Gun shop: N.R.A. stands for no rest allowed, as a quintet of bodybuilders arm-wrestle barbells and dumbbells after the Night of Champions

Muscle & Fitness, Sept, 2004 by Jeff O'Conncll

Thomas Bengali has the kind of profile minted on an ancient coin, pecs like a Roman breastplate and abs that could be slathered with tomato sauce and served as ravioli. He's from Italy and speaks no English, but curling an EZ-bar, he fits in surrounded by Tony Freeman, an African-American bodybuilder from Georgia; Darrem Charles, a Trinidadian based in Florida; George Farah, who's half Lebanese, half Sicilian and lives in upstate New York; and Lee Powell, from Britain. No translation needed as they urge on Thomas, who has just been nicknamed the Italian Stallion.

Bodybuilders come from far and wide to compete in physique contests, and these five found themselves in New York City for the 2004 Night of Champions. Their rankings were as scattered as their addresses, but a love for hard training and big muscles has propelled each here, now, albeit along unique trajectories. Before heading home, they've convened to train arms and shoot the s**t about what went down the night before-which has pleased no one except winner Melvin Anthony.

So they've all got that going for them: a slightly sour aftertaste that has nothing to do with their protein shakes.

Here's another commonality: People tend to think bodybuilders spend hours in the gym inventing new ways to attack their biceps and triceps, yet while they might array their workouts differently, most of them do the same things you or I do. They just do it better, whether through heightened focus, better form, heavier weights, more consistency or greater intensity. Few of them waste time on trying to reinvent the wheel.

So it is with these five men. Here, their consensus on arm training:

* The foundation of successful arm training is building the basic mass for the elbow flexors and extensors. This is best accomplished using conventional exercises: barbell and dumbbell curls for biceps; and dips, french presses, press-downs and kickbacks for triceps.

* Over time, you need to increase the intensity of your arm workouts to continue to achieve gains. One way to increase your intensity is to lift progressively heavier weights.

* Periodize your arm training. If you're going to train intensely, keep the volume down. If you're going to train strict, use lighter weights and increase your volume.

* Trial and error will eventually reveal the basic genetic shape of your biceps and triceps. Don't waste time trying to alter what your genes and chromosomes have directed.

Standing next to the Italian Stallion as he finishes his strict curls, Tony, who placed 10th the night before, no doubt remembers what's it like to be at the dawn of a promising career. Does he look vaguely familiar to you (other than the eerie resemblance he bears to actor Keith David, seen most recently in The Chronicles of Riddick)? In the early-to-middle 1990s, he marched through the amateur bodybuilding world like Sherman through Georgia. Weighing 160 at 21, he was moving serious weight by 28, having bulked himself up to 270 in the process. The three consecutive top-five finishes in the NPC Nationals under his belt suggested a star being born. Then the snake bit.

"I was doing inclines, and I was stronger than I had ever been that day," recalls Tony. "I did 405 for 12 reps and then 315 for 20, so I went back to 405 to see if I could do it for another 12 or 15. 'Cause it was so light the first time. I was listening to my ego."

He never saw it coming, perhaps because he had been taking paindulling meds for shoulder pain resulting from a car accident two weeks earlier. On the third rep, he heard a loud pop, the sickening sound of one of his pectorals tearing, at least partially. Rather than taking time off to have it repaired, Tony attempted to train around it while continuing to compete. But at the 1996 Nationals, he plummeted out of contention and then out of the top 15. As reality took hold, he slid into depression, cursing fate for his setback, not even stepping foot in the gym, let alone training.

It wasn't until 2000 that Tony opted for surgery, intent on competing again. Back in the gym in August 2001, he found that even in bodybuilding, the wisdom of experience could at least partially replace the raging T of youth. "I know how to make my arms grow now without trying to kill 'em," he says. "When I was younger, I thought that just training heavy was the key, but it's not. For me it was finding a weight that I could keep under control, and then eating for the size. Over years and years, it compounds, and then you end up where you are." In addition to one balls-out arm day a week, three exercises per, Tony also "taps" either biceps or triceps briefly after back.

To demonstrate, he picks up a barbell and reps for Hot 'Lanta.

"C'mon, brother, focus."

"Squeeze, squeeze."

"That's it, brother."

"Yeah!"

DIAPER DANDIES

Tony's strategy worked, as he won the Nationals in 2002, turning pro. This new lease has also extended to his personal life, mostly in the form of a new son, 6-month-old Antonio Xavier Freeman. "You can see all of his muscles in Pampers," says papa between heavy breaths. "He was a preemie, but he's quadrupled his bodyweight in six months. He has capped delts and biceps and traps, and in diapers he has abs, I swear to God."