Newsletter

Art Zeller
Newsletter No. 3  

Make a Muscle. Anyone who has been weight training for a period of time to where you have begun to transform your body to the extent that friends, family members and even strangers we encounter in everyday life take notice, has at one time heard this request. What I find very intriguing is that everyone knows exactly what is implied with this request; Flex your Bicep. Not flex your quadriceps, or flex your deltoids, or even flex your triceps, which incidentally make up for approximately 2/3 of ones upper arm size. No, just Flex your Bicep? As if at sometime, somewhere, someone created this very simple, vague request and by definition we all know what is being asked of us?

When I began weight training at the very young age of 13, I did not have access to a gym with a variety of equipment to train various muscle groups from different angles to stimulate muscle growth. Access to a gym would come later, approximately one year later, when I joined my first gym, the Mario Strong Gym in Staten Island, New York. I remember very vividly using the weight set at home that my parents had purchased for me, and training the only two muscle groups that meant anything to me at this age; chest and biceps. I wanted Biceps that looked like major league baseballs with the density of the hardest of rock, and a peak that resembled the tallest of mountains! This desire became even more engrained in my thinking process when I purchased my first Muscle Magazine called Muscle Builder. This particular issue of Muscle Builder, now called Muscle & Fitness, had a Bodybuilder on the cover striking three poses. This Great Bodybuilder was none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger! In one of the poses Arnold Schwarzenegger was flexing his right Bicep. It was a Bicep that was amazing; it was bigger than a major league baseball, appeared to have the density of the hardest of rock, and had a peak that was almost inconceivable for the eyes and the mind to comprehend! Of course this now became an obsession for me! I wanted Biceps like the Great Arnold Schwarzenegger! I began to read every Muscle Magazine that I could find, to learn what secrets, if any, were being withheld to attaining such impressive Biceps. Over the years I was able to learn from the Austrian Oak, Arnold, as well as learn what exercises and routines many other top notch Bodybuilders were performing to create Biceps that would be the envy of all of my peers, and the fear of all of my competition!

I soon discovered that there are numerous exercises that one can conduct to stimulate muscle growth to achieve ones objectives and goals. In my opinion however, when it comes to training Biceps all of the exercises are put into one of three categories: mass, shape and peak. The routine that I have listed below in this Newsletter is specifically designed for the individual whom considers themselves an Intermediate Weight Lifter, and can perform the various mentioned exercises with the strictest of form and correctness without a detailed description of how to perform each movement. Remember always to stretch and warm up properly before beginning any intense weight training program.

One of my favorite photographs ever taken of my Biceps was photographed by the Great Art Zeller during a photo shoot at World’s Gym in Venice California after I won the 1990 California State Light-Heavyweight Championships. This photo of me performing Dumbbell Concentration Curls appeared in the UK Body Power Magazine in an article by Art Zeller about Joe Carrero. Ironically Arnold Schwarzenegger was on the cover! This photograph is also in my personal Gallery Link for everyone to see. I would later discover that not only was Arnold on the cover, but the photograph of Arnold Schwarzenegger that inspired me at such a young age to train like a champion and create the Biceps that I had envisioned in my mind, was also taken by the Great Art Zeller! Fortitude Creates Champions!