Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on August 26, 2007
I have not shared this with Max Bob yet (well, at least not until he read this article), but one of my personal goals is to add at least 100 pounds to my 20-rep squat over the next six months or so. Truth be told, I’ve become obsessed with getting my squat poundage up to competitive standards.
At WST we usually squat on a "machine" (there’s a picture of the machine on Bob’s website somewhere... (a super re-enforced Pendulum type). Don’t let the machine fool you. WST-style squats are the most exhausting, grueling, and humbling exercise I’ve ever performed. (Also- we do 2 SETS of 20!) Yet – and I cannot begin to explain why – I love them. The squat machine is simultaneously feared and revered. I love “letting it go” and “killing” a serious set of squats. There are few things that get the testosterone pumping through my veins like a death march on the squat machine. I always end up on the ground wheezing madly after a strenuous set, but the great sense of accomplishment makes it all worth it. Perhaps that’s it – perhaps the mere challenge of the machine attracts me to it. I don’t fully know. All I know is that I’ve become completely obsessed with progressing on this single exercise – almost to the exclusion of the other lifts.
And here’s the thing ….. I’m 100% confident that I’ll reach my target. There’s positively no doubt in my mind. However, getting there from here will require a great deal of hard work and mental doggedness. The more I train with Bob, the more I realize that a proper attitude is the key to success – particularly when wrestling with the squat machine. Come determined to succeed and I often will. Show up with a laissez-faire attitude and a head filled with doubt and I might as well go home. Simply put, if I’m not “in the mood” I seldom nail my lifts. If I show up with resolve – with something to prove, if you will – great things nearly always happen. Bringing my “A game” and “being here now” (as Bob espouses) are paramount to success.
One day a few months ago, I approached the squat machine and recall looking at the weigh and commenting to myself (perhaps I even murmured it aloud) “you’ve got to be kidding me, Bob.” It’s no surprise that I was only able to get a few reps before surrendering. I learned the hard way that day that positive thinking is absolutely critical for getting through a tough set. Driving yourself to finish the last couple of reps when all you want to do is pack up, go home, and never come back takes fortitude and concentrated focus. There’s no two ways about it.
Nowadays I approach my workouts with an entirely different mindset. I’ve definitely seen the light on the need for proper mental preparation. When I show up at WST today, I’m no longer satisfied to merely complete a tough set – I come prepared to CRUSH the set! Anything less won’t do. I focus on being on the offensive, trying to kill the weights before they kill me.
All this revelation has lead me to “study up” on the mental training techniques of the experts. I just finished reading Peak Performance (one of Bob’s recommended readings) and I’ve begun to apply some of the strategies outlined in the book. I’ve been spending a lot of my time away from the gym focused on mental visualization techniques. As such, I find myself rehearsing my 20-rep squats several times a day, most often in the car as I’m driving to and from the Metro station each day (just about the only quiet time I’m afforded). On WST training days, I have to walk approximately ten minutes from the Metro station to Bob’s dungeon. I spend most of this walk mentally rehearsing my squats (oddly enough, even on non-squatting days).
All of this appears to be working. This past weekend I was using a record weight (for me that is) on the squat machine yet it actually felt light – unexpectedly light, absurdly light even. As a result I completely crushed the set - killed it in fact - and I swear I heard the machine beg for mercy! I almost completed all 20 reps in a continuous rep fashion, when normally I’m gasping for air long before I’m halfway through. Have you ever had one of those workouts where you felt like Superman? Well it was one of those days. I damn near died when the set was over and I was categorically useless for the rest of the workout – I’d be misleading you if I suggested otherwise – but during the set I was so focused that it felt like my body was on autopilot. I was a force to be reckoned with. I really surprised myself. Needless to say, the experience was extremely motivating!
All of this has only amplified my obsession to improve on the lift. I find myself redoubling my mental training efforts. To steal Dave Wright’s expression, I’ve become a “man on a mission.” Some would say I’ve taken my obsession too far. For example, at WST I usually precede a heavy set by psyching myself up and screaming “YES!” immediately before attacking the iron. The other day I caught myself yelling “YES!” while sitting in traffic. Strange, huh?
