The Big Chest Book - Chapter Nine

How To Develop The Chest

In my capacity as editor-in-chief of Strength and Health magazine a great many articles concerning the chest are brought to my attention. Many of these advocates of lung culture profess to believe that the development of the lungs is the only way in which a man can hope to become strong, and that practicing inhaling a much air as possible is the only way to enlarge the size of the lungs and ultimately the rib box. With these methods a great many men and boys have attained the ability to inhale from 350 to 400 cubic inches of air and to expand their chests from two to five inches by this internal pressure.

Upon being put to a series of tests the abnormal lung capacity they had developed did not help them in any physical tests. In running a brisk quarter mile it did not prevent them from becoming completely winded and it did not aid them to life more weight than the average untrained man, who had not spent so much time at expanding his chest. Undoubtedly the practice of constant deep breathing had made them feel better, had given them clearer heads and purer blood, but it had not built power in the muscles, of wind and endurance, as could be proven by running or swimming for distance.

Many well-known athletes who are stars at their chosen sport were unable to come within a hundred pounds in cubic inch lung capacity of these specialists in deep breathing, but they could lift, run, row or swim for considerable distances. They possessed an effectiveness in performing their normal duty of purifying the blood under enforced pressure which was not possessed by the men who had built increased lung capacity simply through enforced breathing.

This is in line with the fact I offered in a previous chapter that the strongest men have very little actual chest expansion. They do have large-sized, efficient lungs and powerful heart action – ready, able and willing to perform any task asked of them. Their chests are so near perfection that they are normally held at near their limit of expansion. The chest expansion some tell us about is the result of the ability to greatly expand the muscles which are placed upon the outside of the chest. Muscle control results in much of the phenomenal chest expansion about which we hear. As you can determine by trying it for a moment, it is possible to lift the chest, distend the ribs and pull the diaphragm upwards without inhaling, and a man can also take a really tremendous breath by depressing the diaphragm and without distending the ribs appreciably.

With these thoughts in mind, it would be natural for the uninitiated young man to wonder just what he can do to build his chest. I have mentioned several times that breathing alone, such as by standing in front of an open window in the morning, so favored by physical trainers of another and older day which is unaccompanied by exercise, has not proven itself to be of much value as a chest developer. When the lungs are not forced to work at an increased tempo as the result of vigorous physical exercise at a rate well above normal, they cannot be expected to increase in power or endurance.

There are two ways to develop the chest: the first, the size of the rib box, the direct result of exercises heavy enough to cause enforced breathing; and the second, the development of the muscles of the chest. Of these the muscles of the upper back will provide the greatest gain in chest measurement. It’s surprising how few bodybuilders even consider the muscles of the upper back or the sides when they are striving for increased chest girth. It they think of the muscles at all in relation to greater chest size they think only of the chest, or breast muscles which are scientifically termed pectorals. They spend a large part of their time developing these muscles, but very little of their time or effort in developing the much larger muscles of the upper back.

Here we have the same condition that is experienced in arm development, as explained in another of my books, “Big Arms.” Most men and boys think of just one muscle of the body – that is, the biceps of the arm. The biceps is only about 1/100 of the muscular bulk or the body, yet this muscle receives more attention than any other. The triceps or muscles of the back of the arm are more than twice as large as the biceps, and there are other deep-lying muscles of the arm upon which the ultimate size depends. These seldom seen muscles – the brachialis anticus and the coracobrachialis – account for a large part of the bulk of the well-developed arm. To attain the maximum of arm size and strength it is necessary to develop all of these muscles to the fullest extent, yet so many stand in front of the mirror constantly trying to improve their biceps. And with the chest, the easiest-to-see muscles – the pectorals – receive a lion’s share of the training time. In the chapter which follows this one I’ll offer specific instructions for developing the muscles of the upper back, which will result in the greatest possible increase in chest girth.

It’s really surprising that most body culturists think of the chest as only the front part of the body between the armpits. They thus confuse the breast with the chest, while the chest is so much more than just the breast, as it comprises the whole of the torso or trunk of the body from the lowest of floating ribs to well up under the armpits and the clavicles or collarbones. The chest, in other words, is the entire part of the body which is adjacent to the rib box.

In spite of the fact that so many men believe that the chest is just the upper and front part of the body, nevertheless when measuring the chest they pass the tape entirely around them, including within it the sides and back as well as the front of breast. While the measurement they obtain includes the actual size of the rib box, it is greatly amplified by the muscles on the outside of the ribs.

For some reason the usual bodybuilder gives little or no thought to the fact that the muscles of the upper back are included in his chest measurements and that increasing the strength and depth of these muscles will greatly increase the entire chest girth. The accepted method of measuring the chest is to pass the tape entirely around the body with the tape passing across the nipples and around the body under the armpits. Care should be exercised to see that the tape is not held in a slanting position for it is the slanting of the tape which accounts for a good share of the phenomenal measurement of some strength stars.

As the muscles of the upper back are so much larger than those of the front of the chest, being easily twice as large and as deep as the muscles usually termed the chest muscles, when these huge and powerful muscles are developed to an extent that they become an inch thicker, they account for a full three inches in increased chest girth, according to the geometrical rule that the circumference of a circle is 3 1/7 times the diameter.

Lest you come to the conclusion that your primary training object should be the development of the muscles on the outside of the chest, I want to repeat that increased size of the rib box, with more room of living space for the heart, lungs and other organs, is the most-desired end to strive for. And it’s so much easier to obtain a really impressive chest like the greats of the past – Hackenschmidt, Sandow,
Arthur Saxon, Louis Cyr, Joe and Adolph Nordquist, Rigoulot or the modern men who are famed for their chest development – Grimek, Stanko, Deutch, Stepenek, Podolak, Peters, Thaler and many others – if you do not first of all have a big rib box to pack the muscles upon.

We must never lose sight of the fact that the chest and lungs are actually the storehouses of your physical power. Plenty of room for the lungs requires a big rib box, and as we have been constantly stating, big lungs are of tremendous value to any strong man, or to any man for that matter. Big, efficiently-operating lungs enable their owner to continue at intensive work for many minutes, exertion so great that it would exhaust the ordinary individual in a few seconds. This ability may not only come in very handy but be a means of saving one’s life under adverse circumstances. I think of one case contained in a story or three fellows who took a vacation in the north woods as spring was approaching. One young man experienced a mishap – broke through the ice – and was carried by the swift current well under the solid ice. There he lay for several minutes, first looking through the ice to see his companions trying to cut through the space between him and safety – a good foot of thick hard ice. He finally lapsed into unconsciousness but it was possible for one of his companions, Tommy Pedder, former United States junior national weight lifting champion, hailing from Bellville, Ontario, to swim under the ice and save him. The first man would have died without great lung capacity and strength, the result of bar bell training. Tommy could not have rescued him if he had not had such great lung strength that he could remain for over a minute under the ice bringing out his friend.

Although in the subsequent chapters I am going to launch out in describing the means of developing the muscles on the outside of the rib box, front, back and sides, I don’t want you to lose track of what other chapters have contained and to remember that your first aim should be to develop the size of the rib box. And the chief exercises which develop the size of the rib box will not be those which develop the muscles of the upper body. Rather heavy leg and back exercise, coupled with deep breathing, will result in the desired gains in rib box size. Whether you are striving to greatly increase your strength and development, or whether you are just one of the keep-fit enthusiasts, I want to earnestly recommend that you include in your training program many of the exercises which build the chest inside and out.

