Lee Labrada is one of those bodybuilders who came close to the zenith but never touched it. Despite never winning the Mr. Olympia, Labrada is among the most highly regarded bodybuilders from the 80s. People continue to cite him as an example of aesthetics, conditioning, and symmetry. Earlier, the bodybuilding icon had explained how he attained his physique.

In an interview with Muscle & Fitness, the 63-year-old bodybuilding legend talked about the fact that he followed the high-intensity route. During the 80s, high volume and high intensity were the preferred muscle-building approaches. Labrada explained how he studied the methodology of Ellington Darden, Arthur Jones, and Mike Mentzer to design his workouts.

A flagbearer for high-intensity training

“I built my body using high-intensity training techniques,” said Lee Labrada. These techniques were developed by Ellington Darden and Arthur Jones, who invented the Nautilus exercise machines. The bodybuilding icon said that after doing a warmup set, he used to choose a weight that he could lift or press for a maximum of ten reps.

After the IFBB Hall of Famer reached failure, he moved on to the next exercise. This is how the man who placed in the top four for seven consecutive Mr. Olympia contests trained. Jones also believed that doing multiple reps and sets was a waste of time. Ideally, bodybuilders could exhaust their muscles after one set with enough intensity.

Jones developed the Nautilus machines to maintain maximum intensity through the range of motion and maximize growth. Mike Mentzer proved that one could compete with the best following this approach of bodybuilding in the late 70s. Then competitors like Lee Labrada kept the approach alive, until Dorian Yates, using HIT, became a six-time Mr. Olympia. However, high-intensity and high-volume were two sides of the same coin.

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The most effective bodybuilding approach?

The high-volume approach utilized by the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger yielded incredible results for Golden Era bodybuilders. However, high-intensity training also had its advantages. While those who practiced high volume would utilize multiple reps and sets to reach muscular failure, high-intensity did the same through lifting much heavier weights.

Research into exercise methodologies has found that a balanced approach often yields the best results. Eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman utilized a mix of intensity and volume. While The King also picked challenging weights, reaching failure between 8 to 12 reps, he repeated the process for a few sets.

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Today, 24-time Olympia-winning coach Hany Rambod also utilizes both intensity and volume in his FST-7 training program. As advanced as exercise science has gotten today, it wouldn’t have happened if bodybuilding legends like Lee Labrada hadn’t tried something new during their primes.