Exercise Scientist Critiques Kevin Levrone’s Unthinkable Training Strategy

[00:00] Kevin is one of my rivals. Could have

[00:02] been better than he was because many

[00:04] years he took like 6 [music] months off

[00:05] and played in a rock band and didn't

[00:06] even lift a weight and lost like 40-50

[00:09] lbs and he put it back all on again. So,

[00:10] if he didn't [music] do that, he

[00:11] potentially could have been better, but

[00:13] he chose to do what he did.

[00:14] >> Let's process this. He would finish

[00:17] [music] the Mr. Olympia, he would do the

[00:18] Mr. Olympia usually taking top four,

[00:20] which is crazy because his best

[00:22] competitive situation was in the

[00:23] mid-90s, which as you guys know is kind

[00:25] of one of the golden eras. Just legends,

[00:27] just stacks of legends and Kevin was

[00:29] well in the mix. [music] I mean, he beat

[00:30] a ton of those guys. Kevin Levrone

[00:32] probably has some of the best shoulders,

[00:35] chest, and triceps ever [music] in the

[00:38] history of the bodybuilding game.

[00:42] >> [music]

[00:45] >> Hey folks, Dr. Mike here for RP

[00:47] Strength. I've been a long-time

[00:49] professor of exercise and sport science

[00:51] and a long-time bodybuilder. And I have

[00:54] to admit that one of my top two

[00:57] inspirational [music]

[00:58] physiques of all time for me personally

[01:02] is our video of the day, a Mr. Kevin

[01:06] Levrone. I always pronounced it as

[01:08] Levrone because I spent a lot of time in

[01:11] Philadelphia.

[01:12] >> [music]

[01:12] >> And I would look at the last name and be

[01:14] like,

[01:15] from Levrone.

[01:18] But, with all due respect, it is Levrone

[01:20] as far as I can tell. Kevin Levrone

[01:23] has taken second at the Mr. Olympia, I

[01:25] believe off hand, four times.

[01:28] And um I was going to say it wasn't for

[01:30] lack of trying, but [music] we'll get to

[01:32] that in a bit because Mr. Kevin Levrone

[01:33] had a very interesting approach to

[01:35] lifestyle and training [music] and diet

[01:37] and being the man overall. Huge mega

[01:39] props and respect up front. Let's dig

[01:41] into some training and nutrition, Scott.

[01:44] >> Yeah, yeah.

[01:45] >> Yeah, do your job, Scott.

[01:48] >> Kevin is one of my rivals from the '90s.

[01:51] Could have been better than he was

[01:53] because many years he took like 6 months

[01:55] off and played in a rock band and didn't

[01:56] even lift a weight and lost like 40-50

[01:58] lb and then put it back all on again.

[02:00] So, if he didn't do that, he potentially

[02:02] could have been better, but he chose to

[02:03] do what he did.

[02:05] >> Let's process this. He would finish the

[02:08] Mr. Olympia, he would do the Mr. Olympia

[02:09] usually taking top four, which is crazy

[02:12] because his best competitive situation

[02:14] was in the mid-90s, which as you guys

[02:16] know is kind of one of the golden eras

[02:18] of competitive bodybuilding in the pros

[02:19] like Flex Wheeler, Ronnie Coleman,

[02:22] Dorian Yates, Nasser El Sonbaty, Chris

[02:25] Cormier. I mean like we just like

[02:27] legends, just legends, just stacks of

[02:29] legends and Kevin was well in the mix. I

[02:31] mean like he beat a ton of those guys.

[02:33] And then as soon as that was over in the

[02:35] fall, he stopped lifting weights.

[02:39] I know.

[02:40] And he stopped taking steroids. And he

[02:43] would go on tour with his rock band,

[02:47] which I know from memory was called Full

[02:49] Blown. You like that, Scott? Still know

[02:51] that.

[02:51] >> It's a double entendre.

[02:53] >> Maybe. Kevin would compete at about 245

[02:57] lb on stage, shredded. [music]

[02:59] He would come all the way down in many

[03:01] instances to what I believe is about 205

[03:05] soft [snorts] pounds.

