CATALYST TRAINING BODYBUILDING FROM THE FUTURE

BODYBUILDING FROM THE FUTURE Key Principles: 1. On a monthly calendar basis, you choose up to three muscles which you would like to experience accelerated, visible muscular growth. 2. You work those designated muscles twice a week with workout styles and intensity of your choice with an average of three days of rest in between. 3. One day per week you do an easy maintenance workout for all the muscles you are not focusing on that given month. Any individual who has ever done a size specialization routine the RIGHT way (attacking select muscles for a month or so while taking it very easy on the rest of your body) knows firsthand the progress experienced is phenomenal. This is due largely to all your rest, supplements, food, etc going towards only those targeted muscles. Arnold Schwarzenegger used specialization many years ago to improve his lagging legs when he came to the U.S.A. so they would be in proportion to his massive upper body. Additional proof this concept works is found today in every decent sized gym in the world that has at least one or two guys who have huge arms and chest (or whatever), but no other development to speak of. It is due to the similar factors that make specialization routines work so well in that all their recovery is going to just those select few muscles they are actually working. What I am proposing is harnessing the accelerated growth and recovery specialization type routines produce, and cycling this on a monthly basis over the entire body. This will allow you to experience the best gains of your lifeyear round. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Catalyst is a workout system now being released worldwide to the public that will, among countless other things: 1. Give you visible muscular gains on a monthly (if not weekly) basis. 2. Reduce the number of days per week you need to lift (freeing you up to recover and grow). 3. Prevent new injuries and help old ones heal. 4. Enable you to look forward to every workout like you used to do when you first started working out. 5. Make you the envy of other gym members still using traditional workout routines. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Catalyst (definition) =A process which modifies and increases the rate of reaction. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HISTORY: I have spent the last 20+ years visualizing, developing, implementing, testing, refining, and now finally publishing the Catalyst system. The principles you are about to discover have been proven with select clients and fellow gym members who trusted me to show them a better way. PREREQUISITE: Think outside the box. Free your mind, and the mass will follow. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE CATALYST SYSTEM

Before you embark on your journey towards unprecedented phenomenal muscular growth, I highly encourage you to completely take a full week off from the gym. This is to give your mind and body a chance to recover before you begin the Catalyst system. As you will soon discover, one of the main reasons this workout system is so effective is because it accelerates your recovery ability past previously known limits. This is known as The Catalyst Effect. ~~~~~~~~~~~ THE ROUTINE One of the most empowering aspects of the Catalyst system is that you can incorporate your favorite existing growth routines into its framework. Think of Catalyst as the Operating System like Microsoft Windows, and the workout routines within it as software programs like Word or Excel. For example, say you are a fan of Steve Holmans Positions of Flexion (POF) workouts as well as Eric Brosers Power/Rep Range/Shock (PRRS). Now you can have the best of both worlds. Here is an example week for someone who has chosen to have their focus muscles be chest and triceps for a given month:
Tuesday POF Workout: 5 minutes easy cardio warmup *Incline Bench (BB or DB) 3 sets X 8-10 reps Flat DB Flyes 2 sets X 8-10 reps Cable Crossovers 2 sets X 10-12 reps Decline Skull Crushers 2 sets X 8-10 reps Tricep Pushdowns 2 sets X 10-12 reps *=Do two warmup sets of exercise, not included in set total listed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thursday Sample Maintenance Workout: 5 minutes easy cardio warmup Leg Press 2 sets X 10-15 reps Stiff Leg Deadlifts 2 sets X 10-15 reps Standing Calf Raise 2 sets X 15-20 reps Lat Pulldowns 2 sets X 10-15 reps Seated Cable Row 2 sets X 10-15 reps Standing Shrugs 2 sets X 10-15 reps Standing Lateral Raises 2 sets X 10-15 reps

