign up for the queue at Dr. Darden’s training complex.

As a seasoned expert in fat loss and muscle building, Darden broke the stereotypes that many bodybuilders were subject to. Previously, for example, it was believed that:

1. first you need to gain muscle mass, and only then burn excess fat;
2. food should be high in protein, but low in carbohydrates;
3. training should be long;
4. exercises should be separate;
5. training should be daily;
6. the rhythm of the exercises should be high;
7. the volume of water consumption does not matter;
8. The body's regenerative ability must be suppressed.

1. first you need to burn excess fat, and then build muscle;
2. food should be high in carbohydrates, but low in protein;
3. training should be short in duration;
4. exercises should work all the muscles of the body;
5. You need to train no more than three times a week;
6. exercises must be performed slowly;
7. you need to pay attention to water consumption;
8. The body's regenerative capacity must be high.

In Florida, Darden met a young man named David Hadlow who worked in a fitness center. And here there was a curious situation when the shoemaker walked without boots, and the doctor had to heal himself. With a height of 182 cm, David weighed 99 kg and had an extra 28 kg (!) of fat, having a subcutaneous fat content of 28.4%. How to get out of this situation? Darden began applying his training system to Hudlow.

1. First, a strict diet. A little less than 3000 kilocalories per day from food, divided into approximately five meals. The content of fats and proteins in food was reduced. The bread must be coarse.
2. Secondly, superhydration - you need to drink at least 4.5 liters of fluid per day. In this case, the liver will not take over the function of the kidneys at all, but will go directly to its job - it will process fats.
3. Regarding the exercises performed, see above.

After three months, David Hadlow's body fat dropped from 28.4% to 5% (!)

But this is only part of the program.

The next phase is “reverse bodybuilding.”

ABOUT creatine You and I already know firsthand. Darden makes an excellent comparison - in the human body, creatine performs approximately the same work as the cylinders in a car engine.

In Hudlow's case, the decision was made to use creatine monohydrate. Darden recommends consuming creatine as follows: per 3.8 liters of water, 20 to 30 grams of creatine (depending on body weight, 30 grams if you weigh more than 100 kg) and 104 grams of sugar. Everything is thoroughly mixed, shaken, dissolved. The mixture should be consumed internally within 14 hours.

After three months of training, Hadlow received a rest break for two weeks, then continued training according to the system. The exercises used were almost the same, with minor changes - in the direction of increasing negative exercises.

As a result, Hadlow was able to gain 8.4 kg of solid muscle in 14 days, while his body fat remained at 5%.

This was followed by two additional stages aimed at “finishing” the result obtained and working out small muscles.

But - the most important thing! - only creatine, no steroids! As you can see, it is not at all necessary to stuff yourself with all sorts of chemicals. And with the use of today's fashionable natural bodybuilding You can achieve amazing results with a well-planned approach to building your body! Don't switch! We have a lot more interesting things for you!