The Greatest All-Time Performers In The One-Arm Swing - David Willoughby

Click on table to ENLARGE

Tromp van Diggelen & Hermann Goerner

Maurice Deriaz

Thomas Inch

The Greatest All-Time Performers In The One-Arm Swing
by David Willoughby (1952)

In making up the table for the lift to be discussed in this article, I was surprised at the number of excellent performances that have been made in the one-hand swing. I had assumed that the top-ranking performer in this lift would be the great German heavyweight, Hermann Goerner (and this turned out to be the case), but otherwise I had little idea who the next-best performers would be or how high their lifts would rate under the percentage systems I have workout out.

Until the official international adoption of the three two-hand Olympic lifts, some twenty years ago, the one-hand swing enjoyed a popularity almost a long-lived as that of the one- hand snatch and the two-hands continental jerk. The earliest records on my list date from the year 1880, when Henri Pechon of Belgium and Dominique Rest (country not stated) each did a one-hand swing of 75 kilos or 165.34 pounds in the heavyweight class. Later on, in 1898, the famous French professional, Charles Poire, swung a dumbbell of 77.5 kilos or 170.85 pounds at a bodyweight of 198 pounds. Poire made this lift with his left hand, but as he was naturally left-handed the lift rated no extra merit on this account. In the same year (1898), Bruno Jost set a German heavyweight amateur record by swinging a kettlebell of 80 kilos or 176.37 lbs. However, since about 9% more weight can be swung with a kettlebell than with a levelly-loaded dumbbell, Jost’s lift was actually equivalent to swinging a dumbbell of about 162 pounds. The pioneer professional strongman, Eugen Sandow, incidentally, is credited with having swung a kettlebell of 80 kilos and a dumbbell of just under 160 pounds. Presumably he made these lifts sometime in the early 90’s, when he was at his best as a lifter.

The first one-handed dumbbell swings of outstanding merit were not made until the years 1904-1907, when a number of French professional lifters, headed by Jean Francois le Breton and Gabriel Lassartesse, gave the lift some serious attention. It was during that year, too, that a French amateur, Eugene Goleau, made one of the most meritorious swings on record, which will be described shortly.

Before commenting, in order, on the various records listed in the adjoining table, it should be emphasized that two styles of dumbbell swinging. Classic French style, was used by all continental exponents of the swing from the 1890’s until the lift virtually ceased being practiced in the early 1930’s. In this style, a “level-ended”, or balanced dumbbell was used. Usually the bell was either solid iron or of the shot-loading, hollow type. The bell was generally started from a position in advance of the lifter’s feet, from where it was swung backwards between the legs, then overhead, the lifting arm being kept essentially straight throughout.

The second style of one-arm swinging, which may be termed the British style, was devised and adopted by the English school of lifters about 1914 or 1915. After World War I, when athletics were returning to normal, this style of lifting became very popular during s 1919-1925 among British amateur lifters. In this style, a plate-loading dumbbell was used, and was given a “back-hand” by loading the rear end of the bell 10, 15, 20, or in some cases as much as 40 pounds heavier than the front end. This made the back, or lower end of the dumbbell hang downwards, thereby lessening the effort needed to keep it in fore-and-aft balance, and making it possible to pull the bell upward in somewhat of a straight line rather than a semi-circular arc. In grasping the handle of the bell, the hand was placed close to the innermost of the front discs. Then, when the bell was lifted off the ground, the back-hang caused the innermost front disc to rest heavily against the wrist or the forearm, which could be quite painful; a leather “gauntlet” was worn as the dumbbell was lifted. Finally, even the swinging itself was different from that used in the French or continental style, as the bell was started from a position slightly behind the mid-line of the feet, then given a preliminary half-swing before it was lowered nearly to the ground and on the second swing taken to the finishing position overhead. With all these innovations, one would suppose that considerably more weight could be raised in the British style of one-arm swinging than in the continental style, yet the actual poundage difference was only about 6%. This difference has been taken into account in rating the lifters (some of whom used the continental style, and others the British style) listed in the accompanying table. I have taken it that the average or typical ratio of the poundage possible in the continental style one-hand swing to that in the two-hands clean and jerk with barbell is as .5672 to 1.000, and that the “poundage-possibility” in the British style swing is similarly .6000 to 1.000. These ratios, for the swing, apply to the right, or stronger, arm. In the accompanying table, every one of the lifts recorded was made with the right arm, although one lifter, W. A. Pullum, was able to swing the same poundage also with his left arm.

The greatest one-hand swing performer on record was, as was previously indicated, the German heavyweight, Hermann Goerner. While still an amateur lifter, Goerner, in 1920, at a bodyweight of 220 ½ pounds, swung a solid lead dumbbell equal in poundage to his own bodyweight (100 kilos). This, taking into account his weight/height (220.5 – 73.0, or 3.021) and the year (1920) he made his lift, gives him the exceedingly high rating of 87.9%. This lift of Goerner’s, incidentally, rests on the published statement of Tromp van Diggelen, as it is not listed in Edgar Mueller’s biography, “Goerner the Mighty”. The various other swing lifts by Goerner therein recounted, however, indicate conclusively that he was capable of a single dumbbell swing of a least 100 kilos, possibly more.

Closely following Goerner, in position No. 2 on my list, is the Irish amateur lifter, Michael Stokes, who, using the British of “back-hang” style of one-hand swinging, sometime about the year 1921, swung 168 ½ pounds when weighing only 140 pounds himself. While I do not know what Stokes’ height was, I believe he was described as somewhat tall and slender in build. If this were so, my estimate of 66 inches for his height would err, if any, on the side of understatement. If he was any taller than that, his rating might equal or even surpass that of Goerner’s. In any event, he is definitely ahead of his next-lower competitor and was beyond question a phenomenal performer in this one lift on which he specialized, the swing.

The number 3 performer on my list is an otherwise little-known amateur French lifter, Eugene Gouleau, who way back in 1907, at a bodyweight of 156 ½ pounds, swung a level-ended, shot-loading dumbbell of 75 kilos or 165.34 lbs. As in Stokes’ case, I have had to estimate Gouleau’s height, but in this instance, not knowing what his build was, I have taken for his height a fair average figure. As Gouleau was active at the same time as were some of the great French professional exponents of the one-hand swing, it is probable that he acquired his extraordinary ability at this lift under their supervision.

A “surprise” performer is No. 4, who turns out to be Thomas Inch, the famous old-time professional strongman an physical culture instructor. Back in 1907, Inch, who then weighed only 161 pounds, is a contest with the then equally famous lightweight, William P. Caswell, did a one-hand swing with 160 pounds – within one pound of his own bodyweight. Taking into account that Inch stood 5 feet 10 inches in height, and so weighed only 2.3 pounds per inch of height, his lift was a remarkably fine one. It materially surpassed in merit all his other lifts, including his well-known mark in the bent press from shoulder of 304 ½ pounds. The latter lift was made in 1913, and Inch then weighed 200 pounds.

Fifth-ranking place is held by one of France’s pioneer professional weight-lifters, the well-known Jean Francois LeBreton. On July 12, 1907, at a bodyweight of an even 200 pounds (and a height of 67.7 inches), LeBreton did a one-hand swing of 90.5 kilos or 119.51 pounds. In merit, the lifts by Gouleau, Inch and LeBreton are practically equal, rating 85.8, 85.6 and 85.4%, respectively.

Sixth place is held by the famous Hermann Saxon, who, back about 1905, at a bodyweight of 168 pounds, swung a levelly-loaded dumbbell weighing 170 pounds. This lift rates 84.4%, definitely below the lifts by Gouleau, Inch and LeBreton, but still of very high merit.

Seventh place goes to the old-time French light-heavyweight professional lifter and wrestler, Gabriel Lassartesse, who swung 80 kilos or 176.37 pounds at a bodyweight of 174 pounds, a height of abut 67 inches, and a weight-height of about 2.6 pounds. Lassartesse had an extraordinary development of the thigh extensor muscles, and was able to perform successive knee-bends (on toes) with 300 pounds. This leg strength doubtless enabled him to dip and arise easily under any weight that he was able to swing, snatch, or clean.

Eighth place is held by another celebrated old-time European professional, the Swiss lifter Maurice Deriaz. Actually, both Lassartesse and Deriaz have the same rating, 84.2%. Deriaz made his lift in Paris in 1912, swinging with one hand a dumbbell weighing 92 kilos or 202.82 pounds. This was for a number of years the world’s heavyweight professional record. Deriaz weighed 208 pounds at a height of only 66.1 inches, but probably carried about 10 pounds useless fat at that bodyweight. This I have allowed for in rating his lift. He dipped very low in getting under his swings, actually, doing a full, flat-footed squat. Despite being of Herculean build, Deriaz was very quick in his lifting. As readers may recall, he also held, contemporaneously with his swing record, the world’s heavyweight professional record in the one-hand clean and jerk.

Ninth place goes to a more recent performer, the French lifter Ernest Cadine, who, in 1925, as a professional swung 90 kilos or 198.41 pounds, which was 3.4 pounds more than his own bodyweight at the time. Cadine’s best muscular bodyweight, however, was probably not over 180 pounds, and this is the weight upon which I have computed his rating. Cadine was a fine, polished, all-around lifter, and would have shown to even greater advantage had not his famous rival, Charles Rigoulot, come along at the same time. Cadine’s one-hand swing of 198.4 pounds, at an estimated muscular bodyweight of 180 pounds, brings him a rating in this lift of 83.9%.

Tenth place, coincidentally, is held by Charles Rigoulot who in 1924, when weighing 190 pounds, swung 91.5 kilos or 201.72 pounds. This lift rates 83.6%. Later on, in 1932, when weighing very much more, Rigoulot swung 99.5 kilos or 219.36 pounds. This, next to Hermann Goerner’s 220.45 pounds, is the best swing in absolute poundage on record. Due to Rigoulot’s greater weight/height, however (even at the reduced estimated bodyweight of 215 pounds), his 219 pound swing rates only 78.5% and is not listed in the adjoining table.

No detailed comments need be made on the lifts ranking lower than tenth place in my table, with the following exceptions. Emile Deriaz (rank No. 17), who made an official swing with 194 pounds about the same date, made an unofficial lift of 91 kilos or 200.62 pounds. The latter lift, if acceptable, would rate 82.9% and would put Deriaz in eleventh or twelfth place, not far behind his younger brother, Maurice. Samuel Olmstead, in place No. 15, was, and still is, so far as I know, the only American lifter to have gained a rating of 80% or higher in the one-hand swing. Olmstead made his lift of 161 ½ pounds to surpass, even if unofficially, the 160-pound swing made by Thomas Inch some eight years earlier. As Olmstead weighed only a trifle more than Inch (although by reason of being an inch less in height his weight/height was somewhat greater), the comparison in lifting ability was fairly well warranted. Just below the last-ranking man (W. A. Pullum) of the 20 in my list was Otto Arco, who has a rating of 79.3%l. Arco, about 1910, at a height of 62 ¼ inches and a bodyweight of 138 pounds, made a swing of 65 kilos or 143.3 pounds.

Early in the discussion of the one-hand swing, it was mentioned that bout 9% more weight can be swung with a kettlebell than with a lever-ended dumbbell. Also, the swinging of the kettlebell requires a somewhat different technique, since this bottom-heavy apparatus, which is very easy to swing at the start of the lift, has to be turned over on the way upward so as to finish with the handle still above the center of gravity of the weight. This “turning over” of the kettlebell, about the time it reaches the mid-stage of the swing, is usually accomplished by a decided upward thrusting or straightening of the arm, which just prior to this finishing movement was slightly bent. Of course, during this action (which would be far easier to demonstrate than to describe), the ball of the kettlebell comes to rest against the back of the upraised forearm. In other words, during the swinging upward and turning-over of the kettlebell, the position of handle necessarily changes from a fore-and-aft direction (during the swing) to a crosswise direction (at the finish overhead).
Undoubtedly the greatest exponent of kettlebell swinging, as well as of dumbbell swinging, was Hermann Goerner. Holding two kettlebells in his right hand, Goerner, on March 21, 1900, swung (unofficially) 100 kilos or 220.46 pounds – exactly the poundage of his one-hand dumbbell swing which was performed the same year. Officially, Goerner holds the record with two kettlebells of 96 kilos or 211.64 pounds. With a single kettlebell (presumably he could find none heavy enough!), Goerner should have been capable of swinging 9% more than 100 kilos, or 109 kilos (about 240 pounds). Arthur Saxon, whom it would appear was next-best man to Goerner in kettlebell swinging, swung 94 kilos or 207.23 pounds with a single kettlebell and 85.5 kilos (188.5 pounds) using two kettlebells.

In the two-hand dumbbell swing, Goerner did 106 kilos or 233.69 pounds; and using two kettlebells, 115.5 kilos or 254.63 pounds. These lifts show that the poundage-possibility in the swing with both hands simultaneously is an even 6% greater than in the swing with one hand, regardless of whether a comparison is made between the one-dumbbell swing and the two-dumbbell swing, or between the one-kettlebell swing and the two-kettlebell swing. Arthur Saxon’s best swing with two kettlebells was 100 kilos (220.46 pounds), which made Goerner his superior in this lift by no less than 15.5%.

You Are An Individual

I’ve always been a staunch advocate of teaching correct form on all exercises, for I believe it’s critical to making progress and avoiding injuries. Since I deal almost exclusively with athletes, I have everyone start with the basic routine – that is, unless someone is physically unable to do a certain lift. The big three exercises form the foundation for future strength work, so everyone learns how to do full squats, power cleans and bench presses. I teach everyone the same technique, regardless of background, body type or strength level.

I also recognize, however, the importance of taking individual differences into consideration. In my opinion that’s a major shortcoming of a great many coaches and trainers. They have only one way of doing a certain lift, period. If lifters can’t learn to do it exactly as prescribed, they’re forced to stay with light weights until they can satisfy the coach. That’s a commendable goal, as good form is essential, but only to a certain point. I’ve watched inflexible coaches ruin an athlete’s confidence by insisting that he perform some exercise he just couldn’t do. It wasn’t from lack of trying – his levers and structure just didn’t permit him to do the movements as required.

Take the full squat. I have everyone start with the basic shoulder-width foot position, which fits most people nicely. At the first session, however, I can spot inflexibility.

I also teach lifter to keep their upper bodies as upright as possible. Bending too far forward is quite stressful to the lower back – especially in the early going, for the lumbars are always weaker than the hips and legs. Invariably, though, I have a few athletes who find it virtually impossible to go low enough without bending forward. Generally, it’s due to a lack of flexibility in the back of their calves and typically rectifies itself after a few weeks of squatting. That doesn’t always happen, though.

In some cases athletes continue to lean forward even after their ankle flexibility improves. When that occurs, do you have them limit the weight on the bar until they master the proper technique? Sometimes that’s the correct course of action, for if faulty form is likely to cause an injury, the athletes need to limit the weight and spend more time honing techniques. At other times, however, if lifters have improved their lumbar strength and continue to have difficulty maintaining an upright torso, I allow them to proceed.

The reason is simple. Leaning works best for certain people. Hugh Cassidy was a leaner, and he did it on purpose. He believed it allowed him to handle more weight, and he became a world champion in the process. The upright form didn’t fit him, and he understood that fact. He also coached a large number of other lifters who used his leaning forward style to great success.

Some of my strongest squatters have been leaners, and it would have been a mistake to change them. When athletes need to lean forward I make certain that they spend lots of effort overdeveloping their lumbars. That safety measure makes them much stronger in all of their pulling exercises as well – sort of an added bonus. If I were dogmatic and insisted that they limit the weight on the bar until they could do a perfect upright squat, I’d be doing them a disservice. They’d never build a high level of hip and leg strength.

The same idea holds true for the power clean. It involves the most muscle groups of all the basic lifts, so form is critical. One of the fundamental rules for performing power cleans is to keep your arms straight until the bar passes your belly button or just below that point. If you bend your arms too soon, it adversely affects the action of your powerful traps. It also means that your arms won’t be available for the final upward explosion that’s so critical to the finish of the lift. Your arms shouldn’t bend until after your traps have contracted.

Nevertheless, it’s very difficult for many beginners to learn the correct sequence. No matter how many times I tell some people that they’re doing it incorrectly, they often just can’t make the necessary adjustments. There was a time when I, too, would be dogmatic about allowing lifters to add weight until they could do the sequence precisely, but I’ve learned to soften my approach. Being dogmatic isn’t always in the lifter’s best interest.

One basketball player was giving me fits. He was athletically gifted and intelligent enough to understand what I was telling him to do, but he couldn’t stop himself from bending his arms too soon. It was frustrating for both of us, for he really was trying his best. I realized that if I persisted, I was going to end up losing him, meaning that he’d start skipping workouts or coming to the weight room when I wasn’t around. I didn’t want that to happen, as he was to be one of our key players for the next season.

So one day I told him to forget the form mistake and see how much he could handle. “Work up to a max single,” I told him, figuring the change would do him some good. He continued to bend his arms much too soon, but as the weight got heavier, he didn’t bend them quite as much. I also noticed that he was doing everything else correctly – keeping the bar extremely close to his body and snapping it at the top. Although he did bend his arms early, he still had a nice pop at the top. To the surprise of both of us, he did 240, more than anyone else on the basketball team, and the success really helped his confidence. From that day on I let him do the lift in his own way, and he moved it to 260 before the season started.

Most coaches overcoach the power clean. Maybe that’s one of the reasons so man have dropped it from their strength programs. It really doesn’t have to be performed perfectly in order for athletes to derive benefits form it – unless, of course, the form faults are glaring and obviously risky. Even when they don’t perform the power clean precisely, they still work their legs, hips, back and shoulders. Naturally, if they could hone their form, they’d be able to handle more weight and would therefore gain even more strength, although there are exceptions.

There’s also a general exception to the perfect-form rule for athletes who plan to enter Olympic competition. They must learn exact form, for the power clean is a basic movement for all the others.

When I find myself harping at some beginner, I remind myself that some of the strongest weightlifters had flagrant form mistakes in their pulls. Norb Schemansky was one of my early heroes in the sport. The first time I saw him is fixed in my memory forever. It was at the ’64 Olympic Trials, and I recall his Herculean physique standing over the bar, rocking slowly back and forth, seemingly willing the bar to vault to arm’s length. I also recall just as vividly that Norb always bent his arms far too soon on both his snatches and his cleans – too soon, according to the textbooks, but not too soon for him. How could he finish the lift, I wondered, but finish it he did. He finished with a flourish, snatching 363 in split style. His early arm bend didn’t hurt him at all, In fact, it helped.

Certainly the most vivid example of a champion weightlifter who broke all the rules of pulling was Mario Martinez. One winter I stayed with a friend in San Francisco and took the opportunity to train at Jim Schmitz’s Sports Palace. Mario was the reigning Heavyweight champion at that time, but after watching him go through a clean workout I was shocked. I’d never seen anyone bend his arms so much. The start of his pull resembled a bent-over row. Yet in spite of his form he was handling some impressive poundages. What was going on? The next time he cleaned, I watched more closely. His pull to his belt was really atrocious, but once the bar reached that height everything changed. His torso shot upright, his arms were straight, the bar was tucked in close t his body and he was in perfect position to drive the bar upward.

Mario’s technique was extremely unorthodox, no question about it, and no coach would ever teach a young lifter to pull that way, but the bottom line was that it worked well for Mario. He had confidence in his style of pulling, and it would have been a mistake to alter it.

Too many coaches spend too much time badgering their athletes on the finer points of lifting. Sure, I realize the importance of form, but when I notice people deviating from the ground rules of technique on some lift and it seems to fit them nicely, I leave them alone and encourage them to add more weight to the bar. In the final analysis, getting stronger has to do with handling heavier weights. As with my basketball player, sometime when the weight gets heavier form actually improves. It’s often difficult to get the feel of certain lifts when you use light weights.

The power snatch is another example of an exercise on which it’s all right to bend the rules of form – if the situation calls for it. It’s an ideal light-day pulling movement and a useful substitute exercise when lifters who can’t do the power clean, something that usually occurs because of a shoulder injury. Now, if the athletes are planning on entering Olympic-style competition, they must learn to lock the bar out overhead from the very beginning. They can’t bend their arms even slightly because that’s cause for disqualification. If they’re using the exercise to enhance overall strength, however, I allow my athletes to press out the heavier sets. I do that because the combination of pulling and pressing activates many different muscles in the shoulders and upper back, muscles that are very useful for all athletes. Pressing out heavy weights with the wide snatch grip brings some new muscles into the mix, and that’s a good thing. I learned in the 1960s that many European Olympic lifters power snatched in that style and pressed the weight out on purpose as they found it developed strength and eventually aided them in locking out maximum poundages.

The same theme of paying attention to individual differences also applies to programs. A trap that all trainees fall into, regardless of I.Q., is that they get locked into some program that is very effective for their training partner or another lifter but doesn’t bring them the same results, or they select some routine from a magazine that was supposedly written by one of their heroes and follow it religiously. Even when their numbers slip backward they stick with it. After all, if it worked for Mr. Neighbor . . . Keep in mind that the odds of any name bodybuilder or professional athlete actually writing an article are slim at best.

There’s a long-standing truism in strength training that the very best program is the one that brings you results. The reason so many people have trouble applying that basic concept is, it’s just too simple, and, unfortunately, most people don’t believe in their own ability to design a workable program. Hence, they turn to outside experts without the advice to their own needs and individual abilities. The fact is, no one understands your body the way you do, and you really are your own best coach. No one else knows that certain pressing movements, no matter how light you go on them, still cause you severe pain for several days following a workout. No one knows that you respond best to several short exercise bouts each week – that, although it goes against the grain of most conventional literature, you’ve found that when you take off two or three days between workouts, your lifts suffer.

Maybe the opposite is true for you. When you attempt to increase your workload by training more than three days a week you not only regress, but you also usually get sick. I’m frequently asked about the training programs of the lifters at the famous York Barbell Club in the late ‘60s. Many people believe that Bob Hoffman set up schedules and monitored the workouts, but nothing could be further from the truth. In the spring, when the athletes were getting ready for the Nationals, there would often be two dozen national champions and at least three world-record holders in the York gym, and no two athletes trained alike. In this age in which programs are designed by computers some people might consider that rather improbable, but it’s a fact. Sure, most did many of the same exercises – presses, snatches, cleans and squats – but everyone had his own workout plan. Some did lots of sets and reps and trained for hours at a stretch. Russ Knipp, Kenny Moore and Ernie Pickett put in long sessions. Others, like Bill March and Bob Bednarski would be in and out of the gym in less than an hour.

Some did lots of auxiliary work – high pulls, hang cleans, good mornings, shrugs, inclines, dips and push presses – but some, such as Joe Puleo and Tony Garcy concentrated on the three competitive lifts and some squats. The fundamental reason they all made it to the top was that they understood how their bodies responded to exercises and didn’t try to go against the grain.

That basic lesson is one of the hardest things to learn in strength training, partly because we’re flooded with so much information. While there seems to be a publication available for every conceivable situation, not so many years ago the information superhighway was rather sparsely traveled, which meant that anyone aspiring to a higher level of strength had to figure out what to do on his or her own. The champs didn’t copy someone else’s routine, but, rather, devised ones of their own – routines that fit their particular needs.

That’s exactly what modern strength athletes must do as well. Think of the article you read as an outline, a list of suggestions, and not an edict carved in stone. Modify the sets-and-reps-and-rest-days formula to fit your specific needs and get rid of those recommended exercises that you know from experience will bring you more grief than pleasure. Strength training should be an enjoyable activity. If you find yourself dreading going to the gym on certain days it might be wise to sit down and revamp your program.

Don’t get caught up in the notion that there’s only one way to achieve results in the weight room. There are as many productive methods as there are creative minds.

Steve Stanko's Training - Jim Murray

Terry Todd

Steve Stanko’s Training Program
by Jim Murray

Steve Stanko – one of the world’s strongest and best built men of all time – is also one of the unluckiest. Just approaching his prime as a weightlifter in 1940-41, his great lifting career was cut short by a phlebitis condition in his legs which forced him to stop handling heavy weights. Now only 34, it is impossible to conjecture what weights he might have been handling; maybe 340, 340, 420? Who can say?

Before his legs started troubling him, Steve went through the following workout at the York gym:

Press – 305, 315, 320, then 2 sets of 5 with 280, and 4 sets of 5 with 260.
Clean and Jerk – 370, 380, 390 and 400.

His bodyweight was approximately 225 at his height of five feet, eleven inches.

Impossible to make such lifts in training? Steve actually went through this workout one day when, as he says, he was “feeling pretty good.” Of course, the reader must realize that this was just one training period with training lifts that totaled 1,035. After this time, Steve’s legs went bad and he never again reached such heights. It is just unfortunate that no contest were scheduled when he reached this point. Most lifters top their training bests by 10-20 pounds in contest, especially in the quick lifts.

Steve’s “average” training routine was a little less startling, but still so tremendous as to be impossible for anyone but a real superman. Here it is:

Press

280
290
300 for 8 singles
260 for 5 sets of 5 reps

Snatch

280
290
300 for 8 singles
260 for 5 sets of 5 reps

Clean
360 for 5 sets of 3 reps

Clean and Jerk
370 for several singles

He trained in a sweat suit and warmed up with some light calisthenics before starting to press. This gives an idea why this system couldn’t be adopted by many men – if any. Steve felt that it didn’t take any great amount of energy to do five sets of five snatches with 260! In one workout, Steve recalls making ten single clean and jerks with 380. The first two or three cleans were followed by two jerks from the shoulders.

Other exercises Steve practiced from time to time, while at his best, were the simultaneous dumbbell press, in which he handled a pair of 100’s for 12 to 14 reps, and a pair of 120’s for 8 to 10 reps; the dumbbell swing, in which he used a pair of 100’s for six reps; the squat, with 380-400 for 10 reps; and high pulls to the chest with 350-400 pounds.

He occasionally practiced the rowing exercise with 300 pounds for sets of five reps. Other special exercises were quarter squats with 400 pounds held in the clean position, sets of 10, and he would at times continental 410 or 420 to the chest just to “get the feel of the weight.”

At this time Steve could also work up to 620 in the deadlift and made a perfect curl with 205. Despite his heavy body and legs, he could perform one-arm chins.

Then tragedy struck American weightlifting. Steve became an invalid and dropped in bodyweight to 178 pounds, unable to perform heavy snatches or cleans ever again.

But you can’t keep a good man down! Two years later, although he still had to walk with the aid of crutches, Steve began practicing light dumbbell exercises lying on a bench. The movements he used at first were lateral raises at different angles, pullovers and dislocates, bringing the weights from the thighs sideward to a position behind his head while lying on the bench.

I five weeks time the powerful muscles developed by lifting the heaviest of weights rebounded to near their former size and Steve gained in weight from 178 to 203. As his strength increased, he began practicing heavier exercises seated or lying down. Heavier exercises included the pullover and press on bench (16 inches high) in which he worked up to 322 pounds – never attempting to press more than he could pull over with bent arms. His bodybuilding routine often included 4 sets of 20 bench presses with 205.

Steve also did a lot of dumbbell curling and pressing while seated. He curled sets of 20 (that’s right – 20!) with 50-60 pound weights in each hand and used the same weights and reps while pressing. He also continued the straight-arm movements. At that time Steve never did standing exercises, but once – at the request of a training partner – tried a standing curl. He made 190 in perfect style.

Steve’s titles as a physique contestant bear witness to the success of his comeback. he won the titles of Mr. America 1944, Jr. Mr. America the same year and Mr. Universe 1947, to name the most important. Never a “mirror athlete,” Steve still wishes he could get back into lifting form. If only his legs would let him! “If I could lift,” he says, “I’d practice lots of snatches. Man! There’s an exercise!”

Before trying to adapt Steve’s program to his own poundages, the reader should be warned that few people could follow it. In training, an individual must be guided by his own strength and recuperative power.

After winning the New Jersey state championships in 1938, Steve progressed to total 850 in the nationals the same year; totaled 895 to win in 1939, 950 in 1940, and became the first man to total 1,000 with lifts of 310 ½, 310 ½, 3981 – total 1,002 – at the Middle Atlantic championships of 1941. He had lifted 180, 180, 250 – 610 in 1937. His meteoric rise to fame was made possible because Steve Stanko was a natural athlete.

“Plenty of reps, with heavy weights – that’s my system,” says Steve, “and I recommend a mixture of bodybuilding exercises with lifting. The bodybuilder who practices the lifts will never have difficulty showing that his muscles are strong as well as strong-looking.”

Clean & Jerk Training - John Davis

Tommy Kono

How I Train for the Clean & Jerk
by John Davis
as “told” to John Terpak

To the victor go the spoils, and to the man who makes the highest clean and jerk goes all the acclamation, the plaudits, the admiration – all the expressions of approbation. The press is a good way, if not a completely accurate method, of measuring a man’s strength. The snatch accounts for his agility and athletic talents. But the clean and jerk, to a degree, is a combination of both.

After many world’s championships several of the competing teams make tours of European countries. It was during one of these tours that the American team was giving an exhibition/contest against the German lifters. We were in Munich and Pete George elected to attempt a 353 clean and jerk for his last try. He missed two attempts and then decided on the continental and jerk to make a success. He made it and the reaction of the audience was unbelievable. They stamped their feet, cheered and whistled, and acclaimed him the greatest man of the hour. At the Pan American Games in Buenos Aires he again made a heavy clean and jerk of, I believe, the same poundage. Words fail me to tell how Pete was received by these people. Despite the fact that, in some countries outside of the continental United States, it is considered in bad taste to whistle at someone on a stage, these people voiced their approval of his tremendous effort in uninhibited fashion. The show was held up for no less than eight minutes while the audience did everything short of wreck the building to show their enthusiasm.

How did Pete, as well as the other lifters, acquire the technique and strength to perform these terrific lifts? Approaching contest time, all lifters train pretty much the same way on this lift. That is, they train on extremely heavy single attempts. Among the squatters, however, I’ve noticed repetition cleans are not common practice even during preliminary training. This is probably due to the fact that it is very difficult to maintain balance through several tries with this style. I have noticed, over the years, that squatters perform quite a number of heavy cleans in repetitions of twos and threes. My own method of training goes like this:

205 x 6 reps
205 x 6 reps
255 x 3 reps
275 x 3 reps
300 x 1 rep
315 x 1 rep
325 x 2 reps x 8 sets

In addition, I do 3 sets of 5 squats with 450 and 5 sets of 3 bench presses with 340. This routine is part of my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday workouts.

This workout has been planned so as to get the most strength with the least amount of time. I always workout by the clock. I do a lift or exercise every five minutes. In the case of the squat I take 15 minutes rest between attempts. Some lifters are inclined to sit around and waste too much time talking or joking with one another and, before they know it, it is time to close shop and go home.

About two or three weeks before a contest I change over my repetitions to single attempts. By so doing I can handle much heavier weights, thereby gaining additional strength. I also make the same practice on the squat and bench press as well. I discontinue the latter two lifts 7-10 days before a contest and take a complete rest from all lifts three of four days before contest time. Assuming I was to compete in a contest the last Saturday of the month, my workout would go something like this:

Press

136 x 6
136 x 6
205 x 3
205 x 3
Limit poundage for six singles

Snatch

Same as press except that my limit poundage would be considerably less. Most likely I would use about 275 for six single attempts in the snatch.

Clean

205 x 6 reps
205 x 6 reps
350 x 6 singles

I repeat the workout as outlined above on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. During the latter part of the third week I discontinue the two power exercises, the bench press, and the squat. I take my last workout on Tuesday or Wednesday of the last week.

Many inquiries have been made regarding my limit training poundages. People ask what is the most I have cleaned and jerked in training, and the same question about my snatch and press. I make it a point never to try myself out in training and when I tell people that my best practice clean and jerk is 370, my best snatch 280, they are quite surprised. I explain that these lifts, well below my best in contests, are because my individual temperament will not allow me to get into a competitive mood in practice. I believe the release of nervous energy and explosive power is an involuntary mechanism and is only active under certain competitive conditions. This is demonstrated, to some extent, by men who find it impossible to train alone; they find it necessary to have someone present to watch them train.

Should these individuals train alone, they find it impossible to lift heavy weights and, in some cases, talk themselves out of training altogether. For this reason I never try myself out during training and try to do my best during contests. But for those who cannot stand the suspense and want to know how they are doing, I would suggest the following: Try yourself once a month. Get a good rest the night before and warm yourself up thoroughly. Proceed along the lines of a contest and make only three attempts in each lift. Only make a fourth attempt when trying to break a personal record. I have never been in favor of weekly tryouts because I do not feel that the human body can bring itself to a productive peak this often. Also, the individual is inclined to think the system of training he is following is no good because he cannot break a personal record or equal his best each week.

If a man’s training mates are judging his lifting, they should tell him when a lift is bad. Don’t tell the man who is trying himself out, “Oh, that wasn’t too bad,” or “So-and-So got a lift passed that looked like that.” ‘Passing’ bad lifts in training may give a lifter a wrong impression of what he can do and result in his starting too high and possibly cause three misses.

If you are the type of lifter who finds it difficult to make weight for a contest, here are a few suggestions: Do not attempt to make weight over long periods of time. That is, don’t start to reduce a month before competition. Do not starve yourself, especially if you are only six or seven pounds over the limit. Chances are you can take off this much weight in five days by simply cutting down your liquid intake. Leave running and steam baths to the prize fighters and resort to them only as a last ditch attempt. If you are 10 to 15 pounds over the weight limit, it is better that you condition yourself for the next higher weight category.