Preacher Curls 2 sets X 10-15 reps Abs ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Saturday PRRS Shock Workout: 5 minutes easy cardio warmup *Incline Flyes 2 sets X 8-10 reps supersetted with BB Bench Press 2 sets X 8-10 reps Smith Machine Incline Bench 2 sets X 8-10 reps supersetted with Pec Dec 2 drop sets X 6-8 reps Close Grip Bench Press 2 sets X 8-10 reps supersetted with Two Arm Overhead DB Extension 2 sets X 8-10 reps Tricep Pushdowns 2 drop sets X 6-10 reps *=Do two warmup sets of exercise, not included in set total listed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So you can see from this sample week you attack chest & tris with POF on Tuesdaydo your easy maintenance workout for the rest of your body on Thursdayand then pound chest and tris again with PRRS on Saturday. Depending on your work schedule, you could do the week above on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I personally have discovered over the last couple of years that weekend workouts can be some of the best workouts you will ever havebut I will save that for a future article. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE MAINTENANCE WORKOUTS The maintenance workouts will probably be the toughest psychological aspect of this system. I say this because so many trainees today have been programmed to think if they are not pushing themselves hard during a workout, it is wasted effort. The maintenance workouts are literally just thatyou are using them to simply maintain the development you have for all the other muscles you are not focusing on in a given month. You are NOT trying to induce hypertrophy, merely keeping away muscular atrophy. Read, re-read, and then read again those last two sentences as they summarize one of the most important and powerful aspects of the Catalyst system. The exercises listed above for the example maintenance workout are just that, examples. What I have found to work well for many trainees is to intentionally change the exercises you do in your maintenance workouts on a weekly basis. Or maybe one week, do all machine exercisesthe next do all dumbbell exercisesthe next do all barbell exercises, and so on. It takes a lot less work than what most trainees think to maintain your existing muscular size. If you bench press with 200 lbs for sets of 8-10 during a normal workout, use 100-150 lbs for a maintenance workout. In general, you want to be using approximately 50-75% of your normal weights for all exercises

in your maintenance workouts. Againyou are just maintaining the musculature. Many (most?) people are overtrained and they do not even realize it, so maintenance workouts may indirectly produce some growth in areas you are not even focusing on in a given month while on the Catalyst system. If you have some weights at home, do your easy maintenance workouts there sometimes if your ego will not let you lift the light weights at the gym. Early on in my experimentation with my Catalyst principles, I decided to take that indirect growth theory to the extreme. One winter, for three whole months, I worked my legs very hard twice a week and did one easy whole upper body workout once a week. When I say easy upper body workouts, I mean really easy like using weights on exercises I would normally use just as warmup sets. Not only did my legs grow like crazy, but my upper body filled out somewhat as well. I knew I was on to something after that happened! I will go into depth on this topic in a future article as well. I know many of us learn best by example, so here I will outline an entire theoretical month of workouts for someone who has chosen to focus on their back and traps. For the sake of space, I will not elaborate on some of the various named workouts such as Heavy Duty II or Fiber Damage/Fiber Saturation, just utilize Google to learn more. I highly encourage you to do your homework as some of those programs are very specific in lifting tempo, emphasis on contractions, etc. An asterisk next to any exercise indicates two warmup sets should be completed prior to the work sets listed. This is an example month for someone who has at least five consistent years of educated lifting under their belt: MONDAY-- WEEK ONE 5 minute cardio warmup *Lat Pulldowns 3 sets x 8-12 reps Seated Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps Bent over BB row 3 sets x 8-12 reps Standing DB or BB Shrugs 2 sets x 8-12 reps Hyperextensions 2 sets x 8-12 reps WEDNESDAY (Maintenance workout for rest of body) 5 minutes easy cardio warmup Leg Press 2 sets X 10-15 reps Stiff Leg Deadlifts 2 sets X 10-15 reps Standing Calf Raise 2 sets X 15-20 reps Incline BB or DB bench press 2 sets X 10-15 reps Flat DB flyes 2 sets X 10-15 reps Standing BB or DB shoulder press 2 sets X 10-15 reps Skull crushers 2 sets x 10-15 reps Preacher Curls 2 sets X 10-15 reps Abs

FRIDAY 5 minutes cardio warmup *Deadlifts 4 sets x 6-8 reps Standing DB shrugs 4 sets x 8-12 reps *Bent over BB row 4 sets x 6-8 reps Lat pulldowns 4 sets x 8-12 reps ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MONDAYWEEK TWO Positions of Flexion (POF) Pre-Exhaustion 5 minutes cardio warmup *Bent over bent arm lateral raises Supersetted with behind the neck pulldowns 2 sets x 8-12 reps One arm DB rows 2 sets x 8-12 reps Stiff arm pulldowns Supersetted with pulldowns to the front 2 sets x 8-12 reps DB pullovers 2 sets x 8-12 reps Standing DB shrugs 2 sets x 8-12 reps WEDNESDAY (Maintenance workout for rest of body) 5 minutes easy cardio warmup Squats 4 sets x 15-20 reps Seated Calf Raise 2 sets X 15-20 reps Flat BB or DB bench press 2 sets X 15-20 reps Incline DB flyes 2 sets X 15-20 reps Standing DB laterals 2 sets X 15-20 reps Tricep pushdowns 2 sets x 15-20 reps Standing BB curls 2 sets X 15-20 reps Abs FRIDAY 5 minutes cardio warmup Repeat Mondays workout with the exercises in the exact opposite order. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MONDAY---WEEK THREE Heavy Duty II workout 5 minute cardio warmup *Machine (ideally Nautilus) or DB pullovers Supersetted with undergrip pulldowns 2 sets x 6-10 reps Deadlifts 2 sets x 6-10 reps