[03:07] >> [music]

[03:07] >> And then what he would do, about 6

[03:09] months-ish before the next Olympia, is

[03:11] literally just click into place and

[03:14] begin to live the bodybuilding lifestyle

[03:18] full blown, no irony there. And that

[03:21] combination would balloon him back up

[03:23] and at the [music] same time shred him

[03:25] down to a roughly 40 lb heavier physique

[03:30] with something like, I don't know,

[03:32] [music] 15 lb less absolute amount of

[03:35] fat at the same time. So, here's what we

[03:37] can take away from Kevin's insight.

[03:39] >> [music]

[03:40] >> One

[03:41] is if you want to make your best gains

[03:43] overall, you can't take 6 months off

[03:47] every year. Not [music] going to happen.

[03:48] However,

[03:49] big insight here

[03:51] is that with just 6 months of getting

[03:54] back into training drugs and lifestyle,

[03:56] he was able to build back every single

[03:59] gram of muscle

[04:02] and burn off every single gram of fat

[04:04] that had switched their contexts over

[04:06] the past 6 months. Once you achieve a

[04:09] certain muscularity and a certain

[04:11] leanness,

[04:13] getting back to that muscularity and

[04:15] leanness is like

[04:18] an order of magnitude of factor of 10,

[04:21] 10 times

[04:23] easier than getting it for the first

[04:25] time. This is incredible, incredible

[04:29] news for all of us. You might have to go

[04:31] on a long trip.

[04:32] You might have to

[04:34] go and do some other stuff in your life.

[04:36] You might get hurt and have to take time

[04:38] off to heal. And the reality that

[04:40] presents us here today is

[04:43] >> [music]

[04:43] >> it takes months to get it back. By the

[04:46] way, this works both with drugs and

[04:48] without drugs. [music] Just a matter of

[04:49] getting your diet and training locked

[04:51] back in, you regain lost muscle so god

[04:54] damn fast and it's not hard, it just

[04:57] happens. The thing I'll tell you is

[04:59] watch out for one big mistake. Your

[05:02] muscles will grow stronger rapidly and

[05:05] bigger rapidly and thus also stronger

[05:07] again.

[05:08] Your nervous system will make your

[05:10] muscles be able to produce way more

[05:12] force, way faster

[05:14] than your tendons adapt. Resist the

[05:17] temptation to go heavy early. After 3 or

[05:19] 4 months, okay, yeah, then your tendons

[05:21] are strong again, you can sort of do

[05:22] normal stuff. It's a going to take that

[05:24] long. So, yes, you can pull off what

[05:26] Kevin Levrone did if you have to come

[05:28] back after a long layoff and it's

[05:30] amazing, amazing news, but don't you

[05:32] dare rush back because that's how you

[05:34] get snapped the fuck up.

[05:35] >> Is there a place in your mind where you

[05:37] think had I kept going all year round,

[05:40] maybe I would have been better?

[05:41] >> No. No.

[05:42] >> You know that for certain?

[05:43] >> Yeah, cuz when I did go, I went balls to

[05:45] the wall for 4 My body was hurting. My

[05:47] body was maxed out. There was times,

[05:49] man, where I didn't think I was going to

[05:51] make it, to be honest with you, because

[05:53] I realized that my body was a hyper

[05:55] responder, and I could gain muscle so

[05:57] quick in such a short period of time. I

[05:59] could go from 225 to 256. I was 256 at

[06:03] the Arnold one year.

[06:05] And I put on all that weight in 3

[06:07] months, [music] and it was muscle. I was

[06:08] like, "This is crazy." Look, man, there

[06:10] were times when my blood pressure was

[06:12] up. I knew it was up. My body was just

[06:14] transitioning so quick and so fast that

[06:16] it was too much. Sometimes I would have

[06:17] nosebleeds. I remember this. If I had

[06:19] [music] a stayed on that pace all year

[06:21] round, I wouldn't be here right now.

[06:22] Guaranteed. Guaranteed.

[06:27] >> Some folks do get banged up a lot of

[06:30] training, and staying gigantic and

[06:33] staying on tons of gear

[06:35] does absolutely reduce your literal

[06:37] lifespan and your bodybuilding lifespan.

