At his peak, Mohamed Makkawy was a dominant force in professional bodybuilding. He was one of the best, if not the best bodybuilder from 1982 to 1983, a time period in which he won seven professional competitions. Although he never did win the coveted Mr. Olympia contest, he came very close in 1983 and 1984. He place second in both competitions behind Lee Haney, who would go on to win the Mr. Olympia eight consecutive times.
Perhaps the highlight of Mohamed’s career occurred when he won the 1983 Swedish Grand Prix pro competition. What made this victory so special was that, Lee Haney, the reigning Mr. Olympia entered the competition. Many thought of Lee as an unbeatable champion, but Mohamed pulled off an upset and handed Lee a rare loss in professional competition. You can get a taste of Makkawy’s tremendous physique in the following video.
Mohamed Makkawy
Mohamed had a physique that sizzled with bodybuilding perfection. His sculpted physique exhibited a rare combination of abundant size and brilliant aesthetics. No matter which angle you saw him from, he demonstrated ideal proportions and extreme definition. It makes you wonder how he developed such an amazing physique. Of course, great genetics were totally on his side, but he also trained very hard.
Mohamed’s preferred training style consisted of high volume training. He did a lot of sets and a lot of reps while maintaining a very fast training pace with little rest between sets. Mohamed was very precise in regard to how he performed his exercises and made a concentrated effort to focus his attention on the exact part of the muscle that he was targeting. This being the case, he preferred weights that were only moderately heavy as opposed to heavy weights. The moderately heavy weights allowed a high degree of focus on the specific portion of the muscle he was targeting. It also enabled him to do a lot of sets at a fast training pace.
Even though Mohamed did not stress the use of heavy weights during his most successful years, he did engage in heavy lifting as an Olympic lifter during his earlier years of weight training. Much of Mohamed’s training style during the years in which he dominated professional competition came as a result of working with a famous trainer by the name of Vince Gironda, also known as the Iron Guru. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, a legion of outstanding bodies and bodybuilders came out of Vince’s Gym, but by the 1970’s, the epicenter of elite bodybuilding had transitioned to Gold’s Gym. This being the case, it had been a while since Vince had worked with a top name like Mohamed Makawwy. Mohamed had already had some success before training with Vince Gironda, but after working with Gironda, Mohamed quickly went from good to great. His improvement came through the use of Vince’s high-density training methods.
There are four types of “high” that are connected with weight training including:
- High intensity
- High volume
- High frequency
- High density
Most people are familiar with the first three terms, but the term high density is less common. It simply means to condense as much work as possible into a short time period for a muscle group. This generally means six to eight sets in five to ten minutes, which can only be accomplished with a rapid training pace and little rest between sets.
Tons of Sets
Mohamed’s high density training generally consisted of five to eight sets per exercise using the same weight for each set. When using this method, the first set is not overly hard, however, since the rest periods between sets are 30 seconds or less, each successive set becomes more difficult as fatigue rapidly accumulates. By the time the last set of an exercise is performed, the intensity is high, but it shouldn’t be so high that failure is reached. Vince didn’t believe in training to failure and preferred to leave one to two reps in the tank.
Caution on High Volume Training
I think it is important to understand that Vince did not usually recommend high volume training for everyone. He normally prescribed three to eight sets per muscle group for the majority of people he worked with. In Vince’s own words, this is what he had to say in regard to finding the optimum number of sets that you should do:
“All bodybuilders have looked in the mirror during a workout and noticed that they were getting a terrific pump in a particular muscle group. Usually this is encouraging, so you continue to train that bodypart.
But after a certain point, you notice that the pump is suddenly gone. Then you should remember the last set on which you still retained the pump. That’s the set you should have quit on.
If you do too many sets, the body goes into shock. It does that to protect itself from injury. If you could continue to pump a muscle, you’d rupture capillaries and injure yourself. That’s why your pump goes down. In other words, the loss of pump (over-tonus) is caused by overtraining.
Over-tonus also occurs in cases of generalized overtraining, when the muscles begin to slowly shrink, regardless of how much you train them (or probably because of how much you train them).
I think that anything over 8-10 total sets per bodypart will eventually lead to overtraining and overtonus.”