The practice of these movements for a few months will result in a gain of several inches in your chest girth. It is quite ordinary to gain an inch a month for four of five months, for there are many who have gained as much as three or four inches in a single month’ time by the practice of exercises this book contains. And when the rib box grows, you grow all over. There is more space to pack on the muscles of the chest and back, which add to the body weight and the strength; when the rib box is bigger the shoulders will keep pace with it and adjust themselves so that they too will be bigger; but best of all you will find that you feel much better and have far greater endurance with the increased chest size. If you were to practice no additional arm exercises, using the arms little more than as connection links to hold the weights employed in each exercise – as they are a part of the whole of your body – they increase in size too as your chest grows. Naturally your legs will have grown for they provide much of the effort in the best chest-enlarging exercises.

Some men take up the practice of progressive training with apparatus such as bar bells, dumbells or cables and gain at a phenomenal rate. Invariably these men will possess better-than-average depth of chest to begin. Their organs are in such a position at the beginning that they can do their work well and splendid gains are registered. If the beginner has a smaller chest he will not make real gains until his training efforts have resulted in gains of chest size and capacity, so that his internal organs can grow and be in a better position to perform their normal functions. It is so much easier for the man, young or old, who has good chest size, to pack muscles on his body or limbs and thus gain in weight, strength and size.

The young man who starts out using only dumbells or cables for the upper body will find it quite easy to build muscles on the chest, sides and back, and thus improve his appearance, and while this increased muscular growth will greatly add to the appearance, this man will not be as strong, or as superhealthy, as the man who employs his dumbells and cables so that the big muscles of the legs and back are constantly brought into play, or better still adds a bar bell to his training equipment so that he can make the most of himself physically.

When a man strives not only for muscle building, but most of all for increased rib box size, then things really happen in a physical way. As you will read in the anatomical chapters, the ribs are flexible enough, and so connected to the breast and backbone with cartilages, that they can increase in size even after the age of maturity; remember my own gain of sixteen inches in chest size more than twenty-five years after I reached my present height. And so many others have had similar experiences. A never-ending number of success letters attest to the fact that rib box size can be increased at the age of twenty-five, thirty-five, forty-five or even more. And when the rib box increases in size, we’ll say as much as five to eight inches, there will be changes in the adjustment of the other bones. The shoulder blades in some mysterious manner will become set much farther apart, and this great widening of the upper back is not only nice to look at but gives a much greater surface to develop muscles; and of course the muscles add so greatly to the strength. Starting with a very slender physique, it’s most encouraging to see how my own shoulders have widened, and particularly the upper back, about which I will write in the next chapter, has increased.

When the rib box has enlarged and the shoulder blades or scapula have become set farther apart, there is an improvement in leverage, which greatly adds to the power in the upper body. Another statement about my own physical self (kindly pardon so many references to myself, but it seems to me that they are of importance; for when the author of a book using the methods he offers you has obtained the results you want, it’s the best proof that he offers you proven methods, don’t you think? And lest you think that he might be the exception rather than the rule it is necessary for me to offer you many other concrete examples also) – my shoulders and relative length of arm bones was such that I had a just claim to the not very proud title, “World’s Worst Presser.” Narrow shoulders, short upper arm and long lower arm gave me an almost impossible-to-overcome handicap that caused me to be such a poor two hands presser that I am the only man in the world to my knowledge who two hands clean and jerked double or more than he could press. Six years ago I pressed 145 and clean and jerked 295. Constant training throughout the years strengthened my body and bettered my physique, broadened my shoulders and set the back muscles farther apart so that I pressed 190 pounds in perfect style, and in almost perfect style 200. Not so much for a big fellow like myself but very encouraging for a man who trained for an entire year before he could press 115 pounds.

Most weight lifters believe that unfavorable leverage in the two hands press also results in poor leverage in the one hand press commonly known as the bent press method. Yet in this style I have been able to continuously improve until my present best of 275 is a modern world’s record. Certainly the enlarging of my own chest, the result of the exercises which I am offering with this book, and the adjustments which resulted in much wider shoulders and finally greater strength through more favorable leverage, have resulted in these gains in strength and pressing ability.

It has been my observation, and I am sure that others of experience will agree with me, that a wide-shouldered man with only an average development is stronger than a man with more development and narrower shoulders. Throughout my career I found this to be true to my constant sorrow. It was discouraging to have a sixteen-inch arm years ago and to find men with arms two inches smaller who were stronger than I due to their more favorable leverage. All any of us can do is to make the most of our natural advantages or disadvantages. I did the best I could with mine and would have accomplished much more if I had had more favorable physical features to begin with.

Part of the gain in strength which results from increased chest size is the extra lung capacity, the bigger storehouses of power possessed by the bigger-chested man and part of it is the more favorable leverage which results from the adjustment of other parts caused by this growth of chest. As I go on with the chapters on muscle building, I will include some exercises for the arms and the shoulders which aid in developing the muscles of the chest. This may seem odd at first thought, but not when it is remembered that the deltoids or muscles of the shoulders are involved in all pectoral and most upper back movements. In the majority of big-chested men, the muscles of the shoulders are very well developed and quite strong. From this you can understand that in order to develop the size of the rib box and the muscles which enclose it, exercises which include the deltoids in their action must be a part of the training program.

Leg Specialization - Louis Abele

Clancy Ross

Milo Steinborn

Louis Abele’s Leg Specialization At Age Seventeen
1938

Squat – 340 x 20
One legged dip – 215 x 15 each leg
Barbell leg press – 400 x 20
Step on stool – 180 x 20 each leg
Calf exercise – 25 reps
Barbell leg press – 400 x 20
Squat, holding weight in jerking position – 260 x 10

Two months before my eighteenth birthday I practiced the lifts and while still seventeen I accomplished the following lifts before reliable witnesses:

Press – 230
Snatch – 245
Clean and jerk – 300
I have also squatted (full) 12 reps with 380 pounds and bent pressed 220.

Overtraining

Sooner or later every serious strength athlete learns about overtraining. It’s a natural phase of getting stronger – sort of like falling on the ice while you’re learning to skate – and it’s bound to happen. Contrary to what most people think, however, I don’t believe that overtraining is always a bad thing. Some degree of overtraining is necessary in order for you to move to a higher level of strength. Even so, these bouts of overtraining should be limited, as problems occur when you remain in a state of overtraining for a long period of time. At best, chronic overtraining causes progress on all lifts to come to a grinding halt. More likely, the poundages slip backward. Eventually, unless you make changes, injuries rear their ugly heads.

Simply defined, overtraining is the condition that occurs when you’re doing more work than you can adequately recover from. How much is too much? As with so many other facets of strength training, this is a very individual situation. That’s one reason you should consider any routine you find in a book or magazine to be strictly a guide. For one thing the person suggesting the program may have the advantage of an almost perfect training environment, while you have to contend with a great many variables that are not at all conducive to it.

People who are engaged in jobs that require a great deal of physical or mental labor have to train differently form those who are not. People who have family responsibilities cannot be expected to follow the same routines as college students who have nothing to do but study and train.

Contrary to popular opinion, age is not a factor in overtraining. Older men can handle a considerable workload if they have a history of doing manual labor, and that, not age, is the key point. Young men who have done hard work can always handle a much higher workload almost immediately as opposed to those who spent most of their early years in front of the television and believe that carrying out the garbage is physically demanding. I’ve put 50-year old men on strenuous programs, and they thrived because they had a background of doing hard work, while the same routines often stopped teenagers in a short time because they never had to extend their body and force it to do something severe.