[06:40] So,

[06:40] >> [music]

[06:41] >> with Kevin coming down or off of the

[06:43] gear entirely for 6 months every year,

[06:45] that definitely almost certainly

[06:47] extended his lifespan. I don't know if

[06:48] replacing it with the rocker lifestyle

[06:50] did a lot of favors there, but, you

[06:51] know, you got to have some fun. But,

[06:53] there is probably

[06:54] uh some kind of third option there,

[06:57] where training very smoothly and

[07:00] lowering gear substantially, but still

[07:02] training for maintenance,

[07:03] maybe not getting down to 205 lb, but

[07:06] getting down to 235 or something,

[07:09] could have seen him come back more

[07:11] slowly after that when you really crank

[07:13] the gear and the training,

[07:14] >> [music]

[07:14] >> but um some people psychologically, you

[07:17] know, they like the shit. They don't

[07:19] love the shit. And so, after about 6

[07:22] months of hardcore prepping, they're

[07:23] like, "Fuck this." And you got to

[07:25] respect [music] that. As a human

[07:26] individual, you know, technically

[07:28] speaking, anytime you see anyone have

[07:29] any kind of fun [music]

[07:31] that doesn't comport 100% with

[07:32] bodybuilding, you know, you could make

[07:34] the critique that they could have been

[07:35] better. And maybe that's a valid

[07:36] critique. But, a human's going to human.

[07:39] >> At 189 lb, I could bench press 405, you

[07:44] know, clean and naturally. 405 without a

[07:46] bench shirt.

[07:47] >> I believe it. Let me say something that

[07:49] I've said before, but it bears

[07:50] repeating.

[07:51] The spectrum of human genetics

[07:53] >> [music]

[07:53] >> is a lot wider than most people think.

[07:55] There's not only just genetics for being

[07:57] a baller early, but there's genetics for

[07:59] adaptability. Kevin just kept growing.

[08:01] [music] And the reason he was able to

[08:03] bench so much isn't because I think he

[08:04] had some kind of magical tendons or like

[08:07] a neural drive that was crazy. That's

[08:09] John Hack. You guys can look him up.

[08:11] Scott, can we link a John Hack video

[08:12] somewhere? That That just makes no god

[08:14] damn sense.

[08:15] >> [music]

[08:15] >> But Kevin Levrone probably has

[08:18] a combination of some of the best

[08:21] shoulders, chest, and triceps ever in

[08:24] the history of the bodybuilding game.

[08:26] >> [music]

[08:26] >> And so if those muscles are that big and

[08:28] that growth prone, of course you're

[08:29] going to bench a shit load. And he did.

[08:32] >> [music]

[08:32] >> Does that mean that you can make a natty

[08:35] goal for yourself

[08:37] of benching 405 at 190 lbs? No. When

[08:40] people look up to naturals

[08:43] versus look up to enhanced folks,

[08:45] sometimes they like to tell themselves,

[08:47] "I look up to natties because it's

[08:49] attainable. It's realistic."

[08:52] But the reality is that it is not

[08:54] necessarily

[08:55] >> [music]

[08:56] >> any more attainable to look up to

[08:57] natties because you're obviating

[08:59] genetics entirely. You're never going to

[09:02] look like anyone except the best version

[09:04] of yourself.

[09:04] >> [music]

[09:05] >> So Kevin's shit, benching 405 at 190 lbs

[09:08] drug free, inspirational.

[09:10] Not

[09:12] something you should aspire to do

[09:14] because you can only aspire to be a

[09:15] little bit better every [clears throat]

[09:16] other week than the version you are

[09:18] today.

[09:20] >> It was easy to like

[09:22] gain muscle and put on size and get

[09:25] strong. I remember when I first joined

[09:27] Powerhouse Gym

[09:29] and I was like 21, 22 years old,

[09:33] you know, my diet would consist of a

[09:35] chili cheese hot dog. Now I get two of

[09:38] those. My diet was just stop eating, you

[09:41] know, uh chili dogs with cheese on them.

[09:44] And uh just clean my diet up for 4 weeks

[09:46] and and I went and Mr. Maryland show.

[09:50] >> I hate him. Just kidding.

[09:52] >> Just [laughter] kidding. That's the

[09:53] jealousy talking.

