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UK
Bodypower Magazine
“California Carrero”
Art Zeller Interview with Joe Carrero
Photography by Art Zeller
Art Zeller: Well, here I am on another beautiful West Coast day, this
time talking to a young man who has recently been doing well in
California Bodybuilding. He told me earlier that he originally hails
from Brooklyn and Staten Island, New York, but now resides here in
Sunnyvale, California. Let’s get straight to the nitty-gritty, how long
have you been training Joe, and why did you start?
Joe Carrero: Let’s see, I started when I was thirteen; I’m twenty six
now, so about thirteen years I guess. When I began I trained at various
New York gyms, Mario Strong Gym, Iron Den Gym, R & J Health Studio and
Sports World. I worked out in New York right up to the point where I
moved here in May of 85’. Why did I start? (A.Z. Joe looks thoughtful.)
I have to credit that to good old Arnold, I just happened to pick up a
copy of Muscle Builder magazine and there were three shots of him on the
cover, side chest, most muscular and biceps pose. I did not know until
now that you actually took those photographs! I played baseball in
school but was not very good, I tried out for the football team but was
too small, and I played street hockey, but it didn’t give me the buzz
that I was looking for. So it was a combination of not being real good
or enjoying any particular sport, and being picked on because of my
size, that made me want to look like Arnold. I knew because of my
height, (5’4” at the time), that I wouldn’t be able to influence my
growth in that direction, (Joe points to the sky), but I could
definitely increase my width!
A.Z.: Who taught you what to do once you had a barbell in your hands?
J.C.: Okay, the first few months all I did was ten sets of bench press,
and ten sets of barbell curls. My chest and biceps responded
immediately, but nothing else did, so I put together a full body routine
by reading magazines and taking a bit from Franco Columbo, Frank Zane
and Arnold’s schedules. By the time I was fifteen I entered my first
show, the Mr. Staten Island, but unfortunately they didn’t have a
category for teens. There were twenty two competitors and the next
youngest to me was twenty one years old. I placed second overall! That
evening they had the top three winners of all five boroughs including
Mr. Staten Island competing for the Mr. New York City. Back then it was
popular to give out awards for body parts, I won three, best back, best
poser and best abdominals.
A.Z.: That must have been an exciting night, particularly since it was
your first competition! What was the reaction of your family and
friends?
J.C.: Although my family was very proud that I won, they could see how
fanatical I had become and were concerned. I think it is important to
have the support of people around you, and I am lucky to have the
support of my family.
A.Z.: Tell me about your training philosophy, what you do and why?
J.C.: Over the years I’ve used every routine that you can possibly think
of, but I’ve now nailed it down to where I know exactly what I have to
do both in the gym and at the dinner table. I train on a four days on,
one day off principle, first workout being quads and hamstrings by
themselves, fifteen sets per muscle group. The second workout is chest
and triceps again fifteen sets of each, and also on that day I train abs
doing eight sets comprising of about fourteen hundred reps. My abs are
thick enough, so I never add any weight. Back and biceps are trained on
day three, again fifteen sets per muscle group.
Finally on day four I do shoulders including direct trap work and finish
with calves and thirty minutes of cardio work. I do not believe that
just because your lats are a large muscle group and your biceps
comparatively smaller, that the biceps would require less sets because
of there size. I always train the body symmetrically, doing the same
amount of sets for each area.
A.Z.: I always ask people who train similar muscle groups together how
they justify doing so. Do you not find that your arms are burnt out
after fifteen sets of back work?
J.C.: Actually their not. I do my fifteen sets of back work, rest for
about a quarter of an hour, then get right in there and just blast away
on the biceps. I’ve found that this is the ultimate way for me to train.
I do more demanding muscle groups first, and then the secondary muscle
group is thoroughly warmed-up and ready to go! By the fourth workout of
the week, my body is all burnt out, so by training the two smallest
areas, delts and calves, this gives all of the other large muscle groups
a break. The body parts are always trained in the same order, but I
never know which exercises I am going to use until the evening before,
or the actual morning of the workout. I generally do five sets of three
different exercises, but again this may change when I am actually in the
gym. Maybe I’ll do a leg workout today, which will differ from the next
leg workout. I always do fifteen sets, not sixteen or fourteen, fifteen
is the number, so I may start by pre-exhausting my quads with five sets
of leg extensions, the do ten sets of hack squats to finish. The next
time might be, three extensions, four hacks, four squats and finish with
four more extensions, it changes every time. By using this method I
never have to worry about getting stale, because every workout is
different. It would really freak me out to have to go in and have to do
the same routine over and over again. Variety keeps interest high, and
the body growing! I’ve been doing a lot of super sets recently, by that
I do not mean the conventional way of hitting one muscle group and then
immediately moving on to another. I believe that super setting should be
concentrated in one area only, for instance I’ll do a set of barbell
curls then follow it immediately with seated dumbbell curls. That really
hits the biceps!
A.Z.: What about your diet, what works for you?
J.C.: I still believe in bulking-up in the off season, I feel that a
good fifteen or twenty pounds of body fat will help keep the muscles
full, you’ll be less prone to injury and the tendons will be
“lubricated” when lifting heavier weights, and that’s what builds the
muscle tissue. I never crash diet, I start cutting my calories about
four months out from a show, dropping about one hundred calories per
day, until the last eight weeks when I enter the twilight zone of living
hell, and carb deplete all the way down to four days before the show
when I load up. I know that some people do not hold with the idea of off
season bulking, but I’ve been up to two hundred twenty five pounds of
bodyweight on my height of 5’6”. I was a little smooth okay, but a real
power house!
In fact I did a little powerlifting, the guys in the gym were saying
that as I was so strong in the off season, why not try my hand in a
strength meet? So just as a joke I entered the Novice New Jersey
Powerlifting Championships in the 220 lb. Class, weighing just about 218
lbs. When I arrived at the meet, all the other powerlifters said, “Oh,
look it’s a Bodybuilder, come over here and I’ll show you how to put a
weight lifting belt on!” Man, they gave me a hard time, but that was
until we started lifting and I won my weight division! I managed a 655
lb. Squat, a 450 lb. Bench Press and a 660 lb. Deadlift! They shut up
like clams!!
A.Z.: So what does you diet consist of?
J.C.: In the off season, I keep the calories real high depending on the
day, usually between five and seven thousand calories rich in protein
rich foods. Just prior to a show it’s a completely different story. I
eat very, very clean. I believe in eating like the Gladiators did
thousands of years ago having just single ingredient foods such as
seafood, egg whites, grains, nothing with any additives at all. I’d like
to eventually enter the pro ranks, I have been successful in most of my
competitions, it’s just a matter of time! Every time I go into the gym I
try to make it harder for myself, Bodybuilding is one of those sports
where you can never afford to cruise. Take the foot off the gas just for
a minute and everyone overtakes in the fast lane. I would never permit
that to happen!! |