Usually, weigh-in time is one hour before the start of competition. Should you find that you are a pound of a fraction of a pound over the limit at that time, do not worry about it. Chew gum and discard the saliva, and remain in the men’s room to relieve yourself of as much waste matter as possible. Vigorous and prolonged rubbing of the buttocks will also take off a few ounces. Certain topnotch lifters have been known to use strong cathartics in order to reduce. While this is done, large quantities of watery evacuations are discarded; since two-thirds of the human body is water, bodyweight can be controlled – to a degree – by retention of removal of this liquid. It is not, however, a healthful or natural practice to control one’s weight in this manner.

The training methods in this article are not meant to be cure-alls for sluggish lifting. Nor are we saying that because these methods work for John Davis they will necessarily work for everyone else. These are, however, tried and proven approaches and will (with adjustments to suit the individual) work very well in many instances.

Snatch Assistance Movements - Charles Smith

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Snatch Assistance Movements and Routines of the Champions
by Charles A. Smith

Assistance exercises have a definite place in Modern Lifting and greatly help the lifter to maintain basic power and increase it. Not only do they have strength-building qualities but they also build speed and suppleness. For instance, one of the main causes of a lifter’s inability to fix a heavy weight overhead or get low enough in a split is tightness of the shoulders or hips. With tight shoulders, the lifter cannot take the bar back and in line with the hips. With a position in which the bar is too far forward, the weight cannot be held and if the lifter does not have the experience to rock forward or bend back, the attempt is lost. Please do not misunderstand me. I do not recommend a back bend or rock forward since these only bypass the fault and don’t cure it. In the case of stiff hips, the lifter has the weight pulled high enough and gets it into correct position but cannot get low enough, and so presses the weight out. Here are some assistance movements to loosen tight shoulders and hips.

Illustration C - Shoulder Loosening - Dislocates

Use an ordinary exercise bar or wooden dowel. Hold it at arm’s length overhead with as wide a grip as possible. The bar should be just a couple of inches above the top of the head. From here lower it to the front so the bar rests across the top of the thighs. Keep the body upright and from this starting position swing it up and over the head in a complete circular motion until the bar is resting across the rear of the body. As the bar travels over the head, thrust the head forward and pull out on the bar without moving the hands. Swing the bar from the back to starting position again in front of the body and repeat. Gradually decrease the distance between the hands progressively each workout.

Illustration D – Hip Loosening

Here is an excellent movement to make the hips and thighs more flexible. Stand between a pair of squat racks, holding on to them with the hands at arm’s length. Split the feet, one to the front and the other to the rear. When you are as low as possible sway the body forward and back, making every effort to go lower into a split. Recover to upright position, take a brief rest and change position of the thighs, forward with the foot previously splitting to the rear and taking the foot previously splitting to the front, backwards. Rock the trunk backwards and forwards again.

Developing Pull

Once you have perfected your style (and few have), the only thing that will help you is increased strength. First, you must examine your snatching with an impersonal and critical eye and see exactly what you need. You must determine if your pull is weak, if your thighs or lower back need more strength. Try the following exercises. Use them conscientiously and with plenty of determination to root out faults in style and muscle weakness, then repair and strengthen.

Illustration E – Developing First Pull

Start off with a weight you can handle for six reps. Grasp it with your usual hand spacing for the snatch. With all your power, pull it waist high and make every effort to hold it there for a short pause before you lower it to the floor again. Repeat the exercise 3 sets of 5 reps. Make every effort to increase the sets by one rep until you are using 3 sets of 7 reps. Then increase the resistance by 10 pounds, dropping back to 5 reps, 3 sets again.

Illustration F – Developing Second Pull

Strap a good lifting belt around you. The belt should have a large buckle. Take a fairly light poundage for a start. Use your normal snatch-width grip. Rest the bar on the buckle of the belt and from this commencing position – with no bending of the legs or back – pull the weight to arm’s length overhead, splitting or squatting in the usual manner under the weight as soon as it is sufficiently high. Don’t forget, the legs and back MUST NOT be used to start the weight on its way. Lower the bar to the buckle again and repeat. Start off with a poundage you can handle for 3 reps, 5 sets, and work up to 5 reps, 5 sets. Don’t try to use too heavy a weight on this exercise but concentrate entirely on developing the pull by handling a weight that will enable you to perform the exercise correctly.

Illustration G – Strengthening the Thighs

Developing dynamic power of back and leg, the kind of strength that is a blending of speed as well as force is another must for the lifter. While it is true the ordinary squat is extremely useful, the single-legged squat develops equal power in each thigh and thus acts to prevent over-pulling on one leg when snatching – a common fault. Stand on a box or exercise bench and place a piece of wood under the heel. Practice the movement for several sessions to get the groove, then try holding a dumbbell in one hand when you’re ready. Drop down into a deep squat, keeping the non-exercising leg from contact with the floor. Arise to upright and repeat. Start off with 3 sets of 8 reps and work up to 3 sets of 12 reps.

Illustration H – Strengthening the Lower Back

Back power plays an equally important part as thigh strength in the snatch, especially in the first phases of the pull where the muscles of the thighs coordinate with those of the lumbar region. Rest the bar on strong boxes. Take a snatch-width grip and, with the legs locked at the knees, lift the weight off the box until you are standing upright. From here bend forward stiff-legged, touch the box with the bar and recover to the upright angle again. Don’t bend the legs during the exercise. Begin with a light weight. The movement should be performed fast, with no pause between reps. Start off with 3 sets of 8 reps, work up to 3 sets, 15 reps before increasing the poundage by 10 pounds. Start light.

Exercise I – Developing Pulling Power

The High Deadlift Off Boxes is an excellent power movement, and has as great a mental value as physical. When you get used to handling well over your normal deadlift limit, a snatch poundage feels as light as a feather – a psychological benefit of immense value. This exercise strengthens the entire shoulder girdle and grip, builds up power in the back and thighs, and is one of the most valuable movements in the field of weight training. Rest the plates of the barbell on two boxes so the bar is knee high. Use your deadlift limit, you’ll find you can just about make 3 to 5 reps with it. Your hand spacing should be somewhat narrower than the snatch grip, with a reverse grip employed – one hand palm to the front and the other hand knuckles to the front. About shoulder width grip will be fine. Stand up close to the bar shins touching it, and from this position stand upright gripping the bar. Lower and repeat. Start off with 3 sets of 3 reps. Work up to 3 sets of 8 reps before increasing weight of the bar by 20 pounds.

Snatch Schedules of the Champions

It is easy to give lifters workout programs and these may be used with various degrees of success. But the main effort in the schedule must come from you. Use the following routines. Experiment with them and quickly determine their value to you. Drop those which do not appear to agree with your temperament and energy reserve, and adopt a program that helps your poundages grow steadily higher.

JOHN DAVIS believes in building a high degree of explosive power for the pull and he advises the following schedule. Take a weight equal to 50% of the your best snatch and work out a series of 20 to 50 reps in sets of 3 or 4 reps. Start off with 20 total reps and gradually increase each workout until you are making 50 reps in sets of 5 reps. About three weeks before a meet start to use a fairly heavy poundage. With a 330 ¼ top snatch, Davis uses 8 sets of 2 reps with 260-270 lbs.

LOUIS ABELE, another man who totaled 1000 pounds, had an extremely severe training system. Abele spaced his training so that he worked out every day. He would press one day and snatch or clean the next, using a 5-4-3-2-1 combination of repetitions. Starting with 220 and performing every repetition from the hang, he made 5 reps with his starting poundage, 4 reps with 230, 3 reps with 240, 2 reps with 250 and a single repetition with 260. Then he would drop down to 235 for three hang snatches, then three more with 225 and a final three reps with 215.

Many lifters have found the Static Poundage system very effective, since it builds up not only power but endurance. Take a weight you can handle comfortably for 3 repetitions. Perform 6 sets of 3 reps with it. Each training period increase by one set until you are using 12 sets of 3 reps. At this point increase the reps to 4, dropping down to 6 sets again, working up to 12 sets of 4 reps. When you are capable of 12 sets of 4 reps, increase the repetitions to 5 and perform 5 sets of 5 reps. Increase the number of sets until you are making 10 sets of 5 reps. At this point increase the poundage by 10 pounds and drop back to 6 sets of 3 repetitions, working up in sets and reps as indicated above.

Another successful program for your snatch which can also be used to “rest” up on when advances come slowly with other routines is the following. If your top snatch is 150 pounds, start off with 100 pounds, 3 sets of 3 reps. Rest. Perform 3 sets of 2 reps with 110 pounds. Rest. Then 3 sets of 1 rep with 120 pounds. Drop down to 110 pounds for 3 sets of 2 reps. Reduce the poundage again for 3 sets of 3 reps with 100 pounds.

Another result producing program is as follows. Assuming your top snatch is 150 pounds, perform 3 sets of 5 reps with 100 pounds, 3 sets of 4 reps with 110 pounds, 3 sets of 3 reps with 120 pounds, 3 sets of 2 reps with 130 pounds, 3 sets of 1 reps with 140 pounds. Then 2 sets 2 reps with 130 pounds, 2 sets of 3 reps with 120 pounds, 2 sets of 4 reps with 100 pounds.

It is important to remember that hard work and determination to succeed are the greatest contributing factors to poundage increases. Patience, too, is an important factor. Keeping to a schedule, picking out each little fault in style and correcting it, working constantly to overcome bad lifting habits, approaching perfection as closely as possible . . . this is patience, the ability to stick at a task until the goal is reached.

Don’t be content with a good performance or a reasonable poundage. Always be ambitious, striving to improve form or workload constantly, and remember there are three main things that make a good lifter – Speed – Timing – Strength.

Olympic Assistance Movements - Anthony Ditillo

Otto Arco, age 53

Weldon Bullock

Chuck Sipes

Olympic Assistance Movements For Size and/or Strength
by Anthony Ditillo


There is a very large segment of our lifting and training population which neglects a very important facet of athletic training which, for want of a better name, we will entitle Olympic Assistance Movements. Why these muscle building and power building movements have become ignored by so many otherwise interested trainees is beyond me, unless the reason lies somewhere within the confines of basic ignorance and a repulsion of hard work. To be sure, the basic movements used by Olympic lifters in their quest for Olympic lift proficiency will cause an almost immediate increase within the musculature and the power potential of just about any interested trainee. All that is necessary is a basic understanding of the principles at work and a desire to make use of these facts in order to improve.

To save time and a bit of your patience, I will endeavor to outline the basic movements and how to perform them for the proper training results. But before we get into the actual training movements and the routines used to utilize these movements to greatest advantage, I would like to digress for a moment if I may, on just why this type methodology will work for you in ways impossible for any other.

First of all, it is the intensity of the movements involved which results in such dramatic development and strength increases. You see, in order to perform movements to aid a lifter in Olympic lifting, the movements themselves must be of the dynamic type for best results. This means that not only must the weights be heavy enough to require adequate exertion for correct style of performance, but the movements must be performed dynamically and explosively or the lifting value of such movements is completely lost. This means that the muscles are developed not solely through the muscular overload of the training itself, but also through the intensity of the physical exertions required to move the weights fast, dynamically and explosively with speed and technique being of paramount importance. This is basically why so many other trainees will not incorporate these movements into their routines: they fear the intensity and hard work required.

