Who Is Eddie Moyzan?
Eddie Moyzan, from Allentown, PA, is one of the rare few bodybuilders who really defines what hardcore bodybuilding is all about. He's huge, with some of the biggest arms (that are real, no synthol), and his strength is legendary... which we'll get to. He's all about being strong and being strong. He's the furthest thing from "all show and no go".
But Eddie Moyzan is not just Pennsylvania "bad" (as in bad=good... remember?) ...he's a Pennsylvania bad ass. In the past few years, he's become a prominent fixture among the elite in amateur bodybuilding. He won his class at the North American Championships in 2001, finished 3rd in the Nationals in 2000, and 4th in the 2002 Nationals. A pro qualifying victory has eluded him to this point, but 2003 is destined to be the year he finally actualizes his amazing potential and turns pro.
Eddie is truly a force to be reckoned with. But let's get back to being retarded. Eddie Moyzan is retarded strong. He's bench pressed 315 lbs for 50 reps. He's done seated shoulder presses with 405 for 15 reps. He's squatted 800 lbs for a single. No question about it... he's so "retarded strong" he should probably be institutionalized.
He's also stupid huge. Just take a look at the arms... they taped at 23 1.2 inches a month out from the Nationals. Few guys' arms even approach 22" in the off-season. Eddie's were over 23" in contest shape. Don't forget the delts either. Upon seeing Eddie doing a photo shoot in California a few years ago, Lou Ferrigno muttered his approval, "you've got the best delts I've ever seen on a white guy". Ferrigno isn't quick to compliment, and actually understanding him during his first take is even more rare... but I digress.
The point is Eddie is beyond massive and stronger than the odor from an overturned port-o-potty in 100-degree heat at Ozzfest. You get the picture... or maybe you don't. Well, think about this. Eddie was at the Scitec booth during the 2002 Olympia weekend. He was constantly signing autographs, posing for pictures with fans... all the while not eating or drinking enough due to being mobbed by people all day. But Eddie's stupid and retarded, so he should be able to handle a little food and water deprivation. No problem. He's a Pennsylvania bad ass, not some Keystone crybaby/sissy.
Well, Eddie prides himself on being one of, if not, the strongest bodybuilders around and is always up to any challenge. So wouldn't you know it, there was a bench press competition being held at the Universal booth, which was not far from the Scitec booth. So as the day was winding down, Eddie decided to enter. Now, bodybuilders are not too inclined to lift heavy without the benefit of proper food, hydration and warm up, let alone only 5 weeks out from a contest and after a full day of dehydration working a booth. But Eddie is stupid and retarded, so the normal rules of engagement don't apply.
Being Stupid & Retarded
Though he was advised against entering the bench press contest, Eddie is a stubborn bastard and can't easily be told "not" to do something. Once he decided to enter the contest, it was suggested to him that "maybe he should warm up"... you know do some pushups first... start out with a few reps with 135 and 225, before proceeding to 315. But noooooooo. Eddie Moyzan is retarded strong. "I'm warm from all the posing for photos", said a confident and curt Moyzan. "I don't need to warm up. 315 is nothing. I'll do it for at least 50 reps."... famous last words.
Click To Enlarge!
Well, wouldn't you know it. Eddie got under the bar with 315 and started cranking out reps with ease. 10 reps, 15 reps, it looked like he could go on forever... then at 18 Eddie felt something crack/tear in his upper right pec/armpit area. You guessed it? A pec tear. But this stupid mofo didn't stop then. He did another 12 reps after he tweaked his chest... because he's stupid, retarded, a bad ass... or in this case, simply an idiot. Yeah, he's stupid all right... but in this instance not in the good way.
Fortunately his pec was only strained and not actually torn. (It's barely noticeable and Eddie used a product called Inflavanoid Intensive Care, recommended by super trainer Charles Poliquin [www.charlespoliquin.net], that really accelerated his healing process.)
But the nagging pain did put a damper on his last few weeks of contest prep. That ain't an excuse though. He wasn't at his best at the 2002 Nationals, but still managed 4th place. But like the 2 most recent USA champs, Quincy Taylor and Idrise Ward-El, Eddie will be working with contest prep guru Hany Rambod for the 2003 season. If Hany's track record for success is an indication, Eddie will be ready to do serious damage the next time he sets foot onstage... as long as he doesn't stumble upon any more bench press competitions.
Sure Eddie is stupid and retarded in both bad and good ways. Plus he's a good sport who can take a joke as well as make one. How many other bodybuilders would willingly allow themselves to be torched in print... I mean this is ok with him... I think? I hope... But looking at him, the first thing that comes to mind (after "how big are your arms?), is how do you train your arms?
How He Did It
Well Eddie is the product of more than 10 years of intense training, during which he's developed and fine-tuned his approach for maximum gains. Neither his physique, nor his training philosophy happened overnight. But through a lot of experimentation and trial and error, Moyzan has arrived at what works best for him... and what can probably work for you.
Eddie is best known for his arms. How could he not be? Not noticing his arms is like being oblivious to Dolly Parton's rack. During his early days Eddie was obsessed with building massive arms. He was especially impressed with Mike Matarazzo's arms in the early 90s when Eddie was first getting into bodybuilding. So like all young trainers, eager for big bis, he did every biceps exercise in the world for lots of sets. Barbell curls, dumbbell curls, preacher curls, concentration curls, cable curls. You name it. He did it. And his arms grew. In fact, he overdid it.
