The Tight Tan Slacks of Dezso Ban

Article Courtesy of Liam Tweed

Note: Here's one of the few articles published that links Charles A. Smith to Hepburn as his trainer and coach.

When you coldly mention 500 pounds, even to the man totally uninterested in weightlifting, you give him no idea of the "feel" of such a colossal weight. I'm not what you'd call a weak man, but tto me the poundage Doug Hepburn is capable of using for REPETITIONS in the bench press is something that roots me to the ground as securely as if I was a 200 year old tree.

In half squats for instance, 500 pounds finds me well aware I've taken a workout. A full squat is impossible, a dead lift difficult, a bench press with 500 something I can only dream about.

Imagine then the amazing strength of the man who was the first to bench press 500, and then smash the record to smithereens five months later with 25 pounds more, and still show no sign of having reached his limit.

How does he do it?
How did he train for it?

In the early part of 1953, the question asked Doug most frequently was, "Do you ever expect to make a 500 pound prone?" Now to every weight trainer, 500 pounds is a mythical figure, and until Doug came along, to even suggest that it would one day be accomplished would be asking for a torrent of scorn and sarcasm to descend upon one's head.

It is interesting to note that only three short years ago, a 400 pound bench press was sufficient to elevate you into the ranks of the weightlifting immortals. Around late 1950, the record stood at 408 pounds and was held by Johnny McWilliams. There were a few men who claimed to have exceeded 380, and one, Marvin Eder, was treading closely on the heels of McWilliams.

But since Doug Hepburn began to train on the bench press, not only has he pushed the lift to unprecedented heights, but his feats have also encouraged others to train on it, and have been responsible for the development of a situation in which a bench press of 400 pounds is considered nothing remarkable. At present, there are at least two men who are capable of 450, and one who can exceed that figure, Marvin Eder, who has made 480 at a few pounds over 200 bodyweight.

Let's examine the reasons why Doug Hepburn has used the bench press so extensively. Doug first began to take an interest in the "King of Lifts" around the same period McWilliams was busy breaking the record. At that time Doug could standing press around 330 pounds, but was anxious to improve this figure. Practice of the bench press brought his standing press up to 360. Thinking he could increase this further with more Olympic press practice, he eliminated the bench press from his routines against my advice, for a period of six months. The result was that he lost power in the anterior deltoids, pectorals (and these, despite what others say, play a large part in overhead lifting), and triceps. Analysis of his training, plus constant prodding from me, made him realize why he was unable to advance beyond a 360 standing press. It was obvious that his previous bench pressing had done much to pack his Olympic press with Basic Power.

From this time on, Doug has used bench presses in his training, advancing his pressing ability to a degree that surpasses anything he previously possessed, despite the fact that he performed only occasional limit attempts at the standing press. As his bench press increased so did his standing press rise. Just before he performed a 500 bench press, he was capable of 5 repetitions standing press with 365, 380 for 2 reps, and 400 for a single. At the Mr. Eastern America show, he pressed 410 from the shoulders, 460 bench press from the chest, and 175 pounds done in a one arm military.

Since that time his pressing power, both in the standing and bench press, has increased by leaps and bounds. Not only has he smashed the world Olympic press record with a lift of 372 pounds, but he has pressed 385 pounds 3 reps after the weight was lifted to his shoulders, and has also pressed 425 for one rep after taking the weight off squat racks . . . STANDING PRESSED 425! On occasions, Doug has added as much as 20 pounds in one week to his bench press limit.

As Doug's trainer and coach, the man responsible for planning his training programs, I felt that once he could make 8 reps with 400 pounds in the bench press, he would be able to perform a single rep with 500. With this in mind, Doug began to head towards this amount of reps and poundage. Within three months, his gains were so rapid that he could bench press 400 pounds 7 reps, and had increased his record to 490 (his previous record being 465). He was at last within grasp of that fabulous "500." The day came on May 28th, 1953 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Before ten witnesses, including Roy Hilligenn and Nick Krushinsky, Doug at last bench pressed 500 pounds in impeccable form. The poundage was well within his power and the Canadian Hercules realized that he had not even approached his potential power in the lift. How right he was was proven some time in October of 1953 when he finally zoomed to a colossal 525 bench press.

How does Doug execute the lift and how does he train to reach such amazing figures? How is he able to so constantly increase his incredible pressing power? These are questions that intrigue all classes and types of weight trainers.

First, both Doug and I agree that proper apparatus is necessary. The bench must not be too wide or too narrow. Too wide and you are unable to put the full power of the arms and shoulders into the lift. Too narrow and your balance is affected. A bench should be just wide enough and not too high. 15 inches is high enough.

At all times, the lifter must handle the weight himself, using a pair of low squat racks, just as Doug does, adjusting the racks to the proper height, so that when they are placed at one end of the bench, the end where the lifter places his head, he can take off the loaded bar and press right away. Doug never worries about getting stuck with the weight across his chest. I have taught him to lift without collars, so that all he has to do if he cannot get the weight off his chest is to tip the bar to one side and slide the plates off, then let the plates off the other end of the bar. Doug has handled weights in excess of 570 pounds in this manner.

The shoulders should be well under the bar when you take it off the racks. Otherwise you expend valuable energy getting the bar into pressing position.

The legs should also be extended, since this will guard against unconscious body arch, a cause for disqualification.

Hand spacing is important too. For record purposes, a collar to collar grip is not advisable. Doug uses a hand spacing in which his elbows are perpendicular to the floor, enabling him to make full and coordinated use of the triceps, deltoids, and chest muscles.

Here is the present bench press schedule followed by Doug, the one he used to increase his lift to 525 pounds.

Doug works out two or three times a week, according to how he feels. He always performs 5-8 sets of a minimum of 5 repetition to a maximum of 8 repetitions. I have been careful to make Doug see the folly of training when he wasn't in the mood for a workout. In handling extremely heavy weights, it is always best to "make haste slowly" as the old saying goes. Pushing yourself when you are tired, or when you are mentally disinclined, will quickly lead to a period of staleness.

Perhaps I can make myself a little clearer on this point. Plane designers when they were striving to produce a plane to break the sound barrier found the ordinary rules of aerodynamics didn't apply. Let's take 400 pounds as the Mach 1 of weightlifting. You just can't hurl yourself against such a weight, you can't FORCE yourself with such a poundage, because it is so heavy, so immense, that energy reserves are depleted and fatigue products build up more quickly. A TIRED MUSCLE IS MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO INJURIES!

So, I have always had Doug take his time. The result has been that Doug has been able to make steady, continued progress.

Doug takes three poundage jumps (warmup sets) to reach his training weight. The reason for this is that he believes in thoroughly warming up. First a warmup weight, 320 pounds 8 reps is used, then 350 8 reps, next 380 8 reps. Then he drops down to 330 performing 6 reps, then 360 for 6 reps, and finally 400 6 reps. In the last poundage, he goes all out to get 6 reps in:

320 x 8
350 x 8
380 x 8
330 x 6
360 x 6
400 x 6

It is Doug's opinion, and one shared thoroughly by me, that there is no lift to equal the bench press for building all types of pressing power and building the upper body.

"Years ago," says Doug, "when I was looking forward to the time when I could bench press 400, I felt sure that when that time came I'd be able to make a standing press of 330 . . . then when I began to go higher in my bench press and reach close to 450, I began to think of a 380 standing press. With each advance made in the bench press . . . I mentally associate this with advance with a standing press increase. Today, capable of a 525 bench press, I can also standing press 425 and press jerk 470 . . . and I am thinking in terms of even higher standing presses and jerks. One day I hope to make a 575 bench press. And I feel sure that when I can do this . . . and I WILL do it . . . I'll be able to press 450 from the shoulders and jerk 500 pounds. And that's the very day when I'll begin to train for a bench press of 600 pounds."

Who knows? Perhaps this giant of power, the man who has paved the way for others to follow, inspired and thrilled by his feats, might easily go beyond this.

To Doug Hepburn, all things in the World of Weights are possible.

Article Courtesy of Liam Tweed

Doug Hepburn

Phil Grippaldi - 465

Gene Roberson - 507.5

Ronnie Ray - 415

The newly organized sport of Power Lifting (article published April 1967) has chosen for its criteria as to the test of unadulterated strength, various power movements affecting major portions of the body. In the formulating of the competitive tests it did not take long to decide the inclusion of the Two Hands Bench Press. Any authority would quickly place this outstanding test of upper body power at the top of the list.

One could say, however, that the Bench Press has gained great popularity only in the past few decades. By this I mean the application of the exercise as a major part of the training routine. In substantiation of this all one need do is check the poundage hoisted in this lift by the top strongmen of a former era: Cyr, Saxon, Goerner, etc. A modern day lightweight would have the mentioned mortals at odds to protect their reputations in a bench press contest under our present official conditions.

When I was recognized as one of the strongest (this is going back a decade or so) there were only very few men who could bench press 400-plus in a correct manner. Now we have a young fellow named Casey (who, incidentally could have purchased my course on bench pressing, as a Pat Casey from the West Coast ordered one several years back), who has bench pressed 600 plus - a magnificent accomplishment indeed; take it from one who has felt the heavy ones lying across the pecs.

Note: I coulda sworn I transcribed that Hepburn Bench Press course onto this blog already. The Press course, sure. Dang, I must've forgotten to do the bench one. Some day when I wanna spend half and hour, maybe 45 minutes looking for it, well, yeah, I coulda sworn.

I don't want to digress too much but I have a little story concerning heavy bench presses that may be of interest. It is about my first and only attempt at a 600 pound bench press. This is going back to about 1956 or thereabouts. The place was Portland, Oregon, during a lifting exhibition. In the preparatory training period before the exhibition I had been bench pressing 550-560 regularly.

I remember one training session especially when I succeeded in bench pressing 550 pounds for 5 individual single repetitions; it was at this time that I toyed with the idea of attempting a 600 single for a personal record, but discarded the impulse, as I wanted to save the effort for the actual exhibition. Upon looking back I am convinced that had I attempted the record at that time I would have succeeded.

Now there is one point that I want to make clear here and now - in fairness to Casey and other top benchers of today I must admit that the style I utilized when bench pressing 500 plus would never pass under present competitive ruling. The utilization of a collar-to-collar hand spacing considerably shortens the pressing distance. This, coupled with a moderate bounce off the chest makes bench pressing in this manner a sort of two arm lockout after a minimum press. Those who possess a large chest, especially through from back to sternum, need only press the bar a matter of inches after rebounding the bar off the chest.

In my case I noted that after I had completed a heavy bench press the measurement from the bar to chest level was a matter of 8 to 10 inches. At the time that I was capable of a 580-600 pound bench press in the above fashion my best effort under present regulations would have been at the most 520-535 pounds. It is to be mentioned, however, that at that time I had never specialized in closer grip bench pressing. Still, 600 pounds is a lot of iron regardless in what manner it is pressed. When I look back now to that exhibition in Portland, although i failed with the 600 I believe I did something that will make even Casey sit up and take notice.

I started with 500 and for my second try took 550. This went so easily that after a moment of deliberation I called for 600 pounds. At the same time I asked that there would be NO SPOTTERS. The reason for my request is that sometimes a spotter, especially if inexperienced, will touch the bar prematurely when over-excited, assuming that the lift is going to fail. This has happened to me on numerous occasions. Because of this it is my feeling that only highly experienced bench pressers should act as spotters during competitions.

I had brought my own specially built bench to Portland with me. This bench is so constructed that the heaviest bar can be removed off the supports by extending the arms approximately one-half an inch. I found that it is easier and simpler to remove the bar without assistance. With assistance, and the bar positioned a fraction of an inch off the balance point, a limit attempt will usually fail; you just can't afford to jockey around with a limit bench press before lowering to the chest. Actually the bar is taken off the stands and lowered to the chest in ONE movement (or at least that is the way I found the most efficient). I never wasted time and energy positioning it correctly over the chest. This reminds me of what a famous gunfighter was supposed to have said when he was asked how he could shoot so accurately with such speed. His answer was, "I aimed before I drew my gun." I don't know if this is true or not as the gunfighter is now reposing at boot hill. Whether gunfighter or weightlifter, there is always going to be someone faster or stronger - that's why I chose weightlifting!!!

Well, as I was saying, after preparing myself, and assured that no spotters were near, I quickly removed the bar from the stands and lowered it IN A CONTROLLED MANNER to the chest. I use the word "controlled" as the bar is not dropped to the chest but DIRECTED to an EXACT point on the chest. I found that in my case this point is immediately below the pectorals where they attach to the chest. (When utilizing a rebound off the chest the bar is lowered to approximately four or five inches above this point, then allowed to drop the remaining distance; there is a minimum chance of missing the correct point on contact on the chest from this close distance.) If, however, the point of contact is improper, the overall pressing movement will be adversely affected. In other words, a possibility of experiencing a failure.

In my case, at the Portland exhibition this could have been the cause of my losing the lift. I am more inclined to think, however, that the cause was simply that of excitement, coupled with the fatigue associated with traveling to unfamiliar surroundings.

The 600 bench proceeded well enough to approximately the halfway point, then a strange thing occurred (Casey take note). Instead of continuing upward the bar began to curve INWARD TOWARD MY FACE. Before I realized it the bar was out of control and I found myself trying to FRENCH PRESS 600 pounds. I managed to regain some control of the bar and succeeded in preventing it from landing on my face, but severely tore the muscles in my left shoulder in doing so. Even so, I consider that I got off lucky.

So there I was with A FULL 600 POUNDS RESTING ON MY NECK - AND NO SPOTTERS. I can still hear the gasp from the audience; they figured I was a goner, and they weren't the only ones who were entertaining such thoughts. I can see the headlines now: "MAN THROTTLED BY 600 POUND BARBELL." It might have even made Time magazine. They could always say that "Hepburn died with his lifting boots on." I can joke about it now, but let me tell you it wasn't very funny at the time.

I was in the process of blacking out before the spotters overcame their amazement and got the blasted thing off my poor neck. I tried to say "thank you" but all that came out of me was a croak. It seemed that I had somehow lost my voice . . . temporarily, I hoped. It wasn't until afterward that I realized how easily I could have ruptured my own throat. If this had happened I would have been in serious trouble indeed.

As the saying goes, "The show must go on," so after a short rest I proceeded to demonstrate a series of heavy presses from the shoulders while standing. This was my second mistake, as I soon discovered.

I started with 390 and pressed it easily enough but as the press was progressing I felt the muscles of injured shoulder tear like paper - as a matter of fact I could HEAR them tear. Strangely enough there was little discomfort as this occurred. Experience has shown me that this is usually the case when the muscles are warm (this differs in the case of muscular "charlie horse" or cramp).

Of course, I may be the exception in the above instance; in a previous case I tore a muscle in my knee and could feel the muscle tear. As it happened, the only way I can describe the feeling is that it felt "itchy." The injured muscle never did completely heal and bothered me every time I I did any sort of leg work. When the muscle cools off after being injured, if severely, there is intense pain - something like the freezing coming out of a tooth, I remember one time when I stood in a hot shower for several hours and the thought of coming out was extremely distasteful.

Bench pressing with the extreme wide hand spacing increases the possibility of shoulder or chest injury as this method of pressing directs greater leverage on the pectoral and deltoid shoulder connections at the front of the armpit. I feel that pressing in this manner exclusively will detract from maximum arm, shoulder and chest development and that the closer method should be used in conjunction - in other words, for maximum development use both methods.

https://godfatherofbodybuilding.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thecharlesglass/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/thecharlesglass/

Every year amazing new bodybuilders burst on the scene, winning major titles and establishing themselves as superstars of the sport. One of the brightest new stars is Charles Glass, winner of the NPC National and IFBB World Championships during 1983. And during 1984, Glass was in greatly improved condition, placing high in both the Mr. Olympia and World Grand Prix Finals.

Although success appears to have come to Charles overnight, he actually struggled for many years to achieve national recognition. For more than five years he consistently placed in the top five at national events like Junior Mr. America, Mr. USA and Mr. America, but without winning a major title. It was only when he reduced 15 pounds from his normal competition bodyweight to make the NPC-IFBB middleweight class limit of 176 pounds - achieving extraordinary muscularity in the process - that Glass was able ot win his National and World Championships.

I caught up with busy Charles Glass during a recent evening following his workout at Gold's Gym in Venice, California. Since Charles works full time as an engineer for an aeronautics research firm, this was the only free time he had available. I was eager to question him about his background and training methods for IronMan magazine, and Charles was most gracious and cooperative in answering my questions.

"My serious athletic career began with high school and Junior College football, where I was a running back, then reached its first peak with high-level gymnastics at the University of California, Berkeley," he said. "In my senior year I was lucky to win nearly all of my floor exercise and still rings competitions, and was elected the team captain, which really flattered me.