Genetics is certainly a major factor when it comes to overtraining. Having strong, healthy parents is a genuine plus, but that’s one variable no one can control. In the long run, genes aren’t nearly as important as desire. Most of the people who make it to the top in any strength endeavor start out on the low end of the strength scale. Hard work and determination can always overcome genetics – with the obvious exceptions of those inherited conditions that cause physically debilitating injuries.

At a certain time of the year there are other factors that intervene and cause overtraining. Weather is one. I do my summer training at Sam Fielder’s gym. There’s no air conditioning, and when it gets East Coast muggy, the routine that I was able to work through easily suddenly becomes most formidable. If I don’t adapt my routine to compensate for the heat and humidity, I become overtrained. All I really have to do is eliminate my auxiliary exercises until I get used to the oppressive weather, and then I’m fine.

Stress is perhaps one of the biggest factors in overtraining. When stress steps in, a productive routine can suddenly become too much. College students can appreciate this concept more than most. My athletes at Hopkins will be rolling along nicely, making gains at every workout, until midterms or finals arrive. At that point at least half of them become overtrained right away. Adaptations have to be made or the vast majority of them will get sick or injured. It doesn’t matter why you become stressed out. What’s important is that you recognize that the stress is there and deal with it by adjusting and altering your strength program.

Overtraining is directly linked to recovery. Again, individuals differ greatly in their ability to recover. Some become overtrained from a relatively small amount of work. For that group progress comes very slowly, but it will come if they’re persistent. Others are able to manage rather huge workloads from the very beginning. The people in that group typically have good genetics and a background of doing lots of hard work when they were young. Even so, the rules are the same for both groups. No matter who you are, do too much work for too long and eventually you’ll become overtrained.

Overtraining is not always easy to spot. Being sore isn’t the same as being overtrained. Merely being tired at a workout is also not a sure clue, because everyone has a day in which he or she just doesn’t want to be in the gym. Overtraining isn’t the same as being completely spent after a grueling session. That’s the idea behind a heavy day. The reason you schedule the light day after the heavy day is to enable you to do some work when you’re still sore and tired.

When Olympic weightlifting was the primary strength sport, everyone did snatches and clean and jerks. Whenever lifters became overtrained they lacked snap in those quick movements. This effect was fairly easy to see and feel. On exercises that you should perform more slowly, however, it’s not quite so simple. I can usually spot it because I see my athletes regularly. If I see their form breaking down even when they’re concentrating fully, I know they’re overtrained.

Another clue is sleep. When trainees tell me they’re so tired, they unable to get to sleep, then I know they’re in a state of chronic overtraining.

There are, of course, degrees of overtraining. People who have pushed their workload up for several weeks may find themselves slightly overtrained. All they need to do is pull back their load the following week and they’ll be fine. On the other hand, people who have slipped into an overtrained state, not recognized it and continues to push on will have to completely revamp their program in order to recover properly.

Too often, when people believe they’re overtrained, they stop going to the gym completely, taking a long break in order to recover.

Then there are the experts who advocate programs that are designed to allow athletes to take several days off between sessions so they’ll always be fresh and rested when they train. I don’t like either of those concepts. I believe the body has to be placed in an overtrained state in order for it to become stronger. It’s much like the principle of overloading: The body will respond positively only when it’s put under more stress.

The physical plant has to be placed under increasingly more pressure or it won’t get stronger. The body is inherently lazy. Given a choice, it would always prefer to lie on a couch in front of the TV and be fed. Going into a hot gym and defying gravity is never a preference, but our egos override the physical sluggishness and make the body work so we can look and feel better or play some sport proficiently.

I compare the process of getting stronger to that of going through the rigors of boot camp. At some point you become so fatigued that you can actually fall asleep while standing, but when the orders come, the body responds and does the required work. This is motivated by fear, but it proves that everyone is sitting on a giant reservoir of energy he or she seldom has to tap. In time all servicemen and women experience that breakthrough, when they can suddenly do more and not be nearly as tired. If they were allowed to rest between exercise bouts, that would never happen.

This idea is particularly applicable to athletes. Contests are won in the final minutes, when the body is the most tired and battered. Those who have prepared themselves for the final push by conditioning their bodies to handle stress and gain a higher strength level will always come out on top.

So how should you go a bout dealing with overtraining? You know that too much is a negative, but never becoming overtrained at all is also not conducive to long-range progress. The trick is to slide into a state of overtraining, then pull back slightly. You can do this not by skipping a workout but by lowering your workload for the following week. That’s why I believe it’s critical to calculate the weekly workload, which is the only way you can really know exactly how much total work you performed in a given session or week. Experienced lifters can do this without figuring the numbers because they know all they have to do is lower the top-end weights, drop some back-off or eliminate a few auxiliary exercises. Those who don’t have the background of long years of training, however, would be wise to take the time to figure their weekly workload.

After the lighter week push forward again, perhaps exceeding what you did on the heaviest week. Then pull back slightly and repeat the process. The principles in strength training are much like those followed by distance runners. Runners know that if they want to run a marathon, they must log 50 or more miles in a week of running. They certainly cannot expect to do this right away or they’d become overtrained instantly. They start with a distance they can handle, such as four runs of five miles each. Once these become easy, they add slowly, perhaps only a half-mile per session. Slowly but steadily they extend the distance until they’re eventually doing the necessary mileage. Like strength athletes, runners also stagger their distances, using the heavy, light and medium concept.

If runners find that they’re pushing out too fast, they cut back on their distances until they’re able to recover. Note that they don’t stop running; they just cut back. That’s the point I’m trying to get across. Just because you’re overtrained doesn’t mean you should skip a workout. All you have to do is alter the program. Skipping sessions builds bad habits and establishes a pattern. Before you know it, any day in which you have low energy becomes a reason for not going to the gym.

Contrary to what most people think, the biggest reason hat they become overtrained isn’t the work they did on the heavy day but rather what they did on the light day. Once again, figuring the workload can prevent this problem. There has to be a light day after a heavy one – no exceptions. As I’ve discussed in previous installments of this series, a light day refers to the relative amount of weight used in exercises for the various bodyparts. For example, for the shoulder girdle I have my athletes do bench presses on their heavy day. If they’re on a three-day-a-week schedule, they do inclines at their next workout. They work the inclines just as hard as they did the flat benches, but the natures of the two exercises are such that the inclines will be much lighter. A 300-pound bench presser will be able to use 205 to 215 for reps, and that puts the exercise right in the 70 percent range – exactly where it needs to be for the light day.

If they’re doing a four-day routine, Tuesday should be lighter than Wednesday, and overhead presses satisfy this requirement. Our 300-pound bencher will have to work to use 175 on the overhead press, but since that’s only about 60 percent of his bench, it fills the bill.

You also have to consider tonnage on these light days. All too often people add extra movements, trying to hit weak spots. Since they’re rather easy exercises, the lifters assume they won’t have an adverse effect, but the weight all adds up. It’s similar to what happens when distance runners start doing an extra mile of sprints after their regular runs.

Keeping track of training time is one of the best ways to accommodate the heavy, light and medium principle. As a general rule 1 ¾ hours is adequate for the heavy day, an hour is fine for the light day, and 1 ½ hours works for the medium day. More-experienced strength athletes can stretch out the times some, but if they cheat too much, they’ll become overtrained for sure.