This all might be a little strange, sure. I’m a 38 year old husband and father of two beautiful little children with a demanding job and remarkably little free time, and if I’m being honest I spend far too much time focused on this little weightlifting hobby of mine. After all, I should be playing with the kids and spending quality time with my wife instead of writing articles for Natural Strength, right? From this perspective, sure, obsessing over something like 20-rep squats seems like energy a tad bit misplaced. I tell you what though – I’ve never felt more energized and I cannot recall having this much fun or feeling this much personal satisfaction in a long while. Nor have I ever had such a healthy hobby. I feel like I’ve subtracted 20 years off my age. Weight training is the best stress reliever I’ve found, and in the final analysis all the energy I pour into training repays me double by allowing me to be a better father, husband, and co-worker. With all these benefits, I can live with a little “strangeness” in my life.
Have I taken my obsession too far? Am I crazy? Probably. However, six months from now when I’ve added 100 pounds to my squat and hopefully gained a considerable amount of muscle in the process, I’m not sure there will be too many individuals equally crazy enough to challenge my sanity face-to-face …… if you know what I mean. ? ?
To all those diehard lifters out there, what’s your obsession?
Physical Culture Books.com
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
What I Think of Commercial Gyms - By Steve Meredith
Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on August 30, 2007
Jim Duggan posed the question, "What is it that bothers you the most when you are training at a gym?" in one of his recent posts in the Natural Strength Inner Circle, after he read a newspaper article about a fracas in a health club between two middle aged men.
The fracas that Jim read about happened because one of the men was “making too much noise” and “wouldn’t shut up”. I don’t know what noise the other fellow was making, but I imagine he was grunting and groaning with exertion, something which has to be expected if you’re working hard; occasionally some other more gut-tural noises can be common also!
What strikes me is the resort to violence because the other fellow wouldn’t stop making his noise, this shows a complete lack of manners, and maturity on the part of both men, and is a reflection of just how self centred many people are now. This sparked a memory for me about the gym I started to train in when I was a boy of 13, in the late 1970’s and throughout the 1980’s, where this kind of incident just didn’t happen.
When I was in school a few of my schoolmates and I developed the aspiration to become bigger and stronger. We all played rugby and the extra size and strength would help. Our enthusiasm was fuelled by the success of the legendary Welsh rugby team of the 1970’s and the success of the great athlete Geoff Capes, and later we were inspired by “Rocky”. In particular, I was motivated by “the Pontypool front row” and their tales of domination made legendary by Max Boyce, a Welsh folk singer. He also sang about the steelworks and the mines which employed some of the very same men who were playing rugby for Wales at the time. You could not help but feel immense admiration and respect for these men who would finish a day’s heavy work and then go to rugby training, or running, or the gym, or in some instances play an international game! Of course their training had to be very efficient, no time for long drawn out complicated routines; they got the basics done in short order then went home to their families for food and sleep, before staring another day of hard work.
Some of these men trained at a local sports stadium which contained a large area set aside for weight training. It was about six miles from home, so whenever we could get a lift up there a group of us would go there to train. This supplemented our regular workouts performed in the garage of my friend’s house.
It was a place for men. I know that sounds a little politically incorrect and sexist, but it was for men. I can only ever remember one female training there; she was a police officer and an international shot putter, her name was Vanessa Head. I got to know here a few years later when she coached the Welsh schools athletics team. She was an immensely strong woman, stood over six feet tall and weighed in at 15 ½ stones. I remember her telling us how difficult it was to keep weight on for her, and she had a special supplement – large tins of creamed rice pudding! I remember seeing her do reps in the split style clean with over 100 kg’s, and benching over 140 kg’s. She was an exceptionally strong woman and fitted in well, but primarily it was a place for men.
As boys we didn’t dare to interrupt any of the men training, and looking back we didn’t get much training done there until we had established ourselves as regular faces and gained the trust and respect the men who trained there. We simply observed, learned about how the strongest men trained by watching them, then taking that information and constructing routines based on it. When we got the opportunity to train with some of them we did, and we did what we were told to do.
This was a time when the majority of young men still respected their grandfathers, fathers, uncles and brothers, and aspired to grow into big strong responsible men just like them. Working men were still seen as providers and protectors, trusted and imitated, looked up to. Things have changed now, and it seems that young men in particular (although many young women are not immune) are more interested in upholding their “repsec’ wid’ de homies” than considering what sacrifices their forefathers made to allow them to live in a democratic society.
We learned about good morals, about the virtues of loyalty to those who help you, friends and family; honesty, not only in the sense of being publicly honest but just as importantly being honest to yourself, about not taking the easy route, about the dignity of work and the satisfaction and pleasure to be gained. We learned about taking real pride, not the puffed up bragging that so many people see as acceptable today, but an inner feeling of accomplishment and worth in achieving some thing by putting effort into it. Try talking about real pride to some of today’s youngsters; unless you can buy it and it makes you look good they don’t want to know. We developed healthy social principles and respect for others, supporting and helping people around us, we had to, many families relied on food handouts to survive during the steel and coal strikes which took place at the time.
We were educated in real gym manners. In the gym you didn’t behave in a way that would offend or upset someone, it was “owned” in a figurative rather than literal sense, by tough men, mainly miners and steelworkers. You played by the unwritten rules or you didn’t go there! I’m not talking about how to dress or what would be an acceptable level of noise, these were never an issue, every one was too busy training to worry about what you looked like or whether you were shouting too loudly. I’m not talking about quarrels over which kind of music should be played THERE WASN’T ANY! All you could hear was the bustle of men talking, laughing and encouraging each other, and the clank and bang of weights as they were being used. I’m not talking about that most heinous crime of walking in front of the mirror when someone was “using” it to observe their form on side lateral raises! (People rarely did them and there were no mirrors!) The manners I’m talking about are clearing up after yourself without being asked or expecting someone else to do it; not hogging the lifting platform or squat rack to do curls in when someone was waiting to do squats; not trying to dish out “advice” to people who YOU think ought to concentrate on losing fat instead of doing 400 pound squats; being friendly and asking people who are obviously waiting to use the piece of equipment you are using if they would like to work in with you, not taking extra sets just to wind them up; about trying to inspire rather than intimidate respecting men who have experience and actually listening to them when they say that training two or three times per week is enough for most people! No one strutted about trying to impress and intimidate, these men were modest, and interested in improving themselves not showing off.
The place was large with three lifting platforms which dominated the entrance side of the room, a multi-gym, some benches, a rack of dumbbells and several plate loading machines. The ceiling was high and the walls were bare. It smelled of sweat, liniment, and a lingering sulphurous odour which was ingrained in the clothes and skin of the men who worked in the local steelworks. There was no heating, and the windows looking out onto the running track would get misted up with the heat being produced in the gym in the winter. There was no carpet or mirrors, no receptionist or pretty instructor, and no club towels in the changing rooms. There were no “instructors” to walk you through each item of equipment and get you to sign away liability if something unfortunate happened, and there was no lounge area to sit and chat afterwards. No “expert advice” about how to achieve “optimum health and fitness”. No presumption that you wanted to achieve a particular “look” or a bloody six pack! YOU JUST WENT TO LIFT! And so did everyone else. Can you imagine how one of the members of the “fitness club class” of today would react to this place?! It wasn’t for socialising or networking, it was a place to lift weights. You didn’t go there after a hard day at the office to “unwind” you went there to get big and strong! It was used by lifters and athletes. Isn’t that what a gym is for?
You paid your fee at the front desk and went in to train, there were no joining fees, monthly and yearly schemes, gold memberships or off peak deals. Most blokes didn’t use the changing rooms, they went already dressed in their kit, and deposited their holdall usually containing work clothes, boots and lunch-boxes in a pile at the entrance to the gym, when they finished they picked their bag up and went home. They didn’t swan around with a bottle of “posh water”; if they got thirsty they got a drink from the tap! They would have felt most uncomfortable discussing tans, man boobs, hairstyles, jewellery, and the multi-sexual lifestyle! No offence intended, you live the way you want to, but in the gym talk about weights! Nowadays you get groups of young men(?) who turn up at the gym purely to socialize, ogle the ladies (and men?) and generally make a nuisance of themselves. They are loud and lazy, all tattoos, fake tans and funny hair! I wish I could transport them through time to the old gym; they would shrivel up and crawl out never to return again! Talk about the feminization of society.
There were weightlifting and power lifting clubs run there informally, and if you wanted to get involved you just turned up when everyone else did and the blokes helped you out. You didn’t need to pay for a personal trainer or extra fees to be part of a club. I remember a couple of old-timers who helped me out, they trained regularly on the power lifts and were quite strong. They were in their 50’s at least, and did a routine which consisted of squats, bench, chins, and dips one day and deadlifts, bench, chins, and dips the other day, they trained twice per week and performed several sets of 3’s and 5’s per lift. I think they were squatting about 200 kg’s for 5 reps, deadlifting about the same and benching about 130 kg’s for 5. They were both about 14 stones in weight, about 5’ 7” tall. I remember that one of them always trained in a heavy tracksuit with a zip up the front, which he would zip right the way up to the neck. One day, it was very warm, and he took the top off, he was wearing a t-shirt underneath which was damp with sweat; I’ve never seen so much honest muscle on a man before or since! He was doing chins at the time, his arms and back were thick with solid, real muscle, and his forearms swollen with blood. This was the only time I saw him without his tracksuit top off, he was typical of the men who trained there, he wasn’t interested in showing off what he had achieved, it was enough that he knew he had achieved it.
The loads hoisted at the gym were very ordinary, if you believe what the internet and the glossy magazines of today say, but if you have trained with men who have lifted for a long time without using drugs you know that actually they were very respectable loads. In my experience Stuart McRobert was about right in the 300 bench press – 400 squats – 500 deadlift estimation he made for realistic goals set out in Brawn. Also, looking back there were very few heavy men lifting, most men were lean and muscular. I think trainees today have been duped into believing that they can attain unrealistic bodyweights and as a result become fat (myself included!). Perhaps this is another slip in realism brought about by drug use and drug users who report high bodyweights at low levels of body fat. I think that it is realistic for a man of 5’ 9” to get into hard muscular condition at about 14 stones bodyweight, but much more than this will require exceptional genetics or drugs.
In the main we learned about lifting by watching these older guys doing Olympic lifts squats, deadlifts, bench press, standing press, rows, curls, chins, dips etc. Where can a young man go now if he wants to learn about real training? There aren’t many places which even allow the practice of Olympic lifts anymore. The last time I went to the old gym they had modernised it, moved it to a smaller plush room with atmospheric lighting, nice floors and mirrors, a loud stereo system, TV’s mounted on the walls, and places to plug your personal headphones in. They got rid of the useful stuff like the lifting platforms and squat racks, Eleiko bars and bumper plates, and furnished it with shiny hi-tech machines and cardio equipment. There’s a running track outside, why the hell do we need treadmills! For crying out loud, where do you squat, deadlift, clean and snatch!
If you are lucky enough to find a traditional gym nowadays it is more likely than not to be populated by the type of trainee I despise even more than the “beautiful people” and “know-it-alls” who populate the health clubs and fitness centres. The meathead juicer! He’s anywhere from 16 years old to late 30’s, with a shaved head and a red face covered in spots. He wears those stupid trousers that look like a cross between psychedelic pyjama bottoms and something Ali Baba and the forty thieves would have worn! He’s got a sweatshirt on which has been hacked to subtly reveal his “big guns”, and usually has a picture of a big gorilla on the front of it. He’s got various tattoos, some designs, some writing, none of which actually mean anything; they just “look ‘ard!”. He walks with a permanent ELS (exaggerated lat spread), and wears his lifting belt tightly notched from the moment he enters the gym. He spend his time camped at the heavy end of the gym, taking about 20 minutes rest between sets with 220 pounds for 6 reps in terrible form on the bench press. He and his buddies talk in grunts and one syllable words, about their latest “bitches” and what stacks they are using. They have no respect for themselves or anyone else. If you enter “their patch” you feel the air of hostility immediately. There’s no friendly banter, offers to work in or welcomes, just stares and sly smirks, posturing and attempts to intimidate. After they realise they won’t fluster you they get back to their conversation about the things which concern the dregs of society. They don’t work, or go to school, and have no interest in helping anyone but themselves. They find pleasure only in immediate self gratification. The gym is filled with loud music with words which offend and sicken me. The walls are covered with various posters of “muscle stars” and soft pornography. The changing rooms are a place where drug deals take place, and the owner is usually the biggest fellow, who got his capital together by dealing drugs to kids, “bouncing” at night clubs and working as a debt collector! What kind of example is this for a young lad interested in getting big and strong?
I still visit commercial gyms from time to time. I like to rattle their cages, show them how it should be done, and you never know I may even have the opportunity to impart some knowledge and inspire others to train properly. I can still remember the smell and sounds of the old gym and I miss it, but I'm lucky enough to have a good garage gym, and the company of some of the old school friends I first started training with, so I stay there to train...
Physical Culture Books.com
Jim Duggan posed the question, "What is it that bothers you the most when you are training at a gym?" in one of his recent posts in the Natural Strength Inner Circle, after he read a newspaper article about a fracas in a health club between two middle aged men.
The fracas that Jim read about happened because one of the men was “making too much noise” and “wouldn’t shut up”. I don’t know what noise the other fellow was making, but I imagine he was grunting and groaning with exertion, something which has to be expected if you’re working hard; occasionally some other more gut-tural noises can be common also!
What strikes me is the resort to violence because the other fellow wouldn’t stop making his noise, this shows a complete lack of manners, and maturity on the part of both men, and is a reflection of just how self centred many people are now. This sparked a memory for me about the gym I started to train in when I was a boy of 13, in the late 1970’s and throughout the 1980’s, where this kind of incident just didn’t happen.
When I was in school a few of my schoolmates and I developed the aspiration to become bigger and stronger. We all played rugby and the extra size and strength would help. Our enthusiasm was fuelled by the success of the legendary Welsh rugby team of the 1970’s and the success of the great athlete Geoff Capes, and later we were inspired by “Rocky”. In particular, I was motivated by “the Pontypool front row” and their tales of domination made legendary by Max Boyce, a Welsh folk singer. He also sang about the steelworks and the mines which employed some of the very same men who were playing rugby for Wales at the time. You could not help but feel immense admiration and respect for these men who would finish a day’s heavy work and then go to rugby training, or running, or the gym, or in some instances play an international game! Of course their training had to be very efficient, no time for long drawn out complicated routines; they got the basics done in short order then went home to their families for food and sleep, before staring another day of hard work.
Some of these men trained at a local sports stadium which contained a large area set aside for weight training. It was about six miles from home, so whenever we could get a lift up there a group of us would go there to train. This supplemented our regular workouts performed in the garage of my friend’s house.
It was a place for men. I know that sounds a little politically incorrect and sexist, but it was for men. I can only ever remember one female training there; she was a police officer and an international shot putter, her name was Vanessa Head. I got to know here a few years later when she coached the Welsh schools athletics team. She was an immensely strong woman, stood over six feet tall and weighed in at 15 ½ stones. I remember her telling us how difficult it was to keep weight on for her, and she had a special supplement – large tins of creamed rice pudding! I remember seeing her do reps in the split style clean with over 100 kg’s, and benching over 140 kg’s. She was an exceptionally strong woman and fitted in well, but primarily it was a place for men.
As boys we didn’t dare to interrupt any of the men training, and looking back we didn’t get much training done there until we had established ourselves as regular faces and gained the trust and respect the men who trained there. We simply observed, learned about how the strongest men trained by watching them, then taking that information and constructing routines based on it. When we got the opportunity to train with some of them we did, and we did what we were told to do.
This was a time when the majority of young men still respected their grandfathers, fathers, uncles and brothers, and aspired to grow into big strong responsible men just like them. Working men were still seen as providers and protectors, trusted and imitated, looked up to. Things have changed now, and it seems that young men in particular (although many young women are not immune) are more interested in upholding their “repsec’ wid’ de homies” than considering what sacrifices their forefathers made to allow them to live in a democratic society.
We learned about good morals, about the virtues of loyalty to those who help you, friends and family; honesty, not only in the sense of being publicly honest but just as importantly being honest to yourself, about not taking the easy route, about the dignity of work and the satisfaction and pleasure to be gained. We learned about taking real pride, not the puffed up bragging that so many people see as acceptable today, but an inner feeling of accomplishment and worth in achieving some thing by putting effort into it. Try talking about real pride to some of today’s youngsters; unless you can buy it and it makes you look good they don’t want to know. We developed healthy social principles and respect for others, supporting and helping people around us, we had to, many families relied on food handouts to survive during the steel and coal strikes which took place at the time.
We were educated in real gym manners. In the gym you didn’t behave in a way that would offend or upset someone, it was “owned” in a figurative rather than literal sense, by tough men, mainly miners and steelworkers. You played by the unwritten rules or you didn’t go there! I’m not talking about how to dress or what would be an acceptable level of noise, these were never an issue, every one was too busy training to worry about what you looked like or whether you were shouting too loudly. I’m not talking about quarrels over which kind of music should be played THERE WASN’T ANY! All you could hear was the bustle of men talking, laughing and encouraging each other, and the clank and bang of weights as they were being used. I’m not talking about that most heinous crime of walking in front of the mirror when someone was “using” it to observe their form on side lateral raises! (People rarely did them and there were no mirrors!) The manners I’m talking about are clearing up after yourself without being asked or expecting someone else to do it; not hogging the lifting platform or squat rack to do curls in when someone was waiting to do squats; not trying to dish out “advice” to people who YOU think ought to concentrate on losing fat instead of doing 400 pound squats; being friendly and asking people who are obviously waiting to use the piece of equipment you are using if they would like to work in with you, not taking extra sets just to wind them up; about trying to inspire rather than intimidate respecting men who have experience and actually listening to them when they say that training two or three times per week is enough for most people! No one strutted about trying to impress and intimidate, these men were modest, and interested in improving themselves not showing off.
The place was large with three lifting platforms which dominated the entrance side of the room, a multi-gym, some benches, a rack of dumbbells and several plate loading machines. The ceiling was high and the walls were bare. It smelled of sweat, liniment, and a lingering sulphurous odour which was ingrained in the clothes and skin of the men who worked in the local steelworks. There was no heating, and the windows looking out onto the running track would get misted up with the heat being produced in the gym in the winter. There was no carpet or mirrors, no receptionist or pretty instructor, and no club towels in the changing rooms. There were no “instructors” to walk you through each item of equipment and get you to sign away liability if something unfortunate happened, and there was no lounge area to sit and chat afterwards. No “expert advice” about how to achieve “optimum health and fitness”. No presumption that you wanted to achieve a particular “look” or a bloody six pack! YOU JUST WENT TO LIFT! And so did everyone else. Can you imagine how one of the members of the “fitness club class” of today would react to this place?! It wasn’t for socialising or networking, it was a place to lift weights. You didn’t go there after a hard day at the office to “unwind” you went there to get big and strong! It was used by lifters and athletes. Isn’t that what a gym is for?
You paid your fee at the front desk and went in to train, there were no joining fees, monthly and yearly schemes, gold memberships or off peak deals. Most blokes didn’t use the changing rooms, they went already dressed in their kit, and deposited their holdall usually containing work clothes, boots and lunch-boxes in a pile at the entrance to the gym, when they finished they picked their bag up and went home. They didn’t swan around with a bottle of “posh water”; if they got thirsty they got a drink from the tap! They would have felt most uncomfortable discussing tans, man boobs, hairstyles, jewellery, and the multi-sexual lifestyle! No offence intended, you live the way you want to, but in the gym talk about weights! Nowadays you get groups of young men(?) who turn up at the gym purely to socialize, ogle the ladies (and men?) and generally make a nuisance of themselves. They are loud and lazy, all tattoos, fake tans and funny hair! I wish I could transport them through time to the old gym; they would shrivel up and crawl out never to return again! Talk about the feminization of society.
There were weightlifting and power lifting clubs run there informally, and if you wanted to get involved you just turned up when everyone else did and the blokes helped you out. You didn’t need to pay for a personal trainer or extra fees to be part of a club. I remember a couple of old-timers who helped me out, they trained regularly on the power lifts and were quite strong. They were in their 50’s at least, and did a routine which consisted of squats, bench, chins, and dips one day and deadlifts, bench, chins, and dips the other day, they trained twice per week and performed several sets of 3’s and 5’s per lift. I think they were squatting about 200 kg’s for 5 reps, deadlifting about the same and benching about 130 kg’s for 5. They were both about 14 stones in weight, about 5’ 7” tall. I remember that one of them always trained in a heavy tracksuit with a zip up the front, which he would zip right the way up to the neck. One day, it was very warm, and he took the top off, he was wearing a t-shirt underneath which was damp with sweat; I’ve never seen so much honest muscle on a man before or since! He was doing chins at the time, his arms and back were thick with solid, real muscle, and his forearms swollen with blood. This was the only time I saw him without his tracksuit top off, he was typical of the men who trained there, he wasn’t interested in showing off what he had achieved, it was enough that he knew he had achieved it.