There is a world of difference between training on basic slow movements in which the trainee “grinds” through each repetition of each set with very little speed or techniques involved, and in the type of speed of movement necessary when utilizing these Olympic movements in your training regime. There is just no way can “grind” up a Power Clean or a High Pull or a Power Snatch. These movements must be performed with the utmost speed and explosiveness or the entire effect is lost. It is for this reason that they are so effective as a training medium when combined with basic power movements; they compliment one another and they enable the trainee to develop speed, coordination and a sense of timing and balance possible through no other way. Also, somewhere along the line, they also develop quite a bit of muscle and quite a bit of strength.

For years we have put up with “old wives tales” concerning the incorporating of Olympic lift training within a basic power format. We have heard from one “authority” after another that these movements will not develop any real strength, that they are “all technique” and this has caused many a trainee to overlook these otherwise very effective training mediums. Yet, if one uses sheer objectivity in assessing the value or worthiness of these previously discussed movements and the technical aspects concerning correct performances of the involved lifts and assistance movements, in general, we cannot overlook the apparent fact that such training must help us in acquiring greater muscle, greater muscle density and size, and quicker reflexes and athletic ability.

In order to incorporate these useful movements into your present training routine it is of the utmost importance to outline for you just what is required as far as training methodology is concerned, in order to solidify your understanding of just what you will be doing and how you will be doing it, and for what ultimate goal or purpose such hard intensity work will be done.
For any Olympic assistant movement to be used correctly, it is necessary to realize that with these movements style plays an important part in the ultimate outcome of the training motive. To try and force up the weights when using these movements will not give you the effect you are looking for. In order for these movements to develop you correctly, you must pay paramount attention to exercise style!

When an Olympic lifter performs a Back Squat, he is not solely interested in how much weight he can “shift” up, he is interested in working primarily his frontal thigh muscles without utilizing the muscles of his lower back and hips. What he tries to do is perform the Back Squat in such a way as to localize his exercise so that the developmental value of the movement is intensified within the muscles of the thigh. By placing the bar high on the traps and using the knees as the axis of the movement, by way of rotating the body around the knee and not rotating the body around the hip, he is able to utilize the isolation principle of training and the end effect is a pair of very muscular, impressive legs! Also, he is not apt to become poundage happy in his leg training since his leg work is a means to an end (increased lifting performance) and not an end in itself. This will enable him to train quite comfortably within his present physical capabilities without the constant urge to see how much he can lift for one repetition. This also will alleviate most training injuries, since the brunt of the work done will be done with weights not too difficult to handle.

What all this means for the average trainee is that by utilizing these movements we “free” ourselves from overtraining and overstraining which usually happens with powerlifts as a rule of thumb, followed for any length of time and with any regularity. By using the assistance movements to supplement our training, we are given an emotional break so to speak, with the end result being a rekindling of training desire, after a sweet respite incorporating these movements. We must also mention that these movements will strengthen us for practicing the powerlifts, since they basically take the different powerlifts and make you perform a close “cousin” of a sort, with speed, technique, and explosion. Then, when we revert back to the usual lax method of performance, the lifts improve since they gave been strengthened through the full range of motion with a style which usually borders on the ridiculously strict side!

What the end result of this situation usually is, is a change in the ability of the trainee to utilize explosiveness when he is called upon to lift his maximum in a powerlift and also, his musculature usually is greatly changed and developed.

By now, you are probably wondering just what kind and how large a variety of movements we have to choose from when deciding to utilize this training medium. There are usually a few movements for each bodypart and also, there are usually quite a few deviations of the basic powerlifts, done in specific ways, with the results being a much harder workout for the affected muscles due to the strictness of the style of the movements employed.

There is no way you will be able to learn good operational technique in these movements without having an experienced Olympic lift trainee coaching you for quite some time, watching your performances and keeping track of your style improvement and your over-all progress. For from it being helpful, such coaching is necessary if you are to reap much muscle-stimulating value from these types of exercises. However, since most of you are not that interested in having yourselves be coached to any great extent, and since the aims of most of you are not to become proficient at the Olympic lift competition, it will not be necessary to go to such extremes in your training in order to obtain much in the way of benefits such training will bring out in you.

By studying the basic explanations as to how to best employ the various movements, you will develop a certain amount of training style and technique, enough to utilize these movements with great success in your musculature and in your basic lift training proficiency. By remembering that the training ideology of these movements lies not within the amount of pounds lifted for each set, but within the quickness, explosiveness and dexterity of each exertion, you are already part way home, so to speak. By continually trying to improve your lifting ability through proper technique, without the constant forcing and forcing heavier and heavier exertions, you will learn that these movements must be performed correctly for the best of results to take place and when you have learned this, you have learned practically all you have to know!

When attempting to utilize the proponent theories of such Olympic lift assistance movement training you must keep uppermost in your mind that this system of exercise movements are primarily athletic in nature and their chief value for you as an all-around trainee lies in their mode of performance and their strictness and intensity.

While discussing these assistance movements we should at this time list most of them for you, along with the particular powerlift they have the most effect of strengthening. For the squat we have the Olympic Back Squat and the Front Squat. These two leg movements when utilized in the way I will outline for you later on in this section of Chapter 5, will literally revamp your entire lower body musculature while at the same time increase your overall squatting proficiency when the laxer power style of squatting is once again employed.

For the deadlift, we have the various High Pulls, with close and wide grip. Shrug Pulls with both style grips also, and finally we have the Stiff Legged Deadlift from the floor, from the knees, and from the standing block. making the bar closer to the floor. We should also mention the Prone Hyperextension, which will thoroughly congest the lower back as well as develop for you a strong tie-in between the lower body and the upper body, which is necessary to be successful at heavy squatting and deadlifting in the conventional manner. We have not even begun to mention the various kinds of cleaning movements from the floor, from the hang, off of blocks, etc., and by now you should be able to see that it is the pull which is of primary importance in Olympic lifting.

For increasing the bench press, there is also quite a list of assistance movements which can be utilized for good training effects. The Seated Incline Press at 45 degrees, the Steep Seated Press at around an 80 degree angle, the Push Press from a Rack, and the Jerk From the Shoulders all make up a pretty good selection of exercise movements to choose from. What these movements do is work the muscles of the shoulder girdle and the triceps muscles quite hard and quite completely, and when coupled with heavy bench work, success is almost guaranteed. The strictness of performing the Steep Seated Presses will strengthen your shoulder girdle muscles like nothing else under the sun, and it will take a very strong man to handle over three hundred pounds in this movement, utilizing a pause at the chest and no bouncing and heaving and keeping the body solid and rigid under the weight with the back flush against the back support of the bench. This movement is paramount in developing frontal deltoid power and we all should know by now that bench pressing success relies upon having strong deltoids!

The physical results of utilizing these assistance movements , borrowed from the Olympic lifters, are varied and many. By incorporating these movements into your routine you are sure to see a difference in your musculature, given enough energy and training time. I would say that the lower thighs and the entire lower and upper back musculature will be the first areas to develop a difference, both in appearance and in density and power. This is quite simple to explain, as it is due to the complexity and intensity of the different exercise movements and how they develop the involved muscle masses.

By properly using the various pulling exercises, your upper and mid back will grow and become more dense by leaps and bounds. The trapezius muscles will begin to fill out and the overall appearance of your upper body musculature will take on a new, rugged look which will amaze and impress both you and your friends. This will give mute testimony as to the effectiveness of the new movements in your workouts and this should instill in you a desire to continue this type of training for yet more time and energy with a look to the future as to further physical gains.

By incorporating Olympic back squatting into your present squat routine, the lower thigh will take on a new, exciting shape and fullness which will allow you further advances in strength due to the greater musculature developed as well as the stronger frontal thigh muscles which this strict style of squatting will develop. There is no Olympic lifter on the platform today with weak, underdeveloped legs. for strong legs and back are prime requisites for successful lifting. By copying their exercise choices and style of performance, you too will be assured of continued progress as well as increased muscular development. Finally, we come to the shoulder girdle muscles. By far, the most severe type of pressing is the Seated Press on a Steep Incline, set at around 85 degrees. It is almost to cheat in this position and the brunt of the work is performed by the frontal deltoid muscles with secondary consideration being given to the muscles of the upper arms. There can be no cheating, shifting, or bouncing the way it can be done on the flat bench when bench pressing, so the amount of weight will be limited somewhat, but the overall results will speak wonders.

By utilizing these upper body movements within your present pressing routine, you will be developing such an immense amount of size and strength in the shoulder girdle that it will literally shock you! I know. I have experienced this myself. Of particular importance as an assistance movement to increase overall pressing strength is partial pressing on the power rack, with the bar positioned in front as well as behind the neck. This will develop all-around muscular size and power and when the regular routines are instilled once again, the carrying over of these overload movements will bring up your bench pressing power like nothing else will ever do. Finally, by combining these heavy partial overload movements along with the steep seated inline presses, your entire shoulder musculature and power potential will be redeveloped at such a quickened pace that it will be useless for you to purchase any new shirts, etc., for in no time at all you will most assuredly be outgrowing them!

By isolating the lower back while doing Stiff Legged Deadlifts, the legs are not brought into play and the back can be worked quite adequately without the legs combining into the movement thereby taking away somewhat of the developmental value towards the lower back with the thighs taking much of the muscle effectiveness. Also, by standing on blocks so that the bar is at the level of the toes. thereby making it much harder to begin the pull, and also performing this movement with somewhat stiff legs, the muscular effect is twofold, both in its severity and in its effectiveness. Then, when we begin to use the deadlift with the legs bent in the usual performance style, this pre-worked area of the lower back will make itself felt and the increase of the amount of weight capable of being handled will surely show an increase. With the trapezius muscles further strengthened through the heavy shrugs, and the heavy high pulls, it will help you in finishing the top part of the deadlift in the competition style and in the competitive situation. Many times we will see a competitor make the deadlift through the hardest positions (or so it seems) only to lose the lift at a point when the only thing necessary would be a standing erect with a pulling back of the shoulders, and for the life of him, the fellow cannot lock his shoulders back! This is due primarily to a weak trapezius muscle and a lack of power throughout the shoulder girdle. This painful situation can be remedied through the correct application of the described exercise movements of this chapter. With the shoulder girdle further strengthened, the lifter will never fail to get the shoulder back in the finished position of the competitive deadlift and with utilization of the various lower back pulling exercises, you can see how the entire pulling structures of the lower back will be retained, so to speak, to use in a more proficient manner, with the end result being a high lifting total. This then, is the true value of such training.

At this time, it will be necessary and helpful for me to outline for you a series of training schedules utilizing these important assistance movements in order for you to reap the utmost results from your training endeavors and the sweat and strain contained therein. It is my hope that by the utilization of these training aids and principles you will be able to see a difference in your training poundages and in the musculature of the use areas of the body with the end result being a new and improved you!

