High-Intensity Training The Kevin Richardson Way (Part 2)
“To whom much is given, much is expected”
How is High-Intensity Training the Kevin Richardson Way, different from that of Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty or Arthur Jones?
Because every workout is completely different, I don't do the same workout twice. Every single workout, I do something radically different from the last one. When I became a personal trainer I started as an apprentice, and all the other trainers in the gym would look after me to make sure I knew what I was doing. During that period of time they would come and say things like “okay, staying on this side of the gym I want you to do five exercises for triceps” and it would be an actual class, so it's all about spontaneity, and I think that in my training style, whenever someone says “Kevin, what's a difficult workout like?” I look at them and say “there's a DVD out there that shows a workout that I did once, It was a very standard workout, but that's not what it looks like now, it doesn't look like anything like that, it's always different.”
One day I might do squats superset with something else, another day I might do compounds, slow motion squats, high repetition squats, low repetition squats, squat jumps, one set of squats, I did legs yesterday and did one set of squats, why only one set of squats? because after one set I was done, and that was it, it was time to move on to the next exercise, so there's a fluidity to having that much variation, and it allows me to train a very large number of people because everyone can exercise. Also, if everyone does the exact same exercises in the class, people tend to get hurt, at the same time when we try follow routines and that routine is not made for you, you're going to usually get hurt. I would train my clients, and being a trainer actually made me a better bodybuilder, because it made me realize that I have to see that person where they are on this day, at this moment, and train them based on what they can do now, and apply this to myself.
Can You Share Your Philosophy on Exercise Selection?
I don't have this conventional idea that you have to do any one particular exercise. For example, a popular one is the barbell bench press, but it doesn't work like that, if you start bench pressing and it doesn't feel good, don't do it! I actually tore my rotator cuff when I was 18. I had a 405 pound bench. I shouldn't have been doing a 405 pound bench because I'm not built to do bench presses, if I was I wouldn't have torn it out early on in my career, but that idea of “you have to this exercise” is nonsense. The problem is people are taking everything from Instagram thinking they have to do deadlifts, or you have to do squats, or you have to do bench presses, and the number of injuries is just ridiculous because everyone's not made for all those things and bodybuilding is about trying to create a sculpture, and one of the things about muscle growth that's not talked about is the fact that if you do the same thing over and over you get used to it. I was benching really heavy weights, but my chest wasn't getting bigger because I was doing it every single week. My chest got bigger when I started doing different things and started getting away from the convention. Every time I workout I create something different, so one day it's incline flies, one day it's regular flies, one day it's another fly variation, I select an exercise based on how my body is feeling. It’s about knowing how you can train the muscle from a different angle every single time to avoid wear and tear. For example, I was training my hamstrings yesterday - I’m just using my last workout as the reference point - I was doing hamstring curls, and I like hamstring curls, and the first set felt kind of easy, and so I held it in a peak position for 30 seconds, and then the next set I put more weight on there, I held it in the bottom position for 30 seconds and then after that I did as many reps as possible, that's not something that's planned, and very often people will say things like “you know Kevin, I wish you could film your workouts” and what I'll do is, I'll put the camera up and I'll usually film the first exercise I do and then kick the camera down and get on with my workout, because the mindset I need, the spontaneity I need, I can't do the whole filming thing, I'd love to but I can't do it!
Kevin Richardson never repeats the same workout twice. Another natural pro bodybuilder who shares a similar philosophy is WNBF Pro Lightweight World Champion, Mark Oakes. They have both moved away from what’s traditional in the purest sense of the word and do not follow the same order of exercises week after week, like many pro bodybuilders preach doing.
What Is Your Current Training Split?
Once a week I’ll train each muscle group. I follow a 3 way split where I will do: