In the eyes of many bodybuilding fans, the 2023 Classic Physique Olympia contest cemented Chris Bumstead as the G.O.A.T. after he claimed his fifth consecutive championship in Orlando, FL on Nov. 4. 

That contest also established runner-up Ramon “Dino” Rocha Queiroz as the clear number two superstar of the division. The 2023 Arnold Classic Physique champion appears to be the only man who can challenge “CBum” for the throne if Bumstead chooses to defend his title again in Las Vegas, NV at the 2024 Olympia Weekend. 

[Read More: Francielle Mattos — Biography, Wellness Olympia Career, and Workouts]

As of January 2024, Queiroz is focused on defending his Arnold title, which he will do on the weekend of Mar. 1-3, 2024 in Columbus, OH. As he trains for that show, his international fanbase is growing and wants to learn more about the man most popularly known as “Ramon Dino.” Here’s a glance at his life and career up to this point.

Early Life

Queiroz was born on Feb. 9, 1995, in Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil. He has been competing in bodybuilding shows since he turned 21 years old, when he first jumped into the South American amateur circuit. 

Ramon Dino became a pro at the 2018 Amateur Olympia Brazil at the age of 23, but he would not compete as a professional for three years after that.

Career

The bodybuilding powerhouse stands at 5 feet, 11 inches tall, and he competes in the range of 225-230 pounds. 

He made his professional debut in 2021 at the Europa Pro, where he finished as the runner-up to Fabian Mayr. He won his first title, the Musclecontest Brazil Pro, that same season before making his Olympia debut in Las Vegas, NV.

The following career history comes from NPC News Online. He’s competed seven times as a professional as of January 2024, and he has two pro wins.

2021

Europa Pro — 2nd

Musclecontest Brazil Pro — 1st

Classic Physique Olympia — 5th

2022

Arnold Classic Physique — 2nd

Classic Physique Olympia — 2nd

2023

Arnold Classic Physique — 1st

Classic Physique Olympia — 2nd

Ramon Dino’s Back Workout

To maximize his potential, Queiroz can’t allow himself to get too big or alter his symmetry, which is the calling card for the Classic Physique division. So, he has to be methodical with his training. While preparing for the 2023 Olympia, he clearly aimed to improve back thickness, which is why he focused a lot of his back training on rows. 

This sample workout was taken from his YouTube channel. The exact sets and reps were not shown, but he appeared to stay in the eight to 15 rep range. If you want to try a sample version of his training, the workout below can serve as your Dino-esque guide.

Bent-Over Row: 3-4 x 8-15

Hammer Strength Row: 3-4 x 8-15 

Lat Pulldown: 3 x 10-15

Machine One-Arm Bent-Over Row: 3 x 10-15 

Weighted Hyperextension: 3 x 15*

*Upon failure, let go of the weight and perform more reps until you reach failure again.

[Read More: Courtney King — Career, Bikini Olympia Win, and Biography]

As for his nutrition and prep for contests, Queiroz works under the guidance of coach and nutritionist Chris Aceto, who has worked with many victors over the years, including former Mr. Olympia winners Jay Cutler and Shawn Rhoden.

Social Media

Like many of bodybuilding’s most popular athletes, Queiroz is active on social media. He has over 5.5 million followers on Instagram, over 600,000 followers on TikTok, 526,000 followers on Threads, and his YouTube channel boasts over 540,000 subscribers. 

He hasn’t posted a new video on YouTube since November 2023, but he’s regularly active on all his other outlets, promoting brands and sharing posts about his wife and children.

Business Ventures

Queiroz’s popularity has been attractive to sponsors and businesses, which is why he’s an active spokesperson for numerous brands. His supplement sponsor is Max Titanium, which is based in his home country of Brazil. He also works with Dr. Peanut and Mith Official Clothing. Queiroz is a coach and works with clients both for competition and lifestyle fitness.

Future

If Queiroz continues to compete, it may be only a matter of time before he assumes the mantle of number one man in Classic Physique. Based on the success he’s already achieved, he appears to be ready to hold that top spot. 

There are other rivals in the division he will have to hold off in the future, including Terrence Ruffin and Urs Kalecinski, but many fans feel that Dino will be Bumstead’s successor, particularly when he decides to hang up his posing trunks. 

Featured Image: @ramondinopro / Instagram

The post Ramon “Dino” Rocha Queiroz Biography: Bodybuilding Career, Workouts, and Height appeared first on BarBend.

The 2024 Sheffield Powerlifting Championships are fast approaching. One of the biggest meets in competitive powerlifting with a substantial prize purse — over half a million dollars — drawing some of the sport’s best athletes will take place on Feb. 10, 2024, at City Hall in Sheffield, UK.