What we shall do first of all, is to develop for you a routine based around the three power lifts, with each of these lifts being trained on one day per week and on the other training day we will be utilizing the pertinent Olympic assistance movement. This means we will be training four days per week. We will be working the upper body on two days and the lower body on two training days with the emphasis being placed on registering higher totals in the three power lifts. Whether or not any additional weight is going to be gained at this time will depend chiefly upon the diet you choose to follow while on this routine. Therefore, the end result of weight gained or not gained will be left primarily up to you. By following the dietary suggestions of the last chapter, I am sure, for the most part, bodyweight can be gained quite easily with a little bit of experimentation on your part as to what to use for best results.

With this routine there will be listed for you a few basic muscle-shaping movements which can also be utilized with this routine along with the assistance movements already discussed within the section of this chapter, since there will have to be more to the program than four of five lifts, for best all-around results.

Here then is your first listed, four day per week training routine:


Monday and Thursday

Upper Body Work – Bench Press: utilizing a medium grip for all-around muscle stimulation, perform one set of ten reps for a warm-up and then jump to a set of five, a set of three, and finally three single attempts with around 90% of your one rep limit. Steep Seated Inclines: after two warm-up sets, with conservative weight jumps. work up to three reps using all the weight possible. Shoulder Shrug: take fifty or one hundred pound jumps and perform sets of five reps with each weight until you hit a heavy weight for five reps and you should stay with this weight for between five and seven sets of these five repetitions. Barbell Curls: this movement is used solely to bring some work into the upper arms. Perform five to seven sets of five to seven reps with a fairly heavy weight. Lying Triceps Extension: once again, five to seven sets of five to seven reps with a heavy weight.

Tuesday and Friday

Lower Body Work – Power Squat: one set of ten, one set of eight, one set of six, and finally, three sets of three reps using around 85% of your one rep maximum poundage. Olympic Squat: five to seven sets of three to five reps after a warm-up set of ten reps. On this movement you should concentrate on proper exercise form, not weight. Stiff Legged Deadlift: three to five sets of three to five repetitions using a fairly heavy weight and concentrating on proper exercise form and not weight lifted. Prone Hyperextensions: five sets of eight to ten reps using light weight and performing the movement correctly, fluidly, and slowly.

Another way of handling this amount of work is to perform the Bench Press by itself on Monday and on Thursday to work the Steep Seated Incline, once again working it by itself. Also, on the lower body training days, you can do the Power Squat by itself on Tuesday and the Olympic Back Squat by itself on Friday. This would be useful for you if you have a limited supply of training energy and a limited amount of time to train.

For those souls who are not afraid to work like two men to get the goals they have formed for themselves in their mind, I shall now outlined a six day per week training routine. However, we shall limit the amount of work therein in order for most men to gain on it.

On this training program we will be working six days per week and in this way we can incorporate adequate work for the entire muscular system without fear of overtraining or undertraining any particular body part, with the developing of a lopsided lifting proficiency or with the muscular development of a lopsided nature, also. For the lower back we will be utilizing two weekly workouts with the emphasis upon conditioning as well as complete muscular development.


Monday and Friday

Upper Body – Bench Press: one set of ten for a warm-up and then take regulated jumps to a weight you will be handling for three sets of three repetitions. Steep Seated Press: two sets for a warm-up and then jump to a weight you can handle for five sets of three to five repetitions. Press on Rack: five sets of three to five repetitions using an adequate amount of weight.

Tuesday and Friday

Thighs and Hips – Power Squat: five sets of three to five reps working up from a warm-up to the heaviest weight possible for three reps. Olympic Back Squat: five sets of three to five reps using an adequate amount of weight. Front Squat: after one set of ten for a warm-up, jump to all the weight possible for five repetitions and work for three sets of five reps with this weight.

Wednesday and Saturday

Lower Back – Stiff Legged Deadlift: one set of ten for a warm-up then work for rive sets of five to seven reps using a medium amount of weight for resistance. Shoulder Shrug: five sets of five to seven repetitions using heavy weight and good style. Prone Hyperextensions: five to seven sets of eight to ten repetitions using adequate resistance. Arm Work: six of seven sets for the biceps and six or seven sets for the triceps. You can choose whatever barbell movements which may strike your fancy at any particular time. This choice is solely up to you.

The final routine in this section of Chapter 5 will be a three day per week routine, in which we will attempt to utilize the Olympic assistance movements, solely throughout the training week, with the complete lack of other training exercises. In other words, we will be working solely with the Olympic assistance movements for a period of three or so months. In this way, this type of routine could be utilized for a short period of specialization within the non-competitive season of the year. This change of pace would be sure to give you a well-rounded look at these training exercises and training methods and in this way you will gain firsthand knowledge as to how these techniques will work for you.

Since you will only be using the Olympic assistance movements throughout these periods of intense specialization, you will be sure to have more than enough time to incorporate the wide variety of movements which would have had to be reduced somewhat when attempting to couple this work with the basic training exercise movements. This means that the muscles used will be further developed since they will be more than adequately worked from all the possible angles of exercise application. This should increase both the size of these muscles and their density and shape, because you will be using dynamic movements which will completely develop and fatigue the muscle fibers. The density aspect of this exercise methodology will be caused by the complete contraction and extension of the exercise movements and in the manner in which they are performed.

Here then is your final, three day routine:


Monday

Partial Press in Power Rack: take fifty pound weight jumps and work up to all the weight you can move from the chin to the height of the eyes, for five reps. Power Clean From Hang: these should be done in sets of fives. Take regular jumps in weight until you are at the maximum weight you can rack for five reps. Olympic Back Squat: you should be taking fifty pound weight jumps until you reach a maximum of weight for three sets of three to five reps. Stiff Legged Deadlift: perform five sets of three to five reps using a medium heavy weight, concentrating on style and not solely on weight used.


Wednesday

Steep Seated Incline Press: after a few light sets for a thorough warm-up, take thirty pound weight jumps until you are at a weight you can handle for three reps. Work with this weight for five sets of three to five repetitions. Jerk Press From Rack: take fifty pound jumps and do sets of threes. Work up to all the weight possible for one heavy triple. Be sure to use correct style. High Pull: take a grip between the Clean and the Snatch grip and perform sets of threes. Taking conservative weight jumps, work up to a poundage heavy enough for three sets of three reps using good style and explosiveness. Front Squat: after a set or two for a warm-up take conservative weight jumps until you are at the appropriate weight for five sets of five reps using good upright style. Prone Hyperextensions: five to seven sets using reps of between eight and twelve.


Friday

Seated Press: after one or two sets for a warm-up, take thirty pound jumps and use a five repetition scheme. Work up to a maximum weight for five sets of three repetitions. Shoulder Shrug: take the bar from crotch height in the power rack. Take fifty pound jumps until you reach a maximum weight for five set of five to seven reps. Snatch Grip Deadlift: five to seven sets of three repetitions. Take fifty pound jumps and work up to a maximum set of three repetitions. Partial Front Squat: take the bar from the three quarter position in the power rack. Take fifty pound jumps and work up to a maximum set of five reps.


Three-Day Training split using Olympic Lift Variations

Monday
Partial military press (from chin to eyes) - 5 reps, taking large jumps to top set
Hang Cleans - pyramid to top set of 5
SLDL - 5x3-5 (focus on form, not weight)

Wednesday
High Incline - 5x3-5
Jerks - Work up to heavy triple
Clean Pulls – Work up to heavy triple
Front squat - 5x5
Hyperextensions - 5-7x8-12

Friday
Seated Military Press - 5x3
Snatch-grip Deadlift - 5-7x3
Partial Front Squats (starting at 3/4 position & going up) - work to top set of 5.


As can plainly be seen, while this routine does not contain the actual competitive lifts which the Olympic lifter uses in competition, the amount of assistance movements are most complete with the exception of the two lifts themselves. In other words, although the competitive two lifts are not included, the workouts are most complete from a developmental standpoint, with emphasis being placed on the muscles which are usually neglected in the usual training schedule.

Whether you have particular aspirations for the lifting platform or whether you are a “dyed in the wool” home trainee, you should really give these Olympic lift movements a decent chance in your schedule to see what changes they can make both in your lifting proficiency and in your muscular development. I am sure, given enough time and training energy, you will be amazed at your rate of progress. Your muscles will be developed from different angles than you are customarily used to experiencing. This may at first seem quite a bit hard and unusual but with patience and practice, you should be able to persevere to a level of capability otherwise unavailable to you, with the customary training routine you have become accustomed to following.

These Olympic assistance movements should not be overlooked by you, though your goals may be somewhat different than the Olympic lifter. For the powerman, the new ways of working the thighs and the lower back will open up new developmental vistas. For the all-around trainee, additional muscle growth is most assuredly guaranteed, with the muscles taking on a new, capable look which will add to your overall physical ruggedness.

Do not sell these movements short by limiting their supposed usefulness to the Olympic lift specialist for nothing could be further from the truth. I am sure, with the addition of all the heavy pulls, shrugs, and squats, your entire physical conditioning and mental outlook towards the value of this kind of training will be greatly changed, for the better I might add.

Stabilizing The Shoulder Girdle

One of the basic keys to continually gaining strength is to avoid injuries. Nothing, and I mean nothing, deters progress like a severe injury. Smaller problems can also be quite irritating, but in most cases you can work around them successfully until they’re healed. Most people, when they embark on a strength-training routine, worry about hurting their backs. In truth, however, the most frequently injured area is the shoulder girdle. Injuries occur in that area primarily for two reasons: 1) People overtrain it, and 2) they use faulty form on shoulder girdle exercises.

The area I call the shoulder girdle includes the muscles of the chest, shoulders, arms and upper back – and of course, the corresponding attachments, tendons and ligaments as well as the skeletal structure. Note that I include the upper back, for the traps play a major role in strengthening and stabilizing this part of the body. Unfortunately, they’re often overlooked when people set out to build greater shoulder girdle strength.

I use two methods to strengthen and stabilize the shoulder girdle. I advise trainees to limit the amount of work done on the area at each workout and to constantly vary the angle of movement. It’s a given that you should use good form on the exercises, but it has to be mentioned.

The reason that so many beginners encounter some kind of shoulder girdle injury early in their careers is that they do far too much bench-pressing. The bench is, without a doubt, the pet lift for anyone who enters a weight room. It’s the measure of success in most programs and usually the lift on which athletic teams are tested.

A great many programs concentrate on the bench press almost exclusively. I’ve had coaches tell me they’re wary of having their players do squats or any form of heavy pulling, as they consider those movements dangerous, while they think nothing of having their athletes spend an hour or more doing bench presses, with a few auxiliary exercises for the triceps and deltoids thrown in for good measure. It really should be the other way around, for the center of strength isn’t in the upper body but in the back, hips and legs. The people in charge of programs must understand that the shoulder girdle is really rather delicate. In comparison to the hips, it’s downright fragile, so it can’t take a huge workload, especially when athletes are in the formative stages of training.

For those who specialize on the flat bench, the problem usually surfaces at the very crown of the shoulder, right where the delt ties in with the traps. The pain is an early-warning sign brought about by our old friend, disproportionate strength. Too much work for the front and not enough for the rear is usually the story. I’ve watched lifters bench for 45 minutes, then do some close grips and some skull crushers and top off the workout with some pushdowns on the lat machine. When I ask if they ever bother to work their traps, they become offended and reply that they do dumbbell shrugs twice a week. “And, they indignantly add “I know they work because I always get a good burn.”

