Info for those of us who aren't familiar.
Here is a video Recording from one of his good friends
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seERN8on3lU
Edit: found this for everyone!
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Who is "Iron Addict"
Nov. 11th 1968-sept 11th 2010
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Wesley Silveira—better known as “Iron Addict”—is a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA)-certified personal trainer who has been training people for a living for over 12 years. He is the owner of IronAddicts.com, A weight training, fitness, and fat loss internet forum that at the time of this writing receives between 150,000-200,000 unique readers per month. He is also part owner of RedPoint Fitness, a diet and training software application unique in the fitness and weight training industry. RedPoint Fitness gives subscribers customized diet and training routines in an easy-to-use format.
His clientele roster consists of 100+ trainees at any one time, and in his career he has trained thousands of people from all walks of life and with a wide range of goals. His clients range from Joe and Jane average, who just want to lose a few pounds and tone up a little, to competitive bodybuilders and powerlifters with extreme muscle mass and elite-level lifts.
He has also moderated over 20 different weight training and fitness related forums over the years. Due to the recognition of his knowledge and insight into diet and training he was given dedicated sections on seven different Internet forums that were sections solely dedicated to his diet and training philosophies.
My History and Mission
I squandered what could’ve been my best training years. I started lifting at thirteen and was seriously hooked by the time I was eighteen, but I was doing crap routines from bodybuilding magazines. You know—the ones that are guaranteed to work as long as you’re genetically elite, steroid-gobbling freak. Which I wasn’t. By the time I was in my twenties I was disillusioned with bodybuilding AND with life. I was into a bunch of stuff I probably shouldn’t talk about. Occasionally I’d work my ass off on one of Arnold’s or Robby Robinson’s routines, but I’d get nowhere and I’d quit. I did this over and over again.
When I was almost thirty I got disgusted with myself and where I saw my life headed, and I decided I’d do whatever it took to build the body I wanted. By pure luck I happened onto "Super Squats", "Brawn" and "Powerlifting USA" all at about the same time. I did my first low-volume routine, but like most guys trying lower volume I needed both upper and lower chest, upper lats, lower lats, mid-back, rear delts, side delts, front delts, well you get the picture. It really wasn't lower volume. And…I failed.
I finally said to hell with it and picked a very low-volume routine recommended by Stuart McRobert out of "Hardgainer Magazine.” I started drinking a ton of milk and taking more protein and I gained ten pounds in about two months! Then I started "super squats". It took me no time to figure out three times a week squatting didn't work, so I went to twice a week. Once I got to about 245 x 20, I went to once a week. I did 20's (alternated with 2 x 10 every 6 weeks or so) until I hit 315 x 20. I had gone from 185 lbs to 235 lbs in a very short period of time. Not all lean, of course. But that sure was a HUGE change from the full-grown man that weighed 155 at 6'1, and 185 lbs soft after fifteen years of off-again, on-again training. And I was improving everywhere. My bench was about 275 then, and all my lifts were up.
I did really simple routines, mostly two to three days a week, and soon got a trap bar and safety squat bar. I squatted or deadlifted, or did both on one day and upper body the other, or chest/shoulder/triceps, back/bi/abs on another. This went on for a few years until I was benching 305, squatting 415 and deadlifting 500.
Then I got into more powerlifting stuff, did various routines out of Powerlifting USA and dabbled in Westside, but I was only picking and choosing then, not doing full Westside.
I got really into HIT and trained with Mike Mentzer for a week. I also did a lot of Dorian Yates style training when he was king.
And my lifts slowly went up. In 1997-98 I weighed 270, yes, I was…well, let’s just say very strong for an ecto but far from lean. That’s when I started getting inured. Tore both rotators, herniated my low back, herniated my belly-button. Now at 47 I degenerative knee damage.
I was using pre-exhaustion and forced reps a lot, and the super high-intensity work started taking its toll. I knew NOTHING about deloading and if something started hurting I trained through it.
I paid the price. An ectomorphic frame may be capable of building some decent strength levels, but in my experience once the loading gets high, unless form is perfect, regular deloading is done, and periods of non-maximal periods are included, things will start to break. My body is a testament to that.
In 2000 I started doing a wider variety of routines but was still pretty attached to low-volume/high-intensity. Every time I tried volume I failed pretty bad.
In retrospect, a large part of the reason for the failing was my conditioning. I SUCKED. I got a sled and started pulling it and slowly shifted to Westside work. This provided the best balance of size and strength for me. I dropped a lot of the fat and went down to 250 pounds and tried a wide variety of routines. But I had then and still have now occasional periods when training is limited because of my shoulders, back, and knees.
When DC came out with his system I loved that and it worked well, but I was still pretty much stuck on Westside. I started training "bodybuilding style" after reading more Poliquin and understanding that volume three days a week was a totally different animal than volume five or six days a week. Using the Charles Poliquin split of day one arms, day two legs, day three chest/back with about nine sets a bodypart worked great for size and OK for strength.
At age 42 I really hit my peak. My bench was 385 (which sucked, but I did it two torn rotator cuffs.) I squatted 555 of a box at a bit below parallel and pulled 620. That was at a body weight of 250 pounds.
After getting my GPP (general physical preparedness—i.e., overall heart/lung and work capacity conditioning) up and SLOWLY building work capacity through increasing load, I was surprised to find things working for me that hadn’t worked before. I was finally “in shape to train.”
So here’s what works for ME, and what I like to do.
· Westside variations—my favorite!
· DC
· Powerbuilding type routines which are loosely based on WSB concepts similar to the "power based routine"
· Mid-volume bodybuilding (9-12 sets a bodypart)
· 20 rep squat routines
· 10 x 10's
· 10 x 3's
Some of the important things I’ve learned are:
· Diet makes or breaks all this. And as you progress, your diet must progress also.