Among those athletes is New Zealand’s Karlina Tongotea. Typically competing in the women’s 76-kilogram class, Tongotea holds the IPF world record raw squat of 225.5 kilograms (497.1 pounds). However, that does not seem to be the top of Tongotea’s range.

On Jan. 4, 2023, Tongotea posted a video to her Instagram page wherein she squatted 228 kilograms (502.7 pounds) raw — 2.5 kilograms more than her current IPF world record. Check it out below:

[Related: Two-Time CrossFit Games Winner Justin Medeiros Entered a Powerlifting Competition and Totaled Over 1,400 Pounds]

Tongotea wore wrist wraps and a lifting belt for her squat. She reached what appeared to be more than sufficient depth and endured a small grind during her ascent, accented by the visible shaking of the weight plates. Despite the struggle, the lift never seemed in doubt en route to the lockout.

While Tongotea was slightly over her typical weight cap at 77.2 kilograms bodyweight at the time of her training squat, it remains indicative of her strength gains during her 2024 Sheffield prep. With nearly a month and a half left to drop the excess kilogram while training with these heavy loads, it is likely that Tongotea could call for an IPF world record weight during one of her attempts.

Unlike most competitive powerlifting meets where athletes compete against other athletes in their weight class, the Sheffield meet will compare athletes across weight classes via DOTS scores, which accounts for total weight lifted adjusted for body weight.

The 2023 Sheffield Powerlifting Roster

These four athletes join the existing roster:

Jesus Olivares (USA)

Evie Corrigan (New Zealand)

Tiffany Chapon (France)

Natalie Richards (USA)

Panagiotis Tarinidis (France)

Carola Garra (Italy)

Prescillia Bavoil (France)

Delaney Wallace (USA)

Karlina Tongotea (New Zealand)

Jonathan Cayco (USA)

Amanda Lawrence (USA)

Anatolii Novopismennyi (Ukraine)

Brittany Schlater (Canada)

Carl Johansson (Sweden)

Tony Cliffe (UK)

Gustav Hedlund (Sweden)

Sonita Muluh (Belgium)

Kyota Ushiyama (Japan)

Tim Monigatti (New Zealand)

Carlos Petterson-Grifith (Guyana)

Gavin Aldin (USA)

Jade Jacob (France)

Noémie Allabert (France)

Agata Sitko (Poland)

[Related: The Guide to Arm Training for Powerlifters]

More Powerlifting Content

Two-Time CrossFit Games Winner Justin Medeiros Entered a Powerlifting Competition and Totaled Over 1,400 Pounds

How to Train Powerlifting Once Per Week (And Make it Count)

The Best Powerlifting Workouts for Beginners to Break Into the Sport

Featured image: @karlina23 on Instagram

The post Karlina Tongotea (76KG) Squats 2.5 Kilograms Over IPF Raw World Record During 2024 Sheffield Prep appeared first on BarBend.

Eric Bugenhagen (a.k.a. professional wrestler formerly known as Rick Boogs) is a bodybuilder amid a bulking phase. Considering Bugenhagen’s physique is already massive, and he was known in the ring for his feats of strength during his matches, it’s worth a double take if he intends to pack on even more mass.

On Dec. 30, 2023, Bugenhagen published a video on his YouTube channel wherein he shared how he’s gaining muscle via a caloric surplus and a lot of protein to kick off 2024. Check out his bulking tips below:

[Related: What Is Erythritol? Is This Zero-Calorie Sweetener Too Good to Be True?]

Editor’s Note: The content on BarBend is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. When starting a new training regimen and/or diet, it is always a good idea to consult with a trusted medical professional. We are not a medical resource. The opinions and articles on this site are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional.

Dirty Bulking vs. Clean Bulking (Why Not Both?)

Bugenhagen lambasts dirty bulking, the practice of eating anything, typically a plethora of junk food, to achieve a caloric surplus, and clean bulking, the practice of eating tons of chicken and rice and other “clean” foods to build muscle without satisfying one’s tastebuds.

Bugenhagen believes there is a sufficient middle ground between the two dieting camps; that one can consume requisite calories without measuring every single morsel of food or relying on fast food lacking nutrition.

High-calorie, Easy-to-Eat Snack

Bugenhagen’s number one dieting trick blends dirty and clean bulking for a heavy protein boost. He dollops a tablespoon of peanut butter on a pair of Nature Valley Crunchy bars. The oat bars contain 190 calories. A tablespoon of peanut butter is 200 calories. The combo snack is approximately 600 calories per bar duo, with 27 grams of protein. Bugenhagen typically eats two or three — sometimes up to five — packages of the Nature Valley bars, amounting to 3,000 calories and 135 grams of protein.