Hello! A burn has no place in strength training. I get a nice burn in my traps when I do 80 reps with a 10-pound dumbbell to warm up before my run, but in no way am I making them any stronger. Oh, perhaps they get a tad stronger, but it’s not nearly enough to balance my upper-body strength if I’m planning to handle any weight on the bench press.

That imbalance is a common problem among football players and aspiring powerlifters who do a tremendous amount of work on the flat bench but rarely push the poundages up on their shrugs. Happily, the situation can be corrected rather quickly simply by adding heavy shrugs or high pulls to the program. I’m talking heavy and dynamic – not the lift-your-shoulders-up-and-hold-the-bar kind of shrugs but the explosive that keeps you sore for days. The traps do respond quickly, but they have to be abused, not teased.

Another area in which many trainees have problems is the point where the pecs tie in with the biceps and the front delt. It becomes stressed because they give it far too much work and also because they use faulty form. Jamming the bar off your chest on the bench, rebounding and bridging excessively all create a traumatic situation for that rather sensitive area. In fact, even if it were super-strong, like the hips, it still wouldn’t hold up to the unholy pounding often given it.

Without a doubt the most prevalent injury of the bench era involves the rotator cuff. What most people don’t recall is that before the bench press became the primary upper-body exercise there were few, if any, rotator cuff injuries. That’s because the overhead press, which was at one time the main upper-body movement, actually helps to strengthen the area known as the rotator cuff, mostly by having you support heavy weights overhead. On the other hand, the consistent bombarding of flat benches neglects he area almost entirely – and that’s for starters. Things get worse when uninformed lifters add such exercises as behind the neck pulldowns, which greatly accentuate the problem.

Do no exercise which places the barbell behind your neck. The position is potentially harmful to the rotator cuff, and it’s totally unnecessary. Just do the exercise to the front.

The shoulder joint isn’t designed to be placed in that position, especially when there’s added resistance. The worst part is, you can ignore the advice for years, but once you’ve sufficiently irritated your rotator cuff, it’s too late. You’re in for a long haul of rehab, at best, or surgery.

Here’s a program that will help you develop a strong, stable shoulder girdle. It’s based on the concept of proportionate strength achieved by altering the angles of the various exercises. It isn’t designed to improve your flat bench per se, although if you follow it for some time you’ll add many pounds to that movement. I know that’s true because I have a couple of hundred subjects who have used the program most successfully.

The routine is also based on the make-haste-slowly concept. Your poundages on the various lifts will not leap forward, but they will move up steadily. That’s a good thing because it ensures that all the various areas of your upper body are being strengthened at the same rate- or close to the same rate, for one exercise will always improve faster that the others due to individual differences in leverage. So you may find that your inclines improve much more rapidly than your flat bench, or vice versa. Or you may find that you’re very proficient in overhead pressing but have a terrible time getting your inclines to move. That’s natural. Otherwise, everyone would be pressing, inclining and flat-benching huge weights.

The important point is to improve on all the movements and to make certain that none fall too far behind. It’s natural to want to work your strong points and neglect your weaker ones, but that will only open the weakest-link box. So if any of the basic exercises falls too far behind, you must alter your program to give it more priority and move it up.

Proper technique is at the heart of this program. Unfortunately, most people have been taught incorrectly, or, if they’ve been taught good form, they’ve shucked it in the quest for bigger numbers. I’m referring to the bench press. Many start out doing the lift correctly but once they start training with their peers, they’re encouraged to forgo strict technique in order to move larger numbers. So they try bridging and rebounding and sure enough, they can bench more weight. They’re also on the sure road to problems.

Long ago, scientists taught us that it takes three to four months to break a habit in a teenager and at least five months to alter the behavior of an adult. That’s the reason it’s so much easier for me to teach women to bench-press correctly. They often have no prior instruction, and they aren’t so caught up in the numbers as men. As a result, they make faster progress initially and also have fewer problems.

In response to a number of letters from readers, I’ll be more specific concerning the technique for the various exercises I discuss. It seems I assume a bit too much, so I’ll try to present more details on the proper performance of the core exercises.

For the bench press let’s start with the grip. The rule of thumb for any pressing movement is the same: Always keep your elbows directly under your wrists. That applies to flat benches, inclines and overhead presses. The reason is simple but often overlooked. If your wrists are either outside or inside your elbows, you’re giving away power laterally.

The problem usually occurs with a grip that’s too wide. When I comment on this, lifters usually argue that they want to develop the outer part of their pecs. That’s fine for advanced trainees but not for beginners. There are other ways to develop the outer pecs, and to be frank, I think it’s a bad idea to try to do it anyway. It only aggravates the shoulder joints. Stay with the high and middle portions of the chest and you’ll have fewer problems later on.

Keep your arms perfectly straight throughout any pressing movement. In other words, don’t cock your wrists or allow them to twist during the exercise, which is a common practice. This has two negatives. It puts an undue stress on the very small, susceptible wrist joint, and it reduces the power generated by the chest, shoulders and arms. For those who have difficulty breaking the habit, start taping your wrists. That will help to keep them straight and remind you not to cock them during the lift.

Learn to grip the bar firmly with your thumbs around it. I know that many big benchers recommend the false grip, but it’s foolish for anyone else to use that method, for it’s potentially very dangerous. The bench press is the most risky exercise of all, with the incline close behind. The reason is simple: The bar is over your face. One slip spells disaster with a capital D. And it’s totally unnecessary. A solid grip will allow you to control the weight and guide it in the proper groove much better than a false grip.

One final note on wide-grip bench presses. It’s been my observation that those who use a very wide grip are more prone to bridging and rebounding than those who use a closer grip.

If you’re in doubt about just where to grip the bar, use the following method. Extend your thumbs on the Olympic bar so that they just touch the smooth center. That’s ideal for almost everyone.

I’m frequently asked about breathing. I’d guess that 90 percent of the people I train have been taught to breathe incorrectly – and it’s a tough habit to break. Most have been taught to breathe in and out during the lift itself. If you’re doing benches, inclines or overheads merely for the so-called toning of your muscles, that’s perfectly okay, but it you’re doing them to gain strength, it’s detrimental. When using heavy weights – and that’s a relative term – you must hold your breath through the exertion. This is no big deal, since the entire lift only takes a matter of seconds. It’s not like scuba diving without any gear.

The reason, again, is very fundamental. If you breath while lowering the bar to your chest or before it passes the sticking point on the way up, you’re going to use less weight than if you hold your breath throughout the full range of movement. When you breath in or out, your rib cage is forced to relax, and that keeps you from maintaining a solid foundation; but if you take a deep breath and hold it while lowering the bar and pressing it to arm’s length, you can secure a solid muscular foundation.

The exception to the rule is the standing press. Most people find that they do better by taking a breath just before they press the bar and then another once it’s locked overhead. That’s fine as long as you take yet another breath while the bar travels upward, before it passes the critical sticking point. For seated presses, the rule holds. Take your breath when the bar is handed to you overhead and hold your breath throughout the full range of motion.

Another basic rule for all beginners and anyone else who really wants to improve his or her shoulder power is to learn to pause with the bar on your chest. It doesn’t have to remain there for long, but if you get the habit of doing it from the very beginning, it will enable you to make long-range progress and deep you from the bad habit of rebounding the bar. Where should the bar touch your chest? For the flat bench, right at the point where your breastbone ends. That varies from individual to individual, since arm length plays a part in the exercise, but it’s a god guideline for most people. Some prefer touching a bit higher on the chest, which is fine, but I discourage touching lower, for it makes it very difficult to keep your elbows under your wrists.

So the flat bench will find you lowering the bar to the place on your chest where the breastbone ends and then guiding it slightly backward to arm’s length. It will take a bit of practice for you to master the technique of guiding the bar upward, always with your elbows under your wrists, but you’ll quickly discover that it gives you a great deal of control – much more than if you merely vaulted the bar upward and prayed.

The line on the incline is quite different from that of the flat bench. When I visit an unfamiliar gym I’m always totally amazed that everyone does the incline incorrectly. They all set the bar for too low on their chests, which adversely affects the amount of weight they can use. They’re trying to do the movement the way they do flat benches, which is very wrong. The bar has to be set high on the chest, at the point where the breastbone meets the clavicles, just below the Adam’s apple. Unlike the line of the flat bench, the incline must travel upward in a perfectly straight line, as if you were performing it on a Smith machine. That requires you to keep your elbows down and close to your body, so they can stay right under your wrists throughout the lift. Setting the bar that high means it will travel extremely close to your face. In fact, it should nearly touch your chin at the start. By learning proper form on the incline most people are able to add a quick 20 pounds to the lift.

There was a time when the overhead press was the number one core lift for shoulder development, so most folks knew how to do it correctly. That’s no longer the case. Sometimes I’m not even sure what exercise people trying to do. Their idea of pressing looks to me like a gymnastic event.

The biggest mistake in form that people make is that for some reason they place one foot behind the other when they press. That’s wrong for a couple of reasons. It takes away the power base, and it also places the back in a stressful position. Your feet should be on a line, about shoulder width apart and planted very firmly. If your feet aren’t locked into the floor, it’s impossible to tighten the rest of your body – legs, hips, back and shoulders – and they must all be tight in order to handle any amount of weight in an overhead press.

On this movement as well you should position the bar high on your chest at the start, and it should nearly touch your chin when you drive it upward. Once the bar passes your head, guide it back a bit so that it sits over the back of your skull when it’s locked out. As with the other pressing movements you should keep your wrists locked and your elbows under them. Don’t look up. Look directly forward.

Another typical question I get involves speed of movement. You should lower the bar in a controlled manner, then drive it forcefully to arm’s length. In other words, don’t let the bar slam down on your chest, out of control. You want to guide it to the exact starting position you want, pause briefly, then lean into the bar. It may take some time to learn to really explode the bar upward but with practice you will.

Those are the three core exercises that strengthen and stabilize the shoulder girdle. The dip is a borderline exercise because it’s an auxiliary movement in the early stages of training but becomes a primary one later on.

There’s one additional point: When you position yourself for any pressing exercise, keep in mind that weightlifting starts in your feet. Most people understand the importance of securing a solid foundation for the overhead press but often miss the necessity of doing the same thing for flat benches, inclines and even seated overhead presses. If you plant your feet solidly and the bar hesitates at a sticking point, you can bring your power up from your feet, through your body and into your shoulder girdle and complete – but you can only do it if you established that solid base to begin with. You can’t do it once the bar’s in motion.

Build a more solid foundation by becoming part of the equipment. Don’t merely lie on a flat bench or incline. Lock yourself into it. The same idea applies to seated presses but not to such a great extent, primarily because you handle less weight on that exercise. If you do two things – plant your feet solidly and grind yourself into the bench before taking a weight- I guarantee that you’ll instantly handle more weight than you ever did before, without making any changes in your technique.

Now comes the question – Which is better, standing or seated presses? They’re both useful, and each works the body a bit differently. The standing press requires more balance and control of the barbell, thus making it a better overall strength movement. Holding the weight overhead also builds strength in your upper back and hips in a way no other exercise can. Overhead presses are particularly useful in developing the rotator cuff.

