Charles Glass,'Godfather of Bodybuilding', Reveals Top Protein Source and Ultimate Muscle-Building Exercise
Legendary bodybuilding trainer Charles Glass, often hailed as the ‘Godfather of Bodybuilding,’ recently weighed in on the most effective protein source for muscle gains and highlighted his go-to exercise for maximizing hypertrophy.
A former elite gymnast turned master coach, Glass has fine-tuned the physiques of top-tier IFBB Pro League competitors, including the late Shawn Rhoden, Chris Cormier, Flex Wheeler, Brandon Curry, Dennis James, and Kai Greene. His expertise extends beyond bodybuilding, having worked with Hollywood A-listers like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, ‘Hollywood’ Hulk Hogan, and Wesley Snipes.
Renowned for his biomechanical precision and meticulously structured training regimens, Glass has cemented his status as an authority in the fitness world. With an emphasis on optimal protein intake and exercise efficiency, he shared his blueprint for superior muscle development below.
‘Godfather of Bodybuilding’ Charles Glass Names His Top Protein Pick and Premier Muscle-Building Movement
For fueling hypertrophy and recovery, Charles Glass ranks beef as the superior protein source. To maximize muscle protein synthesis, he suggests first consuming chicken for its rapid digestion before following up with nutrient-dense beef.
“I like beef. I like beef. I made my better gains using the beef. What I would do, I’d split it up. I’d eat a little chicken first because your body can digest the chicken quick then I put the beef right behind it.
Then, now, once your body starts to digest food, it’s not going to stop and start back, it’ll just keep right on digesting. So it works better for me.”
“Yes, [white meat and then red meat],” adds Charles Glass.
In Glass’ philosophy, there isn’t a singular, all-encompassing exercise for mass-building—selection depends on the muscle group being targeted. For chest development, he champions decline press variations for superior pectoral engagement.
“There’s no one because you have chest, you have back, you have legs, you have arms. So, what I do is I split them up, and each one I’ll use differently. If I’m doing chest, what’s the one that’s going to hit my chest the most? It’s decline. Because I’m going to hit the whole chest. Then, I’ll start working on other sections. People say, ‘Oh, you can’t do that.’ That’s not true.
If you look at Dexter, look at how his chest was sitting up. We did inclines all the time, high inclines, then we did mid, then we hit lower, then we hit champagne, which hits right in the center of the chest. I take it in stages. When we do arms, there’s certain exercises we do to hit the brachialis. We got two heads on the biceps, three on the triceps, so we try to split it up,” explains Charles Glass.
Although squats remain a cornerstone of his training regimen and a powerhouse for leg growth, they don’t directly stimulate the chest. As a former gymnast, Glass has long relied on squats for strength, mobility, and athleticism.
“How can a squat hit your chest? So, that’s what I’m saying. Squat is the best exercise because why? It really hits those legs hard. That’s one thing I did since my legs from being a gymnast, I always hit my legs first. I’d hit my legs first, and I mean I could front squat just as much as I could rear squat because I wanted to be strong at it.”
“It worked for me,” adds Glass. “Yeah [decline] because it hits overall chest, everything. Not they [people] don’t do it. Think about this, if you push decline, it don’t stay at the bottom, you feel it go all the way to the top. It doesn’t hit that top lip up there but it moves up. Why not do it first and get it out of the way.”
If forced to pick a single movement for overall muscular development, Glass places the rowing machine at the top of his list.
“When you do seated rows, you start pushing with your legs, you’re not doing the seated row right.
See, you can do it because it’s going to hit your legs, it’s going to hit your lower back, it’s going to hit your back, it’s going to hit your biceps, and as you extend out it’s going to hit the triceps, but it won’t affect the chest.”
“If you had to pick an exercise like you said, seated rowing would probably be the closest to the one you need for the rest of your life.”
Never one to withhold his expertise, the legendary coach continues to share invaluable training insights. Recently, he unveiled a German Volume Training blueprint for explosive chest hypertrophy and crafted custom arm-building protocols, yielding exceptional gains.
Charles Glass’ unparalleled knowledge of biomechanics, hypertrophy, and nutrition has solidified his legacy as one of the greatest minds in bodybuilding. With beef as his go-to protein for muscle growth and the rowing machine as his premier mass-building exercise, his methods remain a gold standard for elite-level conditioning.