When I see that people are overtrained, I have them make some adjustments. First, I lower their workload. I don’t always cut back on the intensity, since in many cases they’re still able to deal with heavy weights. They just can’t train hard for as long a session as they were doing previously. I have them eliminate all auxiliary work. I switch them off all high-skill exercises, for if they do these while they’re overtrained, they’re going to pick up bad form habits. Instead of a high-skill movement like power snatches, I switch them to bent-over rows or wide-grip shrugs. This is also a fine time to introduce some new exercises into the program. New exercises hit some different muscle groups, and the bodyparts respond favorably. They also generate enthusiasm because gains come quickly, which is great for motivation. Finally, I make certain they shorten their workouts. Often it’s the extra beach work that’s the culprit.

In many situations lifters can avoid becoming overtrained in the first place if they’re simply aware enough of their body’s limitations in a given situation. For example, all students have weeks in which most of their energies are applied to actually learning something. All-night study sessions leave them drained, mentally and physically. To attempt to do the same heavy workout the next day that they’d do it they hadn’t pulled an all-nighter is a disaster waiting to happen. By substituting a light workout in place of a heavy one, however, they accomplish two positive things. They keep their rhythm of consistent training, and they leave the gym feeling good about themselves because they were able to do what they planned on doing.

Since overtraining is directly related to recovery, it follows that nutrition and rest are two key variables. Rest tops the list in my book. Nothing is as critical to my training as getting enough rest. In my case that’s a lot of rest. Others don’t need nearly as much, but the fact remains that whenever people become overtrained, they need extra rest. How much extra depends entirely on individual requirements, but it’s far more important than most people believe.

When I know I’m overtrained, I up my supplement intake, giving special attention to protein, minerals, vitamin C and the B-complex group. The protein aids the recovery process tremendously, as do the vitamins and minerals – especially during hot, humid weather. Often, it’s just a matter of taking more minerals or another gram of C. I also find that when I’m overtrained, I have difficulty getting to sleep, although I’m tired to the bone. Magnesium-calcium tablets work like magic for this, and they’re perfectly safe, even in large doses.

Becoming overtrained is a natural part of getting stronger. In fact, some degree of overtraining is absolutely necessary if you want to move on to a higher degree of strength. It only becomes a negative when you don’t recognize it or when you ignore it. If you continue to attempt hard and heavy training when you’re in a chronically overtrained state, your progress will cone to a halt. More serious, however, is the fact that your overtrained body will be very vulnerable to injury. In order to get extremely strong, you must learn to recognize the signs of overtraining and make the necessary adjustments.

Training Essentials - Mark Berry

A Talk On Training Essentials
by Mark H. Berry (1936)

It should be opportune that we discuss the question of matters that might be looked upon as essentials in the training routine of those who are ambitious to excel in the physical sense of either muscular improvement of in the furtherance or their ability at lifting.

So far as concerns the average reader of these pages, I should presume him to primarily interest in the attainment of some degree of physique shapeliness; in other words, the realization of physical perfection within the limits of his inherited potentialities. A fair percentage of our readers should be included among those who have he supreme desire to reach their goals in competitive lifting and the setting of records in the hoisting of weights.

I believe myself justified in claiming some credit for the dissemination, during the past few years, of correct information relative to the sport of weight lifting; it would appear that my articles and books have had at least some small measure of the job of imparting knowledge as to the most approved methods of lifting. Our widespread publication of lifting photos, showing low squats and wide splits must have had something to do with the advancement this sport has made in
America during the past thee years. As to what might constitute lifting essentials will be dealt with further, later on in this treatise. For the moment, let us confine ourselves to the consideration of the question as it affects those who are primarily interested in improving their possession of muscular symmetry.

The prime essential is, of course, that the enthusiast put forth some effort, or in other words, that he adopt some means of exercise. That he must follow out such system with religious regularity is hardly to be doubted. It would certainly prove a waste of time to attempt the improvement of one’s physical condition and at the same time to allow other activities to interfere with the consistency of the practice. However, I should be inclined to guess that there are literally hundreds who regularly undertake bar bell exercises who do not persist for longer than a few weeks; that anyone should anticipate satisfactory results under such circumstances is entirely beyond my comprehension. But, you will find that a tremendously large percentage of the world’s population acts in like manner; they simply lack persistency to follow any one thing to its conclusion. A friend of mine avers his belief that many persons are simply incapable of doing differently, that they lack the mental qualities and capacity to so what might be termed the right thing. Here you have one of the very best explanations as to why a large proportion of people are failures in life. So, all I can say is that if you belong in any such category and find it impossible to buckle down to one thing long enough to accomplish that which you have in mind – it is just too bad, and we shall have to consider your case hopeless.

Perhaps you are about to conclude that this amounts to something like a pep talk or is intended for the purpose of firing your ambitions, but it is not. What I am getting at is this: it may be suggested for your benefit that a certain procedure be adhered to in order that a definite objective may be reached; in which case, it is intended that you follow such advice explicitly and not to suit yourself as to whether or not you should play games, and indulge in a number of other activities on the side. There is only one plan of procedure that leads to success and that is through specialization. If you would excel in any line, the one and only plan for you to follow is that of concentrating your attentions upon that one thing. The “Jack of All Trades” becomes the master of none, to borrow from an old saying, the wisdom which has never been disproven; and, it is always thus, regardless as to whether your pursuit be mental or physical.

My conviction relative to the satisfactory development of anyone is that an all around routine should be employed for quite some length of time; then, depending upon the manner in which the pupil reacts to the work, the course may be changed to suit the individual requirements.

Even if you have in mind the improvement of no other part of the body but the arms, it is best that you provide the same type of exercise for the entire body in the initial stage; likewise, if the arms seem to be well developed and you desire to build up the legs, it would be proper that the arms be given a fair share of work. I am a believer in the harmonious development of the entire body, and one can hardly be sure of bringing about a proportionate affect upon all the muscles unless the exercises be so directed. Many a fellow has increased his arms through working hard for the improvement of the legs with consequent effect upon the chest, shoulders and arms.

You have only to reason that the limits of your arm development may be ascertained through a study of the size and shape of the upper body in general, and so if we are able to expand the chest and increase the size of the torso through the practice of vigorous leg work, there is every reason to expect that the size of the arms may then be increased; in fact, it is far more than a pretty theory, and has been proven practical time and again.

When an increase in bodyweight is the thought uppermost in mind, various definite plans may be employed once the preliminary stage has been passed; reference is made to the necessity of using the all around routine for the first few months or so or your exercise experience. The deep knee bend had been found most valuable as one of the training methods; nothing less than twenty repetitions should be employed, and many pupils have found it advisable to plug at forty, fifty, and even more; it is chiefly a matter of becoming accustomed to the exertions, plus the manner in which the individual reacts to the efforts; it is also wise to force oneself to a certain extent in respect to the amount of weight used. We cannot forget the limitations of the individual in this respect, as what may be regarded as exceptionally hard work may be easy work for another, irrespective of the size of the person. Age, unquestionably has a lot to do with it and the fellow in his ‘teens or early twenties should have the edge on those who are older when repetitions are to be considered.