"When I exhausted my college athletic eligibility in 1974, I stopped by the Cal weight room to see if a little wright training might serve to keep me fit. There I met Dr. Casey Donovan, now an exercise physiologist at USC, and Bill Reynolds, who became a bodybuilding journalist. Once Casey and Bill got ahold of me, I was on track to become a serious competitive bodybuilder."

Dr. Donovan recalls the early Charles Glass: "He had tremendous deltoid development from his gymnastics participation, but his legs were very thin. In his first workout Charles easily bench pressed 300 pounds at a bodyweight of 150, but 225 pinned him when he tried to squat with the weight.. However, Charles worked hard, and within less than six months won his first title, Novice Mr. California. After that, he was hooked!"

At 5/7" in height, Glass built up from 150 to a solid 210 in the off season (a weight, incidentally, at which he still has a 29 inch waist measurement), and a diamond hard 190 on stage. His bench press increased to 525 in strict form, he's squatted 550 for reps, and all other exercise weights drastically increased. The Charles Glass physique is now noted for balanced proportions, striking symmetry and mind blowing muscle density. In ten years with this physique he has won 15 titles and more than 100 bodybuilding trophies.

I asked specifically about how Charles Glass trains:

"I use pretty much the same program sequences year round," he commented. "But in the off season I use straight sets, a greater proportion of basic exercises, and the heaviest possible weights in strict form for between 5 and 8 reps per per set. Prior to competition, I include some more isolation work, superset most of my exercises, increase my reps to 10-12 each set, and use somewhat lighter weights to bring out maximum muscularity.

"All year, I train six days a week on a split routine, working major muscle groups two or three days per week depending on relative energy levels. I do calves and abdominals four to six days a week. I average 15-20 sets per muscle group, more for large bodyparts (thighs, back, chest, shoulders) and less for smaller groups (biceps, triceps, forearms, calves, abdominals)."

Charles gave me the following outline for how he divides up his body for the six-day split routine when working each bodypart three times a week:

M-W-F -- Chest, back, shoulders, calves (hard), abs (hard)
Tu-Th-Sa -- Thighs, upper arms, forearms, calves (easy), abs (easy)

Following are sample Charles Glass off-season and pre-contest routines:

Note: you can see how this would be applied to other bodyparts.

Off Season:
Barbell Curl, 4 x 5-8
Incline DB Curl, 4 x 5-8
Hammer Curl, 4 x 5-8
Concentration Curl, 4 x 5-8

Pre-Contest:
Preacher Curl, 4 x 10-12
superset with
Barbell Curl, 4 x 10-12
Hammer Curl, 4 x 10-12
superset with
Concentration Curl, 4 x 10-12

"Concentration is a major key to success for me," Charles noted. "People say I'm 'invisible' when I work out, probably because I don't talk between sets or grunt and groan during a set. But I have a reason for not talking - it would spoil my level of concentration. During a set I'm fiercely concentrating on the muscle(s) being bombed, and after the set I'm already gearing up mentally for the next one."

Charles' diet is balanced and healthy during an off season cycle, allowing for a little favorite junk food from time to time. Otherwise it consists mainly of lean meat, fish, chicken, turkey, milk products, eggs, potatoes, rice, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, salads, whole grains, seeds, nuts, and a low level of supplemental vitamins and minerals.

"Close to competition," Glass said, "I reduce my caloric intake by replacing fatty meat with seafood. I especially like shrimp, and that's about all that I ate in order to get my weight down to 176 for the Nationals and World Championships in '83. Since then my pre-contest diet consists of skinned chicken breasts, broiled fish, shrimp, potatoes, rice, green vegetables, fresh fruit and green salads. I drink only water, tea or coffee. And I'm careful to use heavier amounts of vitamin-mineral supplements to avoid incurring a nutritional deficiency that would keep me from peaking optimally. This diet is an ordeal to follow, and it gets me totally ripped up within five or six weeks."

Once a below average poser, Charles is now one of the sport's best showmen, including back flips and floor planches in his exciting routine. In his planche, he balances only on his hands with his arms and body kept perfectly straight, but with his body held parallel to the floor. It's a movement requiring superhuman deltoid strength, but Charles holds the position for several seconds with ease, even turning his head toward the judges and smiling mischievously as he does the stunt.

"When I learned that my posing routine wasn't up to par, I hired a dance choreographer to assist me with it," Glass said. "It was a profitable move, and one which I would recommend to anyone who feels his routine needs some work. With a choreographer's help, my own routine improved 100 percent. And I know 10-15 other southern California champions who have also used a choreographer to improve their free-posing routines. It definitely helps."

Now that he's become a high level pro bodybuilder, Charles is inundated by letters and personal inquiries from his many fans. I asked him to reveal and then answer the most commonly asked question.

"Everyone seems to want to pile on muscular bodyweight as quickly as possible," Mr. Universe observed. "First of all, they have to understand that progress never comes quickly in bodybuilding. Men who succeed in the sport invariably have mastered the art of patience. They are also persistent, consistent and highly motivated men.

"You'll gain muscular bodyweight most quickly by training on basic exercises. A pyramid system in which you decrease the number of reps each succeeding set works for almost everyone. I recommend doing 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 , 2 reps per exercise on a pyramid, or 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 reps on back movements and exercises that place particularly heavy stress on the joints.

"Choose two basic exercises for large muscle groups and one for smaller bodyparts, and use the pyramid system for each exercise. Train four days a week, stressing each major bodypart twice a week. Eat wholesome foods and be sure to get plenty of rest and sleep. Follow this program consistently and persistently and you'll gain plenty of muscle mass!"

And to conclude our conversation, Charles outlined the following proven mass building routine:

Monday/Thursday

1) Hanging Leg Raise: 3 x 10-15 reps
2) Bench Press: 6 x 12-2 (pyramid)
3) Barbell Incline Press: 6 x 12-2
4) Seated Pulley Row: 6 x 15-4
5) Lat Pulldown: 6 x 15-4
6) Standing Press: 6 x 12-2
7) Upright Row: 6 x 15-4
8) Barbell Wrist Curl: 6 x 15-4
9) Seated Calf: 6 x 15-4

Tuesday/Friday

1) Incline Situp: 3 x 20-30
2) Squat: 6 x 12-2
3) Leg Press: 6 x 12-2
4) Stiff Legged Deadlift: 6 x 15-4
5) Barbell Curl: 6 x 15-4
6) Lying Triceps Extension: 6 x 15-4
7) Barbell Reverse Curl: 6 x 15-4
8) Standing Calf: 6 x 15-4

http://www.billpearl.com/home/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Athlete/Bill-Pearl-116733248412758/

Bill Pearl's contributions to out sport, both artistically and historically, simply boggle the mind. His competitive wins spanned almost 20 years, from the '53 Mr. Southern California to the '71 NABBA Mr. Universe, he has been inducted into a half a dozen halls of fame - Pioneers of Fitness, Gold's Gym, Heidenstam Foundation and the American Powerlifting Federation among them - and he received the AAU Lifetime Achievement award in 1995. Champion, trainer, teacher, philosopher - he is all of those and more. He's also articulate and honest and often voices opinions both caustic and outrageous.

IronMan: How'd you get started?

Bill Pearl: I grew up in Yakima, Washington, where my father owned and operated a restaurant. We all helped out; it was kind of a family affair. Every day after school I'd lug 100-pound bags of grain and beans over and over, and that eventually built up my endurance.

IM: Which brought you to bodybuilding?

BP: In a roundabout way. I had to get bigger and stronger just to survive - my older brother played the villain in my life. Not a day went by without his doing something to make me cry. Self preservation can be a great motivator.

IM: How old were you then?

BP: Ten.

IM: Ten! Incredible!

BP: It was the right choice at the right time. I immediately fell in love with bodybuilding. I've always admired strength, always wanted to be a muscular guy. Everyone involved in bodybuilding has some type of inferiority complex; mine came from my brother. Believe me, no one fools around with you when you're big as a house.

IM: Did you finally get to push him back?

BP: Oh, yeah. I pushed him back - a whole lot harder too!

IM: Turnabout's fair play, right? Your rugged size must have come in handy for school athletics as well.

BP: I wasn't what anyone would call a good athlete. I certainly wanted to be. I could play soccer, football, basketball and baseball, but I had to work at them with diligence and focus. Weight training has helped me in every aspect of my life, including sports - and that means hard work. Nothing worthwhile comes easily. When I won my first Mr. Universe title, in 1953, I weighed 192 pounds. When I won it in 1971, I weighed 242. It took me almost 20 years to put on 50 pounds of muscle. Right now I weigh between 227 and 230. I'm about 5'11" and stay in good shape because I train every day without fail.

IM: What was bodybuilding like when you started?

BP: It was almost a cultish thing - a backyard or basement sport. It wasn't dignified, not by a long shot! There's been a tremendous change in how it's handled and presented to the public. When I started, people thought bodybuilders were either narcissists or homosexuals. Grimek, Reeves, Reg Park - only people in weightlifting circles knew those names. Nowadays, kids can name popular bodybuilders like Schwarzenegger or Shawn Ray.

You have to remember, in 1950 competitive bodybuilding had only been around for about 10 years. The contests themselves were very crude. They were held in conjunction with a weightlifting event and would start around midnight. Somebody would attach a light to a basketball hoop, and we'd pose under it without music. I think I was the person responsible for putting music to posing routines. I started doing that in the mid-'50s.

IM: Did you just jump into competition, or did someone help you negotiate those choppy waters?

BP: Leo Stern was my mentor. He had an excellent eye for symmetry and proportion. He'd say to me, "Bill, work your calves for a while and hold off on the delt work." It was good advice. A great physique should be aesthetically pleasing. I'm all for mass, but some athletes take it to extremes. Mass should never overwhelm. Two of the most classically put together bodybuilders I've ever seen are Frank Zane and Chris Dickerson. They presented their physiques in the optimum way, with class and grace. I loved their posing routines.

IM: Let's talk about your first major win, the Mr. America.

BP: I've only entered 13 contests in my entire career. I'd placed third in the Mr. San Diego and won the Mr. California in 1953, and there I was, just some fresh kid in the Navy, being named Mr. America. No one was more shocked than I was. Until that moment I hadn't given competition serious consideration; my only real goal was to gain strength and size. Winning that contest changed me in a fundamental way. It opened up a door to another world. After the service I went into the gym business and began living and loving bodybuilding 24-7.

IM: You won the Universe four times as a pro, but you never entered the Olympia. Why was that?

BP: I didn't compete in the Olympia because I considered it a Mickey Mouse affair. Hell, there was one Olympia where only Arnold and Sergio competed, and some guy from the audience jumped up and started to pose, so they gave him third place. [Note: An inebriated man got lost looking for the washroom, wandered on stage disoriented and received an honorable mention that night. His contest training routine was presented in Muscle Builder magazine. I'll try to find that issue soon.] I'm not knocking the IFBB, but at the time I thought the Olympia was created to promote the Weiders and their organization.

IM: A lot of people were shocked when you entered the Universe in 1971 at the age of 41. What made you go back into competition after a four year layoff?

BP: I was being badgered by the Weiders and Arnold to compete, so I took their challenge. I wanted to prove I could win it without drugs. Arnold backed off at the last minute - guess it wouldn't have looked good if Joe's boy had lost, especially after making so much noise. For me that contest was the greatest. I remember when they announced my name, a little old man yelled, "Bill Pearl is king!"

IM: You retired after that, right?

BP: Yeah, I did - from competition. I switched gears and started training for life instead of competition. You can't eat trophies and titles. Besides, I didn't feel comfortable on stage anymore. I was up against kids who were 20, 22, and there I was, 41 years old. The age difference really bothered me. I've stayed active in the sport. I do exhibitions and seminars, and I write extensively.

IM: I reread my copy of Keys to the Inner Universe a few times. I eventually fell apart.

https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a1_t1_1&qi=7qq5hvNtXL,kW5HKOI67wilMEuI_1497963026_1:2:2&bq=author%3Dbill%2520pearl%26title%3Dbill%2520pearl%2527s%2520keys%2520to%2520the%2520inner%2520universe

8.5 x 11 inches, 638 pages.

BP: That's what I like to hear! I designed Keys to the Inner Universe as a comprehensive manual on bodybuilding and weight training. I wrote Getting in Shape with Bob Anderson and Burke, and Getting Stronger, which is basically three books in one - sport specific, general conditioning, and bodybuilding.

IM: At the risk of opening up a can of worms, does the contemporary muscle scene impress you?

BP: Just the opposite. I'm extremely disappointed. In the '50s there were hardcore black-iron gyms, where the athletes committed themselves to building muscle and staying healthy. They would swear real sweat. In the '60s everything was sophisticated - chrome-filled gyms with mirrors and all that showbiz glitz. Since the '70s aerobic equipment and really fantastic machinery have been gym mainstays. The industry has grown like mad, and that's great. Unfortunately, so has drug use among bodybuilders and weightlifters.

IM: You mean steroids or recreational drugs?

BP: No, I don't mean just steroids. It's a shame really. That's not how I envisioned this sport. It sickens me to even talk about it. I don't like what I'm seeing. I marvel at the development of the guys today, but because of their lifestyles, I could never admire them. I don't blame the competitors as much as I blame the promoters and magazines. They want to take out every drug but steroids because the freaky look is in. And why is it in? Because the magazines promote it. I'd say they're probably responsible for 98% of this attitude.

IM: Would you agree that most people think of steroids when bodybuilding is mentioned?

BP: Of course they do! Bodybuilding cannot be viewed seriously as long as Joe Public perceives bodybuilders as steroid junkies. In Germany they shun the kind of physique that's so popular in America today. They think it's obscene because, obviously, some kind of drug use goes into such unusual development.

IM: Do you think bodybuilding can be a healthy activity?

BP: When done properly, without drugs, yes. I like the growing movement toward drug free bodybuilding. Let's hope that particular trend catches fire.

IM: Are you recommending across-the-board drug testing for all contests?

BP: It would be the perfect solution, but I doubt that many of these champions would know how to go about building their bodies without drugs. Today's youngsters want immediate gratification. It's our fault - we were deprived, so we gave them everything. And look what's happened.

IM: Well, we do seem to have lost a certain perspective. There's such heavy emphasis on becoming a bodybuilding personality. Love of lifting seems to have retreated into the shadows.

BP: Exactly. It's flash over substance. They want to be stars, and it just isn't going to happen. Wanting to be the very best is admirable, but they don't look very happy about it. In the pictures they're either grunting or grimacing. It's showbiz. Bodybuilding for me was a life lesson, not a stepping stone to becoming an actor or, as you say, a personality.

IM: Arnold blasted a trail. His example has been the one others want to follow.

BP: His influence has been a double edged sword. True, he's brought bodybuilding to the forefront, and he should be commended for that. But his success outside bodybuilding is the exception, not the standard. Hot every good looking bodybuilder can become a movie star. Bodybuilders today don't care about our sport. The one exception is Lee Labrada - Lee's great.

IM: I'm kind of surprised you never tried to make it in movies yourself.

BP: It was a different era. There was no such thing as an action hero, except maybe James Bond.

Sean "Guns" Connery

I did TV stuff here and there - the Steve Allen show and Hollywood Palace. They'd call us in for stunt work. Usually, that meant catching somebody like Buster Keaton during a skit. I met some legendary entertainers, but career-wise the whole Hollywood thing left me disillusioned.

IM: What about "Muscle Beach Party"?

BP: You've done your homework. Yeah, I went out for a part in that one. I asked the producers if they were going to portray us as morons, and everyone said, "Oh, no, Mr. Pearl. Of course not." Well, you've seen "Muscle Beach Party." Need I say more?

That's why I want nothing to do with showbiz or its sidelines. For bodybuilders those things can be hazardous and oftentimes degrading. I've never prostituted myself for my sport.

IM: If you had to name one individual who exemplifies bodybuilding as sport and art, who would it be?

BP: Grimek will always be my idol. The guy was ahead of his time. He would've measured up to the champs in the '70s; he was that good. Grimek never got back his due. He was a great poser - very masculine - and his lifestyle was one of quality. I can't say enough about him.

https://plagueofstrength.com/baddest-motherfuckers-ever-john-grimek/

McNote: Check out Plague of Strength for all kinds of good stuff. Really! I mean, REALLY.

IM: You've trained a number of national champions.

BP: I've trained Chris Dickerson, David Johns and Dennis Tinerino, to name a few. They're topnotch guys. We were training partners so it was mutually beneficial. I followed their routines, and we were all in super shape. I appreciated the opportunity to work with such extraordinary talent.

IM: You're still in exceptional shape.

BP: I'm very comfortable with my life. I reserve quality time for my workouts and have for half a century. I have a good marriage - an extremely understanding wife. We've been married 35 years. Keeping stress out of my life is a priority. I'm a LifeFitness consultant and I do trade shows and motivational seminars.

IM: I always try to sneak in a question or two that's off the subject. Would you classify yourself as a political conservative or a liberal?

BP: I'm a right-winger and damned proud of it. I'm sick to death of the few having to support the many. When I got out of the service, nobody gave me anything. My whole family realized the benefit of work, of being self-supporting. In my opinion, welfare is one of the worst things to develop in this country. People have to get off their butts and stop expecting others to pick up the slack for them.

America was formed on a work ethic. It's just like bodybuilding. you have to work for your physique. Nobody gives you those muscles.

You have to put in your time; otherwise, you'll have nothing.

Ms. Powerlifter (yes that is the only name she gave us) is shown doing a 200-lb. one hand dead lift. She tells us she has been a lifter for 15 years. She states that she does not use a barbell and that she is not a follower but a leader, and this is her ideal of lifting. She is from McKees Rocks, Pa.

Article Courtesy of Liam Tweed

Two photos of Maurice Jones, of Vancouver, British Columbia, circa 1937. During his wrestling career he bulked up more, becoming even more impressive at this heavier body weight. Maurice was of average height.

The ponderous Paul Anderson may not have the physical symmetry that appeals to most people, but his strength was nonpareil. During his bulking up program he sacrificed symmetry for the fabulous strength he gained. Thus, the added bulk in his case was advantageous for what he wanted to achieve. This, however, is not always true in the majority who go all out on a bulking program. Paul Anderson was an exception.

This photo of Doug Hepburn, the Canadian strongman, shows him before he bulked up to his present massive size. However, it still reveals a lot of body mass which, even at this stage, was impressive. During his bulking up period his strength continued to increase by leaps and bounds, but only because he employed numerous power building exercises to beget that unusual strength.

The desire to gain a lot of body bulk is of the greatest concern to most bodybuilders, particularly the younger fellows. Almost without exception these youngsters, those in their teens, are obsessed with the notion that they must be monstrous in size to be physically impressive. This conclusion is foolish indeed. Nevertheless, I can sympathize with them as I recall my own objectives along this line at the time I first began training many years ago.

At the beginning I too greatly admired bulk in strongmen as much as anyone, but with this exception - that such bulk had to add to the body's symmetry. In those days no man was ever too massive to suit my taste. Now, however, as I leaf through the old books and study the pictures of the men that I admired so much then, I am seized with laughter. How my ideals have changed since those early days! But then, don't we all see things a bit differently as we grow more matured? I'm inclined to think we do.

On the other hand, my observations tend to verify the fact that most younger bodybuilders are not impressed by physical symmetry unless it is combined with great body mass. Such youngsters strive only for bulk regardless of symmetry of the lack of it. And if by chance they happen to be of the type that gain weight easily, they are likely to go to extremes and make the sad mistake of bulking up too much and lose all body shape. This is not improbable as it seems as I am frequently consulted for ways that might help them to reclaim their lost symmetry and proportions. To illustrate this point more emphatically the following letter, which was received only recently, should prove my point. In fact, it prompted the theme for this article:

"Like so many young and ambitious fellows who want to gain weight, I felt that I had to weight over 200 pounds to have an impressive physique. About five years ago I purchased a Big 12 Special from York and began serious training. At the time I weighed 139 pounds at the height of 5'11" and was, at the age of 19, a typical string bean. After two years of steady and systematic training I tipped the beam at 182 pounds and had what my friends call a 'very good build' for my height. I admit I was proud of my efforts, but deep within me I was still yearning for more massive development.

"The following winter I redoubled my efforts and trained even harder, and because I had a good healthy appetite I continued to gain. Now only five years after starting my training I weight exactly 237 pounds of massive bulk. Secretly I was very proud of myself whenever people turned to take another look as I passed them by, which I figured were admiring glances. Therefore, you can well imagine my disappointment when a group of us were taking a shower after a workout recently and one of them remarked that he thought I was getting too fat! At first I thought he was joking, but when the other agreed with him, I was shocked. Me, fat? I thought to myself. Ugh! I never intended to become fat, just husky.

That evening at home I gave myself the once over in the mirror. Somehow I wasn't pleased with my reflection. I didn't look anything like the impressive figure I imagined myself to be. I was git, no one could deny that, but outside of bigness, nothing.

"I noticed my waistline more carefully. It wasn't as trim and muscular as before. it looked softer and weaker now. The extra weight that clung to the sides rolled around to the back, and this didn't help my appearance either. It lacked the ridges that I formerly had at a lighter bodyweight. Even my chest showed evidence of sagging from its own great mass. I suddenly realized I had overdone a good thing, but what to do about it was my prime concern. Next day I began a new training schedule based on some of the exercises and high repetitions you so strongly advocate. I also curbed my appetite and took more cares as to what I ate in an effort to 'muscularize' my body. But alas! though seven weeks have gone by since changing to this strict regime I still can't see any obvious changes in my appearance . . . and this is spite of losing 15 pounds! Please, sir, can you offer any other suggestions that will help me de-bulk some of this excess weight?"

Letters similar to this one turn up quite regularly, and almost always from those who wanted to become super-heavyweights. The majority are so anxious to put on weight that they lose all sense of proportion in their mad drive to gain, and then they come to realize this only when it is too late. The above letter should be something of a warning to those who feel they have to weigh over 200 pounds to have an impressive physique. The answer is, you don't!

It's a fact that so many fellows who have very fine physiques while weighing 175 to 190 pounds begin to lose much of their symmetry when they gain more bodyweight than their framework can carry. Such individuals must suffer from some kind of weight gaining phobia which urges them on to acquire more body mass than eventually nets them a very unattractive body. On the other hand, if their goal is to acquire more body mass for some specific purpose they might justify this desire of gaining a lot of excessive bodyweight. But just to look huge so they can tell their friends they weigh over 200 pounds . . . that's very foolish indeed. Everyone to his own whims, however.

The truth of the matter is that bodyweight should never be determined by how much the scale shows but rather how much bulk the skeletal structure can hold without losing any of the pleasing lines that give it shape. Anyone who has gained excessive bulk knows that changes in the appearance become evident, resulting in a more massive and sometimes a very awkward physique . . . and who wants that? Therefore, it might be wise for anyone who is considering adding more bulk to his frame to ask himself this simple question: Is it worth it? The answer is obvious. Although a few might agree that it is worth it, the majority I'm sure, especially the more mature fellows, will not.

There have been, on the other hand (how many hands has this Grimek guy got!), quite a few who bulked up and used this added size to advantage. Paul Anderson, for example, acquired enormous body power through the accumulation of great bulk and became recognized as the strongest man in the world today. Doug Hepburn is another powerhouse who, by gaining a lot of bulk, obtained world wide recognition for his strength and, later, became world champion. Still another Canadian, though not as bulky as the two just mentioned, was Maurice Jones. He came into prominence over 20 years ago when he was first featured in this magazine. All of his poses showed remarkable mass and very trim joints that seemed only to accentuate his massive girths. This gave one the impression that his measurements were much larger than they actually were. His physique personified the unusual combination that everyone desires and admires. In most other cases excessive bulk adds nothing but size which often decreases physical ability and efficiency of the individual. This type of bulk should never be encouraged or attempted by anyone.

Of the three men mentioned it can be stated that the bulk they acquired was used to advantage. But outside of these few, how many others fail to achieve anything but added size? There must be thousands. However, there are others who have considerable muscular bulk and have become stronger because of it, many of them using this bulk and power to advantage. But for the small percentage who have achieved their aim in this direction there are countless others who gained nothing by it except size. Therefore, it's up to you as an individual to decide whether to strive for body bulk or continue to retain your proportions with good symmetry.

In gaining weight one should always take his size and bony frame structure into account and never exceed the limitations governed by bone size . . . unless, and this is always debatable, it can be used to advantage as it was in the case of Anderson and Hepburn. Over-bulking will invariably ruin the lines of physical symmetry faster than any other training approach except the strict specialization to exaggerate the development of any single muscle or group. Moreover, the slight increase of strength which results from such bulk is hardly worth the loss of body symmetry.

On the other hand (now he's just showing off all those hands of his), if strength is your objective the gaining of bulk alone is not the answer. Although a certain amount of bulk, in the right places, will improve leverage and make for greater strength, this holds true only when strength building movements are included to achieve this end. No doubt many of you know any number of men that have over-bulked themselves and are still not any stronger than they were before they got heavier. Reflect on this a moment and see if this isn't so.

Olympic champions like [Chuck] Vinci and [Ike] Berger are much stronger than many of the over-bulked bodybuilders who labor under the illusion that bulk is power. it is true, however, that added weight will help to increase power, but only when such weight is properly distributed and heavy training is done to encourage greater strength. Tommy Kono, for example, always lifts more as a light-heavyweight than he does as a middleweight. This is true in all cases except where such bulk is acquired through inactivity and a voracious appetite. This type of bulk is useless and represents "dead weight" around the body.

However, I don't think that the bulking-up craze is as strong today as it was a few years ago, although as I mentioned at the beginning of this article, there are still quite a few, mostly younger fellows, who think that they have to be massive to be impressive. That's bunk.

Letters like the one used in this article are making their appearance on my desk more frequently now, proving that the desire to gain heavier body bulk is decreasing. Those who have added more bulk than their bony structure can hold are switching to more sensible training and eating and seeking trimmer and more symmetrical lines. The vast majority of bodybuilders have come to realize that this excessive bulk is not muscle by any means, is just so much fat - a word that makes even the most blase bodybuilder shudder.

Whenever I am confronted with letters of this type I am tempted to express my views in the true sense of the word, but usually pass it off by offering some suggestions that will help their condition. I admit I sympathize with those who let their urge for getting bulkier run away with them, and are now faced with the task of "remodeling" their physiques. As most of us know, this is never an easy job. It demands many sacrifices. So avoid getting over-bulky and you won't have the problem of wanting to lose it.

Those of you who contemplate the gaining of a lot of weight just so you can become "big men," take a moment now, and reflect on the eventual results.

Do you think it will be worth your while? If you do, then by all means go ahead, especially if you have specific plans in mind. But just gaining a lot of weight so you can tell your friends that you weigh over 200 pounds . . . better see a psychiatrist instead. You might even confuse him!

As a concluding remark let me suggest that you acquire only enough bulk on your framework to give yourself good muscular contour, pleasing lines and a symmetrical shape. You'll be admired for this type of physique more than if you try to acquire massive proportions when your bony structure is not suited for it. Leave that to the naturally big men, men whose bones are large and have corresponding height to match. Make muscularity and symmetry your goal . . . and then you won't ever be faced with the task of wanting to lose excessive weight as all over-bulky people do who eventually discover their plight.

What will it be?

Only you can answer that, so decide wisely.

Tommy Kono - Olympic Lifting Presentation, 2005
Part One:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt423i1w6vs
Part Two:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71denvCLxP0

More on Oly lifting from Tommy Kono here:
Part One:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNy0Odapgds&list=PL304F940BF2735C5D&index=6
Part Two:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60vffX5bX_Y&list=PL304F940BF2735C5D&index=7
Part Three:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhxqEmLYuCA&list=PL304F940BF2735C5D&index=8
Part Four:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k27zIdL5SkI&list=PL304F940BF2735C5D&index=9
Part Five:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9rI00e7BzE&list=PL304F940BF2735C5D&index=10
Part Six:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezMNoHUXbb8&list=PL304F940BF2735C5D&index=11

Kono's "ABC's of Weightlifting Series" from Strength & Health magazine:
One:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2010/11/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-one-by-tommy.html
Two:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2010/12/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-two-tommy.html
Three:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2010/12/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-three-tommy.html
Four:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2010/12/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-four-tommy.html
Five:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2010/12/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-five-tommy.html
Six:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2010/12/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-six-tommy.html
Seven:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2010/12/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-seven-tommy.html
Eight:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2011/01/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-eight-tommy.html
Nine:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2011/01/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-nine-tommy.html
Ten:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2011/01/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-10-tommy.html
Eleven:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2011/01/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-11-tommy.html
Twelve:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2011/01/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-12-tommy_28.html
Thirteen:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2011/02/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-13-tommy.html/
Fourteen:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2011/02/abcs-of-weightlifting-part-14-tommy_17.html
Fifteen:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2011/03/normal-0-false-false-false.html

Repetition Snatch

Recently a lifter started performing high repetition snatches. His reason was that as you become fatigued, lifting becomes more difficult so you have to concentrate more in finishing your lifts. He also believed while performing high repetitions that when his technique deteriorated, he could then sense this while he was in the process of pulling and would make the necessary corrections to make the lift.

Weighing 63 kg. [138 lbs.] he was able to snatch 80 kg. [176] for 10 reps. This was performed without the use of straps. On another workout he snatched 70 kg. [155] for 15 reps. All the more remarkable is that this lifter was 52 years [18,980 days] of age.

His best official snatch in a contest made in the early part of the previous year was 87.5 kg., but he weighed in at 64.5 kg. In another contest he snatched 85 kg. at 62.3 kg., missing 87.5 on his third attempt.

With his high repetition snatching sessions completed and having rested up a bit, he competed in the contest that followed while weighing 61.5 kg. He started with 85 kg. He then jumped to 90 kg. for his 2nd and 3rd attempts.

The high repetitions employed made him adapt to the minimal height required to make the lift; therefore, when extra heavy weights were attempted, the required stretch of the body had become foreign to him, thus lessening the leg drive and the use of his back too soon.

A lesson to be learned here is that you can perform high reps in the snatch lift but make certain you perform them using the correct technique throughout all the repetitions whether it is 60 kg. or 120 kg.

Repetition Squats

During my developmental days in Olympic lifting, I performed 20 repetition squats. I built my capacity to achieve 20 reps with 360 pounds at 153 lbs. bodyweight. Several weeks later I did 390 for 12 reps. Would you believe that my best single was only 420 then! In proportion, the reps and the single did not match. I realized then that reps and singles do not really have any relationship.

You develop enduring quality by working on high repetitions. It does not relate to a very high single repetition.

To go heavy, you have to go heavy.

Here again is the principle of training for X and expecting improvement in Y.

Years later, at a much heavier bodyweight I tried 20 repetition squats with 360. I got to 16 and quit. Of course, I had not trained on high reps and I was not willing to put out as much effort as I did when I was younger. I did not have the willpower to sustain the torture of struggling through 20 reps to win a bottle of Coca-Cola this time. At this heavier bodyweight I did manage 400 lbs. for 10 reps as a pre-condition weightlifting/bodybuilding exercise.

Repetition Work for Lifting

During the learning phase of lifting technique, performing up to 3 repetitions works well because you are trying to establish a muscle memory pattern. When you perform too many repetitions or even too many sets of repetitions, even with light weights, your coordination for a correct pattern of movement can deteriorate when too many sets are performed.

Fatigue of certain lifting muscles or inability to concentrate can lead to faulty movements, so it is always better to work on technique while you are fresh MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY.

Olympic weightlifting competition is based on elevating the heaviest weight overhead, not on how many repetitions can be performed. Once the correct lifting technique is acquired, lights weights and a few repetitions are used only as a warmup.

The experienced lifter must learn to quickly work up to heavy weights for singles in his training because that is what the contest is based on. Taxing your mind and body is improved only with heavy weights. Anything less is only a prelude to the big weight on the competition platform.

On snatch training I recommend up to 3 repetitions during the learning stage of the lift or to serve as a warmup for experienced lifters.

On cleans I recommend only 2 repetitions for warmup purposes. The reason for one less rep in the clean is because you are employing a heavier weight in proportion to your snatch and the movement is much simpler in nature. The snatch is more complicated and requires greater flexibility, hence the additional reps to ensure your smoothness and exact movement.

In high pull movements, 2 or 3 repetitions are recommended because they are not as complete a movement as the snatch or clean. On high pulls I do not recommend singles because the lifter may use too heavy a weight and may perform the movement incorrectly. The nature of the pull has to be a duplication of what takes place in the snatch and the clean.

Repetitions are performed for learning correct technique. If the correct technique is mastered, then repetitions with light weights are performed only as warmups. it is the heavy singles lifted in the correct pattern that count in training and one the competition platform.

Even in performing 3 reps in your warmup snatches, stand upright between repetitions and pause before commencing your next repetition. In other words, make each repetition using good leverage and exacting lifting technique.

Revisiting the bombsites and boozers of his childhood and adolescence, Ray Winstone takes the reader on an unforgettable tour of a cockney heartland which is at once irresistibly mythic and undeniably real. Told with its author's trademark blend of brutal directness and roguish wit, Young Winstone offers a fascinating insight into the social history of East London, as well as a school of hard knocks coming-of-age story with a powerful emotional punch.

Idealism: The practice of forming or pursuing ideals, especially unrealistically.

I would venture that an inquiry among 100 bodybuilders, all of whom were experienced and knowledgeable, concerning what was the "right" way to train, would bring 100 different replies.

Few people seem to agree on any one correct way to work out.

And that's partly understandable.

First of all, it is absolutely essential to keep in mind that training must always be tailored to the individual's requirements. That doesn't only mean to the requirements of his specific goal (i.e. to get very powerful, for example), but tailored to the unique demands of his own psychophysical requirements for achieving that goal. That is, what Mr. A finds perfect to build his power might be woefully inappropriate for Mr. B's needs. And it goes on.

Second, there are one's normal life responsibilities, and how they will affect one's training. True enough, there are a few extremists who arrange their total existence around their workouts - but we can't all do that. And even if we could, it is debatable whether or not that would be a rational thing to do.

Taking into consideration then, first that we are all unique and we therefore require unique training programs to accommodate our individual characteristics and peculiarities; and second, that life responsibilities (family, job, et al) contribute to the factors that we must consider when determining how we ought to train, let's ask this question:

Do you feel that your present training program realistically accords with your unique requirements psychophysically, and with the responsibilities of your daily existence?

Regardless of who mapped out your routine, and no matter what any muscle-building "experts" have to say - if you cannot reply to that basic inquiry with a resounding Yes! then you are not going to be ultimately fulfilled by your program.

The Personal Considerations

There are three primary physical types. These are: Mesomorphic (medium boned, naturally athletic and well proportioned persons), Endomorphic (heavy boned, naturally strong and bulky individuals), and Ectomorphic (small boned people who tend to find the acquisition of size and power something of a problem).

While no one is 100 percent ecto-, endo- or meso-morphic, many people are almost so; and we are all primarily one of these.

In addition to bone structure, we all are unique in muscle quality. Body tone and skin thickness are also unique attributes that will affect our development. Mental factors are perhaps the singularly most important - though few people understand this.

If you tend to be mentally disciplined and calm, you possess an enormous advantage in physical training. If you are high strung, erratic, seriously neurotic, etc., you may find these factors to be very detrimental to your progress.

In any case, no matter how you stack up . . . your training program must fit YOU; not Mr. America or even the guy you train with.

My experience has taught me that the most difficulty is encountered with small boned people who want to build up.

Generally, there is no way a true ectomorph can achieve world class muscular development or power. It might as well be admitted up front, because the truth may be slightly disappointing, but futile efforts over a three to ten year period in pursuing a phantom is sure to be worse!

Hard gainers need brief, intensive, heavy programs. Generally, an hour of super hard work three or four times a week, interspersed with lots of sleep and rest, and a well balanced, ample diet, will trigger the best gains for ectomorphs. Even when advances, the small boned bodybuilder generally will maintain and progress best on 1-1/2 to 2 hour workouts, thrice weekly. More will simply be, in most cases, too much.

Choice of which exercises to use is not difficult to assess. The large muscle groups should receive the lion's share of attention; and very, very effective progress can be made on schedules of perhaps three or four basic exercises . . . like the squat, the press, rowing and deadlifts, for instance.

If a man works right, he can work out his whole body well in less than an hour. I know fully well that the majority of bodybuilders will scoff at my remarks and brand me as an old-time trainer, but I can - and I have! - proven that my methods do work for even the most difficult gainers and the weakest people.

Energy is a factor with everyone. No one has an unlimited supply, even though there are many people who do seem tireless. In training, the energy factor is crucial. If you, or anyone, exceed your energy level, you will REgress, not progress. Some people, it is true, can train very hard to two hours and after a shower be ready to train again! I admire such energy - but I am not naive enough to suppose that everyone enjoys it. Most do not. Most people can train reasonably hard fore about 30-60 minutes and give their major muscle groups a tough workout in that time. Then, they need to rest. Weight training when done right is concentrated hard work. I can take ANYONE (yes, even Mr. America) through a 30 minute workout that will leave him depleted for the day. Most people don't work that hard or even want to work that hard. Fine. But what must be understood is that hard work is needed; and what must be guarded against is passing your energy level's ability to recuperate your system. Don't look to others to find out what your limits are. Look to yourself. And, when you know your energy level, train well within your abilities.

I hasten to point out that it is not uncommon for even the weakest people to find that progressive training does, after a while, greatly increase their energy levels. Fine! If you discover that your energy level is greater six months down the road, you may adjust your training accordingly. But please, for your own benefit, don't jump the gun.

The question of how important "pushing to the limit" is, and how frequently this ought to be done, is significant. I do not feel that anyone can benefit from training to his absolute limit more frequently than once per week. And very often (as in the case of heavy deadlifting, for example), one ought to refrain from going the limit more often than once very two or three weeks.

There is no contradiction in urging people to train extremely hard three times a week, and then saying that they should restrict total efforts to once per week, or less.

A hard workout that fully exhausts the muscles is not going to one's limit, per se. Going to your absolute limit means that you try new limit poundages, even cheat a bit on your last rep or two. It often means that you fail on your last rep - but you do so only after exerting your maximum physical strength and willpower to make that rep. That is tough, brutally hard effort. No one could do it several workouts running for more than a week or two before going stale completely. That's why we limit such effort. Hard workouts that make you work until you are well fatigued are another story. You can recuperate for those in time for another session within 24-48 hours.

BE REALISTIC! Train correctly for the long haul.
Don't try to do it all overnight!

Your Life Responsibilities

Life is stressful, and, often, seems hardly worth the candle. [Nice old expression there!] The pressure of social relationships, business, etc., and even just the simple hassle of working at a dull job every day to earn your food and a roof over your head can drive you, occasionally, to the conclusion, "All I want to do is train!"

Certainly, I sympathize with my fellow physical culturists in their desire to devote all available time to their training objectives. But I also know that, for 99 percent of us, building muscle and achieving physical perfection is NOT enough . . . even if we feel from time to time that it is.

Possibly you are not inclined to marry, or, if you do marry, you have no wish to raise a family. Possibly you live frugally, and perhaps you are really offbeat and different. Fine. That's what makes life interesting and enjoyable - human differences. But we all need to fulfill ourselves . . .

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

. . . and we all need to achieve a balance and harmony between the intellectual, the spiritual, the physical, and the economic or financial. There is just no escape from this, so long as we live in human society.

"Pause (The Dukes of Hazard '69 Charger and Ted Kaczynski's Montana Refuge)"

by Chris Larson

Many people have no problem at all combining their training with their business and family life, and I applaud these people. But I am intimately familiar with the others - with those who love lifting, and who are tempted to forego everything for it.

Hate me if you wish - but I am telling you that the pursuit of muscles to the exclusion of everything else is a mistake. You just can't fulfill yourself as a total human being by such myopically one-sided living. It is like the pursuit of wealth at the expense of health. What for? Who will live to enjoy your profits?

What's the point of having a great physique, fine health, a good appearance and not a decent income or satisfying career with which to experience total fulfillment and enjoyment of your attributes.

Aim, I beg you, to attain BALANCE.

When planning your training routines, and setting up your training schedules, please don't forget that there's a world - and a life! - out there. Your friends, family and business are important. You do want a good income, a fine home and the security of human companionship, unless you are truly odd. Face the fact that you must put training (like everything else) in its proper place.

It should be something that serves YOU;

you must not become a slave and thus live to serve it.

A book and a movie:

You can read it in one sitting.

You can view it in one sitting.
It will stay with you for much longer than that.

https://www.bookforum.com/print

The hard copy journal/newspaper/mag/serial has a lot of ads.
Personally, I find the ads way more interesting than a big percent of the articles.
Now, the New York Review of Books
https://www.nybooks.com/
has become something not worth the time it takes to read.
As for the New York Times Book Review, well, all contributors and backers of that rag should be taken out weekly and summarily shot.

Okay, last thing . . .

Excellent Film!

"Port of Call" (2015)

Okay, I lied again . . .

Fans of Stanislaw Lem will be excited about these new editions!!! Jumping up and down at midnight in a frenzied state of total abandon, eh.

https://www.tor.com/2020/03/03/stanislaw-lem-mit-press-reissue-polish-science-fiction-translation/

His Master's Voice
The Invincible
Return from the Stars
Hospital of the Transfiguration
Memoirs of a Space Traveler
Highcastle

Mike Katz

The Author

Mike Katz, a former Mr. Universe and offensive lineman for the New York Jets, presented a warm, informal , and informative seminar to some fifty onlookers at the Nautilus Iron City Gym in Belmar, New Jersey recently. Mr. Katz, by his living example, his erudition, and his sound theories gave us considerable food for thought as we drove home after the six-hour presenatation.

Mike geared his clinic toward strength training for football as well as bodybuilding.

His professional careers in both fields lent much to his credibility. In essence, his presentation could be broken down into three areas:

Training approaches,
Diet, and
Development of the body, part by part.

Concerning his theories on training approaches, Mike opened with the suggestion that one must be flexible in his training. All lifters have a tendency to stay with a set program for too long, so Mike suggests that one should vary each workout, no matter how subtle the change.

Mike also cautions that the young lifters tend to be very impressionable about what they read or hear. His advice is to objectively assess your body's genetic potential, your abilities and goals, and then approach your routine with intelligence and desire.

The significant amount of time Katz spent on diet was reflective of the importance he attaches to it. He openly states his aversion to drugs, feeling that they are a substitute for knowledge and hard work; the results are only temporary and therefore hypocritical. Indeed, Mike competed in the Mr. North America contest in Las Vegas and believes that, with modification, the contest was a step in the right direction.

On with diet. Mike recommended a diet of 40-50% protein, 40% carbohydrate, and 10% fats - the less fat the better. He cites the need for supplementation with a cogent argument. Despite the hackneyed dictum "eat a balanced diet and that's all you need," most people are not sufficiently aware of their body's metabolic needs to even approach such a diet. And then, knowing what your body needs, consuming "a balanced diet" is often an elusive task at best. Therefore, supplement. He likes to concoct a thermos-chilled protein drink of partially diluted protein powder in mixture with eggs, bananas, fruit, or whatever his fancy dictates.

In regards to how much protein, Mike uses the formula of 1/2 gram for each 1 pound of bodyweight. So, if, for example you weight 1/2 pound, your daily protein requirement would be 1/4 gram. Or, if you weight 710 pounds, your daily protein requirement would be 305 grams. Mike then added that most young athletes should look at their carbohydrate consumption rather than their protein intake. Most athletes get more than enough protein through supplementation and regular meals, often forsaking consideration for the proper carbohydrates. He also theorizes that long term high protein consumption will eventually slow down the metabolic rate, thereby stagnating any potential gains.

On the discussion of weight gain, Mike suggested that consistency of diet is the key. He mentions the good foods to eat such as nuts, milk, bananas, and starches, emphasizing the avoidance of a box of donuts in the misguided effort at weight gain and bulking up. The starches are important for longer lasting energy, necessary for training, rather than the quick energy sugars.

Katz's own diet consists of eating four to five times per day, or roughly every three hours. He will consume one or two pieces of fruit, one can of water packed tuna, one of two pieces of unbuttered toast, and water when training to get lean.

Mike got into routines and lifts in the afternoon part of the seminar. He started with the chest, recommending flyes for football players as this simulates tackling. If you have lower back pain, rest the feet on the bench. Of course, the bench press is emphasized, although Katz feels that it is a lift most often performed improperly. Perform reps slowly and strictly to avoid the most common errors.

Advanced bodybuilders often drop benching in lieu of dumbbell work. He feels that the fuller stretch and greater range of motion are more beneficial.

He likes dips, incline barbell and dumbbell presses, and pullovers lying across a bench. The latter hits the chest more if the elbows are out and more serratus if the elbows are kept in.

Mike then moved into a discussion of the back [there ya go . . . pullovers . . . the transition movement from chest to back], and opened with the idea that because the back is such a complex muscle area diversity of exercise is needed. He likes the T-bar unit but cautions us to keep the lower back locked and the feet properly placed directly under the center of gravity. Mike suggested that the T-bar can take on an added dimension by gripping the T-handle with the palms facing front (supinated grip) to work the upper lats.

Katz went on to state that some lower back work is necessary for all lifters and that in all back work amount of weight should never take precedence over form.

In training the legs, Mike coached us to angle the toes in and out in leg extensions and leg curls to totally work the thighs. Katz also likes lunges, an often forgotten exercise, and is a big advocate of the compound leg machine which varies the angle of hack squats.

With regard to the calves, Mike feels that toe position is again significant; furthermore, he advocates a low rep/heavy weight, non-lockout approach on the first set, followed by lighter weight, full range second set.

Mike works the upper arms by seeking to develop the upper arm across the front rather than the side. To obtain this, he stresses full supination of the wrist and strict overall form. Keep the upper arm locked and perpendicular to the floor on all curls. Lift and hook out your dumbbell curls to accentuate this. Mike also likes to simulate the front double biceps pose for repetitions with light dumbbells, a difficult and unique exercise.

To isolate the triceps, Mike lists close grip bench presses, pushdowns on the lat bar worked from the lower pectorals on down, and palms up reverse pressdowns with a rotating sleeve bar.

The next body part Katz analyzed was the shoulders. He demonstrated the behind the neck press with a grip slightly wider than the shoulders, seated dumbbell presses, and heavy shrugs. Rolling the shoulders and using straps to avoid forearm burnout is essential to the latter exercise.

Mike's abdominal routine is fairly standard - situps for upper abs, leg lifts for the lower abs, and bentover twists. Diet is the bottom line, of course.

The program concluded with a round of open questions. On improving running speed, Mike advocates jogging downhill and jumping squats, exploding up from the depth of the squat. '

Concerning reps, he feels that too many lifters perform high-rep work, forsaking heavier, mass producing lower-rep work. Breaking this down, Mike feels that low reps are 1 to 4 (for the powerlifter and football player), medium reps are 6 to 12 (for the gaudybuilder), and high reps are more than 15 (for toning and reducing).

In answer to a question on over-training, Mike feels that the symptoms are prolonged soreness and joint pain. However, he believes that most bodybuilders and lifters actually under-train.

He suggests forgetting the hangup of training by the calendar week. Train according to instinctive need, be that five days or seven days.

A final question dealt with negative reps. Katz doesn't like them performed as a routine in and of itself. One or two reps, after failure and forced reps have used, are what he likes to incorporate.

All in all, it was a highly enjoyable day spent with a knowledgeable as well as personable body culture expert. Mike is a teacher by trade and he reflected the qualities and patience necessary to both professions.

A propoganda documentary about North Korea that reveals a few hidden facts because the director continues filming between the scripted scenes.

"A postmodern lesson in questioning the reality of what we watch."

"There's something inherently satisfying about seeing propaganda depantsed."

Anna Burns:

Little Constructions: A Novel

Milkman

No Bones

Mostly Hero

Article Courtesy of Liam Tweed

About Sandor Gere: On the trip to Tokyo, I wanted to get some inside information that would make interesting and informative articles for our (Strength & Health) readers. However, knowing that I would be very busy at the Olympics performing my duties as team manager, I looked for someone else to obtain the information. Sandor Gere fit the requirements perfectly. He was one of the top Hungarian weightlifting coaches before coming to this country and since coming has established himself as one of our leading weightlifting coaches. In Hungary he personally coached such lifters as Veres, Huszka, Toth, and Foldi. In the U.S. his star pupil is Gary Hanson, the National bantamweight champion. All these qualifications add up to a man that knows lifting, the lifters, and the language of many of the foreign lifters. His help in obtaining this information is deeply appreciated.

- John Terpak.

https://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm

The name of Geza Toth is not new in the history of weightlifting. the 32 year old Hungarian has invested 12 years of hard work, but it has paid off well - he is one of the best lifters in the world.

He lives in Sorokpolany, a little village next to the Austrian border. Geza was born and raised there, and in his youth he worked on his father's farm. In his teenage years he was sports minded, and after a hard day on the farm he would rush to the soccer field. Although he loved the sport as did other youngsters in his country, he was not particularly successful.

At the age of 20 years, he entered a college preparatory school for physical education. At school he met a pupil of mine who showed him a copy of Strength & Health magazine. Geza admired the muscles and strength of the athletes pictured and felt an urge to emulate these men. That same afternoon he accompanied my pupil to the gymnasium. It was at this gym that we first met.

At first Geza was unsure of himself, particularly after seeing the smaller Huszka, who had started only a few months before, Jerk 198 pounds, for Geza could only manage a lift of 145. However, I encouraged him and he came to trust me.

At the beginning of his training, he lifted three times each week. After the first year of training, we raised this to four times a week and after the second year Geza began to train five out of every seven days.

His first competition was on January 9, 1953, in a meet for beginners. He won the Middleweight class with a total of 510 pounds. In 1955 he made his first Hungarian records with a Clean and Jerk of 319 and a total of 759. In honor of this performance, I presented him with a miniature miner's lamp on which those records were engraved.

continued . . .

I get a lot of questions from strength athletes regarding squatting. Some say they're stale after doing the same squat routine for a number of years. Others relate that they're unable to do conventional squats due to an injury or shoulder surgery. Still others want to know how they can build more variety into their squat routines.

While some authorities believe that there's but one way to perform full squats, they're wrong.

This basic, core exercise has many variations - many more than most imagine. When I list them all, athletes are often amazed, but they're also happy because it means they have lots of choices. Building variety into your program is always a plus. Doing any new exercise boosts motivation, since the gains come faster, and even changing the way you perform an exercise helps to strengthen some neglected groups.

Here's my list of ways to do squats:

Olympic-style, where the bar rests high on your traps.
Powerlifting-style, where the bar rests much lower on your back.
Front squats.
Smith-machine squats.
Wide- and narrow-stance squats.
Jump squats.
Pause squats.
Squats performed inside a power rack.
Overhead squats.
Dumbbell squats.

They all serve different functions and anyone seeking a new approach can benefit from using them.

There's one requirement: In all the styles listed, you must squat to below parallel to the ground. That critical to building balanced strength in your back, hips and legs, and it's also much less stressful to your knees.

Olympic Squats

High-bar, or Olympic squats, are in my opinion the best of the lot because they work the muscles of the hips, legs and back much more directly - and therefore more completely - than any other version. If you want to do full cleans or compete in Olympic weightlifting, it's imperative that you do this exercise.

High-bar squats are so named for the simple reason that you place the bar high on your traps, which helps to keep you from leaning forward and so forces the powerful muscles in your hips and legs to provide the power. You move up and down like a piston, and the strict upright stance carries over to racking cleans and recovering from the deep position.

Low-Bar Squats

Even so, many strength athletes aren't interested in doing full cleans and find that they can move more weight on squats if they lower the bar down their backs a bit. I've also had cases where athletes were unable to go deep enough with high-bar squats but didn't have that problem when they lowered the bar. How low? It depends on your structure, flexibility and ability to fix the bar firmly in place when you do the lift. You must not let the bar move at all. This powerlifting-style squat places a huge amount of stress on the shoulders, and if you set the bar low excessively low and it slips further down, you can be injured in a heartbeat.

When you want to try moving the bar lower on your back, lower it only an inch or two and stay with that position for a couple of months. In other words, be cautious.

The first time you squat with the bar lower than usual, stay with a moderate weight to see how the new stress affects your shoulders. You won't learn that until the next morning - or later - so don't go for a personal record in your first session with the newer style, even if the weights feel really light.

When you position the bar low on your back, you lean forward out of necessity. Some lifters even try to place their chests on their thighs. That's fine, just as long as your lower- and middle-back areas are prepared for the more intense direct work. If you're planning on using the low-bar style, you must spend lots of time strengthening your lumbars and middle back. Otherwise, when the weights get heavy, you'll keep on going forward, and the bar will tumble over your head.

So a low-bar squatter's routine must include plenty of good mornings, almost-straight legged deadlifts and bentover rows. What I said above about going low applies here. It's much easier to cut these off than it is the high-bar version, but if you squat deep from the very beginning you won't have any trouble doing it when the weight gets heavy.

If you use this style of squatting, you must make sure your shoulder girdle is thoroughly warmed up before you do your first set. I've had athletes who were using the low-bar style complain of severe shoulder pain during or after their workouts. Sure enough, they weren't doing anything to warm up their shoulders before squatting. Once they started spending 5 to 10 minutes on light presses and dumbbell front and lateral raises, the problem went away.

After you warm up your shoulders, take a moment to stretch them well, and continue to stretch between sets.

I believe it's a good idea for trainees who prefer the low-bar style to do some Olympic-style sets periodically. They hit the squatting muscles differently and have a very positive effect on your low-bar squats as well.

Front Squats

Front squats are the purest form of the exercise. When European weightlifters want to know someone's leg strength, they always ask. "How much can you front squat?" Back squat numbers are inconsequential. Front squats are pure hip and leg strength, and there's no way to alter the form to make them easier. Anyone interested in doing full cleans or competing in Olympic lifting must do them. Your ability to recover from a heavy clean is directly dependent on your front squatting prowess.

The key to performing front squats is the rack. The bar must be fixes tightly across your front deltoids, not your clavicles, and it has to remain in that position throughout the movement. You must set your elbows high, with triceps parallel to the floor. You cannot allow them to drop during the lift.

Your initial move out of the deep bottom of a front squat is different from the move out of a back squat. On a back squat you focus on driving your hips upward and leaning into the bar. But on a front squat you have to focus on driving your elbows up before you involve your hips. That helps stabilize the bar directly over the power base and keeps it from traveling forward. If your elbows dip too much and the bar runs way out in from your body, it will end up crashing to the floor. Plus, it places a tremendous stress on your wrists.

You must put in some time preparing for front squats. Except for youngsters, nearly everyone who does front squats for the first time discovers that he or she lacks the shoulder flexibility to rack the bar correctly. That's especially true for people whose programs have included lots of bench pressing. So you need to stretch your shoulders, elbows and wrists before doing any front squats, even when you use light weights.

The best way to warm up is to lock a bar inside a power rack so that it cannot move. If you don't have a power rack, just load up a bar on a squat rack with so much weight that you can't budge it. Grip the bar with one hand, push your elbow up as high as you can without moving your torso, hold it for 5 or 6 seconds, then do the other hand. Now grip the bar with both hands and have a training partner push your elbows up and hold them for a count of 10 -12. Do it several times if you need to. I also highly recommend taping your wrists when you do front squats. If relieves some of the stress and cuts down the risk of injuring them. You don't want to ding your wrists, since it takes forever to rehab them.

Front squats require low reps. That's because the rack is the critical part of the exercise, and it always tends to slip a bit no matter how firmly you try to lock it into place. it it slides too much you're inviting injury to your wrists. It's all right to do 5's or 6's for the light warmup sets, but once you start loading up the bar, stick with 3's, and in the event your rack moves too much on the second rep, make it doubles, and add a few extra sets to up your workload.

Jump Squats

Whenever athletes want to add inches to their leaping ability - usually basketball or volleyball players - I put jump squats in their routines. Used in conjunction with regular heavy squats, jump squats can be productive, but you have to do them correctly. To begin with, you go very low, just as you do on Olympic-style squats. In a jump squat, though, you pause for a half-second before starting your recovery. That keeps you from rebounding out of the hole, which can be harmful to your knees. Instead, if you hesitate and make sure that all your muscles are rigid, from your feet to your traps, all will be fine.

Your next thought should be of exploding upward, leaping as high as possible. All lifters learn quickly to lock the bar snugly to their traps or it will pop off at the top. Some get the form down so well their feet actually leave the floor. Reset, making sure the bar is in the correct position, go to the bottom, hesitate, and then jump, climbing on your toes.

Since you can't use much weight on these, I put them on the light day. A lifter using 350 x 5 on regular back squats can benefit from doing 225 x 5 on the jump squat. I generally start people with 5 sets of 5, but often in the learning stage, when the weights are very light, I have them do 5 sets of 10. If I see someone getting sloppy with the higher reps, however, I drop it back to 5's.

Squatting Inside the Power Rack

Squatting inside the power rack is an effective way to gain strength, especially for advanced strength athletes. I realize that box squats are much in vogue, but I prefer the rack. Regardless of what proponents contend about the value of box squats, they exert tremendous pressure on the lower spine. That may not be a factor for heavyweights or those using steroids, but it most certainly is for the average strength athlete. Also, spotting for box squats is a nightmare, and anyone who trains alone cannot consider doing them with any amount of weight.

Squatting inside the rack is safer, doesn't place undo pressure on the lower spine, and is as effective. The question always arises: What position should you start from? My answer: the sticking point, which is usually in the middle or slightly above the middle. Set the pins at the spot that's giving you the most trouble in your recovery from the squat position. Start at that low position, which will make it much more difficult, but that's the point. Stand up and lower the bar back to the pins in a smooth, controlled fashion. Don't let the bar crash into the pins and don't try to rebound it off them to help you with the start. That defeats the purpose of the exercise. Reset at the bottom and do the next rep.

Do 5 reps on the warmup sets, but once the weights become demanding, lower the reps to 3 or 2 and conclude with a max single. Each time you do these, increase the weight on the single, and the new strength will carry over directly to your regular squats.

Squatting in the Smith Machine

Squatting in the Smith machine ranks low on my list, but it's useful for athletes who are unable to rest the bar firmly on their backs for whatever reason. Bodybuilders like the Smith machine squats because they force them to maintain a strict, upright stance, and they often use the machine to isolate their quads by squatting with a close stance.

The main thing to keep in mind when you squat in the Smith machine is that you want to do the exercise exactly as you do regular squats. You go low, with no rebounding at the bottom. Just because you're working with a machine doesn't mean you can't traumatize your knees by using faulty form. Because the machine takes most of the balance factor out of the equation, you can concentrate on applying perfect technique to each rep. I suggest doing 10 reps for 5 to 6 sets on these, since they're much less demanding than regular squats.

Wide-Stance Squats

Wide-stance squats have a place in every routine. Whenever I see athletes knees turning inward during a heavy squat or max pull off the floor, I know they have a relative weakness in the adductors. The adductor machine is an excellent tool for remedying that, but many weight rooms and home gyms don't have one available. In those situations wide-stance squats fill the bill.

How wide? As wide as you can set your feet and still maintain your balance while going below parallel. In order to strengthen your adductors, you absolutely must go below parallel, and the lower you go, the more you bring them into play.

When the weakness is minor, I recommend wide-stance squats as a back-off set, followed by your regular squat session: I set of 8-10 with a weight that is taxing. If, however, the weakness is severe, I prescribe doing all your squats with a wide stance until you bring your adductors up to par.

I include wide-stance squats in all my advanced lifters' programs, regardless of whether they display an adductor weakness. On their light day they do 2 sets of 5 as a warmup, then 3 x 5 with a work weight. They do the 1st work set with a normal stance and the 2nd with a wide stance. On the 3rd they use a very narrow stance. Changing the stances helps build balance in the hips and legs and also adds some variety to an otherwise ho-hum squat workout. And since it's the light day, you can handle the weights without difficulty.

Narrow-stance squats aren't used as much as wide-stances because the quads get plenty of work with the other styles, but they do make a nice change every so often. They're very useful for shaping the quads, and because you can go so low, they hit the glutes really well.

Pause Squats

Trainees who have trouble coming out of the hole or aren't going deep enough will find pause squats helpful. You lower into the deep bottom and, staying tight, remain there for a 4 to 5 second count. Someone gives a signal, usually a clap, and you drive upward. Pause squats teach you to squeeze out of the bottom and make you use the groups that are responsible for recovery. Also, by forcing you to go lower than usual, they call on new muscles, and that's good.

These are brutal, so place them at the end of the workout as a back-off set of 8-10 reps. That's unless the problem is glaring, in which case you do the full squat workout with pauses until the weakness is remedied.

Overhead Squats

Finally, for those who cannot fix a bar on their backs due to shoulder injury or an old injury, you can still squat.

Note: at times when my shoulder is giving me grief, I've found the Dave Draper "Top Squat" (above) to be real helpful. It can be used to get as close as possible to a regular high-bar squat without putting additional strain on the shoulders. If you're doing a lot of pressing of all kinds for a while, you can also use one of these preemptively, if you know what I mean. If you note the placement of the bar in the holder, you'll see that it won't push you forward like a Safety Squat Bar.

Some trainees can hold the bar over their head and do overhead squats. Even if you don't have a problem with regular squats, these provide valuable help in training for snatches. The weight will be relatively light, so higher reps, 10's and 12's, are in order; however, if your form waves, drop the reps to 5 and add a few extra sets.

Dumbbell Squats

Squatting with dumbbells is often the last resort for trainees who have chronic shoulder problems, but it's better than not squatting at all. To get enough work, you need to do high reps - very high, such as 75 to 100 per set with a pair of 20-pounders. Not right away, but that should be your eventual goal. If you have heavier dumbbells at your disposal, then lower reps will also work. Try to get in a total of 250 to 300 reps.

The full squat is the keystone exercise in strength training, so regardless of your limitations, be sure to make it an integral part of your program.

Dave Draper's "Top Squat" Demo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azWwBWx2mQE

Hard to find now, but well, well worth the search if you're having shoulder issues.

Many weight trainees recognize the importance of regular lower back training. For the physique competitor, it could mean a more complete, finished look, and for the weightlifter or power man, less injuries and greater totals.

The exercises most often used to condition this area are deadlifts (regular and stiff-leg), good mornings, and hyperextensions. Of these, only the hyperextension movement has the potential to FULLY develop the lower back region. The reason for this can be attributed to one word: ISOLATION.

All other exercises will involve the glutes, hamstrings, or quadriceps and place the erector spinae (lower back muscles) in a stabilizing role. This means they are working isometrically and receiving resistance only in a nearly extended position.

The solution is to reverse this situation; place the hamstrings in a position to stabilize for the erector spinae - thus we have the hyperextension movement.

Identification of the proper exercise is only the first step; performing it correctly is the important one.

The first photo illustrates the proper form and technique. The trainee has the illiac crest (top of pelvic bones) lined up with the outside edge of the body cushion, putting the hamstrings in their stabilizing role and allowing the lower body to work from a full stretch to a complete contraction.

Photo two demonstrates how the movement should not be performed although many are doing it this way. You'll notice that the trainee has slid forward and is now contacting the upper thighs to the pad. Result: the pelvis is no longer stabilized, so the hamstrings get most of the work.

People are often baffled as to how the Russians can consistently excel in the strength demanding events. for one thing, they have been strong advocates of the hyperextension movement for many years now, and work up to holding close to 200 pounds behind the neck for reps!

Diligent, proper practice of this exercise will bring about nothing less than fantastic results, so go ahead and give it a try.

It will be the lower back exercise you are looking for.

OK, Mirror Athletes - SHRUG THIS!!!

We're all guilty. Caught ourselves peaking in the mirror while we were building up over the years to see what kind of fascinating if not amazing changes were taking place in our physiques. Even the most disdainful of bodybuilding among us, the most hardcore strength trainer or competitive lifter, is not immune.

Why, lookey there, one might muse. My bicep is showing bifurcation. How about that? Am I getting striations in my pecs and delts. My quads? Must be a sign of progress. Of course we serious athletes are not concerned with such. Such merely visual results of training won't put five more kilos on the C & J, will they?

Still, etched-out serratus might be cool at the pool next summer. But we don't care about that, right? That's for gym-weenies, ain't it?

I was no pimply adolescent when I chanced upon the possibilities of shrug variations. I had lifted off and on for almost fifteen years and wrestled here and there. Fantasies of physical grandeur were fading before the demands of raising a family and struggling though grad school. But I could not help but be intrigued and my vanity tweaked by a few body changes as I experimented in the garage of the old home place.

Dave Maurice mentioned in his review of my book KELSO'S SHRUG SYSTEM that a few of the 30 variations in the tome are for "aesthetic bodybuilding" purposes.

https://www.amazon.com/Kelsos-Shrug-Book-Paul-Kelso/dp/1587361167

Let me focus on those for ironheads who are still tempted by the mirror or concerns about their appearance. (Why is it on the forum threads about outfitting a home gym that there is plenty of talk about power racks and glute-ham gizmos, but no one seems to ever bring up the one item I'd bet usually gets installed first? The mirror).

Speaking of serratus, that group of small muscles that fan out like a bunch of stubby fingers on the side of the rib cage between the front of the lat and the lower pectoral and lead into the top of the intercostals . . .

. . . assuming your body fat percentage is low enough for them to show - how can a "shrug" help those?

Try what I call the Shrug Dip in combination with straight-arm pulldowns from the overhead pulley.

When I was eighteen or so training at the old Commerce Street gym in Dallas (where the wrestler Hugh "Tex" McKenzie worked out) . . .

. . . there was a very short fellow training whose name I can't remember. He was amazingly muscular and cut up. Had giant serratus. Best I ever saw. How did he get them? Probably from his habit of doing straight-arm pullovers lying on a flat bench - with over 100 pounds!

I never forgot that sight, nor did I ever achieve anything close to it. But the most growth I ever realized in that area came this way:

- Shrug Dips. Take a position on the dipping stand as if to, well, dip. But, do not bend the arms. Lower the body by allowing the shoulders to rise toward the ears. This would be the negative of a standing shrug with dumbbells. Raise the body by forcing the shoulders down, forcing a good contraction of the pecs, lats and serratus. Leaning forward works the chest muscles more; leaning back throws the cramp into the lats. For a little extra work on inner pectoral cleavage, a set or two of Bench Shrugs with dumbbells held palms facing should help.

- Straight Arm Pulldown. Stand in front of overhead pulldown machine. Start with a light weight. Take an overhand grip with hands 12-14 inches apart. Don't lock the elbows and turn them slightly out. Lean a little forward and adjust your body so that your position mimics that you would have on a flat bench with the bar lowered behind your head during a straight-arm pullover. Then with arms extended as described force the bar all the way down to the thighs while exhaling. This triggers a large muscular contraction in the pecs, serratus and lats. Let the bar rise back to starting position while inhaling. Get a stretch and repeat. You will have to experiment with body position a little to make it work for you. Everybody is different. A side effect may be an extreme burn in the triceps late in the set.

Keep sets and reps in the normal ranges. Super-setting is extreme.

I mentioned wrestling. I was tall and lanky with a long neck as a teen. Wrestlers bridges and towel pulls with a partner got my neck up to 17.5 inches at a bodyweight of 200 lbs. when I was 19. Not bad, not good, but beyond pencil-neck status.

Articles about Steve Reeves doing wide-grip deadlifts intrigued the gang at the old Dallas YMCA. This was 1955. We'd load the old York Olympic plates with two-inch rims on backwards, the wrong way, so we could bend down and pick up the bar by the flanges on the plates. Or, we used a collar-to-collar grip, depending on our arm lengths.

- Wide-Grip Shrugs or Deadlifts. Reeves and others believed doing deadlifts in this fashion would widen the shoulders. I think it is pretty established now that not much can be done for the bone structure of the shoulders, but I got a different result when I began shrugging in this manner. Maybe it was because of my long neck, but I never developed the blocky traps visible on many lifters who did thousands of cleans and DLs. Instead, I ended up with a long slope that made my shoulders look wider. (Yes, I also did a lot of cleans and snatches and DLs over the years, so there may be a hereditary factor involved).

In any case, I developed a clearly delineated trap insertion or connection at each side of my nick, where the trap seems to run up close to the ears at the base of the skull. This was most noticeable when viewed at an angle from the front. As I had pretty pronounced sternocleidomastoids, there was a separation or groove between the sterno and the front of the trap at the side of the neck. I was the only kid on the block with that feature. I have rarely seen it since on others.

Looked kinda rugged if I do say so. Drew a lot of sideways glances when I wore a loose wide-collared shirt. Which I did. Often. No vanity in play, of course, I was merely trying to be a good example to the young and communicate my interest in their training. Especially to girls.

Cable Crossover Shrugs. A similar effect can be gained by doing cable crossover shrugs with the machine set on the low pulleys. Stand in the middle with a handle in each hand. The line or direction of contraction is from the bases of the machine toward the ears at an angle to the floor, not up and down. A second movement for developing and etching out a unusual muscle is to do shrugs in from the side with the machine set on the high pulleys. Concentrate on the contraction right between the shoulder blades or lower to carve out middle and lower traps. A possible third exercise, but not a shrug, would be to stand between the pulleys - set on high - and row straight in and down to the sides with each hand, trying to touch the elbows together behind the back. You can't do it, but try.

Hiro Matsumoto owns a gym in the town in Japan where I live. I trained there for years. We experimented with the elbow touching move. We used a couple of young bodybuilders as lab mice to see if the movement would help develop the "Christmas tree" lat structure at the sides of the lower erectors. It did on one guy and not on the other. The successful guy had shorter arms. Maybe that was a factor.

One thing about doing the movements I've written about here, and I would add the Lat or "Kelso" shrug in the bentover row incline position as well as chinning shrugs [you can search this blog for more from Paul Kelso, including many exercise descriptions], is that they carve out the separation line between the front lat and the side of the chest as seen from the front, and bring into visibility a lot of the smaller muscles in the upper back and in other places where you'd least suspect it. Higher reps are indicated for "aesthetic" purposes, and a pretty thin fat-to-muscle percentage.

Is it true that "All, all is vanity," as it says in the Good Book?

That's a hard statement to shrug off, but
shrugs can give you something to be vain about.

Article Courtesy of Liam Tweed

Larry Scott reading Strength & Health

I have seen perhaps six men in my life do a chin properly. Don Howorth was one of them. Don pulled up with his chest high and touched his chest to the bar almost as low as his pec line. His elbows were drawn down to his sides touching his lats, and with the chest high and the shoulders down and back he contracted his lats to the maximum.

If you look up the function of the lat in any kinesiology book it will show that the lat - when in the fully contracted position - the shoulders are drawn down and back! Round the back and shoulders forward and you shift to the teres major muscles. Also, if you do not arch your back to full contraction you will not develop any of the fibers across the back that attach to the spine. This will give you a flat underdeveloped look with no thickness.

This is how you do the chin:

Reach up and grasp the chinning bar, but not too wide . . . closer than you ordinarily do them because the lats are only partially contracted in a wide grip. Next, stand on a box so you can jump up into the contracted position and hold at the top for a split second. Now, lower your body and stand on the box (do singles). Jump up again and touch your low pec to the bar and arch the back. Most important - elbows must touch the sides in the top or contracted position to achieve maximum contraction.

The next most abused exercise is the parallel bar dip for pec development. The average bodybuilder does this exercise with his elbows back and his chest up and the back arched. Also, he does not drop down low enough, plus his body usually swings due to excessive speed in performing this exercise. The proper way to dip is as follows:

Hands should be 32" wide, elbows straight out to the sides (never back), and chin on chest. Chest must be concave and back rounded, feet forward under the head. In short, the body is in a crescent shape. The bottom of the dipping movement is the most important part of the dip; the first 8-10 inches are very isolated pec and most important - dipping receives less help from the deltoid than any other pec exercise. Bench press + Incline DB Press - knuckles not facing each other but forward about 90%, assistance from delts. The wider the parallel bar the wider the stress on the pec where the pec disappears under the front deltoid. This gives the chest a great illusion of width.

Here, in Vince's Gym, we have V-shaped parallel dip bars and by just moving your hands back you get a wider portion of the pec. By the way, if you hump your back at the top of the movement you work the Serratus muscles very forcibly.

Delts

This is a vastly misunderstood muscle insofar as the most common exercise for this muscle (the press) is not a side or lateral head movement. All overhead presses, barbell or dumbbell, are front deltoid and add nothing to shoulder width. They only make the shoulder thicker when viewed from the side.

On the posing platform the overhead lights wash out this portion of the deltoid. But side or lateral head shows up advantageously because of the shadows cast by the overhead spot. The lateral head is best obtained with lateral raises with dumbbells, providing you do not turn the front of the dumbbell up higher than the back bell because if you do you are working the front portion again. To work the side portion (lateral) you must keep the back of the bell higher than the front (closest to the mirror) and as we say in the gym - "pour the water out of the front end of the bell."

The beginning part of the lateral raise is to touch all four contact points of the two bells in front of the thighs with the elbows bent slightly - arms are never straight or locked. Also, as you raise the bells to the side they stay out in front of the body and must not travel backward parallel with the body.

The last part of the raise: never raise the bells higher than the ears because if you do the trapezius assists by dropping the deltoid closer to the head (hunching movement).

The next exercise for the delts which I find is very good is the barbell upright rowing. The relationship of the upper arms is exactly the same as the lateral raise, except that more weight can be employed. The grip is the secret here - most bodybuilders hold the hands too close together. I find that a slightly narrower than shoulder width grip is best. Also, if you pull the bar any higher than slightly higher than the nipples the trapezius assists and takes the work away from the delts. Also, when you pull the bar up do not keep it close to the body but out and up to the top position.

Do the upright rowing right and you can receive results very quickly.

Hope all of you are adapting to whatever changes may have come lately, and are enjoying the articles.

I'm pretty much used to my new life now. It took a bit of time, sure, but that's no matter at all.

Oh yeah, a couple of changes over the last while.

Okay then,
here is a project in development that really knocks me out . . .

THE WEIGHT

A film by Adam Scheiner

Have a look at this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=348&v=yk8e02IJe_Y&feature=emb_title

Now, when you come to this blog seeking information, consider that it has always been free. How about digging around for whatever you think it's been worth to you all these years and donating it to this project . . .

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theweight/the-weight

Thank You!

and of course . . .

ENJOY YOUR LIFTING!

Courtesy of Liam Tweed.

Hey Brother!

When Gary Hanson, the 1964 National Bantamweight champion, lifts in the Olympic tryouts in his home town of New York (at the World's Fair), he will not only be lifting against his closest competitor, but also against himself.

A lifter must have a total that will rank him among the top lifters in the world before he has hopes of being placed on an Olympic or World's championship team. Gary must total around the 740 mark at the tryouts to be considered as a top ranking bantamweight internationally. To do this, he must break all of his current personal records. In other words, he must beat himself to be able to make the Olympic team as no other bantamweight during the past year has even approached the lifts that he is capable of making.

Gary is the best bantamweight the U.S. has produced since the "Mighty Mite" Chuck Vinci. However, Gary may not have as smooth sailing at the tryouts as he did at the Seniors. There are rumors that Chuck is in hard training and might be a surprise entry at the tryouts. Barring such a move by Vinci, Gary will have clear sailing except for the obstacle of making a total that will be sufficient to place him on the Olympic team. An injury prevented him from competing in the '63 Seniors although he was named to the 1963 All American team for his fine lifting throughout the year, which included placing third in the Pan American Games, his first international competition.
:
He is currently 21 years of age and employed as a bank clerk in New York. Gary is 5' 1" and his weight close to the 123 pound class limit.

His best official lifts to date are:

Press - 230
Snatch - 215
Clean and Jerk - 285

Add those bests up and you come up with an impressive 730, enough to place third in the World's Championship last year in Stockholm. His best official total is 715.

He is also right on the top when it comes to doing the odd lifts:

Squat - 380 x 3
Deadlift - 450
Bench - 245
Front Squat - 340 x 3

Not bad for a 123-class lifter who is primarily concerned with increasing his total on the three Olympic lifts and not with entering odd lift contests.

Gary has been training since 1957 and has been fortunate to have as his coach Sandor Gere, the former Hungarian weightlifting coach.

A little more about Sandor Gere is here:
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2020/03/geza-toth-champion-of-hard-work-john.html

When asked about his training, Gary replied, "I am following a pretty rough schedule that has been built up over the past few years. I am currently training twice a day, six days a week. The hardest thing to learn, and the one thing every lifter must pay the most attention to is style. That is why I train twice a day. Every morning I work for about an hour on my form, with light weights, trying to make every lift perfect."

Although he recommends and stresses that every lifter should develop and train to maintain perfect forms, he also is aware of the need for developing basic power.

This point became evident when Gary told us, "If you were to ask me for the one most important exercise, I would have to say Squats. Squatting is my favorite exercise. it is the only way to build power and stamina. The Squat is the basis for all lifting." It is evident that Gary practices what he preaches when you take a look at the impressive poundages he has squatted with and see the way he comes up with those heavy Squat Cleans.

Like most lifters, he tapers off his training before a contest. When asked how he prepares for a contest, he replied, "I take my last heavy workout one week before a contest, and lay off Squats for the last three or four workouts. My last workout is very light. I work for speed, form, and perfect position in all the lifts during my last workout. Again, I must emphasize that it is necessary to constantly use light weights to improve your form, keep yourself sharp, and to keep from developng bad habits and sloppy technique."

Gary is a firm believer in the use of protein supp . . . Nah. None of that here.

As mentioned above, Gary is training six days a week - Monday through Saturday. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are heavy days. On the light days, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, the same routine is followed as on the heavy days except that Front Squats are substituted for Back Squats, and Bench Presses are deleted. Also, the poundages used are 10-20 pounds lighter.

About once a week Gary includes High Pulls in his routine. These consist of light pulls to chin height with 135 for 5x5, and heavy pulls to belt height with 299-355 for 5 x 3 reps.

Below are the exercises and poundages that Gary is currently using on his heavy days:

Press - progress from 135 to 225 in 20-lb. jumps, 2-3 reps per set for 6 sets.

Snatch - progress from 135 to 200 in 10 to 20-lb. jumps, 2-3 reps per set for a total of 8 sets.

Clean and Jerk - progress from 155 to 275 performing 2 cleans and 1 jerk per set for a total of 6-8 sets.

Jerks Off Rack - progress from 225 to 285, 3-5 reps per set.

Back Squat - progress from 225 365, 3 to 5 reps per set.

Bench Press - progress from 185 to 245, 3-5 reps per set.

ENJOY YOUR LIFTING!

So often we think of training goals as increased measurements, added muscular bodyweight (or a reduction in the waistline), great squat (or bench or deadlift etc.), poundages, and so forth. I've yet to hear anyone say that the optimal training goal is an ENHANCED LIFE.

Of all the training goals one might have, there are none more worthy and important than the goal of a healthy, happy, vibrant life that holds regular training in a regular place. This means, not necessarily the goal of winning some contest, but rather the objective of being a winner in life. And by being a winner in life I mean: living a life in which health and fitness play an ever-important role. I'll add . . . a permanent role!

Too many people train like mad for several months - or years - while some contest goal or particular strength or development objective is keenly one their minds; but then, once the goal is either obtained or lost, the individual peters out, as it were. Eventually, in his late twenties or early thirties, the ex-trainee becomes physically indistinguishable from every other sedentary person. His bodybuilding or lifting life has become history.

Don't let this happen to you.

Even if you have little genetic potential for becoming a powerhouse or a Mr. Winner (and almost none of us have this potential), so what? You can enjoy an excellent physique, strength, fine health, and a feeling of joy and well-being that practically no one today even understands (let alone feels) by following an ongoing training routine. If this is not a golden reward in itself I fail to see what could be.

Personally, I would prefer to be healthy, strong and happy for LIFE, rather than Mr. Universe for a 1. And believe me, a man with 16" arms can be as fit, healthy and finely tuned athletically as any 22"-inch arm Hercules.

So, if you're young and just taking up weight training, remember that you are getting into something very much akin to education of the mind. Ideally, it is a process that should continue - with unending benefits - for your entire life. It doesn't end after a "course" or after some arbitrary goal has been achieved.

If you're older, remember that the REAL rewards of training have yet to materialize for you - so long as you're persistent. For what trophy can be worth one fiftieth of the prize enjoyed by the robust man is his 60s, 70s, or even in his 80s, who has been an active physical culturist since his earlier years?

This is a field in which no one loses. Those inanimate weights are, literally, a blessing in disguise.

Question: I always find the first set of every exercise I do very difficult. How can I correct this, or is it not something I should be concerned about?

Answer: To an extent one can correct this discomfort (I sometimes get it too) by doing a thorough total body warmup before starting the workout, and then by doing one thorough, light warmup set for each exercise one performs in the workout.

Keep in mind that comfortably ventilated, but never cold, training quarters will naturally facilitate minimum discomfort in the preliminary sets.

Good, thorough body circulation is the key to avoiding hard first sets.

Remember that certain exercises like squats, bench presses, etc., that are truly strenuous and heavy might require two or three buildup, warmup sets before work poundages are attempted.

If any real pain occurs - or persists - I suggest you see a physician.

Question: Would it be possible to effectively alternate training for bodybuilding and powerlifting? Or would that be self-defeating?

Answer: I would be best to combine a program of powerlifting training with good bodybuilding movements that have been selected to compliment the lifts, and polish the developing muscle mass; rather than attempting to alternate actual actual programs, which I'd really not recommend at all.

Naturally, it's a difficult thing to train for two goals at one time, but so long as you're content to receive GOOD results in bodybuilding and GOOD results in powerlifting, there should be no problem. People who exceed in both fields are, however, rare.

Expect to be tired from such a program. Expect also, if you're serious about getting STRONG, to eat well, sleep enough, and keep a tranquil mental attitude too. You just won't be able to weather a tough schedule like you're contemplating if you don't.

Let me propose a good example of such a routine for a couple of months --

Monday

Light Stiff-Legged Deadlift -

2 x 12

Squat -

1 x 8,

1 x6

1 x 5

2 x 2

1 x 1-2

Flat Flye -

2 x 8

2 x 5-6

Light to Medium Bent Arm Pullovers -

3 x 8-10

Bench Press -

1 x 10

1 x 8

1 x 5

3 x 3-4

Situp -

3 x 50

Note: You must work up to weights that are heavy for you in the squat, bench, and deadlift for this program to work.

Wednesday

Regular Grip Chins (no weight) -

2 x 12

One Arm DB Row -

3 x 10

Prone Hyperextension -

2 x 20 (no weight)

Deadlift -

2 x 6

2 x 4

3 x 3-4

1 x 1-2

Barbell Curl (heavy) -

4 x 6-8, adding weight each set

Leg Raise -

3 x 20

Friday

Same as Monday, but add Barbell Curls as done on Wednesday.

Question: Can lat machine pulldowns be used as an effective substitute for heavy bentover rowing?

Answer: Yes. Providing you do not substitute pulldowns permanently, they can replace rows from time to time. I have found that they are especially useful if there has been a back injury preventing bent-rows from being done for a time.

Question: What can I do about my calves? They remain underdeveloped no matter what I try, and I've about given up.

Answer: Your problem is shared by many, many trainees! Try using very extreme (maximum extension to maximum contraction - stretch . . . squeeze) work in very extreme amounts for a while. For example:

5 sets of 30-40 reps with as much weight as can be handled correctly, 5 days a week.

Do that for a month. Then train calves 3 days a week for a while.

Then train them 5 days again for a while, etc.

This hard, irregular work should help somewhat.

Remember that calves are very difficult to develop for most of us. If you have a low arch or flat feet, I frankly feel that optimal calf development should not be expected. At any rate, it's unlikely.

Deep massage between sets of calf work sometimes helps, especially when the thumbs are dug deep into the belly of the muscle and a vigorous kneading motion is done.

Question: How does getting older affect one's physique and training - assuming one has always trained hard and one is in good health?

Answer: So long as training has always been a part of one's lift, so longf as one is in good health, and providing one is experiencing no injuries, I know of no reason why training should be curtailed, regardless of age. I suggest that men who are over 40 get regular checkups and carefully "listen" to their bodies bodies so that they do not ignore possible warning signs of an illness or injury.

In my years in the Iron Game I have seen men in their 60s and 70s training harder (and I mean this!) than many college athletes. What I would strongly urge anyone NOT to do, however, is commence training later in life (say, in one's 30s and after) and expect to plunge into tough, hard workouts right off the bat. At any age, as always, start off sensibly and easily and build patiently to reasonably hard work. Build a foundation. Watch diet, rest and basic health habits, naturally.

Question: i always have a problem balancing heavy dumbbells when I do presses. I want to do this movement, since I'm told it is valuable and important, but how can I handle the balance problems?

Answer: The balance "problem" is part of the reason why dumbbell presses are so valuable. It is the greater difficulty in stabilizing these weights that makes pressing them a real effective movement.

If you train with dumbbells regularly, you'll find yourself becoming more comfortable with them. But they will never be as easy to press as a barbell.

Also, don't expect to duplicate the poundages that you use with dumbbells to equal the barbell poundage.

That sums up our question session for this issue. Keep at your workouts, stay sensible, and BELIEVE IN YOURSELF.

ENJOY YOUR LIFTING!

https://filmthreat.com/reviews/ghostbox-cowboy/

"If Sisyphus gets a pump from his eternal exercise,
I assure you all this time he's been a happy man."
- Samuel Wilson Fussell

I suppose that I'd be accused of exaggerating if I went into any detail about some of the workouts I used to take. In my early days back in Austria, I would have the weirdest kinds of training sessions. They never followed any accepted form. Everything was done in the truest instinctive way.

My training partners and I would decide what bodypart we wanted to work for that day and then proceed to bomb it out of existence. We would drive out to the wooded country nearby with a carload of weights and train until nightfall. Sometimes we would go eight or nine hours a day without stopping. As funny as that may seem, some of my best workouts were taken during that period, and I got some of my best results in the process.

Of course, part of the reason for this was that I was new at training. When you first start taking workouts with weights almost any move, no matter how it's done, will give results. While I got the results I wanted in size, I still lacked the muscular definition needed to become a top champion. I won almost every event I entered, but then who did I compete against.

We get to think we're pretty good if we can beat anyone on the block. What many fail to realize is that the world is made up of many blocks.

It wasn't until I competed in my first NABBA Mr. Universe contest that I fully realized some of my weaknesses. At this contest I got a chance to see great bodybuilders. They were the best I had ever competed against. I had seen pictures in the magazines of some of the better physiques in the world, but somehow I never quite believed what I saw. I figured that a great deal of all that muscle must be the result of some magician in the photographer's darkroom. Never had I seen so much muscle. None of it was hidden behind a veil of flesh. You could see every muscle as if the men had no skin at all.

I was particularly impressed by the legs of one of the contestants. Every head of his frontal thigh seemed to be alive with writhing sinew. I looked at my own legs. They had plenty of size, but they couldn't come close to this man with the impressive legs. For a long time I harbored the thoughts of the ignorant. I felt that such legs had to be inherited. I refused to believe that I could do anything different to get such muscular separation. Back I went to Austria - inspired to train harder but not much wiser about the way to do it.

It wasn't until Joe Weider invited me to come to America that I had my best chance to learn the science of weight training. I soon found out that bodybuilding was weight training with a purpose.

If you train a haphazard way you will get haphazard results. Joe designed routines that left no doubt as to the direction they were to go. For the next year I worked like a madman. I wanted to enter and win the IFBB Mr. Universe. I knew that the best bodybuilders in the world would be in the IFBB event. This would be my greatest test.

Using Weider principles to the fullest (!) my muscles began to spring into life. Soon those elusive ridges of muscular delineation began to crease my body. My legs began to take on the muscularity I thought one had to be born with. My power increased along with size and shape. It was unbelievable what a scientifically developed program could do.

Not only did I win the IFBB Mr. Universe title but I won the Best Legs award, along with most of the others. It was the Best Legs award, however, that brought me the greatest pride in victory. After winning the Mr. Universe title itself, nothing meant more. It was the proof I needed that I was doing the right thing.

I had taken one of my weak bodyparts and rammed it into championship perfection.

Now I want to share some of this knowledge with you.

The Anatomy of the Leg

Click to ENLARGE

Probably no group of muscles in the body equals the thighs in size and power. Partly because of the great demand on the legfs and the versatility they require, they are quite a complicated network of muscle groups. I cannot attempt to describe all of them - that would be a waste of time. I do feel, however, that you should know about the major muscles concerned with flexion and extension since it is these moves you'll rely on for growth. Since the frontal thigh is the "show" area of the leg, let's start there.

The frontal group of muscles are the extensors of the leg. They are often referred to as the quadriceps because of the four major muscle groups involved. The longest of the group is the rectus femorus which arises from the anterior inferior illiac spine and inserts into the patella. It overlays the vastus intermedium which rises from the femur and inserts into the patella. These two muscles make up the central "V" shaped delineation of the middle front thigh. The "candle wax" like formation on the inner thigh is the vastus medialis while the outer thigh muscle is called the vastus lateralis. Both of these originate from the upper head of the femur and insert into the patella. The muscle group generates great power and is best developed by direct leg extension and squatting moves.

I shouldn't leave the thigh muscle group without a mention of the two muscles that actually flex the thigh toward the abdomen. One is pretty short and can be seen around the lateral hip joint. It's the tensor fascae latae and arises from the border of the ilium and inserts into the lateral fascia of the thigh. Fascia is the sheath of tissue that often invests muscles. The other muscle is the longest one in the body and serpentines itself diagonally across the thigh. Vince Gironda has one of the best defined sartorius muscles I have ever seen.

We now know the major muscles that elevate and extend the thigh which are analogous to the triceps of the upper arm. The thigh flexors on the back of the leg, however, must not be overlooked. While not as showy as the frontal extensors, they are obviously needed for complete thigh movement and add tremendously to thigh size.

The deepest muscle of the flexor group is the short head of the biceps femorus, which joins with its twin, thet long head, to form a common tendon that inserts into the head of the fibula which is the outer bone of the lower leg. The rest of the muscles in the flexor compartment all arise from the ischial tuberosity. The wider semi-membranous inserts into the posterior aspect of the tibia. The thinner semi-tendinosus inserts on the anterio-medial surface of the tibia. Leg flexion moves are the best growth producers for the backs of the thighs.

In the calf area I'll mention only two muscles. The larger and deeper muscle is the soleus which originates from both the fibula and the tibia. The gastrocnemius has two heads. One head originates from the lateral aspect and the other from the medial of the lower femur. Both heads join to overlay the soleus and join with the latter to insert into the famous Achilles' tendon which inserts into the calcaneus or heel bone. Any moves such as toe raises will be activated by doing resistance moves that are the opposite of toe raises. Pardon? I didn't follow that at all. No matter.

That was a very brief anatomy course, listing only the muscles that we as bodybuilders are most interested in because of their ability to be displayed.

Now, let's get them ready for that display.

Molding Mighty Thighs and Calves

In doing these or any exercises you must have the utmost concentration. The degree of force used in any move is determined by the amount of concentration behind it. An example of this is the classic fable of the little lady who single handedly lifted a car off her son who was pinned beneath it. She didn't think of the impossibility of what she was asking herself to do. All she could think of was that she had to lift the car off her boy. The concentration on this task was immediate and swift. The results were startling because she was able to do what many men supposedly much stronger than she would have found impossible.

This doesn't mean that I believe you have to psyche yourself up like that for each rep. I do believe, however, that it's necessary to use a great deal of concentration to get a great deal of results.

Exercise 1

Full Squat - Just because an exercise is old doesn't mean that it's bad. The full squat has been around as long as man has known how to lift, but it's still one of the best result-producing exercises on the books. Put your heels on a block for balance if necessary and the bar on the shoulders. I then take a deep breath and squat below parallel. As I come up from the squat position I exhale. This aids in the expansion of the chest and the oxygen requirement needed for each rep. I do 6 sets of 8 reps and try to go up a little in weight with each set, thus increasing the demand on my legs.

Exercise 2

Leg Press - If the full squat has one disadvantage, it's the pressure it puts on the lower back. There were times I wanted to increase the poundages, but felt that the strain would be too great. One of the best ways to get a similar basic move and have full back support at the same time was to use the leg press machine. I could use heavier weights than ever before and as a result my full squat weight went up as well. This exercise is done for 4 sets of 10 reps, in a superset with Exercise 3.

Exercise 3

Front Squat - a superset is the rapid performance and alternating of one exercise with another. In this case I do one set of 10 reps in the leg press followed without pause by one set of 10 in the front squat. Followed without pause by another set of 10 in the leg press and so on until 4 sets of 10 reps of each exercise have been completed. All of this is done without any rest so that the blood will be forced rapidly into the exercised area and, thereby, increase the rate of growth. The front squat is done the same way as the full squat except that the weight is held in front of the shoulders. This tends to make you lean back for better balance, thus placing a greater exertion on the frontal sweep of the thighs.

Exercise 4

Leg Extension - This exercise is the best for getting really deep definition without losing any size. It especially develops the area around the knee which you can't really develop from other exercises. A very important factor is to extend the legs as much as possible, while at the same time concentrating on definition. Always lower the weight slowly. When you do the last rep, your legs should be burning. After every set you must do a lot of flexing to help get definition and to increase size.

Exercise 5

Leg Curl - This one I do on the leg curl machine. No exercise works more directly on the back of the thighs. If a leg curl is not available to you, you can improvise by placing a dumbbell between your feet as you lie prone on a flat bench and then curl the weight up. Naturally the curl machine is best because of the constant leverage and resistance given.

While the thigh work is important and the thigh muscles are certainly powerful, from the standpoint of visual appreciation the calves are the prime muscles of the legs. Think for a minute, if you see a man at the beach with big muscular thighs and scrawny calves, you would think he had bad legs. If on the other hand he's got poor thighs but fantastic calves, you're liable to remark how good his legs are. Unfortunately the calves are made of dense muscle fibers that have to be really bombed to be reached. The origin of the muscle and the place of insertion on the Achilles tendon determine to a great extent the shape of the calf so a great battle must sometimes be waged to get the results you want.

Exercise 1

Calf Raise - I load up the calf machine for this one and do 5 sets of 20 reps with the toes straight ahead. You can do the exercise two ways . . . the right way and the wrong way. When the weight gets so heavy that it is difficult to get all the reps out, some will bend their knees and put out with their thighs to complete the exercise. Another trick is to avoid getting a full extension and contraction. The right way to do the exercise for the best results is to keep the knees locked and to let the heels down as far as possible and go up until the calf is cramped. Just watch the inches pile on if you do this one correctly.

Exercise 2

Donkey Calf Raise - This one is my favorite calf exercise. It's done by bending forward at the waist and leaning on a bench or table for support. The toes are on a block, and you have your partner seated on you with his weight placed as directly as possible over the hips. I turn the toes in to give a greater stimulus to the outer surfaces of the muscle. This is done for 5 sets of 20 reps.

Some Conclusions

No area in bodybuilding is more neglected than the legs. When people ask you to "show your muscles," they expect to see you hold your arms up and flex the upper body. The drive to develop the lower portion of the body isn't usually as great. You want to develop what people want to see.

Another reason that many bodybuilders steer away from extensive leg work is owing to the fact that it's so gosh darn beer schtein fulla pain hard. The thighs are powerful and can use great amounts of weight, and the calves are stubborn and can use a lot of reps. If you're not willing to work hard you can forget about getting fully developed legs and a well proportioned physique.

It is sad but true that a great number of bodybuilders are not extracting the maximum benefit from their workouts.

There can be myriad reasons for this lamentable fact, but I will direct this article to just one aspect of the problem.

Despite the regrettably tenacious misconception that bodybuilding is a relatively "mindless" sport, to make the utmost progress, careful attention must be devoted to what is actually occurring during a workout.

When the average trainee performs his exercises, not enough thought is given to what muscles are actually being stressed. The question, "How could I modify this movement to better affect the muscle group I am working?"is rarely posed.

When a bodybuilder becomes serious about maximizing gains and creating a quality workout, some research is required. The first step is to procure some literature on anatomy, illustrating how the muscles, bones, and connective tissues are arranged. Concentrating on one muscle group at a time, determine where the muscles attach to the various points on the skeleton, which muscles move, which bones, etc.

Note also which muscle groups are a "weak link" in working another group, i.e. the weaker biceps is usually involved in an exercise for the stronger lats, or the triceps are often the limiting factor in a compound chest movement.

After gaining some familiarity with your anatomy, buy or borrow a book on kinesiology (roughly translated, the science of movement). With this you can obtain an overview of how all the bodyparts internet to perform a specific motion.

Armed with all this new information, you should be able to create a mental image of how a particular muscle is worked during a certain exercise. Now is when great strides can be made in modifying your routine to make it more effective.

Think of all the aspects of a movement. Could it be made more direct by changing hand or foot position, using a different bar, or working around a weak link?

As an example, let's consider triceps pushdowns.

As normally performed, the trainee stands almost under the pulley with the cable about parallel with the front of the body. Notice that at full extension it does not take much effort to keep the arms locked out. This is because the structure of the arms is such that the triceps are doing very little actual work in order to keep the arms straightened.

Now, step back from the pulley about 18 inches and do some pushdowns. A little more difficult toward the bottom, was it not?

With this new angle on the cable, the triceps are stressed more at lockout and a much more forceful contraction is possible. Be careful not to bend or lean toward the apparatus as this will nullify the result obtained by stepping back.

Dips, a second example, are excellent proof of my contention that unless a trainee is educated to the point where he or she knows what muscles are doing what work, much effort is wasted. Depending on head and body position, dips can target either the pecs or the triceps more strongly.

To direct a greater portion of the stress to the pecs, the chin should be tucked into the chest and the back should be bowed so that the feet are ahead of the waist. This position aligns the humerus, the bone of the upper arm, with the pectoralis major in such a that a strong, direct contraction can be made.

When the head is held back and the feet are positioned behind the body, the pecs are placed at a mechanical disadvantage. Therefore the triceps are forced to assume a much greater share of the load.

In passing, however, let me note that however the dips are performed, the bodybuilder should always lower himself as far down as safely possible, preferably until the edge of the chest is only a couple of inches from the hands, if his body is up to it.

Great article explaining dip variations by

Christian Thibaudeau, here:

https://www.t-nation.com/blogs/quick-guide-to-perfect-dips

To develop the rudiments of a working knowledge of the muscular system, its structure and function, is not a difficult task. A couple of evenings with an anatomy book will enable you to begin analyzing your exercises movements with a more critical eye.

One begins to realize that a curl is not just a curl. Specific actions are taking place under the skin, and by know what these actions are, the movement can be tailored to be most effective.

Feel how the muscles are working in each exercise.

Experiment with different ways to do the movement.

After a period of time you will develop a sixth sense which will let you know if a muscle is being worked correctly for the result you desire.

There is a second advantage to knowing what the muscles look like and how they function. Many bodybuilders visualize in the mind's eye, a particular muscle as it is being worked. This helps focus the attention on that muscle and leads to a higher intensity set.

A good, proven technique, but it is rather difficult to do the visualization if you have no idea what the view on the inside is!

Note: There are several high level trainers who use body placement, equipment selection, exercise performance and intense concentration to activate and hence develop specific sections of each muscle group.

Charles Glass is a fantastic example of the utilization of these techniques.

Study, learn, and grow, but above all . . .

Enjoy Your Lifting!

Resurrecting the Split Style:

An Uncommon Approach to Athletic Excellence

Article Courtesy of Liam Tweed

Most of you have been exposed to the Olympic-style lifts and may include them in your training because of their proven effectiveness in building strength and speed.

Two standbys are the snatch and clean performed in the squat style. However, there's another way to perform these lifts, a variation that can result in better transfer to sport skills, making you a more dominant competitor.

Old News

If you look at the dynamics of most sports, you'll note that the foot position is rarely one foot next to the other, as in the squat and squat-style Olympic lifts. Because specificity of training is such an important training concept, you should consider the less common style of executing the Olympic movements - the split style.

The split style of performing the Olympic lifts results in your moving one foot forward and the other foot backward in a dynamic, explosive fashion during these exercises.

Because such lifts are rarely seen in competition today, they're rarely introduced into strength and conditioning programs. This is a shame, because these lifts have great value to most athletes when performed properly.

Splitting Character

The split lifts have a number of potential advantages in a conditioning program:

- They introduce variety into training.

- They expand your movement and fitness base.

- They increase explosiveness.

- They provide sport-specific preparation for throwing, jumping, etc.

- They are easier to master than the squat style of lifts.

You might be reluctant to learn this "new" style because you might lose strength and condition if you're unable to move a lot of weight. However, besides the above-mentioned advantages, you should also consider the long term. If you consistently do the same sort of exercises and routine, you'll most likely get bored and the monotony of training will in and of itself decrease your progress. Also, your body will have less of a stimulus to respond to since it's used to the same old movement patterns.

So while you may take a temporary step back in learning a new skill, you're giving your body a new set of stimuli to adjust to. And these adjustments will translate to new levels of strength and speed. The richer your treasury of skill, the faster you can master new ones and the more effective you'll be in applying them on the field, mat, platform, or wherever you compete. So the minor setback that you might experience is most definitely worth it in the long run, unless, PRs don't mean that much to you.

Split Applications

The split lifts can serve as general preparation for most sports. One of the purposes of general physical preparation exercises is fostering abilities insufficiently developed by the selected sport - i.e., attaining all-around development. If you were to focus only on sporting skills you'd develop weak links in areas that aren't addressed by the sport.

According to Tudor Bompa, Ph.D., going beyond just the sport skills is a basic prerequisite to reach highly specialized physical preparation and technical mastery. Split lifts for all-around development are a good choice for sports like football, basketball, and volleyball because the lifts require using both legs to generate force from the ground, similar to the sport itself.

Note: They're also fun, in case you may have blindly forgotten that aspect.

Throwing sports are also done with the legs generating force against the ground and often require one leg loading in front of the other. In track and field throwing events, athletes use one side of the body to "block" in order to accelerate the instrument. For example, in the shot put, the left leg (for a right handed thrower) has a bracing and levering function. This leg, as well as the entire left side of the body, must remain fixed at the joints and not give into the pressure of the right leg and the hip or knee joints. In the discus, the left side of the body forms a lever that counteracts the pressure of the right side. During the release of the javelin, the left side of the body must be in a fixed position. According to Schmolinsky, after the third turn of the hammer, the right leg turns against the resistance of the fixed left side of the body. In other words, right handed throwers require strong left legs because it's necessary to brace that side of the body.

Similar positions are seen in jumping events. In sprinting events, one of the major components of speed is increased stride length. But you then require lots of strength and power to make the longer stride work. Since a split lift also requires E"stride," you can see where doing a split lift has application.

Although the split lifts are no longer used in competition, they still have a great deal of value for a strength and conditioning program, either for variety or fother event-specific preparation. These lifts are easy to learn and to incorporate into a conditioning program, eir through substitution or through a concentrated emphasis. So give them a shot and ENJOY learning a new skill while reaping the benefits.

Split Technique

Three principle variations of the split lifts will be presented. Most important are the split clean and the split snatch, since in general the clean and snatch are major, fundamental exercises. However, I also want to discuss the split squat to demonstrate how this traditional exercise can be performed split-style.

The Split Snatch

There are several points of performance that you need to observe in sequence to become proficient and successful at this lift. Or, to put it simply . . . What a guy's gotta do here is:

1) With the barbell on the ground, take a wide overhand grip on the bar, maybe even out to the collars if you have very long arms.

2) Your feet should be hip-width apart and flat on the ground.

3) Pull the barbell against your shins.

4) Pull your shoulders back and raise your chest.

5) Squat down and look straight ahead.

6) This starting position will have your shoulders slightly in front of the bar, your back flat, your feet flat on the floor, and your hips lower than your shoulders.

7) Lift the barbell slowly off the floor by extending your knees and hips at the same time.

8) Keep your shoulders in front of the bar and keep your back flat and arms straight.

9) Keep the bar close to your body.

10) As the bar passes your knees, pull it in toward your body while still keeping your shoulders in front of the bar.

11) When the bar reaches a point just below your hips, thrust your hips forward forcefully; your shoulders will move behind the bar; rise up on your toes and shrug your shoulders high.

12) When the bar reaches maximum height, drop under it by splitting your feet.

13) Both feet should move at the same time.

14) The front foot should move forward and should land on the ground.

15) The front knee and hip should be flexed; the front thigh should be at least parallel to the floor.

16) The back foot should move straight back; the ball of the back foot should be in contact with the ground and the back leg slightly bent.

17) The action of splitting your feet will cause you to drop under the barbell; when your feet contact the ground, the bar should be received at arms' length overhead with your arms locked.

18) Receive the bar at a point in a straight line over your hips; your arms should be next to your ears.

19) From the split position, move the front foot back half the distance. Then move the back foot forward until it's next to the left foot. This is important because just taking a single step forward with the back foot (i.e., with no initial front foot movement) will shift the bar forward, making control difficult.

The Split Clean

1) With the bar on the ground, take an overhand grip with your hands about shoulder width apart.

2) Your feet should be hip width apart and flat on the ground.

3) Pull the barbell against your shins.

4) Pull your shoulders back, elevate your chest, and flatten your back.

5) Squat down and look straight ahead.

6) Your shoulders should be in front of the bar, your hips lower than your shoulders.

7) Lift the barbell slowly off the ground by extending your knees and hips at the same time.

8) Keep your shoulders in front of the bar and keep your back flat and arms straight.

9) Keep the bar close to your body.

10) As the bar reaches chest height, drop under it by splitting your feet.

11) Both feet should move at the same time.

12) The front foot should move forward and should land on the ground.

13) The front knee and hip should be flexed; the front thigh should be at least parallel to the floor.

14) The back foot should be in contact with the ground and the back leg slightly bent.

15) As you complete the split, your elbows should move up and around the bar.

16) The bar should be racked on the front of your shoulders and across your chest.

17) From the split position, move the front foot back half the distance. Then move the back foot forward until it's next to the lead foot. This is important because just taking a big step forward with the back foot will shift the bar forward, making it difficult to keep it racked across your chest and shoulders.

The Split Squat

1) Position the bar on your back in the same way as you would for any other squat.

2) Once you clear the rack, pull your shoulders back and raise your chest.

3) Take a step forward with the right leg.

4) Your front foot should be flat on the ground and the front knee should have a slight bend to it.

5) Take a big step back with the left leg.

6) The ball of the left foot should be on the ground and there should be a slight bend in the back knee.

7) Lower yourself by bending the front knee and hip.

8) Raise yourself back to the starting position and repeat until you have completed the desired number of reps.

9) Switch Legs.

The Split Program

Learning proper technique is only part of the success equation. The other part is proper programming. You can follow a general preparation program for variety or a sport-specific program.

General Preparation Program

One way to use these lifts when adding variety in a program is simply to substitute them for the power and squat variations every second workout or so. However, if you want to focus on these lifts, then they're best used in a three to four week cycle during the off season.

Off Season Split Lift Emphasis

Day 1:
Split Snatch - 3 x 3 reps, 70-80%
Clean Pull - 3 x 6 reps, 75%
Back Squat - 3 x 8-12, 75-85%
Incline Press - 3 x 8, 65%
Seated Cable Row - 3 x 8, 65%

Day 2:
Split Clean - 3 x 3, 70-80%
Overhead Squat - 3 x 6-8, 65%
DB Bench Press - 3 x 8, 65%
Pullups - 3 x max, bodyweight
Military Press - 3 x 8, 65%

Day 3:
Split Jerk - 3 x 3, 70-80%
Snatch Pull - 3 x 6, 75%
Front Squat - 3 x 6, 70%
Romanian Deadlift - 3 x 8, 65%
DB Incline Press - 3 x 8, 65%
DB Row, 3 x 8, 65%

Day 4:
Incline Press - 3 x 4, 80%
Barbell Row - 3 x 4, 80%
Military Press - 3 x 4, 80%.

Sport-Specific Programs

You can use the split lifts in sport-specific training for track and field events, baseball, tennis, soccer, and football; both pre-season and in-season.

Sample Pre-Season Mesocycle, Shot Put

Day 1:
Snatch Pull - 3 x 4-6, 90%
Split Snatch - 3 x 4, 80%
Incline Press - 3 x 4, 80%
Barbell Row - 3 x 4, 80%
Military Press - 3 x 4, 80%

Day 2:
Split Snatch, start from hang (below knees) - 3 x 2-3, 80-85%
Split Clean - 3 x 3, 80-85%
Split Jerk - 3 x 3, 80-85%
Clean Pull from hang (bar above knees) 3 x 4-6, 80-90%
Vertical Jump (with bar on shoulders) - 3 x 5, 40%

Day 3: Off

Day 4:
Split Snatch - 3 x 1-3, 80-90%
Overhead Squat - 3 x 1-3, 80-90%
Snatch Pull from hang - 3 x 4-6, 80-85%
Front Squat - 3 x 6, 75%
DB Romanian Deadlift - 3 x 6, 75%
Lunge (front rack) - 3 x 6, 75%

Day 5:
Split Clean from hang - 3 x 1-3, 80-90%
Clean Pull - 3 x 4-6, 85-95%
DB Bench Press - 3 x 6, 75%
Dip - 3 x 6, 75%
Standing DB Shoulder Press - 3 x 6, 75%
Pullup - 3 x 6, 75%

Day 6:
Incline Press - 3 x 4, 80%
Barbell Row - 3 x 4, 80%
Military Press - 3 x 4, 80%

Enjoy Your Lifting!

http://steveholman.com/

Muscle-Building Rep Speed

Slower reps can be a great enhancer when used for phases now and then, or in conjunction with sets of standard speed reps. in fact, using slow reps is one of the intensity tactics I recommend in Home Gym Handbook.

Even so, the standard two/two cadence (2 seconds up/2 seconds down) is the way to go most of the time - if your reps per set are around 8. It allows you to use heavy weights without momentum, and if you hit failure at around 8 reps, you keep the muscle under tension for 32 seconds, which is about perfect to anaerobic stimulation without too much fatigue product accumulation.

That's one reason slow-mo reps seem more intense - because they cause more fatigue products, such as lactic acid, to pool in the working muscles. Do they work the fibers a well as two/two?

That's hard to say and may depend on the muscle. Some, such as quads, forearms and calves, seem to thrive on longer tension times. Others that aren't as used to lactic acid buildup, however, are more susceptible to fatigue due to rapid pooling of that fatigue product, which can cause failure before the muscle fibers are optimally taxed.

The solution is to use a variety of rep speeds - or at least a variety of times under tension. When you think about it, rep speed is just another way to increase the time under tension. For example, although I recommend using a two/two cadence most of the time, the majority of trainees use about a one/one cadence. Watch people in the gym and time them for yourself. Multiply that by 8 reps and you have only 16 seconds of time under tension - not enough for optimal growth stimulation.

Could that be the reason most people's gains come slowly? I think it's definitely a factor.

When you're forced to count the two/two cadence for all 8 reps, the time under tension increases significantly - along with muscle gain, and if you use a four/four cadence for only 6 reps, the muscle remains under tension for 48 seconds. That's three times as long, which can be a good stimulus, but remember the fatigue produce factor. A somewhat shorter time under tension - 20 to 30 seconds - can also trigger muscle growth via maximal fiber output without too much fatigue produce accumulation.

Varying a muscle's time under tension is one reason pyramiding poundages is such a popular technique.

If you start a set using a weight you can do 10 reps with using a two/two cadence and you add weight so you reps fall to 8, then 6, you get a different time under tension for each set - 40 seconds, 32 seconds, and 24 seconds, respectively.

Another alternative is higher or lower reps on different exercises for a bodypart, like bench presses for the chest, then use higher reps on the stretch and contracted position movements, such as cable flyes and/or dumbbell flyes, to increase the target muscle's time under tension.

Stretch and Range of Motion

I don't believe in an exercise range of motion.

I believe everyone has a specific range of motion he or she should work within, especially beginners.

However, I think that specific range increases with proper training - or at least it should if the trainee incorporates stretch position exercises properly.

A muscle should be stretched slightly past the normal range to allow that to happen as well as for a number of other reasons, including better anabolic receptor response, a loosening of the muscle fiber encasement to allow for more growth, and an increase in hormonal output, such as IGF-1.

As for the myotatic (stretch) reflex, you can activate it with a quick but gentle reversal of movement from the stretch position - no bouncing. For example, if the bench is set for incline curls so that the dumbbells pull the biceps only slightly past their normal range of motion, you should get sufficient stretch to activate the reflex and proved the muscle and strength building benefits.

If you're to trigger the myotatic reflex with plyometrics, however, yes, stored energy may cause less fiber activation - if you all your form to go astray. I'm not a big fan of plyometrics because it's easy to injure yourself, although such exercise can be beneficial in strength training and for some athletes.

With POF (Positions of Flexion) training

http://pjlusa-exercise.blogspot.com/2006/01/positions-of-flexion-by-steve-holman.html

you use the stretch position as the myotatic reflex activator, and there should be no bounce along the range of motion. I've stressed that you only need a quick, non-pause reversal of movement. That's what causes more fibers to contract. Russian research has shown that such passive stretching can enhance contraction, not reduce it.

Supersets for Super Growth

The reason the abbreviated aftershock style of training

https://www.x-rep.com/27890/aftershock-training-to-jolt-muscle-gaining/

is so effective is that it increases capillarization, enhances anabolic hormone release and the number of receptors on the target muscle, and triggers optimum fiber recruitment. In other words, your muscles blow up like balloons in only a few sets.

Plus, if you structure it right with specific exercises and use appropriate poundages, you can also vary the time under tension so you have one of the most efficient mass boosting routines available.

Aftershock training has a number of variations, including Isolation Aftershock and Compound-Isolation Aftershock. They differ in that htey use the POF exercises in different sequences for a variety of muscle building effects.

For example, the the arm routines this questioner mentioned have you superset a stretch position movement with a midrange movement. The triceps routine is overhead extensions supersetted with close grip bench presses or dips, and the biceps program is incline dumbbell curls supersetted with undergrip chins. You get target-muscle isolation and trigger the myotatic reflex for better fiber recruitment with the first exercise, and then you bring in synergy from other muscles with a midrange movement. That technique is one of the best ways for extreme hardgainers to use Aftershock training.

Here's how you can incorporate that style of Aftershock training for each bodypart:

Quads: sissy squats and squats

Hamstrings: stiff-legged deadlifts and leg presses.*

Calves: donkey calf raises and toes-pointed leg curls.*

* Leg presses and toes-pointed leg curls do not use the target muscles listed as prime movers, so these supersets won't be as effective as the others. If you don't see results, you may want to substitute isolation movements instead - leg curls for leg pressesin the hamstring superset and standing calf raises for toes-pointed leg curls in the calf superset. Those supersets are examples of Isolation Aftershock.

Chest: flyes and dumbbell bench presses.

Lats: pulldowns and chins.

Midback: close grip cable rows and behind the neck pulldowns.

Delts: one arm cable laterals and one arm overhead dumbbell presses.

Abs: full range crunches and incline knee-ups.

More in this can be found here:

https://www.amazon.com/Compound-Aftershock-Expanded-Featuring-Positions/dp/B00OP7BIB4

as well as in some of the newer POF books.

Enjoy Your Lifting!

Hepburn's Bench - Charles A. Smith

Power for Bench Pressing - Doug Hepburn (1967)

Sensational Charles Glass - Sergei Shtangov

1999 Bill Pearl Interview - Rodney A. Labbe

How Much Bulk? - John Grimek (1959)

High Repetitions - Tommy Kono

Is Your Training Program Realistic? - Bradley J. Steiner

Mike Katz Seminar - Richard Trimble

Geza Toth: Champion of Hard Work - John Terpak / Sandor Gere

Squat Alternatives - Bill Starr

Effective Lower Back Training - Robert H. Gordon

Shrug This - Paul Kelso

Dips, Chins, and Deltoid Work - Vince Gironda (1974)

Hello!

Gary Hanson - John Terpak (1959)

More Q & A - Bradley J. Steiner

Building the Legs of an Oak - Arnold Schwarzenegger

Toward a Quality Workout - Kurt Schley

Resurrecting the Split Lifts- John Cissik - 2002

Rep Speed, Stretch, Supersets - Steve Holman -1999