WEDNESDAY (Maintenance workout for rest of body) 5 minutes easy cardio warmup Leg Extensions 4 sets x 20-25 reps Leg Curls 4 sets x 20-25 reps Donkey Calf Raise 2 sets X 20-25 reps Hammer Strength flat bench press 2 sets X 10-12 reps Hammer Strength incline bench press 2 sets X 10-12 reps Wide grip BB upright rows 2 sets X 10-12 reps Close grip BB bench press 2 sets x 10-12 reps Incline DB curls 2 sets X 10-12 reps Abs FRIDAY 5 minutes cardio warmup *Stiff arm pulldowns 4 sets x 6-10 reps (do each set as a drop set with two drops in weight) Hammer Strength pulldowns 2 sets x 8-12 reps Bent over undergrip BB rows 2 sets x 6-10 reps Seated rows 2 sets x 8-12 reps (do each set as a drop set with two drops in weight) *Deadlifts 2 sets x 6-10 reps ~~~~~~~~~~~~ MONDAY---WEEK FOUR Fiber Damage/Fiber Saturation (FD/FS) Workout 5 minutes cardio warmup *Deadlifts 2 sets x 3-4 reps DB shrugs 2 sets x 5-6 reps Close grip upright rows 1 set x 20-30 reps *Seated cable rows 2 sets x 3-4 reps Stiff arm pulldowns 2 sets x 5-6 reps DB pullovers 2 sets x 7-8 reps Smith machine bent rows 1 set x 20-30 reps Wide grip pulldowns 1 set x 30-40 reps WEDNESDAY (Maintenance workout for rest of body) 5 minutes easy cardio warmup Smith machine lunges 4 sets x 20-25 reps per leg Standing one leg calf raises 2 sets X 20-25 reps per leg Pushupshowever many sets it takes to get 50 total reps Front BB raises 2 sets X 10-15 reps Dips 2 sets x 10-15 reps DB Concentration curls 2 sets X 10-15 reps per arm Abs

FRIDAY 5 minutes cardio warmup *Standing DB shrugs 3 sets x 6-8 reps (do as drop sets with two drops in weight) Low pulley cable shrugs 2 sets x 8-12 reps Behind the back BB shrugs 2 sets x 10-15 reps *Trap bar deadlifts 2 sets x 6-8 reps Undergrip lat pulldowns 3 sets x 8-12 reps DB pullovers 2 sets x 8-12 reps Close grip seated rows 2 sets x 6-8 reps ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please note the exercises and actual workout days listed may be tailored to fit your preferences/work schedule. I know some people might benefit more by doing their routine on a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday split. Weekend workouts can be some of the most productive as you are not trying to summon up the courage to tackle the weights after working a ten hour day. Give it a try and you will see what I mean. AgainFree your mind, and the mass will follow. The exercises listed are ones I firmly believe in for building mass, but am not married to. Different people have different leverage points in the way they are built, and thus, respond differently to an exercise compared to the next person. That is why on many of the exercises listed you will notice both barbell and dumbbell as an option. Keep in mind most dumbbell exercises inherently recruit more muscle fibers than their machine (or barbell) equivalent as they require more stabilizing muscle fibers to keep the weights steady. More on this in a future article/post featuring a technique I have created called descending stabilization. Performance of most exercises should be done in an explosive (not swinging!), but controlled manner. By controlled I mean pulling the weight down in one to two seconds and returning it to the starting position in two to three seconds on lat pulldowns for example. This also is not set in stone, and I encourage you to vary the tempo at which you perform your exercises periodically as this is a phenomenally powerful growth factor which is often overlooked. Too many trainees (new and seasoned both) tend to only look at number of sets and amount of weight as variables to switch up in their workouts. If you research some of the aforementioned named workouts, the tempo will vary which is one of the main reasons to do your homework. The FD/FS workout for example will have you using a 2/4/1 tempo on exercises like dumbbell pullovers. A 2/4/1 tempo for that routine means lowering the weight in two seconds, holding it in the stretch position for four seconds before returning to the starting position in one explosive second. Fun. Now I realize some of you who just looked through the example month are thinking the maintenance workouts will not be enough to keep your existing mass in the other muscles of the body. Not to worry. What some of my clients like to do is to substitute a regular hard workout for one of the maintenance workouts right in the middle of each month. This gives your body a jolt and will most definitely keep atrophy away for those maintenance muscles, no doubt. In other words, you simply do the same exercises you would do in a regular maintenance workout, but increase the weights so they are challenging. This is a proven technique.