As many of my readers are aware, I have in the past recommended refraining from the practice of abdominal exercise when it is desired to add to the bodyweight; the one point in this connection on which it is preferred there should no misunderstanding is that such advice is intended solely for those who wish to increase the bodyweight above all else and want to follow the most certain and short-cut way to the attainment of such objective. Let there be no misunderstanding relative to the culturist who is out after the perfectly developed physique or the thorough prominence of all muscles of the body. If you should be satisfied with your degree of bulk or feel that the bodyweight you have in mind is well within your reach there should be no reason to neglect the abdominals. On the other hand, it should be borne in mind that a great many ambitious culturists will become imbued with the thought that prominence of the abdominals is imperative and that the health will be adversely affected unless such exercises be practiced; all in spite of the fact that they may be underweight of at least not very much above the so-called normal for one of their age and height. Therefore my admonition to refrain from exercises affecting that part of the body, until the pupil reaches the state of development where he will be justified in feeling that the general standard of muscularity is suitable to the cultivation of the abdominals. The muscles of the abdominal region are neither so difficult to improve or to preserve once their development has been brought up to a fair standard. In this respect you may accomplish much within a short space of time, so it is just as well that improvement of that area be delayed.

In the building of an architectural structure, the foundation must be taken care of first, and similarly, in the improvement of the body it will be wise to start from the bottom; this does not mean that you first begin the practice of exercises affecting the lower legs and then move up to the neck, last of all; as before stated, the wisest course is that of providing an all around program for all parts of the body; what I do have in mind, though, is to progress as fast as possible on the leg work and acquire as well developed a pair of legs as you are able; by advancing to a high standard of combined poundage and repetitions you will also succeed in the proper expansion of the chest and in this way have a suitable foundation of the torso for the complete development of the shoulders and arms.

The question of suitable repetitions is one that perplexes all, novice and expert alike, and a great deal of experimenting may be required in order to arrive at the correct answer for any individual case. Various, and widely differing plans have been used, and as will be found true, with perhaps an equal degree of success so far as pertains to individual cases. The oldest and most popular plan, in all probability, has been that of working from but three to six up to ten or twelve counts in each month on arm and shoulder movements, and to perhaps double the number on the leg and back work. Another popular plan has been that of working form but three to six within each month; on each of these plans it is of course understood that resistance would be added at the end of every four of five weeks and the lower repetitions again commenced.

More recently, a number of us have become convinced of the efficacy of the flat repetition plan, adopting a certain number of counts and sticking to it; another innovation has been adopted in conjunction with the same, this pertaining to the addition of poundage to the bells as the strength will permit. I should be inclined to suggest that for the beginner either of two plans might be undertaken, either the flat rate fight from the onset, or to work on the scheme of five to ten for the first few months, and later on changing over to the flat rate idea. I also consider it wise for the more experienced culturist to adopt the progressive system when he reaches that bug-bear of all weight enthusiasts – the sticking point, from which it appears almost impossible to make any headway. If you find that progress on poundage seems practically out of the question, try working up to a higher number of counts, even though you find it necessary to reduce the present poundage to some extent, and then from this point try to stay with the higher counts until it becomes possible to add to the weight; sooner or later, you’ll be enabled to progress on poundage and through dropping down on repetitions be capable of continuing the progress.

He who had in mind the strengthening of his muscles moreso than any increase in muscular size may find it to his advantage to follow out a different plan than would, in the average case, tend to increase growth. Here, it is to be understood, the principle consists of acquiring greater contractile power of the muscles plus a toughening of the structure of the ligaments and tendons; contractile power of the muscles is partly chemical in nature, and it is likewise dependent, to a great extent, upon habit, which is something that may appear to possess little in the way of being actual or concrete. Habit is something, however, that is acquired through practice, and results from a coordination of the nerve and muscular forces; as you may be aware, there are certain nerve centers which have to do with subconscious and more of less involuntary actions; these have control of such movements as we may learn to perform through habit. Thus, an accustomed movement becomes easier to perform than one with which we are totally unfamiliar. Nevertheless, and without attempting to become technical, the fact remains that contractile power is not wholly dependent upon the size and shape of the muscles. As before hinted, as well, the connective tissues and principally the ligaments and tendons must become used to withstanding strain.

Taking all the foregoing into consideration, we find that the muscles may be strengthened in this respect through the practice of minimum repetitions while employing an amount of resistance requiring considerable effort. Actual lifting will accomplish this purpose to a great degree, and to a certain extent the average fellow might do better to depend upon the developmental type of exercise rather than actual lifts, but in using few, rather than many, repetitions. There are various plans that may be adopted to advantage in this respect.

One plan would be to simply perform the movements a few times and let it go at that; perhaps employing a wide variety of exercises in order to provide sufficient quantity as well as quality. A different plan would consist of repeating the exercises from two to several times at a few repetitions each time; for instance, let us say that on the curl you took a weight that you could handle about three counts they you would repeat that two or more times; moving on to the press and other movements in the same fashion. Here again, there is opportunity for variety, for you may go through a complete or partial routine as suits your purpose, and then work through it one or more times again. Much, of course, depends upon the experience, the condition, and the will of the culturists. Above all, make certain that you are getting results from the program you are following; if not, be certain to consult your instructor and arrange for some change. On the other hand, just as long as you feel that progress is being made, there can be no sound reason for alteration unless it be proven to you that something else may accomplish more.

In relation to improvement at lifting, it is every bit as essential that you chart a definite course and it is even of greater importance that you adhere to a specialized program. One can never reach his true lifting possibilities without concentrating upon that one game alone; if you choose to fool around at other things you may be sure that you are only succeeding in cheating yourself to that extent.

Moreover, it is of the utmost importance that you do little in the way of pure developmental repetition work if the mastery of lifting technique is your objective. Much, of course, depends upon the abilities and the condition of the man, as well as his natural constitution; one man may stand an amount of work that would undermine the resistance of another.

One of the more important points you must determine is how often you can stand to test your strength; in the case of the average man, about every week or perhaps fortnight is sufficient and there are some fellows who can hope to push themselves to the limit no more frequently than once in a month; I recognize that many lifters insist on forcing themselves to the limit almost daily, and while I am willing to concede that some of them may be able to keep it up for a length of time you may be certain that sooner or later they will reach the time when such procedure must cease. You will learn through experience that the best way to accomplish most in lifting is to practice for form more than anything else and to push yourself to the limit of your powers only now and then. If you alternate your training periods with lifting and the deep knee bend exercise, also including the dead lift, either in regular or stiff-legged style, sufficient strenuous exercise will be provided; that is, say that about once a week you devoted the training period to deep knee bends and deadlifts (solely in the form of exercise and not as limit lifts) with the addition on those days of some snappy exercise for the improvement of your speed, flexibility and agility, then you would have a well rounded program by lifting twice a week. Make the lifting practice consist of repetitions with something well within your limit so that your form may be perfected; take a stiff workout on limit trials about once in two weeks, or say that once a week you would try yourself on a couple of the lifts.

The foregoing offers some hints as to what might constitute the essentials in your training, and it is to be understood that no one plan can be accepted as of the utmost value to everyone. You can read between the lines so far as concerns your own problems.

The Big Chest Book - Chapter Eight

Bruce Randall

Strengthening The Heart

Anything that affects the heart-beat will have a similar effect on the respiration. And in this connection we also must remember that anything which affects the breathing also affects the heart as these two organs are partners from the day of your birth until the day of your death. Their operation synchronizes perfectly. When you make demands upon the outer muscles through any form of physical endeavor, particularly of a vigorous nature, there is immediately more carbon dioxide and a greater need for oxygen. The lungs start to fill this demand through increased respiration and the heart keeps pace to make the change which is its work – impregnating the blood with more oxygen and extracting the carbon dioxide, then transporting it through the blood to the place where it is needed.