[09:54] >> That's genetics right there. And there's

[09:56] an important lesson we can draw from

[09:58] that. When you see someone with an

[10:00] exceptional physique, especially when

[10:02] they're younger, it is not immediately

[10:04] apparent that they [music] know much. If

[10:06] you told Kevin Levrone right now, like,

[10:08] "Hey, so you were 21 years old like

[10:10] winning the Mr. Maryland, you knew a ton

[10:11] of shit." He'd be like, "No, I knew

[10:13] nothing." Look, we'll look at your

[10:14] physique, brother. Again, I'm just here

[10:17] on vibes. I have no idea how the hell

[10:18] this is happening. Why is this

[10:19] pertinent?

[10:20] >> [music]

[10:21] >> Because many people

[10:23] will look towards results, {quote}

[10:26] {unquote}, or the state of the athlete

[10:28] to see who they want to follow. The bros

[10:32] sometimes know shit, a lot of shit.

[10:35] Sometimes they don't know diddly dick.

[10:37] Sometimes the guys that aren't even

[10:39] remotely jacked know a ton. How do you

[10:41] disambiguate the two? You got to go on

[10:43] your own learning journey and know at

[10:46] least the basic facts.

[10:47] >> That's why I love Kevin cuz I think he

[10:48] says he got second at the Olympia before

[10:50] he started like trying to learn

[10:52] anything.

[10:52] >> Yeah.

[10:53] >> It was pure ambition.

[10:54] >> He just showed up.

[10:55] >> So, like, you know, what are you going

[10:57] to learn from that? You got to learn

[10:58] some reservation about uh guessing who

[11:00] knows things and who doesn't know

[11:01] things. Uh, 100-lb dumbbell curls. This

[11:04] is really impressive. So, I have been

[11:06] sent this video on social media in

[11:09] response to my not invention, but

[11:11] repopularization of the lying dumbbell

[11:13] curl, aka the clown curl,

[11:15] and was told that I would become much

[11:17] larger if I wasn't a {quote} insert

[11:20] expletive at the expense of homosexuals,

[11:23] and uh actually manned up and did some

[11:25] real weight. Now, uh two things I'd say

[11:28] [laughter] about that, three things. I I

[11:30] it right?

[11:31] Fact, I'm a little bitch. So, no no

[11:34] absolutely no debate there. The reality

[11:36] of why the 100-lb dumbbell curl is a

[11:39] thing that correlates to Kevin Levrone's

[11:41] arm size is because Kevin Levrone

[11:44] couldn't avoid big arms if he wanted to

[11:46] by simply showing up to the gym. And so,

[11:49] can you do one-arm dumbbell curls with

[11:51] as much weight as possible for sets of

[11:52] five? Yes. Is that needlessly risky?

[11:55] Yes. Would you get a better stimulus if

[11:57] you did something that actually

[11:59] stretched the bicep and put tension on

[12:01] them at the same time? Yes. Is it

[12:03] totally fine to do incline or totally

[12:05] fine to do standing dumbbell curls

[12:06] alternating if it's something that you

[12:08] feel is hitting your muscles well?

[12:09] Absolutely. But if you're doing it

[12:12] because IFBB pros from the '90s did it

[12:15] and they were jacked, you're

[12:16] misconstruing the confluence of

[12:18] genetics, drugs, and years of any kind

[12:21] of hard work for this exercise as the

[12:23] exercise to do. The 100-lb dumbbell

[12:25] curls are the most insane shit. Mega

[12:28] respect. This is actually Scott, this is

[12:29] really good technique.

[12:31] >> I was shocked.

[12:32] >> Yeah, 100%.

[12:32] >> He's lifting them. He's not just like

[12:34] >> Dems is real 22-in arms. But is there

[12:37] some kind of magic where if you try to

[12:39] do the one-arm dumbbell curl with as

[12:41] much weight as possible that your biceps

[12:43] will grow better than any other

[12:45] legitimately decent bicep exercise? No.

[12:48] No, there is not. Unless you want to

[12:51] extend that logic and say to yourself,

[12:53] "The way I'm going to become sized like

[12:55] Ronnie Coleman is I'm going to squat and

[12:57] deadlift 800 lbs for [music] a double."