While this peanut butter-smothered oat bar trick might work for Bugenhagen — and is not intended to replace meals — the real takeaway is how Bugenhagan found a way to consume his goal calorie count efficiently. Sometimes, a caloric surplus requires eating so much food that it becomes a challenge. Elite bodybuilders like Hunter Labrada are known for blending their food into liquid form to make it all easier to digest.

Bugenhagen’s choice of oat bars and peanut butter provides him with magnesium, zinc, resveratrol, antioxidants, and monounsaturated fatty acids. It’s a trick for him to bulk on the go with his busy travel schedule.

He lauds his crunchy bars and peanut butter snack for the complex carbs that keep him full of energy throughout the day. And it’s relatively cheap! Nature Valley Crunchy oat bars cost approximately 50 cents per package, and a jar of peanut butter costs about five dollars. Bulking like a bodybuilder is not often inexpensive, but finding a hack like Bugenhagan’s can help offset some financial burdens without compromising with excess sodium or unhelpful cholesterol.

Featured image: @ericbugenhagenofficial on Instagram

The post Eric Bugenhagen’s High-Calorie Snack Is His “Ticket to Gainsville” appeared first on BarBend.

Losing weight and keeping it off is a long-term endeavor. There are many ways to accomplish sustained and consistent weight loss over time to positive results and they vary from person to person.

A Dec. 2023 study in Nutrition & Diabetics assessed six months of weight loss intervention, including time-restricted feeding, alternate-day fasting, and straight caloric restriction. To measure quantitative and qualitative data, they interviewed participants two months after the six-month weight-loss period. (1)

Is motivation alone enough to achieve long-term weight loss? Not really. Nutrition scientist Dr. Layne Norton dove into the study’s findings in a YouTube video published on Dec. 27, 2023, reviewing the assessment of behavioral changes necessary to maintain weight loss long-term. Check it out below:

[Related: The Side Effects of Probiotics for Strength Athletes to Look Out For]

Losing Weight

This 2023 study focused primarily on the psychological changes necessary to promote consistent and effective fat loss. The most significant mental factor for success was the development of feedback loops. 

The amount of feedback or accountability at the beginning of the six months was directly related to whether participants stuck with their diets. “Frequent check-ins with the researchers or the support staff had a really big benefit for them being adherent,” says Dr. Norton. In fact, many of the subjects didn’t enjoy the diets at the start, noting that motivation alone isn’t a foolproof initial jumpstart for long-term diet success.

Image via Shutterstock/Laborant

Behavior change sparks motivation, not the other way around. If the participants adhered to a diet and noticed changes to their health and physiques, they became motivated about the whole process and to continue it. When they committed to the process for long enough, they experienced the aesthetic benefits, which motivated them to continue.

In short, feedback and accountability fuel self-efficacy and, eventually, self-ownership.

Self-ownership is basically, ‘I have the power. I have the responsibility.I believe I can do this because I’ve seen these changes happen over time.’

[Related: 4 Ways Stress Is Killing Your Gains]

Fitting the Diet Into the Lifestyle

Dr. Norton says that adaptation is another key indicator of diet sustainability. Using meal delivery services or changing grocery lists to low-carb or extra protein can shift one’s lifestyle or diet to accommodate one’s health goals.

Small changes, sustained via help from others, can lead to more confidence and motivation. The frequency of feedback communication is important; touchpoints throughout the week can help better navigate the first month. Then, when physical changes are noticeable, confidence skyrockets.

Remodeling a lifestyle, staying accountable to a diet coach, receiving feedback from specific biomarkers, gaining self-efficacy, and taking self-ownership are necessary for a successful weight loss journey. Motivation waxes and wanes, but according to this study, changing one’s behavior is the key to changing one’s physique.

Reference 

Liu, K., Choi, T. S. T., Zhao, L., Teong, X. T., Hutchison, A. T., & Heilbronn, L. K. (2023). A qualitative exploration of behaviour change and maintenance experience in people with overweight or obesity in a dietary intervention. Nutrition & dietetics: the journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia, 10.1111/1747-0080.12855. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/1747-0080.12855

Featured image via Shutterstock/Laborant

The post Is Motivation Enough to Achieve Long-Term Weight Loss? appeared first on BarBend.

Bodybuilders know a thing or two about strength training exercises. The movements that comprise a bodybuilder’s workout plan will, quite literally, shape the physique they bring to the competition stage on show day.

In a Dec. 30, 2023, training vlog on YouTube, 2023 Mr. Olympia Derek Lunsford discussed his perspective on one of the most underrated leg exercises for bodybuilding — the walking lunge.