On the other hand, the standing press is much more difficult to master than the seated version. When it was one of the Olympic lifts, weightlifters often did presses four times a week – not only to get stronger on the lift but to perfect their technique. What’s more, overhead pressing can irritate the lower back. That may occur because lifters have a habit of lying back too much to complete the lift of because they have a chronically bad back that won’t tolerate any stress.

In those cases the seated press is better than the standing variety. If you do have a bad lower back, you’re still placing it under stress even though you’re seated. When you press while standing, much of the downward pressure is dispersed through your hips and legs, but when you’re sitting on a bench that pressure is driven into your lower back, which may not be a good thing. If either form of overhead pressing tends to cause problems in your lower back, switch to seated dumbbell presses. They shouldn’t be as irritating, since you’ll be using considerably less weight than if you handled a barbell.

Most people find that they can use more weight on the seated press than the standing press. That’s good, but unless the overhead press really bothers you I suggest you do both, alternating them regularly. The one that gets you the sorest is the one you should do more often.

One advantage of the overhead press is that it really doesn’t require any equipment other than a barbell and some plates. So even if a rack isn’t available, which is the case in a great many modern training facilities, you can still clean the bar and press it – which, by the way, remains one of the best combination exercises in the book.

I mentioned earlier that dips are an auxiliary exercise initially but will eventually become one of the core shoulder girdle exercises. When should the change take place? I use this guideline: You should perform the dip as an auxiliary exercise until you can do more than one set of 20 reps without added resistance. At that point it’s time to start doing weighted dips. If you’re still on a three-days-a-week routine, you can alternate them with overhead presses, doing them every other week. Once you go to four days a week, if you ever do, you can do them every week as a core exercise and possibly a second time as an auxiliary movement, as indicated in the program shown below.

Your weekly program should have at least two exercises that hit the traps directly, and more is even better. Shrugs, snatch and clean-grip high pulls, power cleans and power snatches all fill the bill. Whatever you choose, it’s vital for the stability of the entire shoulder girdle that you work your traps hard twice a week. Mondays and Fridays are best as that leaves Wednesdays for some lower back work.

I also believe it’s useful to do some auxiliary movements for the various smaller muscles – the triceps, biceps and deltoids and in some cases the pecs, but I’m not a big fan of doing lots of specialized work for the chest, for I think it’s a huge mistake to overtrain your pecs, especially in the earlier stages. Build mass in your chest and you have to maintain it. As in forever. It doesn’t just go away if you stop training, as most other muscles, such as those in your back and legs, do. It hangs around, and I mean that quite literally. So any extra work I do for my chest hits the upper portion rather than the lower or the middle portions. You can maintain the upper chest more easily, and it will continue to enhance your overall physique.

For the triceps I like straight-arm pullovers and pushdowns. The straight-arm pullover strengthens the long head of the triceps, which is a critical part of that group and a difficult one to stimulate. The exercise also involves the high chest and lats, which makes it an excellent movement. Still, the main reason I prefer straight-arm pullovers over most other triceps exercises is that they place less stress on the elbows. Most athletes shouldn’t do any triceps exercise that entails jamming their elbows through full, rapid flexion. That includes exercises such as skull crushers and French presses. Bodybuilders can often get away with doing those movements because they don’t subject their elbows to further dynamic motions while playing a sport. Other athletes are constantly subjecting their elbows to snappy, ballistic motions, and doing that after a hard weight session heightens the risk of injury to the elbows, which is totally unnecessary. Instead, do straight-arm pullovers or pushdowns on the lat machine. It’s better to be safe that sorry, and I really believe that when you push the poundages on the straight-arm pullover it will have more effect on all your pressing exercises than any other triceps movement.

Dips are also useful for developing the triceps, but I consider them more of a deltoid builder. Once you’ve reached the stage where you can add weight, they really do influence your pressing power. In the past many Olympic lifters did dips to help their overhead press, for the two exercises hit a lot of the same muscles.

There are two important form points to remember on dips. Don’t rebound or jam out of he bottom position, and don’t twist or jerk your body. Rebounding out of the bottom obviously puts a great deal of dynamic stress on your elbows and shoulders, and it isn’t at all necessary. You will eventually be able to handle more resistance if you do the dips in a controlled manner with a smooth up-and-down motion.

I’m often asked, How low should I go on the dip? As low as you can. Many people find that they can’t go very low because they lack the necessary flexibility in their elbows of shoulders. That’s typically the case for older trainees. Even if you can’t go deep, however, you’ll still receive benefits from performing dips.

Dips aren’t always easy to do, and sometimes people become discouraged when they find they can only do five or six – or fewer. It doesn’t matter where you begin, only where you build to. The secret to improving on the dip is to slowly but consistently add a rep or two. If you can only do six the first time, try to move it to seven the next week. Then go for eight and so forth. Eventually, you’ll get 20 and be able to add resistance. It’s been my observation that dips really don’t push up the other pressing exercises to any extent until you can add resistance. Even so, I also believe you need to establish the base of at least 20 reps to ensure that your shoulder girdle is adequately prepared for the stress before you use any additional weight.

Chins, in my opinion, are the very best biceps exercise for beginners. They’re an excellent combination movement, and I think you need to include as many as possible
in your program.

Chins involve the lats and delts in a positive manner, so you get more for your money. The best advice I can provide for chins is to use a full range of motion and do them smoothly. In other words, make sure you extend your arms completely on each rep, and don’t jerk about. Start with a rather wide grip and move it in slightly on each set.

As with dips, start by doing as many as you can and increase the number at each workout. It’s more difficult to increase your reps on chins than it is on dips, so you only add one to the total number you do at each workout. If you’re able to perform six, six, five and four the first time you try them, that’s a total of 21 reps. So, the next time you do chins you need to get a total of 22 reps. The increase usually comes on the first set, when you’re fresh, but in some cases it comes later because you’re more warmed up and also more determined. The formula works if you do it consistently and never cheat on the numbers. I’ve had athletes who needed to do a certain number start with six and end up doing 29.

Some people cannot do chins – for a variety of reasons – or they simply prefer curls. That’s okay too. The important thing is that you work your biceps directly at least once a week, for they play a part in securing the shoulder girdle.

There’s one critical form point, especially for athletes. Always make sure you fully extend your arm on each rep. Don’t use abbreviated motions for it will tend to shorten your range of motion over time. The adage about weightlifters becoming muscle-bound does have some basis in fact, since many did a lot of short-range movements for their biceps and eventually became so inflexible that they couldn’t straighten their arms.

One auxiliary exercise for the shoulder girdle that I’ve always liked is incline dumbbell presses. They fit in perfectly after heavy flat benches. I don’t like doing barbell inclines on the same day as flat benches. It’s too much load except for advanced lifters. If you do incline dumbbell presses you increase the workload safely because you use high reps, so the weight is self-limiting.

What do I mean by that? Because I adhere to the 40-rep rule on most auxiliary exercises except for chins and dips, I typically have my lifters do two sets of 20. That means a 300-pound bencher will have his work cut out for him handling 50-pound dumbbells. In the process, however, he’ll add two tons to his workload without unduly stressing his shoulder girdle.

One other auxiliary movement I use once lifters shift to a four-days-a-week routine is the close-grip bench press. That gives them a bit more variety. You can also use it in a three-day routine be substituting it for the pushdowns every other week. Use lower reps on your close-grip benches so you can maintain perfect form.

Also, before allowing lifters to move to four days a week, I have them start adding a back-off set on the core exercises to increase the total workload. One set of eight is sufficient.

Unless you’re an advanced lifter use one core exercise and no more than two auxiliary exercises per workout, not counting those you do for the upper back. If the core exercise has been strenuous, as on a heavy bench day, then one auxiliary exercise is plenty. On the light and medium days you can add two – but not two that hit the same muscle groups.

The standard guideline for sets and reps in strength development is four to six sets of four to six reps. That obviously applies to the larger bodyparts, not the smaller ones. I’ve always used the mean, five sets of five, since those numbers are much easier to deal with when working with groups of people. I also understand that there’s value in doing lower reps on certain days and higher reps on others. I’m only speaking of the core exercises now, for I always stick with high reps on the auxiliary movements. So one week you might do the standard five sets of five, then the next you do three sets of five followed by two heavier sets of threes, twos or even singles. The lower reps hit the attachments, tendons and ligaments much more than the higher reps, but you shouldn’t have a steady diet of low reps for you’ll overly tax those attachments.

And yes, I do believe that singles have a place in a program, regardless of your level of proficiency. If your form is good there’s really no reason that you shouldn’t test your strength on the various core exercises every so often – assuming that you’ve been doing them long enough to build a firm base. Singles help to raise mental limits and point out form errors more readily than high reps.

By constantly working different angles with the suggested exercises you’ll greatly help to stabilize the shoulder girdle – and a strong shoulder girdle is a happy shoulder girdle.

Shoulder Girdle Routine

Three-Days-a-Week Program

Monday (heavy day)
Bench Presses* – varies
Incline Dumbbell Presses – 2 x 20

Wednesday (light day)
Overhead Presses* – varies
or
Dips** – 4 x failure

Friday (medium day)
Incline Barbell Presses* – varies
Pushdowns – 2 x 20
Dips*** – 4 x failure
or
Seated Dumbell Presses – 4 x 10

*Alter your sets and reps each week. One week do five sets of five; the next do a warmup of three sets of five followed by three sets of heavier triples, doubles or singles.
** Once you can do 20 dips without resistance, do weighted dips instead of overhead presses at alternate Wednesday workouts.
*** Once you start using weighted dips on Wednesday, use seated dumbbell presses on Friday.

Notes

Be sure to include two upper-back exercises in your program each week. Doing cleans of high-pulls on Monday and shrugs on Friday works well, as that leaves Wednesday for some specific lower-back work.

After a month start adding one back-off set on all the core exercises. One set of eight reps will help increase the workload. You may want to stick with a three-day routine indefinitely, but if you do want to graduate to a four-day program, here’s the way to put it together.

Four-Days-a-Week Program

Monday (heavy day)
Bench Presses* – varies
Incline Dumbbell Presses – 2 x 20

Tuesday (light day)
Weighted Dips** – varies
Overhead Presses** – varies

Wednesday (medium day)
Incline Barbell Presses* – varies
Straight-Arm Pullovers – 2 x 20
Chins – 4 x failure
or
curls – 2 x 20

Friday (medium day)
Bench Presses*** – 4 x 8; 2 x 2
Dips (no resistance) – 4 x failure
Close-Grip Bench Presses – 3-4 x 12
or
pushdowns**** – 2 x 20

* Use the same varying set and rep scheme as described for the three-day program.
** Alter your sets and reps each week. One week do five sets of five; the next do four sets of eight or three sets of five followed by two triples, plus one back-off set of eight. Do one exercise or the other until you’ve been training for some time and feel you can handle both on the same day. If you dip heavy, use dumbbells on the overhead presses and keep your reps relatively high – 10s and 12s. If you press heavy, do your dips without resistance and run the reps as high as you can.
*** Use heavy doubles. No back-off set.
**** In choosing the close-grip benches or the pulldowns, whichever exercise gets you the sorest is the one you should do more frequently.

Notes

Continue to do trap work at least twice a week. It’s an even better idea to add one other upper-back exercise on Tuesday. It can be a light movement, such as snatches or snatch-grip high pulls.