Aziz Shavershian, known as Zyzz, gained a large fan base over a very short period of time with his provocative YouTube videos and attitude. Even now, almost a year after his death, he still has an impact on many young bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts.
His well-developed physique combined with a notorious lifestyle has been a theme of many discussions in bodybuilding and fitness forums.
Mixing a reckless, fast lifestyle, partying, drinking with training, a clean diet, and speaking openly about using steroids created a lot of controversies, and nobody remained indifferent.
Aziz, in his short life, was defined as a rebel, denying social conditioning, resulting in his behavior often described as narcissistic and egoistic.
Nevertheless, Zyzz has achieved his goal of making an impact on the world.
His journey from a skinny high school kid with no self-esteem to somebody who is being compared with great bodybuilders was a hard one. In the process, he gained thousands of fans all over the world. It was truly a Hollywood movie story.
Zyzz Workout Routine – Exercises for the Aesthetically Pleasing
The core of his training philosophy is about pushing yourself beyond your limits as much as possible on every workout.
Zyzz's workout routine looked like this:
Monday: Chest/Biceps
- 4 sets of Incline Dumbbell Press, 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Bench Press, 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Incline Flies, 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Chest Dips until failure
- 3 sets of Barbell Curls, 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Preacher Curls, 8-10 reps, then drop the weight to half and push out another 8
Review: The Zyzz workout check day looks like a traditional bodybuilding “bro split” routine packed with good old-fashioned, proven compound movements. His main focus was developing a wide upper chest with incline movements, for a pleasing aesthetic look.
Tuesday: Legs/Calves
- 4 sets of Squats 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Lunges 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Leg Press 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Leg Extensions till failure
- 3 sets of Leg Curls 8-10 reps
Review: Zyzz never denied the importance of leg training. He hated it but also knew the massive benefits we get from leg training.
Personally, I wouldn't recommend training to failure every workout session. I would suggest slightly higher rep ranges for Leg Curls and Leg Extensions. Lastly, there are no exercises for calves, which are an important muscle group.
Wednesday: Back
- 3 sets of Lat Pulldowns 8-10 reps
- 4 sets of Deadlifts 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Bent Over Rows 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Dumbell Rows 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Hyperextensions 8-10 reps
Review: Back training incorporates solid exercises for developing thickness and mass.
Thursday: Shoulders/Triceps
- 4 sets of Shoulder Press, alternate with Barbell & Dumbell every week 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Upright Rows superset with Lateral Raises 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of front raises 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Lying Rear Delt Raises 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Close-Grip Bench Press 8-10 reps
- 4 sets of Pulldowns 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Skullcrushers 8-10 reps
Review: The shoulder and triceps Zyzz workout combines basic compound movements.
I'd personally avoid Front Raises as the front delt gets plenty of stimulus through all the pressing movements.
Also, I would do Lateral Raises and Upright rows with slightly higher reps to minimize joint wear and tear.
The triceps exercise selection is okay. I would vary the rep ranges a bit. Skullcrushers might be tricky for those with elbow pain so a Cable Overhead Triceps Extension would be a good replacement.
Saturday: Full Body
- 3 sets of Deadlifts 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Squats 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Clean and Jerk 8-10 reps
- 3 sets of Weighted Pullups 8-10 reps
Review: Deadlifting twice per week is very fatiguing and I wouldn't recommend it.
Clean and Jerk is a highly technical movement and doing it after Deadlifts and Squats is not the best placement. It's also not the best hypertrophy exercise.
It might be too much for your body to recover from.
Zyzz Diet Plan Review – His Approach to Staying Lean
He didn't utilize cardio in his workout plan which tells us that his diet must be the key to staying lean all the time.
The general rules of Zyzz diet plan are:
- No fast food.
- No soft drinks
- No sweets or sugar
- The only fluid you shall drink is water and green tea
Sample Daily Diet:
- Meal 1 – 6 boiled Eggs, 2 cups of Oatmeal and a Protein Shake
- Meal 2 – 300g Chicken Breast (boiled) Broccoli and Brown Rice
- Meal 3 – 200g Tuna chunks in spring water, mixed with Spinach Leaves, and Wholemeal Pasta
- Post-Workout Shake with Whey Protein and other supplements
- Meal 4 – Stir fry Beef/Kangaroo Mince with some vegetables
- Meal 5 – Steak or Kangaroo and Brussels Sprouts
- Meal 6 – 4 scrambled Eggs and some Salmon
- Meal 7 – One cup of no fat Cottage Cheese 10m before bed
Review: Zyzz diet plan is similar to many other bodybuilding diets, as you can see he focused on whole foods, lean meat, a lot of vegetables.
He also didn't avoid fat which is common with a lot of bodybuilders.
Occasionally, Zyzz incorporated cheat meals into his diet.
Conclusion
Zyzz workout is far from an optimal training plan, but in some cases, it's better than what most guys in the gym are doing.
We also have to consider the fact that Zyzz was using performance-enhancing substances and was open about it.
Such compounds generally allow individuals to see progress even if training and diet aren't the best.
His diet plan is very simplistic and straightforward. It can work if you enjoy eating those types of foods and get the right amount of calories and macronutrients for your body.
Here is Zyzz on Wikipedia.
His favorite quote was “Obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated.”