AT THE HEART OF A CHAMPION

by Jim Cordova

The greatest champions in history viewed bodybuilding as much more of an art form
than a sport. Granted, the intense training, discipline, and pain they endured speak of
nothing less than athleticism, to be sure, but they went about building and carving
their physiques like any sculptor. They were very mindful of their exercise selection,
viewing each movement as specific tool, while choosing only those that were best
suited to fashion their physiques into something exquisite. And at the heart of it all,
they had a vision!

Judges evaluate a physique based on standards such as muscularity, symmetry, and

conditioning. You will find that the ideal combination of these qualities is embodied in
a single aesthetically-pleasing model. Whether you realize it or not, whenever you
speak of weaknesses, seek to attain a specific goal, or look upon a champion
bodybuilder or figure competitor in awe, you have the basic archetype of their sport in
mind.
The bodybuilders and figure competitors who have the greatest influence over their
physiques go about construction by making this image the underlying factor of every
single exercise and strategy in their routine. They don’t just hammer away in the
weight room and hope for the best. Rather, they are conscious of the fact that every
exercise and combination of principles therein will have a unique effect. Their regimen
consists of movements that form their bodies into something that will win titles, while
avoiding those that are counter-productive to this goal. Whenever I share this
perspective with my fellow bodybuilding and figure competitors, I find that it often
leads them to make considerable changes to both their presentation and training
approach!

I know I am going to shock the vast majority of aspiring champion bodybuilders when
I state that it is disadvantageous to maximize the growth potential of every muscle in
your body! By doing so, your physique will never take on the polished look where
every muscle flows together with aesthetic balance. After all, what is the point of
blasting your forearms to Popeye proportions if it ultimately does nothing more than
tarnish your front and rear-double-biceps poses by making your upper arms and delts
look smaller?

Your exercise selection should consist of movements that fashion your physique
according to the bodybuilding archetype. If a particular muscle group possesses
outstanding development compared to others, you would be wise to avoid making
them any larger until the others catch up. This will demand that you make
modifications to your training that will probably cause you to feel uneasy, but
increasing the size of your best bodyparts will indeed spoil your symmetry!

When training them, overall mass building should take a back seat to other objectives
such as region-specific accentuation, with your structuring the exercise selection,
principles, and strategies accordingly. At the very least, this will increase your
motivation to prioritize weakpoints, which is best achieved when working a muscle
group or even a particular region at the beginning of workout while organizing your
regimen so that you are fresh when doing so. All the while, the overall appearance of
your physique will in fact be improving according to the only standards that matter:
the judges!
Using myself as an example, I am currently easing off of upper-trap development. If
they become any larger, they will make my shoulders look narrower. Additionally, my
arms are able to grow beyond their current state of development quite easily. Yet,
improving my physique will entail that I avoid increasing their overall girth so that
they do not make my chest look smaller, particularly during my side-chest and front-
double-biceps poses. On a practical level, this means that I structure my exercises, sets,
reps, cadence, volume, and training frequency around maintenance, refinement, and
separation of the bellies. I will continue to train this way until I improve the growth
and development of my chest, with the primary goal being to match them with the
champions I have chosen to emulate.

If you look at the prototype of figure competition, you will note that she does not have
bulging pectorals, arched traps, wide soleus muscles, and lower lats flaring out like
rainbows under her arms. This is relevant to you as a figure competitor since there are
some muscles that you do not want to enlarge. With very few exceptions, your
training protocol should be very distinct from that of a bodybuilder and linked
directly to the figure archetype. Obviously, when you take into account body types
and genetic potential, this will mean that some figure competitors have different
workouts than others. Nevertheless, each should be tailored around attaining the
physique of a champion figure competitor.

