Moe Mossawi, April 06 - Page 2

The Workout:

Moe typically trains arms two times a week, dedicating one day for the training of both biceps and triceps. He allows around 72 hours to pass before hitting the arms again to allow time for a full and complete recovery. Like most bodybuilders, Moe doesn't focus on forearm work because he feels enough work is given them during the course of other workouts. He also is leery of overdeveloping his forearms lest they distract from the size of his upper arm development. "Bodybuilding is about illusions" he says, and his goal of creating those illusions assumes a focused form. Here are the main exercises that Moe performs and some of his comments regarding them:

Biceps

Dumbbell curls- The first bicep workout in Moe's routine is always dumbbell curls. For the first two sets he uses a relatively light weight and shoots for a very high rep range - in the 30's or 40's. These two sets are primarily warm-up sets that prepare the muscle to be shocked in sets 3 & 4 where Moe raises the weight to a heavier level designed hit failure somewhere in the 8-10 rep range. The key to Moe's execution of this exercise is to keep the muscle under continuous tension by focusing on both the positive and negative contraction, and by not letting the muscle lose tension throughout the duration of the set.

Concentration curls (seated, on the knee) - For this exercise Moe chooses a lighter weight and increases the rep count to around 15. The focus here is not so much on blowing out the bicep heads with heavy weight, but achieving a full range of motion and giving the bicep the best possible squeeze on the top of the curl. Moe again focuses on continuous tension by emphasizing the stretch on the descending arc of the curl, being sure to keep the muscle tensed throughout the set. The squeeze at the top of the curl is the key on this exercise, as it serves to engorge the muscle with blood and nutrients.

Barbell curls - ½ and full. Moe starts with the bottom half of the barbell curl, which he feels targets the bottom portion of the bicep better than the full curl. When talking to Moe about the graphicmuscle.com poll, one thing he said was: "I was glad the fans noticed my arm development as being complete. The arm is more than just the biceps and the triceps each muscle has multiple heads that must be targeted for complete development." By focusing on the bottom half of the curl initially Moe puts those words into action. Moe still performs 4 sets keeping the rep range is around 12-15 with the main focus still centered on placing the biceps under continuous tension throughout the entire range of every rep.

Standing cable curls - As a finishing move Moe performs 4 sets of 15 of this move, which he explained as being akin to
"posing practice". One unique twist that Moe mentioned was that on the upward portion of the arc he will supinate toward
the rear to emphasize his biceps peak.

Triceps

Dumbbell kick-backs (single arm) - The focus on this exercise is more on the lock and the squeeze than it is lifting heavy weight. Like the dumbbell curls for biceps, the first two sets of this exercise are performed with a lighter weight and very high rep range, their function being to primarily warm-up the target muscle for the working sets to come. One difference in Moe's philosophy here is that he does not go heavy as he does for curls. The rep range is kept to 10-12 for most of the time and the main focus is on the squeeze, which Moe feels does a superior job of rushing blood to the muscle.

Extensions behind the neck - As opposed to the kick backs, the goal of this exercise is to use heavy weight and focus on the stretch at the bottom of the lift. This max stretch point is where Moe feels the best rush of blood is provided to feed the muscle allowing for growth. Moe will perform 4-5 sets of around 10 reps each.

Cable pull-downs - For pull-downs, Moe brings variety into his routine by constantly switching between double and single-arm pull-downs. The goal of the one arm version is a change up to increase the pressure on each arm. Moe's key focus here is not so much heavy weight but ensuring that the full range of motion is realized, taking advantage of the motion itself while trying not to lose the continuous tension that Moe desires for with all of his arm workouts.

Narrow grip Bench Press - The next exercise returns to Moe's mantra of "complete arm development" by using an old standby set to "target the outside of the triceps." Moe will perform 4-5 sets of 12-15 reps again keeping the focus on continuous tension and a squeeze at the top.

Dips (either machine or free) - To finish his arm workout Moe focuses on another old standard, the dip. Moe will go to failure with his bodyweight, around 260lbs off-season, and will use the machine if necessary if he is feeling body fatigue at this point.

I asked Moe was if he changed this routine up any depending on his proximity to a contest and he told me that it does not: "My intensity stays the same whether I am off-season or two weeks from a show, most of my weight is lost through changes in food and cardio."

One last thing: With arms like Moe's you would think that he was genetically gifted with fast growing arms like Lee Priest, he wasn't. Moe's arms are a testament to hard work and a focused training routine carefully thought out with a specific goal in mind. The growth in his arms has made them one of his favorite body-parts to train, or as he put it: "When you have worked and worked to develop a really great body part, you love to train it, you really feel it."