All authorities agree that the heart is a muscle, and it is a well-known fact that muscles strengthen and improve in their action with use. The body has the faculty to repair itself under almost any circumstances; this is well proven in the case of animals who normally have no doctor – particularly not in the wild state; yet they recover from serious injuries and overcome the ills which occasionally attack them. Isn’t it logical from this brief description to believe that regular exercise with a progressive increasing of the action of the heart and lungs, accompanied by a strengthening of all the muscles inside and out, will also strengthen the muscle which is our heart and improve its action? There is a great deal of proof that hearts have been enlarged and strengthened through regular exercise that irregularities of construction and operation have been overcome.

Be sure to consult your physician first before launching upon a physical training program, if you have some slight heart difficulty of suspect that you have. The medical authorities report that the heart being only a muscular pump cannot be injured through exercise, but it is reasonable to believe that long-drawn out or sudden effort, such as in sprinting or the playing of games like football, would not be advantageous for a youth with a weak heart. Gradually stimulating the action of the heart and other organs, through gentle, progressive exercise, has a beneficial effect.

Increased exertion through progressive physical exercise which benefits the lungs also benefits and strengthens the heart. We have heard considerable about enlarged hearts and athletic heart; the medical authorities agree that there is no such thing as “athletic heart.” There are enlarged hearts, just as there are enlarged biceps or enlarged chests, but larger hearts like larger biceps are stronger and more capable. Nearly one-half of the citizens of this country sever their connections with life through the failure of their hearts. The mortality as a result of heart failure has steadily increased with the years – increased equally as fast as deaths through other diseases have been reduced. Isn’t it reasonable to believe that it has come about through the sedentary, indolent lives most moderns live? The hearts of our pioneer ancestors, hard-working men of generations ago, w ere stronger and more durable than the hearts of the present. Regular exercise will strengthen hearts and should be a source of longer life.

If the lungs are strong the heart will work more steadily; and if the heart is strong the lungs will operate with greater force and evenness. There are many kinds of weak hearts; some are actually defective. The heart may have been weak from birth, although a great many of these so-called weak hearts overcome their own condition. At the age of three I had a severe attack of typhoid fever. Like many children who suffer from such an early disease, my life was despaired of. I recovered although I am told the doctor had said I would not live until morning. The report was that I had a weak heart. But a little more than a year later I made it a habit of surpassing the other youngsters in running around a double tennis court across the street from my home. All during earliest childhood I enjoyed what we called “fag” races – might be more accurately termed fatigue races – the object of the race being to see who could run the longest. Another favorite game was “Buffalo.” Our conception of a buffalo herd meant that they went on and on, up hill, down hill, over streams, even over precipices, overcoming all that was before them. We ran all day with our vigorous games and I built such a form of endurance that it was easy enough for me to come home first in a ten-mile modified marathon race for boys under sixteen when I was just ten. Marathons were very popular at that stage of my life and I ran several twenty-six-mile marathons and trained for them regularly. I believe that this regular exercise – chiefly cross-country running – strengthened my heart. Certainly it didn’t hurt it, for at the age of forty, when I was examined for a large insurance policy, the examining physician constantly reiterated that he could not understand how a man as large as I, who had been as active and athletic as I, could have such perfect heart action. The blood pressure was right “on the nose” as he phrased it. Yet through my athletic career I had exerted myself to the limit so many times in races that I finished winner, but collapsed at the finish scores of times. I repeat, I believe this great exertion strengthened my heart. Certainly it didn’t weaken it. Now modern physicians are convinced that regular exercise strengthens the heart as it does all muscles and other organs of the body.

Hearts should be examined by competent physicians and if the report is unfavorable, certainly that man should not run in a marathon race, row in a four-mile race, or take part in a football game, a long and intensive wrestling match or some similar great physical endeavor. But we must remember that many hearts are weak simply because their owners are weak all over. Their muscles are flabby and covered with fat and it’s to be expected that all organs and glands are in the same weakened, sluggish, inefficient condition. If you decide to launch upon a course of physical training and you find that you become greatly fatigued when you walk a half mile, that you pant for breath, and your heart labors when you climb a steep hill, that you quickly become fatigued and breathless when you exercise for a time, you can be sure that your heart and other internal organs are just as weak as the muscles. You can’t see the operation of the heart and other organs, but their condition definitely manifests itself through the weakness and inefficiency of muscles and fatigue which comes so easily.

A fat man with weak and flaccid muscles may receive the report that he has a weak heart. This is natural, for he is weak all over and with his increased weight he has added many miles of additional capillaries and veins and provided so much more work for the heart to perform. That’s the main reason why overweight men are considered to be poor insurance risks. These insurance companies do not take into consideration whether the overweight man has worked enough or exercised sufficiently to have built a strong heart, capable of taking care of a bit of overweight, or whether he is just flabby and soft, and has a heart of similar type. This latter condition is the really dangerous one.

A fat man with a weak muscular heart can easily overtax his weak muscles and it is to be expected that overwork would not be beneficial for his heart, to say the least. But since there is no organic trouble, this man who is out of condition and weak inside and out can by progressive exercise strengthen his heart in conjunction with the lungs just as he can strengthen his back, his arms or his legs through regular and progressive exercise. If such a man will only aspire to attain superhealth, great strength and superb development, there is nothing which will prevent him from attaining that much-to-be-desired physical condition except his own slothfulness or lack of persistence.

Tailoring Your Program

Tommy Suggs and I have known each other since we were collegiate lifters in Texas. When he brought me to the York Barbell Company in 1965 to be his assistant editor at Strength & Health magazine, we started training together. It didn’t take Tommy long to figure out that I was an overachiever in the gym. He quickly determined that he didn’t need to do as much work as I did in order to be successful. He made it a rule to do half of what I did.

Which program produced the best results? On paper it appears that I would make the higher lifts, since more work translates to progress. At the end of our lifting careers, however, we’d posted the exact some totals for the three Olympic lifts – 1,035 – and our bests on the press, snatch and clean and jerk were nearly identical as well.

Tommy’s condensed program worked well for him, and he was smart enough not to be lured into a more extensive routine. On the other hand, had I done the abbreviated program that worked so well for him, my strength would have suffered. We simply had different training requirements. We still do, in fact. This basic variation in individual needs is one of the most difficult aspects of strength training for many people, especially beginners, to understand.

Any program that is publishes in a magazine or a book is no more than an outline – a list of suggested exercises – and not a magical formula. The main reason it takes several years to achieve a high level of strength fitness is simply because it takes a great deal of experimenting before you finally come up with a routine that fits.

In addition, we all discover to our dismay that the program that lifted us up to one level may not be nearly as efficient in moving us to a higher one. Needs also change as you get older, although the basic principles of strength training don’t. That’s why you must incorporate them in any program, no matter what changes you’re making.

I’ve repeatedly expressed my belief that the best strength program is one in which you work all the major muscle groups in each session. Older trainees and those who are no longer involved in sports can often use some form of the split routine. My philosophy, however, is based on doing a core movement for the shoulder girdle, back and legs at each workout. That said, it’s time to elaborate a bit on the selection process.