· You MUST de-load or take time off.
· Conditioning is a must.
· You can't train if you are broken, and I have been broken far too many times. Sad part is that most of my injuries could have been prevented had my ego not have been in the way.
· Most lifters need lots of loading variation once they’re past the beginner stage. This does not apply to everyone, however—the same-old same-old does work for some people. But doing the same thing all the time results in having the same body all the time.
· Ultimately, all that matters is what works for YOU.
The better I got at training myself, the more people noticed the results. Soon they were asking me to train them.
As I grew as a trainer I realized that having your training in order without having your diet in order is totally useless. So I learned everything I could about diet I could, and applied it to myself and my clients. I started posting a lot of this information on the internet, and I eventually created my own forum:
www.IronAddicts.com.
My forum led the RedpointFitess.com design team to me, and I’m now a primary contributor to their RedPoint Fitness diet and training software. I recently wrote a book on fat loss titled "Iron Addicts Principles of Fat loss" that is available on this forum, and released an E-Book with 450 of the best of the best articles and tips from this forum in an easy to read and find topics format. I hope these will be very useful tools in your goal to a lean and strong body.
But you need to know this. Despite having learned what works best for me, I am one of the least dogmatic trainers in the industry. I really have no pet training method. I’ll use whatever I believe provides the best chance of success for each individual client based on the input I get from them, on reviewing their past history, on understanding their current level, and on evaluating their self-discipline.
I write routines using everything from extremely low volume to extremely high volume. From sub-maximal and regulated training intensities, to all out max effort, and to failure and beyond failure techniques. Since I’m not tied to any single methodology, I can be a true personal trainer and therefore get better results for a wider variety of individuals.
I think you will find that that same philosophy follows through to the dietary advice I give you in my fat loss book, and how I train clients. It’s based on the philosophy that there is no single “best” way of dieting for fat loss, just like there are no singe "best" ways of massing diets, or training systems. ALL THAT MATTERS IS WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!
As this is written I’m 47, the picture in my avatar is from a few months ago at 47, I am a bit leaner now and will soon put up some new pics, and though I’m no longer concerned with maximal size or strength, I stay at 200-210 pounds and under ten percent body fat year round. I train to be healthy and keep old injuries at bay. Conditioning is a priority for me and I use the weighted pulling sled or push a prowler two to three times a week.
While I’m small by today’s bodybuilding standards, I am still quite strong for my age and can dip my body weight plus ninety pounds for ten reps. I can bench 300+ pounds if I want to risk injury, although I really quit flat bar benching years ago because of torn rotators. I can squat 500+ pounds, do 600-pound rack pulls for eight reps, bent row 300 pounds eight times, and dumbbell row single-armed with 180 pounds for fifteen reps.
Not so impressive, but at my age and injury list, I am a pretty happy man.
What are my injuries?
Broken left collar bone, never healed quite right. Motorcycle wreck age 16
Every finger and all toes broken on right hand and foot at least somewhere from martial arts and bar fights. Left thumb cut off at first digit--motorcycle wreak.
Neck in terrible shape from being rear ended by some chick doing 50 not noticing the traffic stopped because she was putting on makeup. Neck in traction 3 x a week for 6 months. Also LOTS of nerve compression from too much weight on the deadlift bar and safety squat bar for my fragile spinal column.
Torn rotators both shoulders. Pretty lightly torn though. From bodybuilding style benching and behind the neck military pressing
Upper back broken. Not sure if it was a motorcycle wreak or the time I was jumped and beaten by 6 guys and left for dead. Every time I get an x-ray the doc says "how the heck did you break your back like that" and is really dismayed when I tell him I am not sure which time it was--lol. After both incidents I couldn't walk for almost 2 weeks.
2 herniated disks low back. Was told I would never lift again (ASSHOLES). That was 12-13 years ago? Re-herniated last September and I have periods where it just freakin HURTS!
Umbilical hernia. 1st time age 5 trying to lift a big rock--lol. 2nd time age 34 or 35 pulling 625 in the rack.
Shot with 45 in the pelvic region, slug still in me--don't ask.
Left knee cap ground down a good ways through from a motorcycle wreak. Thrashed from the inside doing 1100 lb leg presses and going down to fast when fatigued.
Both knees have degenerative tissue damage from LOTS of various lifting over way too many years—too heavy.
Right thumb got severely dislocated when a 335 lb floor press got out of shape and it is almost popping out of joint now doing very light things. Very concerned about it losing all integrity in the thumb.
Recently involved in another motorcycle wreak—see pics, happened May 5th 2008.
http://www.ironaddicts.com/pics/broken.jpg
http://www.ironaddicts.com/pics/toe.jpg
http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/at...7&d=1216075719
Sometime when I have a moment I will go over how the lifting injuries happened. Needless to say machismo, stupidity, and poor lifting advice (behind the neck presses, and WIDE grip benches anyone) were the main culprits.
That is what I am working with and it can be tricky to find things my body can still do without causing further damage, especially since I workout at a home gym. And some days, no matter what is in the plan my body will just say no. One week my knees can be fine, the next week it hurts to just walk….
There’s nothing elite about those numbers, but I’m happy with them considering my age and injuries. In the words of an EXMGQ, “It is a privilege to be able to train.” That is a motto I live by and I am hopeful that in another 20 years I am still doing it at whatever level my body allows.
In short, I have a lot of experience with what works for me, and more importantly what works for the people I train. After training over 2,000 clients over the years--you get a knack for it, or go out of business, or just plain crazy If you are looking for an online trainer, I can help you. If not, take a look at the books offered and redpointfitness.