Another option is to increase the number of sets you are doing in all your maintenance workouts while keeping the weights low. Or you can reduce the time you rest between your sets. All viable choices. Try each of these suggestions to see what you are most comfortable with. Always remember these are MAINTENANCE workouts, and are intended to keep existing muscle mass, not to build. By the second week once you start using the Catalyst principles, you will notice strength increases even though you are not training specifically for that goal. This is another phenomenal side effect of the Catalyst system. Another one of the invaluable benefits quickly realized is you will actually looking forward to your workouts again. Staying hungry in this respect is what drives us to attack the weights as soon as we hit the gym door. If you have been working out for literally over twenty years as I have, you will soon know how great it is to rediscover this feeling again. Looking forward to every single workout instead of dreading them is a stimulating psychological benefit which must be experienced to be appreciated. Enjoy. Those of you experienced lifters who have developed nagging injuries that just wont seem to go away are the ones who I feel will benefit the most from implementing this system. As stated earlier, traditional workout routines have asked you to try to get all of the muscles in your body growing at the same time. Combined with one or more injuries, that expectation is often unfortunately the straw that breaks the lifters back, resulting in people quitting working out and falling into an ugly downward spiral. Catalyst asks you to focus only on a few muscles each month instead of the entire muscular system. This results in the Catalyst Effect of pronounced recovery acceleration that has cascading positive benefits on your body such as injury healing/prevention. For those of you who have had to alter or discontinue your existing workout routines because of injuries, this can be a lifesaver for you. Well you have been given a sample Catalyst month above, so now it is time for me to show you what an entire year might look like. A really nice feature of using Catalyst year round, is you can spend either part or all of a given year specializing on certain bodyparts. If you are one of those folks who has always worked their upper body much harder than their lower, and your legs look like pipe cleaners, Catalyst can help you look like Tom Platz in less than ninety daysjust kidding. But seriously, if your legs are small compared to your upper body, Catalyst is just what the doctor ordered. I did have one client back in 1999 that actually looked like two different people put together at the waist. He had the upper body physique of a national level bodybuilder, but the legs of someone who had never seen a squat rack in their life. By employing the Catalyst system for a solid year, he was able to bring his legs up to a very respectable level. This is an extreme example, but it goes to show how far you can take the principles outlined earlier. What I had him do is focus on his legs, and only his legs, every other month while rotating the various muscles of his upper body so he could keep the size he had. His year of the squats looked like this:

January=leg focus month February=chest and triceps focus month March=leg focus month April=back and biceps focus month May=leg focus month June=shoulders and traps focus month July=leg focus month August=chest and triceps focus month September=leg focus month October=back and biceps focus month November=leg focus month December=shoulders and traps focus month Now lets say you are not happy with your back and traps development. Your example year could look something like this: January=back and traps focus month February=chest, shoulders and triceps focus month March= back and traps focus month April= leg focus month May= back and traps focus month June= chest, shoulders and triceps focus month July= back and traps focus month August= leg focus month September= back and traps focus month October= chest, shoulders and triceps focus month November=back and traps focus month December= leg focus month You get the idea. If you have good symmetry, and just want to continue to add overall mass, split your body up into groups of two or three muscle groups, and just rotate your focus each month. On both example years listed, you notice I do not have the exact same focus muscles be the same for more than one month at a time. If you are age thirty or younger, you may be able to get away with putting the focus on the same muscles for two to three months at a stretch, then switching it up. Pay attention to how your body feels at the end of the first focus month, and make a decision based on that.