How I Mastered A Monster Bench

Time and time again I'm questioned on what type of training routine I did as a teen in order to capture two world records in the bench in the 220 pound class (with a 510- and 575-pound bench), then set a new world record at 610. I remember getting a call from Joe Weider asking me if I would be interested in doing a series of articles for Flex on how I took my teen world records. Of course I didn't hesitate to take Joe up on his offer.

Joe asked me about the type of training I did and if I ever considered getting into bodybuilding. At the time I was skeptical. I couldn't see myself going from football player, Golden Glover, and power lifter to getting on stage half-naked in a Speedo. But Joe said, "In all reality, Eddie, you will not make millions in power lifting, but you may have a shot at it with a bodybuilding career. You have the genetics and the brute strength to be one of the greatest."

Needless to say, Joe was right. I took his advice and transformed my body and training. Eventually, I had a twelve-year contract with Joe and a history of being featured on over 75 national and international magazine covers and over 250 training articles over the course of my IFBB Pro career. Many times I have sat down with Joe Weider (aka The Master Blaster) and Dr. Fred Hatfield, both of them firing questions at me, asking me what kind of training I did to achieve my records. And I will tell you now just as I told them. The answer to this question is quite simple, Balls. That's right Balls. In order to accomplish anything in life you've got to want it. I don't care what routine you use, who is training you, or what principals you are using, you flat out just have to want it. You need genetics and the no-holds-barred attitude to destroy anything in your way to get it.

First of all, I don't feel anyone can become a champion without genetics and the drive to win. I started out at the young age of 10 playing football as a fullback and halfback, and boxing in the Golden Gloves in Akron, Ohio all the way through high school. Both sports are explosive sports, one to explode off the line and the second to explode with a cluster of punches to make your opponent see a flock of seagulls. Incorporating these two sports into my life as a youngster gave me the explosive training power to master the bench press along with the training regimen that enabled me to win the Mr. USA and Mr. America titles, as well as a place as one of the top 10 athletes in the Olympia and IFBB for over twelve years.

Explosive training exercises are exercises that concentrate on hitting both "Red" and "White" muscle fibers, Red for endurance and White for explosive strength. In my training routines, I always incorporate high reps with low reps that consist of two types of workout. One would be (B Intensity) and the other (C Intensity) . [Note: "C" workouts are very high intensity and "B" workouts are moderate intensity.] This is the type of training I did even in high school. I remember all we had to train on was a Universal seven-station machine in our gymnasium. One day we would do low reps with heavy weight and the next we would combine high reps along with low reps with giant sets. For example, we would do machine bench as heavy as we could go for eight reps then incline for twelve and flat bench flys for 20 reps. This would be one set with no rest between sets, then we would repeat Giant Set 3x with no rest. I remember most players who trained with me during our lunch period lost their lunch by following these principals. The continuation of this type of training gave me the strength to be only student in the ninth grade to wear a 350-football bench shirt in all four grades. I was so proud to wear that big bench of 350 in the middle of that Coventry High football shirt. It landed me a seat at the seniors' lunch table and a date with the homecoming queen.

The other type of training that I incorporated was hitting the body bag for five 3-minute rounds. I did this every night for about 30 minutes after dinner. This training gave me great endurance by training the Red muscle fibers that are used for endurance. I always felt that by devastating the Red muscle fibers I was able to engorge the muscle with blood in order to feed the white muscle fiber that I had torn down by blasting my chest in school with the "C" workout.

The combination of hard training, good food, and the best top-of-the-line products (at the right price!) from my friends at ProSource have given me what it takes to punish my opponents!