But his genetics are such that his arms were going to grow out of control, regardless of what he did, how much, or even too much. Still Eddie learned a great deal about what works and what doesn't through his many years devoted to arm training. In fact, amazingly enough, now Eddie only does 1 exercise for biceps. Eddie's no Mike Mentzer disciple, but he does believe in some of Mentzer's ideas regarding intensity.
Eddie's Bicep Training
And now for the magic, secret biceps bombarding exercise. You know the seated preacher curl machine? You might have seen one. Maybe even used one. But you probably never imagined it would be responsible for building some of the largest arms in the world. Hammer Strength makes one that can be found in a lot of gyms, but Eddie prefers the preacher curl machine made by King Equipment.
Instead of doing both arms at the same time, Eddie performs the exercise 1 arm at a time. He only trains biceps once a week and does only 9-10 sets total, which includes his warm up sets. This doesn't mean that if you do Eddie's exact biceps workout you'll develop arms like his. But there is some important and useful knowledge to be gleaned from Moyzan's training style.
Eddie isolates biceps by training them on a separate day from other body parts (though he does calves afterwards, it's not such a strain that it prevents him from totally focusing his energy on bis).
As is the case with all body parts, Eddie takes his time to warm up before attempting to handle heavy weights... too bad he didn't take his own advice when it came to the bench press contest?but why do I gotta be "brangin" that up.
Eddie trains in a hardcore bodybuilding gym in Allentown, PA called X-ertek, owned by Steve Garfunkel, who provides Eddie with the royal treatment. King equip- ment is the standard in X-ertek and Eddie raves about the stuff (too bad we don't have any pictures of Eddie training on the equipment? we're working on it for future issues). Moyzan starts his biceps workout with 120 lbs (about half the stack of weights for the King preacher machine) and does 4-5 warm up sets of 10 reps.
Now most people do 1-2 warm up sets before starting to count work sets. But not Eddie. Until he's handling really heavy poundages, he doesn't consider the sets to be "work sets". That doesn't mean he's not putting a lot of effort into the warm up sets, quite the opposite. He's exerting himself during the warm up sets, but they are just a prelude to the heavy duty work sets to follow.
After Eddie is good and ready from his 4-5 warm up sets, which are almost always 10 rep sets (for most all body parts), he's ready to go to work. So Eddie places the pin at the bottom and does the full stack for 4 biceps-blasting, skinbursting sets of 10 reps.
When Eddie focuses on his "work" sets, he keeps his rep speed controlled and focuses on squeezing the muscle. He does everything he can to force his biceps to work as hard as possible. He's not interested in reps for the sake of doing reps. He's trying to build ungodly arms here?well he's not trying, he's succeeding. But for your own benefit, remember to make your arms do the work.
That's why he does them 1 arm at a time. The stack is way too light if he uses both arms simultaneously. Plus the single arm approach allows for a better stretch and an angle on the biceps that stimulates more growth.
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After his 4 work sets, Eddie will lower the weight to 150 lbs and crank out one final set of 25 reps, or as many reps as he can get. This intensifies the biceps contraction and really pumps his arms beyond belief. Eddie performs reps for each arm, then takes a short 1-2 minute break, before starting the next set. Logically, the rest periods are less between warm up sets and more between work sets.
Eddie's biceps training is a basic blueprint for how he trains his entire body. He performs adequate warm up sets before progressing to super heavy weights for work sets, then finishes each body part with one final "burn-out" of high reps for a finishing pump. The main difference between biceps and other body parts is that Eddie does more total sets for biceps, but has shorter rest periods. Still he only hits each body part once per week, except calves and abs, which are trained 3 times weekly.
Eddie's typical workout last 45 minutes to an hour. He keeps them brief and intense to prevent overtraining. Moyzan is constantly experimenting with his training. He incorporates different exercises for almost every body part, but because he's locked into the 1-arm preacher curls, he sticks with a proven winner. If you'd like to one day be stupid and retarded like Eddie, you simply need to apply yourself. The dunce cap is optional. More details on Eddie's training routines for other body parts will follow in future issues.
Eddie's Bicep Workout
Preacher Curl Machine
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4-5 warm up sets of 10 reps.
4 sets of 10 reps
After his 4 work sets, lower weight and crank out 25 reps or as many reps as he can get.
Tips:
- Do 1 arm at a time
- After each rep, take a short 1-2 minute break
- The rest periods are less between warm up sets and more between work sets.
Print Eddie's Bicep Workout, Click Here!
More About Eddie Moyzan
Best Lifts
Squat - 800 lbs for a single
Incline Bench - 585 lbs for a single
Seated Shoulder Press - 405x15 reps
Bentover Rows - 405 x 12 reps
Bench Press - 315 for strained pec stupidity
To purchase autographed photos of Eddie Moyzan (double biceps or most muscular), send $12 each to: Eddie Moyzan c/o X-ertek Gym or e-mail EDMOYZAN@AOL.COM.
Eddie can also be contacted for guest posings and appearances. For more info on King Equipment and X-ertek Gym call owner Steve Garfunkel 610-434-7960.
Thanks,
Jim Koontz