Some people are perfectly satisfied to do the same core exercises year-round. My friend Jerry Hardy has been doing the exact same routine for 20 years. It brings him the results he wants, so he’s never altered it. Most people, though, feel the need to change their routines every so often. They grow tired of doing the same exercises. Plus, they often hit sticking points on certain movements an start to make gains again when they change to others. Using different exercises also lets them hit some neglected muscle groups, and this is a good thing.

The main point to keep in mind if you do decide to change your exercises is to make certain the new movements are as demanding as the ones you were formerly using. In far too many cases people substitute a much easier exercise. Part of the reason for this is that health clubs and spas encourage the practice. They’d much rather hurry their members through a battery of machines than have them do heavy training, which takes a couple of hours. I believe that a fitness facility that promoted strength training would make out extremely well. When done properly, strength work doesn’t take all that long, and it’s my opinion that those who put hard-earned money into memberships are growing tired of being given weenie routines that don’t require them to break a sweat. Get them stronger, and they’ll become so addicted that renewal won’t be a problem.

I watch many people switch from deadlifts and bent-over rows to T-bar rows and lots of sets on the lat machine, and from full squats to leg presses and a circuit on the leg machines. I’m not suggesting that T-bar rows, lat pulls and leg presses aren’t useful, for they are. If you use them in place of more demanding exercises, however, you’re not going to get as strong.

Take a step backward in strength training and you’re suddenly caught in an insidious trap. People say they change exercises because they want more variety, but in truth it’s because they want an easier routine. Unfortunately, any exercise that’s easier is less effective.

On the other hand, it’s perfectly permissible to substitute clean high pulls for deadlifts or snatch high pulls for bent-over rows, for both are very demanding. They’re more dynamic as well, and they do stimulate different muscle groups. You can also do lunges instead of squats on the light day, for lunges are very tough when you work them hard. Or you can do jerks instead of overhead presses for a few workouts.

When changing your routine, always maintain the heavy, light and medium concept. That means you substitute a difficult exercise for a difficult one and a less demanding one for another of equal effort. You just want to make sure the substitute exercise is as least as exacting as the one you’re dropping.

Another factor to consider when you alter your routine is workload. The problem usually arises on the light days – not so much because the exercises are too demanding but because the total amount of work performed is too much for the light day requirement. That’s particularly true when trainees are on a four-day-a-week routine and use Tuesday as the day they throw in lots of auxiliary exercises. Over time they add increasingly more light movements, to the point where the total amount of work performed actually exceeds that of the heavy day. The intensity may be lower than it is on the heavy day, but if they continue with the program, progress soon comes to a halt.

There’s a school of thought that it’s better to do only two core exercises on the heavy day and work the third muscle group lightly. The folks who believe this feel that if they squat and pull heavy, they just don’t have enough energy left to fully apply themselves to a hard upper-body exercise. They prefer to come back on Wednesday and do their heavy upper-body workout. I’ve had some trainees who did best when they only worked one core exercise per session: heavy squats on Monday, benches on Wednesday and pull on Friday. Then they filled in with light and medium exercises for the other bodyparts accordingly, always putting the light workout after the heavy one.

I also suggest that trainees have one special routine they use when time is short. I have a great deal of control over my training time, but I still end up using this abbreviated workout, which I call a Bridget Fonda, a couple of times a year. It’s short and sweet – but far from easy. My Bridget Fonda routine consists of squats, power cleans or high pulls and some form of pressing, depending on what equipment is available. I do five sets of each in a circuit, without resting between sets. I can complete the entire workout in 15 minutes if I have to. If I decide to do something extra, I add some beach work and ab exercises.

I use my Bridget Fonda workout when I’m pressed for time and also for my light day when I’m on vacation and not really motivated to spend a lot of time in the gym. It doesn’t really matter what routine you use, but if you don’t have one ready and merely attempt to hurry through your regular program, you’re going to leave the gym in a negative-state. With the Bridget Fonda routine, however, you leave completely happy because you did exactly what you set out to do.

I receive quite a few inquiries concerning the best formula for sets and reps in a strength routine, as well as how to jump weights from the beginning to the final set. Strength training is, in fact, a science, and the recommended sets and reps are based on research. Studies have proven conclusively that four to six sets of four to six reps produces the best results. I always use the mean, five sets of five, because it makes the math so much easier. This is especially true for any coach who works with a large group of athletes.

The above formula applies to the majority of the core exercises but not all of them, which I’ll explain below. Five sets of five is very beneficial for beginners and some intermediates, as it helps to establish a firm strength base. When you use five reps, you work the attachments and also hit the muscle bellies in a balanced manner. Five reps is also a good number for teaching technique. Sometimes when people are learning a new exercise and try to do 10 or 12 reps, their form begins to falter on the last few reps because of fatigue or lack of concentration.

Once trainees move to the intermediate or advanced levels they need to vary their set and rep sequence. For example, they should do some lower reps so they can overload their attachments. If you only do five reps in the bench press and decide to test yourself with a max single, you’re going to be disappointed simply because your attachments aren’t adequately prepared. The lower the reps, the more the tendons and ligaments are involved. Consequently, any successful strength routine will change constantly so that at various times you do fives, threes, twos and singles.

As mentioned above, there are exceptions to the five-sets-of-five-reps guideline for core exercises. The two lower-back movements, good mornings and stiff-legged deadlifts, are best performed for slightly higher reps – eights and 10s. On those exercises I believe it’s better to increase the workload by lifting less weight for more reps. That way you can perform the exercises more correctly, with less stress to an easily injured area. For example, if you can handle 220 for eight on good mornings, you can probably use 250 for five. The extra weight would force you to alter your mechanics to counterbalance it, however, and that changes the nature of the exercise. It also increased the stress potential, as this is a very direct lumbar exercise. Using 315 for eight reps is certainly tough, but it’s not nearly as tough as trying 350 for five. What’s more, you actually lift a greater workload when you use the lighter weights and higher reps.

High-skill movements are also exceptions to the five-sets-of-five rule. You can do the fives on warmup sets for such exercises as power snatches, full cleans, hang cleans, jerks off the rack, front squats, clean and jerks, snatch high pulls and clean high pulls, but once the weight gets heavy, you should lower the reps to triples at the most.

I include front squats in this group, although they’re not really in the same category as the other exercises. I recommend using lower reps for front squats because the rack always starts to slip just a bit after only the first rep. That makes the second and third even harder, and, if the bar is allowed to slip farther and farther, it places a tremendous amount of stress on your wrists. It’s better to do a few extra sets with lower reps so that the bar remains firmly on your front deltoids.

You should also do auxiliary exercises for much higher reps. You perform these at the end of the workout, when your energy is waning, so low reps are not recommended. In this case high reps stimulate the muscle bellies, which is what you

re trying to accomplish. I use the 40-rep rule for all the auxiliary exercises, with the exception of calf work, on which I run up the reps even more. Forty reps translates as two sets of 20 or three sets of 15 or 12. The rule applies to all biceps triceps, deltoid, lat and leg exercises, including leg extensions, leg curls and adductor work. For calves I do three sets of 30 because I think you have to abuse your calves if you want them to get stronger.

What about those exercises you perform with bodyweight, like chins, pullups and dips? Basically, I stick with the 40-rep rule. In the beginning stages, though, many can only do five or six chins, so in that case I allow them to cheat a bit. Eventually they’re able to do at least 10 reps in a set, at which point they can satisfy the rule.

What about ab work? I recommend one set of ultra-high reps, doing at least one exercise for the lower abs and another for the upper abs at every session. The hyperextension is another movement you should do for high reps. I’ve observed that trainees who use resistance in the form of a plate held behind their head on this movement start to twist and break form when they get tired. That’s potentially harmful to the lower back, so it’s better to use no weight and run the reps up.