Even though Vince generally prescribed three to eight sets per muscle group, Mohamed was an exception, and Vince knew that he could benefit from doing a lot more sets than most bodybuilders. This being the case, he often had Mohamed do about four to six exercises for each muscle group. Each exercise was done for five to eight sets which amounts to 20 to 30 sets per muscle group. Each muscle group was worked at least twice per week and even more often if needed. Mohamed generally trained just one muscle group per workout, but he would often do three workouts per day in order to train three muscle groups per day. This type of training seems severe and I know Mohamed trained like this before competitions. I don’t think he used the extreme type of high volume training that he is known for throughout the entire year.
Mohamed’s Training Schedule
I am going to list one of Mohamed’s training routines, but remember, Mohamed had already been training for several years before doing such a high amount of sets and reps. He was also unique in his ability to thrive on high-volume training, and he probably only did it right before competitions. It’s the type of training you can experiment with, but you must work your way up to it over time. As long as it seems to be working, you can keep increasing the training volume, however, don’t fall in love with the idea of high volume training just because Mohamed Makkawy used it. Only apply it to your own training to the degree that it works for you.
If you keep increasing your training volume and reach a point where it starts to have a negative effect on your strength and size, it’s time to cut back and find the right amount of volume that is optimal for your own body. Don’t forget Vince’s advice to work a muscle as long as it will stay pumped, but don’t keep working it to the point where you start to lose your pump.
Mohamed Makkawy’s Workout
Chest
Flat bench press (to neck): 5 x 8
20° Bench press (to neck): 5 x 8
Incline bench press 40°: 5 x 8
Bent arm pullover: 5 x 8
Wide grip “Gironda” dips: 5 x 8
Straight arm pullover: 5 x 10
Back
High bench rowing: 5 x 8
Pullups to waist: 5 x 8
Wide grip chins behind neck: 5 x 8
Wide grip pulldowns to chest: 5 x 8
Legs
Hack squat: 5 x 8
Seated pulley leg squeeze: 5 x 10
Thigh curl: 5 x 10
Thigh extension: 5 x 8
Roman chair: 5 x 10
Flat thigh extensions: 5 x 8
Seated calf raise: 5 x 15
Standing calf raise: 5 x 15
Abdominals
Lying leg raise: 5 x 15 to 25
Hanging leg raise: 5 x 15 to 25
Hanging knee–in: 5 x 15 to 25
Bent knee situps: 5 x 15 to 25
Twisting situps: 5 x 15 to 25
Cross ankle crunches: 5 x 15 to 25
Shoulders
Wide grip rows: 5 x 8
45° lateral raise: 5 x 8
Kneeling cable raise: 5 x 8
Bent over cable raise: 5 x 8
Lateral raise: 5 x 8
Cable lateral raise: 5 x 8
Biceps
Incline dumbbell curl: 5 x 8
EZ Bar curls: 5 x 8
Cable short range seated curls: 5 x 10
Triceps
Parallel bar dips: 5 x 8
Bent over triceps kickbacks: 5 x 8
Triceps rope pulls: 5 x 8
You may notice that a wide variety of exercises are performed for each muscle group. Vince Gironda believed that each muscle needed to be attacked from a variety of angles in order to attain complete development of each muscle group. One of Vince’s programs is called “A Muscle Has 4 Sides” which simply means that each muscle needs to be hit from four different angles with four different exercises to insure overall development.
Variable Angle Training
Normally, only one set per exercise is used for Vince’s four sides to a muscle program, but Vince realized Mohamed Makkawy could withstand much more than one set per exercise for a brief period of time before the Olympia, so he had Mohamed do five to eight sets of each exercise. It was a combination of high volume, high density, and a variety of exercises for each muscle group. Mohamed referred to his training as V.A.T., which stands for Variable Angle Training.
If you want to try his methods, do so with an open mind and don’t be afraid to modify it as much as necessary to fit within the capacities of your own body. If you are interested in more information in regard to Mohamed Makkawy and the specifics of his training, please refer to the following resources. Best of training to you.
Mohamed Makkawy’s Youtube channel
Mohamed Makkawy’s Facebook page with more video’s
DVD of 1983 Swedish Grand Prix Competition: Won by Mohamed Makkawy
The following book includes a small amount of Mohamed Makkawy’s training along with many other bodybuilders from the 1970’s and 1980’s:
Mohamed’s Pre-contest Diet
“My diet has been the same as it always is when preparing for a contest. In other words I start out by eating only meat, chicken and fish (zero carbohydrates), then as the contest gets nearer I reduce the amount of food and take amino acids and liver tablets instead until in the last week when I live entirely on amino acids and liver tablets and no food.”