A shoulder to rely on: blast your delts with the help of bodybuilding's Mr. Consistency, Darrem Charles

In professional bodybuilding, there are no awards for consistency. It's not like baseball, where hitting streaks are celebrated and consecutive games played are tallied. If there were such an honor, though, it's hard to think of a more worthy recipient than Darrem Charles.

In fact, Charles is so prepared, show-in and show-out, that his conditioning is rarely compared to that of his fellow competitors. Rather, press and fans alike find themselves discussing how his current shape compares to that of his last contest, or maybe the one prior to that.

Yet consistency, as valued as it is in most every sport, in the workplace and even in home life, isn't as hot a commodity in bodybuilding, as Charles himself has discovered. Sure, being at the top of his game year-round has served him well: he has six wins as an IFBB pro, not to mention five runner-up finishes. Charles couldn't be happier with his success to date. Really. Like almost every athlete walking this earth with an IFBB pro card in hand, though, he'd like to get his just due at an Olympia contest--it's the pinnacle of all bodybuilding events.

Surprising to many, then, was that until early August of this year, Charles' name was not on the Mr. Olympia competitor list, despite his qualification to compete. After winning both the Toronto Pro and New York Pro competitions in 2005, he placed ninth at the big dance that year, even though he brought his trademark cross-striated triceps and quads to bear in Las Vegas in October 2005 with more muscle than ever before. His placing then was down two spots from his 2003 finish.

Rather than watch a consistent early season--he placed second to Phil Heath at both the 2006 Colorado Pro and the New York Pro--once again turn into a fall of discontent, Charles figured he might as well cut to the chase and leave himself out of Olympia contention rather than let the judges do it for him.

That is, until August 3, when he suddenly relented and decided to step into the fray. Why the shift? Why did Charles decide to extend his streak of consecutive Mr. Olympia appearances to six, a mark eclipsed in the 2006 lineup by only Gunter Schlierkamp and Dennis James, who both went for consecutive number seven this year, and Ronnie Coleman, who went for 13?

"I'm a competitive bodybuilder," Charles answers. "That title speaks for itself--I'm competitive by nature. I've always enjoyed competition, and bodybuilding is my profession. I had been at a point with the Olympia where I didn't know what more I could do to improve my placing significantly. I nailed my conditioning every time and managed to put on size each year for the past few years, but only moved up from 10th in 2004 to ninth last year. So I felt like I needed to take a break from the show.

"After giving it some more thought, I realized that I'd be in shape anyway, since I was planning on doing the shows right before it. The Olympia is the premier event in my sport, and I realized that if I am able to compete in it, then I should. I know how much work AMI [American Media, Inc.] has put into making it better this year, so it only made sense that I shouldn't turn my back on it."

Although Charles will be the first to say that every aspect of his bodybuilding career has played out like a dream come true, he's not quite done reaching for the stars. "I do still have one goal to fulfill," he states, "and that's to place top six at the Olympia. That is the thing that drives me most at this point in my career and that's why I can't sit this one out." (Charles was still hoping to fulfill his Olympia dream as FLEX went to press--check out our full Olympia report in next month's issue to see if he succeeded.)

Maybe the sport of bodybuilding doesn't hand out trophies for competitive streaks or uniform excellence. Maybe Darrem Charles will never get a trophy commemorating him as his sport's MCP: Most Consistent Player. We can, however, appreciate him whenever he takes the stage and with every chance we get to see him until his career comes to a close. Such respect is better than a trophy in the end anyway, isn't it?

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS LUND

DARREM CHARLES'

SHOULDER WORKOUT

EXERCISE                 SETS  REPS (HEAVY DAY)  REPS (LIGHT DAY)

Seated military presses  2 *        15, 12            15, 12
                         3         10, 8, 6         12, 10, 8

Dumbbell front raises    3         10, 8, 6         12, 10, 8

Lateral raises           3         10, 8, 6         12, 10, 8

Bent lateral raises      3         10, 8, 6         12, 10, 8

Upright rows             3         10, 8, 6         12, 10, 8

* Warm-up sets

RELATED ARTICLE: SEATED MILITARY PRESS

EXECUTION "As with most of my bodyparts, I have a heavy week and a light week for my shoulders. During my heavy week, I start with military presses to the front. I have done military presses standing in the past, but now I prefer doing them seated because standing presses put a lot of stress on my lower back. On my heavy day, my rep pattern is 10, eight and six. I begin with two warm-up sets--the first 15 reps and the second 12. My first set will be with a plate and a quarter on each side [185 pounds with an Olympic bar] followed by a set with two 45s on each side [225 pounds]. For my third and final set, I'll throw another quarter onto each end of the bar [275 pounds] for six reps."