The procedure for selecting the poundages you use on an exercise seems to confuse a great many people. I receive more inquiries on that facet of organizing a program than any other. Perhaps it’s so basic that people believe they’re missing the point by keeping it simple and logical. Here’s a few helpful guidelines.

Always begin with a light poundage. The truism is that you can start too heavy, but you can never start too light. One of the greatest bench pressers I ever trained with always did a few warmup sets with the empty bar.

You should balance the jumps from the first to the final, heavy set as best as you can. The first few sets are warmups to prepare you for that last set. They not only prepare the muscles and attachments physically, but they also let you hone your form and feel the progressively heavier weights. For example, let’s say you’re planning to do 225 on your final set of bench presses. Your sets would look like this: 135, 165, 185, 205 and 225, all for five reps. If you plan on squatting 315, you’d do these jumps: 135, 185, 225, 275 and 315, again for five reps.

Why not use the pyramid approach, I’m often asked, where you start with 10s and go to eights, sixes, fours and then hit your final set for the required number of reps? That technique is not as effective for most people, because it requires too much work before you attempt the final set. The idea is merely to warm up the muscles without tiring them, and that’s best accomplished with five reps. You can do higher reps after the heavy max, but if you do it the other way around, you’re going to adversely affect your last set.

Some trainees prefer to do the fourth set with a weight that’s fairly close to their final set. The smaller jump to the max feels better to them, and in the above squat example, they’d take 295 on their fourth set rather than 275. Others like to handle a lighter weight on the fourth set and take a big jump to their max, feeling they need to conserve energy for that main effort. They’d take 225 or 265 on the fourth set, then go right to the heaviest poundage. Which works best? Only trial and error can supply you with that answer, because, once again, everybody is different.

What about warming up for a max single? Start light, the same as you would if you were going to do a heavy set of five or three. Do at least three warmup sets of fives, then go right to singles. Typically, I find it’s best to take the first single with a weight you can triple, then proceed from there. If that attempt was ridiculously easy, take a large jump. If it was hard, take a small one. Some folks thrive on big jumps, swearing they get geared up better that way. Others like to creep up on their personal records with small increases. Both methods can be effective – just as long as you don’t take so many intermediate sets that you tap into your strength reserve before attempting a P.R.

One final work of wisdom. Once you have a program that brings you results, stay with it. The very best program in the world is the one that works best for you.

Two Squat Programs by Tommy Kono

If you’ve never been taught the correct way to squat, you’ll find the following instructions extremely valuable. Incorrect squatting technique not only wastes your time and energy, but it also taxes the wrong muscles other than those of the legs while developing bad habits that you’ll find hard to overcome later.

During the first few weeks of learning to squat properly lifters will want to work on stretching their soleus muscles and either stretching or strengthening their iliopsoas muscles. These two groups of muscles (the former lie under the calf muscles and are activated when the knees are bent, and the latter are attached to your lumbar vertebrae and keeps your back arched when you go into your deep squat) have to be ‘re-educated’, so you achieve the correct body position when you go into the bottom position of your squats.

You must concentrate on very deliberately squatting correctly until the right squatting technique becomes natural. Do not sacrifice form for heavy weights. If you perform the squats correctly, the muscles right above the knees will be sore from the extra stretch of your quad muscles, and your calf muscles will be tender too from the stretch they get because your upper body is upright when you go into the deep squat. (See illustration)

Remember that your knees must travel in the same direction your feet are pointing.(See Illustration D)

Stand sideways to a mirror to study the profile of yourself performing the squat. Your torso should be as upright as possible with a strong back arch (chest held high). This means your knees have to flex completely for your torso to travel straight down.

Attempt to place your buttocks between your heels without your back buckling. Practice this style of squats regularly even without weights. Perform it daily at home without weights so you gradually stretch the soleus muscles and learn to keep your body upright in squatting. Remember, press down on the floor to come out of the deep squats while maintaining an upright upper body position.

THE SQUAT PROGRAM

This squat program is based on the premise of taxing the muscles and then giving them sufficient time to recover. This means that you cannot max out on 3 reps more than once a week in your training. There is also a way of “maxing out” which you must understand to achieve the fastest improvement.

1. No single attempts at any time. In other words, no testing yourself for a single or even doubles.

2. Once a week you push yourself for three reps.

3. No “nerving up” of employing adrenaline on your heavy day!

4. No more than eight sets on the heavy day when you push yourself.

5. No more than eight sets including your warmup sets.

6. No more than six sets on the other two days of training where lighter weights are employed.

7. Avoid “pumping” the muscles up. Try to relax the muscles completely between sets so you are “fresh” when you begin each new set. With the warmup weights you can perform the sets much faster, but when optimum weights are used, make certain you have enough rest between sets to recover.

8. Always take a deep, deep breath and hold high your chest before going into the squat. Start with your balance on your heels. As you go into your deep squat you can shift some of the pressure toward the balls of our feet but make certain you are taxing the legs and not transferring the load to your back.

9. Control your downward movement and retain only a small bounce at the bottom of your squat. Concentrate on pushing the floor down when you are coming out of your squats.

Make your leg muscles work . . . not your back.

10. All squatting movements are done with a “feel.” By that, I mean your thoughts must be in performing the movements smoothly and with deliberate concentration. You must be focused on the exact movement, whether it be a warmup weight of with heavy weights. The purpose is to work the leg muscles . . . from the hip down.

Make your legs work!

The following is an example with 170 for 3 reps being near your max effort:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8*
Heavy Day	90 x 5	120 x 3	140 x 3	160 x 3	170 x 3	170 x 3	170 x 3	170 x 3
Light Day	60 x 3	100 x 3	125 x 3	145 x 3	145 x 3	145x3*
Medium Day	80 x 5	110 x 3	140 x 3	160 x 3	160 x 3	160x3*

Note: *means you do not need to perform this set if you are having a difficult time performing all the sets. Stress is a necessity on the muscles but over-extending yourself can tax your recuperative power and this can affect your next workout.

Heavy/rest day/Light/rest day/Medium/two rest days

This program is designed to make your muscles work so they become strong without the nervous stimulus being called in. In other words, you are not trying to work yourself up as if you life depends on its performance or to win a bet. You are performing the reps and sets with proper weights that you can handle to stimulate development of power.

Understand that you are performing the exercise the hardest way possible and not the easiest way possible. You can always find ways and means of “cheating” to improve your squatting record but that is not the purpose of this program. You are working on the legs to gain basic power so you can transfer this power to your Clean & Jerk.

The program is a systematic, progressive method of increasing your strength over 6 to weeks. Even an increase of 2.5 kilos every other week will mean 7.5 to 10 kgs. improvement from this program period that would definitely improve your Clean & Jerk.

FRONT SQUAT PROGRAM

When this period is over, a good follow-up program would be 4 to 6 weeks of the Front Squat Program. An example of the Front Squat program follows:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7*
Heavy Day	60 x 3	90 x 3	120 x 3	140 x 3	140 x 3	140 x 3	140 x 3
Light Day	60 x 3	90 x 3	110 x 3	120 x 3	120 x 3	120x3*
Medium Day	60 x 5	90 x 3	120 x 3	130 x 3	130 x 3	130x3*

Always remember, it is quality you seek and not quantity of exercises.

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