[13:00] Um that's not a good way to train for

[13:02] bodybuilding. Do you guys know why

[13:04] Ronnie did it? Because he could.

[13:07] And God bless him. But if you think

[13:09] that's the path to your best physique,

[13:11] maybe you're right.

[13:12] >> [music]

[13:12] >> But you're probably wrong.

[13:14] >> You might do reps, but I'm not a rep

[13:15] guy. Reps doesn't do anything for me. It

[13:18] burns too many calories for me. I

[13:20] already have a super fast metabolism.

[13:23] >> Okay.

[13:24] >> So, for me I needed to do six to eight

[13:26] heavy movements, you know, compound.

[13:28] >> Squats, bench press.

[13:30] People who are incredibly responsive to

[13:32] growth, on average, have faster twitch

[13:35] muscle fiber composition. There are a

[13:37] few things going on in there.

[13:39] >> [music]

[13:40] >> One is, if you do happen to be fast

[13:42] twitch dominant, that is possibly true

[13:45] for you, though it might not even be

[13:46] true for you. So, you might like higher

[13:48] reps better.

[13:49] The other thing is this,

[13:50] someone huge like Kevin Levrone says 68

[13:53] reps are better. You may steer your

[13:55] animal the ship and say to yourself, you

[13:56] know what? I'm just going to do sets 68

[13:58] reps cuz good enough for Kevin, good

[13:59] enough for me, and that's bullshit.

[14:01] [music] Because you have to try every

[14:02] single rep range, do diligence, from

[14:05] sets of roughly five reps all the way to

[14:06] sets of roughly 30 reps, and do

[14:09] everything in between, and see per

[14:11] muscle where you get the best responses.

[14:14] The good news is, you don't have to just

[14:15] track your growth, though you can, you

[14:17] have to check out where you get your

[14:19] best pumps, where you get your best

[14:21] soreness, and that deep intramuscular

[14:23] fatigue, versus the fatigue of just

[14:26] being like,

[14:27] "I'm just done lifting. This sucks." So,

[14:30] if you do higher reps and your muscles

[14:31] feel kind of flat and tired, nah, that's

[14:33] not it. If you do lower reps and your

[14:35] joints hurt, but your muscles don't feel

[14:37] shit, that's not it. Somewhere between

[14:39] very high and very low reps, sometimes

[14:41] there's just only right answers, and

[14:43] sometimes only a particular rep range

[14:45] will be the best for a particular

[14:46] muscle. It's up to you to find out what

[14:48] that is. If you use the RPE hypertrophy

[14:50] app, you can program any reps and any

[14:52] sets and any muscles that you want, and

[14:54] really track the progressions like that.

[14:56] That correlates it with pumps and

[14:58] soreness for you, so you don't even have

[14:59] to do that work, and you'll notice like,

[15:01] "I'm typically getting really pumped

[15:02] from sets of 68 on leg press." Then that

[15:05] is at least the answer for a little

[15:06] [music] while. The other thing is, there

[15:08] are very many videos of Kevin Levrone

[15:10] doing um

[15:12] higher reps, cuz he'll do core work of

[15:14] 68 reps, but then he'll do drop sets of

[15:17] higher reps. So, sometimes what folks

[15:20] preferred the most isn't even the only

[15:22] thing that worked for them. And

[15:24] there were many bodybuilders of even

[15:26] that era that loved higher repetition

[15:30] training. Many, many, many Markus Ruhl

[15:32] loved higher repetition training, was

[15:33] bigger than Kevin Levrone. Nasser El

[15:35] Sonbaty loved higher reps for variety of

[15:37] exercise. One of my favorite

[15:38] bodybuilders of all time, a little bit

[15:39] late in that era, was a gentleman named

[15:41] Chris Dim, who if they had the 212 class

[15:44] back in the day would have almost

[15:45] certainly won the 212 Olympia. He's a

[15:47] Vietnamese-American bodybuilder,

[15:48] phenomenal, phenomenal bodybuilder and

[15:50] awesome human being as far as I could

[15:51] ever tell. He did higher reps, didn't

[15:54] call them that back in the day. Scott,

[15:56] he would do sets with mini breaks of

[15:59] like 100 reps on the leg press, right?