Generally speaking, every exercise will cause a certain region to develop more than
others. If you find that you have dense fiber in the upper traps, you should be taking
precaution to minimize growth in this area. Oftentimes this does present a challenge,
such as in the case where you might need to add significant size to your side delt
region, which usually involves incorporating exercises such as the upright row.
Although some of the most effective versions inevitably bring the traps into play, you
could apply extra focus toward depressing the shoulders and take a wider grip when
performing them. Most certainly, you should avoid shrugs like the plague! The same
idea applies if you have low lat insertions but are integrating variables into your back
routine that will cause hypertrophy in this region. These are but two of many such
examples. Again, every single component of your training should revolve around
molding your physique according to the figure archetype.

Along these lines, I must cover two basic concerns that some of you may have in
mind. The first involves the fact that sound training is an ongoing science, of which
your knowledge should continually progress. As it stands, many of us consider certain
muscle groups to be genetically inferior since we blast them with incredible intensity
and yet they do not seem to respond like our super-star bodyparts. I speak from
experience when I state that, in many cases, the actual training technique is
responsible for sub-par development in these regions. With the right changes, they too
will grow to a respectable level. I only say this so that you keep in mind that this
article refers to the development of your physique at this very moment and with your
current level of training knowledge.

Second, your skeletal structure and genetic capacity will dictate your potential to build
a top-level physique. In this sense, you must make the best of what you have been
given and let the cards fall where they may with respect to contest placing. It is
imperative that you thoroughly assess your physique and training protocol before
concluding that you are unable to attain the quality of development in a given muscle
group required for top placement in a contest. Assuming that you have judiciously
analyzed the relevant components, I do not believe that you should stop overall
progression to match one or two genetically inferior bodyparts. Rather, I find that the
visualization strategy is best suited to focus on your super-star bodyparts so that they
do not get out of hand and mar the overall appearance of your physique. The point is
simply to do your best to achieve the optimal degree of balance to present yourself as
best as you can from every angle and during each pose relative to the ideal model of
your sport!

If any of my readers admire my physique, I must admit that I am honored! If you seek
to become the best you can be, maybe you will benefit if I fill you in as to how my
mind has worked throughout the years as I sought the same. In my own personal
quest to find the ideal physical image to emulate, I have chosen bodybuilders from the
70’s era, particularly Arnold Schwarzenegger, Frank Zane, and Mike Mentzer. I
selected these individuals because they had similar insertions, muscle bellies, and
skeletal structures similar to mine. Accordingly, I delved deep into their training
strategies, since these champions had surpassed the trial and error phase and had
found what worked best to maximize their development.
Likewise, if I found a pose that matched my physique, I twisted, turned, and tweaked
every tiny detail of my body to match it as best as I knew how. Aside from
incorporating and personalizing the wide-array of breathtaking free-style poses that
they were known for, I even paid close attention to the minor adjustments that they
made while hitting their mandatory shots. I took pictures and measured my progress
against specific poses. Once I identified where I fell short, I immediately adapted my
training to “fill in the gaps,” so to speak. On and on this went, and it still does today,
as I seek nothing less than to do everything in my power to present a masterpiece, and
one that blows the crowd away from the moment I step onstage! I have yet to reach
this and it is reasonable to assume that my genetics might prevent it from ever
happening. Even so, at the very least, I have no doubt that I will squeeze a few jaw-
dropping shots out of my body before all is said and done – I give it no choice!

In all seriousness, looking back at where I started, I can admit that I may have been a
bit naïve to believe I could attain such a physique reminiscent of the 70’s era of
bodybuilding, but I am glad I did. I have set nothing but extremely high standards for
myself since the day I touched a weight. This manifests itself through meticulous
examination, comparison, and research to ensure that I incorporate only the best
exercise, nutrition, supplementation, and presentation components as I progress
throughout my bodybuilding career. Although I have often stressed myself out to the
max, the end result of maintaining this mindset has served me well! If you are willing
to put in the same amount of effort, as in much more than any other bodybuilder or
figure competitor that you will ever meet, I can state with certainty that the same will
apply to you!