By Ronald Parker
Photo Ralph DeHaan 

In the eternal battle to build seriously scary arms, a line in the sand separating the men from the boys was drawn some time ago, and it is the mythical measurement of 50cm. Anyone can build strong arms of bulging muscle, but it is when they reach half a metre in circumference that they become truly impressive. The only thing is, you have to be six foot tall and weigh in over three digits to get there.
Or perhaps not… Erik Bui has authentic mega arms, while measuring only 163cm in height and weighing in at 90kg for competition, and is a true force of human nature. 

It is true that most bodybuilders that have arms measuring more than 50cm of actual muscle, i.e. defined, are taller than 180cm and weigh at least 100kg. Naturally, arm size is linked to overall proportions. However, there are always exceptions to the rule, and our man is one of them. Eryk Bui possesses a smaller frame, but he punches well above his weight when it comes to strength and power.
At 163cm in height Eryk is not tall but with an off-season weight of 97kg, which comes down to 90kg of pure muscle for competition, he is an absolute colossus. His outstanding measurements include 50cm arms, as well as a chest that reaches 120cm, thighs of 69cm, calves of 44cm and a neck of 45cm, while his waist remains at just 75cm.
Eryk is a real force of nature, even more so than he appears, since he was keen on physical strength from a young age and developed his natural strength, first joining a gym at 15, so he could move as much weight as possible and becomes an excellent powerlifter. After six years of that he decided to get into bodybuilding, but he never forgot his roots in powerlifting and strength development.
“If it doesn’t make you dizzy,” he declares, “then the weight just isn’t heavy enough, and certainly won’t make you better!”
Bui was born in Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Min City, on Christmas day 1970 into a large family with three older brothers and one older sister, and he has two younger brothers as well. He always likes sport and had an average body, not skinny or fat, and reasonable strength.
“I had muscles before I ever started weightlifting, and was naturally very strong,” Eryk confirms.
Even so, they told Eryk he was too small and didn’t have the genetics to become a pro bodybuilder. That, evidently, was not the case, because in 2004 the man got perfect scores as a middleweight at the NPC Nationals in the States, and with that won his IFBB pro card.

A Teen In Love With Strength
At just 15 years old Eryk Bui joined his first gym and began powerlifting, which he kept up until he decided to get into bodybuilding when he was 22. He had no experience when he started out but he could already bench press 2kg and squat 150kg, so the guy was naturally strong and definitely suited to the sport.
“By the time I was 17 I could bench 150kg and was squatting more than 220, and the other guys in the gym just flipped out, they couldn’t believe their eyes,” Eryk recalls.
His parents, however, were not supportive of Eryk’s devotion to weight training at first, because they thought it would distract him from his studies. Ultimately that was not a problem though, as the boy became determined to excel in both sporting and academic activities, and got a degree in Biology from the St. Thomas University in Austin, Texas.

By Mike Lackner

It is that time of year again where the weather is starting to get warm and thoughts of heading to the beach continue to dance through your head. If you are going to be sunning it at the beach, you do not want to wake up to a group of people trying to pull you back into the water because they think that will save your life… No, you need a well-defined six-pack so there is no mistake that you are not some aquatic mammal that accidentally beached itself. As you strut along the shoreline, you want all of the members of the opposite sex focusing on your abs and thinking that you are the catch of the day. By the time you finish reading this article, you will have all the information you need to make your abs the best on the beach.

Before we get started on abdominal training, let’s get one thing clear. In order to have visible abs, you need to do more than just train them. You could have the most muscular and strongest abdominal muscles on the planet, but if they are covered by layers of flab, well… they will not be very visible. That would be like creating the perfect sculpture and then covering it with cement. It wouldn’t do you much good if you were trying to show that sculpture. You are going to have to be reasonable with your diet if you want your abdominal muscles to be on display.
Strong and well-developed abdominals do more than simply make you more attractive. Your abdominals are part of your core, which stabilizes your body during many exercises and athletic activities, and especially during squats, which is the main exercise for putting on mass. If your abdominals are not strong enough, then your lower back and other core muscles will be forced to overcompensate during workouts. This is probably the number one cause of lower back problems. Weak abs, not weak lower back muscles, cause lower back problems. In addition, the lower back muscles will always remain too tight if they are forced to take on work that the abs should be doing, and that will lead to even more problems.
The formal name for the eight abdominal (normally only the upper six are visible unless you are very lean) muscles that run directly along the front of your torso is the rectus abdominis. These muscles control the tilt of the pelvis and curvature of the lower spine. Therefore, they are the muscles used to pull the rib cage closer to the pelvis, especially the upper muscles in the rectus abdominus group. That is why you see so many people performing crunches when training abs. In order to work the lower most muscles in the rectus abdominus group, you do the opposite motion and pull the pelvis towards ribs as when doing leg lifts or hanging leg raises.
The muscles that run along the side of the rectus abdominus muscles from your waist to your chest are the obliques. These allow the torso to rotate and they also stabilize the abdomen. Whenever you see bodybuilders twisting from side to side during an abdominal pose, they are showing the development of the obliques. These muscles play a very important role in many athletics, because most sports do not allow the athletes to simply run straight ahead. They must turn while moving or change directions quickly, which puts stress on the obliques, because the obliques run diagonally to help during angled movement. Twisting while doing your abdominal exercises is a great way to ensure these muscles get worked hard.