When these two Beasts enter the gym, they put knee pads on their elbows. To develop this upper body mass, you need a lot of volume, a brutal appetite, and a high pain tolerance.

Author: Vincenzo Mason

My trip to FIBO Expo 2017 in Cologne, Germany was full of discoveries. It was my first time in Europe, and this was my first international exhibition. In addition, for the first time in my life I trained with Roman Fritz, the representative of the Animal brand. Coming back in my mind, I can say that that training session was perhaps the most exciting part of the trip, and there were good reasons for that.

To be clear, training with a respected professional IFBB bodybuilder is not at all the same as training with the guys you know from your local gym. That being said, even other IFBB pros have told me that Roman is one of the most unstoppable guys they’ve ever met. And the best (or worst) thing was that I had to train with Roman at his home court in Germany.

Since the first workout was not my legs, I was not worried, at least not too much. With the exception of a few “flood sets” for calves – Roman’s choice as he tries to pull them up – it was an assault on the muscles of the upper body with the gas pedal to the floor. From the first repetitions, it became clear to me that there was still work to be done, but I was not going to turn on the back one.

Brutal workout in Simply Fit

On the city bus, Roman and I arrived at the Simply Fit gym in Cologne. I thought that we would do the shoulders and a little chest, but Roman had other plans. When we got to the gym, he told me that we would train the chest after we slightly knead the back – since it is the antagonist of the chest – and calves. Then we will squeeze all the juices out of our chest … and finish with a shoulder workout that evening.

Since I had not yet recovered from the flight and the change of time zones, and besides, I knew that today I would have to go deep into the body’s resources, a pre-workout was vital. For three months I alternated between Animal Fury and Animal Rage, taking one or the other, and then taking a month off from pre-workouts to avoid getting used to it. In addition, before long and hard workouts, I usually take a serving of amino acids with 30-50 grams of Universal Carbo Plus carbohydrates. I knew I was going to work to the limit, so the need for strategic refueling was clear.

Roman’s philosophy is to work two or three body parts in training, and so on twice a day. To most people, this amount of exercise for one day seems insane; he has listened to such remarks hundreds of times, but he has nothing to do with them.

“People will say that this is an excessive load. You start with the calves, then move to the back, and then do the chest. I’m saying that if you eat well and sleep enough, nothing will bother you. Trust me, there will be no overload, because of which you will not be able to build muscle, – he continues. – To hell . Feel the pain. Strive for it. “

Chest Workout “Pursuit of Pain” by Roman Fritz

Note. Start your workout with a general warm-up and specific warm-up sets for the target muscles. Warm-up sets are essential. The program lists only working sets.

Chase pain, find pain and become her friend

I live for training sessions like this. When Roman yelled at me, it felt like he could wake up the dead. But even with his screams in my ears, throughout the training I had to psychologically overcome myself and work through the pain that I felt. 10 sets of dumbbell bench press, then 5 multi-rep supersets of crossover and bench press data is more than what most people do in a week. I remember that by that moment I thought that the training was already coming to an end. I was wrong.

Roman saved the best for dessert. He made me do one of his favorite chest exercises: the dumbbell pullover. Exercise not only effectively works the chest and back, but also improves the mobility of the upper spine and shoulders. When performing a pullover, it is important to remember several important things: we keep our head and lower back below the bench, while stretching we take a deep breath and do not lose concentration for a second. Of course, the motivating support of a professional also helps to overcome the last repetition – or the last five repetitions, as in my case. I also didn’t want to knock out a tooth with a dumbbell, and that was also great motivation.

So what did I learn in Cologne? I flew halfway across the globe to learn a lesson: you must chase pain. And when you overtake it, you have to go through it. Improvements come in extra reps, in extra sets that you thought you didn’t have the strength to do. I know that I will continue to train with the intensity that I discovered in Cologne. Hopefully one day I can return the favor to Roman and practice him here on Long Island.

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