[16:02] And like Chris Dim was fucking enormous.

[16:04] And so before you say, "Yeah, man, on

[16:07] vibes only

[16:08] getting heavy weight, man, slag iron

[16:11] getting best way to train, brother, is

[16:14] you show up to the railroad track and

[16:15] just start eating railroad ties."

[16:18] Uh that always [clears throat] throws

[16:19] down the gauntlet. My uncle didn't even

[16:21] lift weights, man. He just drank

[16:22] excessively and beat the shit out of me

[16:24] and that's why he was jacked. That's

[16:26] hardcore.

[16:28] Kevin Levrone had huge muscles, but he

[16:32] also had a huge member. In our members

[16:35] section, you can see the longer extended

[16:37] version of this video where we may or

[16:39] may not show a little bit of extra

[16:42] something special about Kevin. That last

[16:44] part's joke, but member section is real

[16:46] and you can subscribe to it, pay a

[16:48] little money for a ton of value. All

[16:50] right. Click around, do that. Now back

[16:52] to video.

[16:56] 455 lbs. 455 pound lay ass pounds.

[17:10] Scott, how many times have you seen

[17:11] somebody do a full range of motion bench

[17:12] press 455? [music]

[17:15] >> Very rare.

[17:16] >> Yeah.

[17:17] Huge.

[17:17] >> If you warm up properly, this could be

[17:20] an [music] ultra-effective way of

[17:21] building muscle. Would I recommend it?

[17:23] No, I wouldn't. Here's why.

[17:25] >> [music]

[17:25] >> There's probably nothing you can't get

[17:27] out of sets of 10 to 12 reps, even sets

[17:29] of 10 to 15 reps with that same amazing

[17:32] technique Kevin is doing,

[17:33] that you would get out of sets of five

[17:35] or six [music] reps. But the probability

[17:37] of injury is way, way [music] lower with

[17:41] sets of 10 to 15 reps than sets of five

[17:43] reps because the mechanical load is just

[17:46] way lower, and the amount of load into

[17:48] your joints, and [music] tendons, and

[17:49] muscles is the number one causative

[17:52] factor of injury.

[18:00] >> [screaming]

[18:05] >> 500 for threes wild.

[18:07] Like [music]

[18:08] that is less of a cause of bigger pecs

[18:11] and more of evidence of bigger pecs. You

[18:13] have to have big pecs in order to do 500

[18:16] FOR THREE.

[18:18] OH, MAN, these are so good, man.

[18:20] >> And this is after the flat.

[18:22] >> Same [snorts] workout. Same workout. 455

[18:26] lbs on the incline, which like almost

[18:28] nobody could do. If you're wondering

[18:30] what kinds of weights

[18:32] build Kevin Levrone's pecs, shoulders,

[18:36] and triceps, here's your answer.

[18:54] Kevin Levrone, and I've probably said

[18:56] Levrone by accident about 10 times

[18:57] during this video, is a legend of the

[18:59] sport. We can learn

[19:02] from his technique. We can learn from

[19:04] his dedication.

[19:05] We can learn from his chill attitude. We

[19:07] can also learn that maybe bodybuilding's

[19:09] not not the end all be all all the time,

[19:11] and it's totally cool to take some time

[19:13] off and get right with life until you

[19:14] get back in Eugene Teo style. Kevin

[19:17] Levrone's physique to me is one [music]

[19:19] of the greatest of all time. I would say

[19:21] his side chest and his most muscular are

[19:25] like

[19:26] maybe unbeatable still. And because of

[19:29] that, he lives in the pantheon of the

[19:31] gods and deserves our endless respect.

[19:33] He is rated a

[19:35] monster god out of 500.

[19:40] And I'll see you guys next time.

[19:46] All right, that was fun. I personally am

[19:48] going to do two things. I'm going to go

[19:50] home, stare into the mirror at my

[19:52] pathetic triceps, realize I'm not Kevin

[19:54] Levrone,

[19:55] >> [music]

[19:55] >> and then cry. But then also, I'm going

[19:57] to click on this video right here to

[19:59] watch more content. [music] You want to

[20:00] do any of the combination of the two, be

[20:02] my guest. See you next time.