[Related: 5 Lunge Benefits For More Muscle and Improved Movement]

“I’ve always considered lunges as an accessory exercise when, in reality, I should think of them as an essential exercise,” Lunsford says, sharing his thoughts on reprioritizing exercise selection in 2024. 

Derek Lunsford: “[Lunges] Are a Must-Do”

“I usually thrive on exercises that stimulate the muscle, as far as getting a pump, and I don’t really feel that from lunges,” Lunsford concedes when asked why he doesn’t enjoy performing lunge variations during his workouts.

However, Lunsford notes the benefits lunges provide far outweigh the discomfort of performing them. He touches on several key points for making lunges a priority on leg day:

Lunges significantly stretch the working muscles, including the glutes and quadriceps.

When performed at the end of a workout, lunges can help establish and maintain mobility in the hips, knees, and ankles.

Lunges develop tissue tolerance in the tendons and ligaments, which is important for remaining resilient to injury. 

Lunsford’s sentiments were echoed by training partner and fellow bodybuilder Ryan Crowley. Crowley feels the importance of lunges goes beyond the physiological: “[Lunges] are one of those exercises that you really have to prioritize early on in your career,” he says, touching on the skill and work capacity required to perform the movement in a fatigued state. 

For Lunsford and Crowley, the walking lunge does more than bulk the lower body. A well-rounded exercise should have the potential to improve flexibility and athleticism.

Benefits of Walking Lunges

One look at Lunsford’s legs is more than enough justification to add walking lunges into your workout routine. If you’re not fully convinced that a lunge belongs in your next leg day, check out these other benefits:

Develops Balance and Coordination

Unilateral (that is, one-limbed) exercises like the lunge are as rehabilitative as they are stimulative. Some clinical studies assert that the walking lunge helps “produce muscle coordination” (1) and establish better balance.

[Related: The Best Supplements for Muscle Growth in 2024]

Lunsford specifically mentions that these tertiary, skill, and stability-based benefits gained from lunging can carry over to other more stable exercises, thereby improving intensity. 

Easy To Incorporate

While lunges certainly come with a learning curve, they are accessible. Most gyms will have areas dedicated to sport-specific or cross-training with lots of open space. If you have lunges in your workout routine, you don’t need to wait for a free squat rack. Grab a pair of dumbbells or kettlebells and get to stepping. 

Balanced Muscle Growth

Unilateral exercises like the lunge have clinical support as a means of addressing muscular imbalances. Some studies have shown that single-limbed training can remedy discrepancies in size between muscles, especially after periods of inactivity. (2)(3)

How To Do Walking Lunges

As Lunsford mentions, lunges are effective even without any extra weight, especially if you perform them at the end of your workout. However, if you want to up the difficulty, hold a pair of dumbbells in your hands or even lunge with a barbell on your back.

Step 1: Find some open space — at least 30 to 40 feet — to perform walking lunges for sufficient reps.

Step 2: Begin by stepping forward and slightly out with your dominant leg. Plant your foot in front of you, then sink the hips down and forward. Allow your knee to travel in front and over your toe.

Step 3: With most of your weight in your forward leg, push into the floor and contract your quads and glutes to ascend to a standing position.

Step 4: Step forward with the opposing leg and put your weight into it. Sink into the lunge again and repeat the process. 

Coach’s Tip: Avoid tilting or swaying your torso from side to side. Brace your core to keep stable as you step. 

More Bodybuilding Content

Andrew Jacked Shows Larry Wheels How to Train Legs Like a Men’s Open Bodybuilder

2024 Arnold Classic UK Rosters Revealed

Samson Dauda’s Adjusted Leg Training 12 Weeks Out From the 2024 Arnold Classic

References

Marchetti PH, Guiselini MA, da Silva JJ, Tucker R, Behm DG, Brown LE. Balance and Lower Limb Muscle Activation between In-Line and Traditional Lunge Exercises. J Hum Kinet. 2018 Jun 13;62:15-22. doi: 10.1515/hukin-2017-0174. PMID: 29922373; PMCID: PMC6006536.

Malliou PC, Giannakopoulos K, Beneka AG, Gioftsidou A, Godolias G. Effective ways of restoring muscular imbalances of the rotator cuff muscle group: a comparative study of various training methods. Br J Sports Med. 2004 Dec;38(6):766-72. doi: 10.1136/bjsm.2003.009548. PMID: 15562178; PMCID: PMC1724971.

Andrushko, J. W., Gould, L. A., & Farthing, J. P. (2018). Contralateral effects of unilateral training: sparing of muscle strength and size after immobilization. Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme, 43(11), 1131–1139.

Featured Image: @dereklunsford_ on Instagram

The post Why Mr. Olympia Derek Lunsford Believes Walking Lunges Are “Essential” appeared first on BarBend.