The loads hoisted at the gym were very ordinary, if you believe what the internet and the glossy magazines of today say, but if you have trained with men who have lifted for a long time without using drugs you know that actually they were very respectable loads. In my experience Stuart McRobert was about right in the 300 bench press – 400 squats – 500 deadlift estimation he made for realistic goals set out in Brawn. Also, looking back there were very few heavy men lifting, most men were lean and muscular. I think trainees today have been duped into believing that they can attain unrealistic bodyweights and as a result become fat (myself included!). Perhaps this is another slip in realism brought about by drug use and drug users who report high bodyweights at low levels of body fat. I think that it is realistic for a man of 5’ 9” to get into hard muscular condition at about 14 stones bodyweight, but much more than this will require exceptional genetics or drugs.
In the main we learned about lifting by watching these older guys doing Olympic lifts squats, deadlifts, bench press, standing press, rows, curls, chins, dips etc. Where can a young man go now if he wants to learn about real training? There aren’t many places which even allow the practice of Olympic lifts anymore. The last time I went to the old gym they had modernised it, moved it to a smaller plush room with atmospheric lighting, nice floors and mirrors, a loud stereo system, TV’s mounted on the walls, and places to plug your personal headphones in. They got rid of the useful stuff like the lifting platforms and squat racks, Eleiko bars and bumper plates, and furnished it with shiny hi-tech machines and cardio equipment. There’s a running track outside, why the hell do we need treadmills! For crying out loud, where do you squat, deadlift, clean and snatch!
If you are lucky enough to find a traditional gym nowadays it is more likely than not to be populated by the type of trainee I despise even more than the “beautiful people” and “know-it-alls” who populate the health clubs and fitness centres. The meathead juicer! He’s anywhere from 16 years old to late 30’s, with a shaved head and a red face covered in spots. He wears those stupid trousers that look like a cross between psychedelic pyjama bottoms and something Ali Baba and the forty thieves would have worn! He’s got a sweatshirt on which has been hacked to subtly reveal his “big guns”, and usually has a picture of a big gorilla on the front of it. He’s got various tattoos, some designs, some writing, none of which actually mean anything; they just “look ‘ard!”. He walks with a permanent ELS (exaggerated lat spread), and wears his lifting belt tightly notched from the moment he enters the gym. He spend his time camped at the heavy end of the gym, taking about 20 minutes rest between sets with 220 pounds for 6 reps in terrible form on the bench press. He and his buddies talk in grunts and one syllable words, about their latest “bitches” and what stacks they are using. They have no respect for themselves or anyone else. If you enter “their patch” you feel the air of hostility immediately. There’s no friendly banter, offers to work in or welcomes, just stares and sly smirks, posturing and attempts to intimidate. After they realise they won’t fluster you they get back to their conversation about the things which concern the dregs of society. They don’t work, or go to school, and have no interest in helping anyone but themselves. They find pleasure only in immediate self gratification. The gym is filled with loud music with words which offend and sicken me. The walls are covered with various posters of “muscle stars” and soft pornography. The changing rooms are a place where drug deals take place, and the owner is usually the biggest fellow, who got his capital together by dealing drugs to kids, “bouncing” at night clubs and working as a debt collector! What kind of example is this for a young lad interested in getting big and strong?
I still visit commercial gyms from time to time. I like to rattle their cages, show them how it should be done, and you never know I may even have the opportunity to impart some knowledge and inspire others to train properly. I can still remember the smell and sounds of the old gym and I miss it, but I'm lucky enough to have a good garage gym, and the company of some of the old school friends I first started training with, so I stay there to train...
Physical Culture Books.com
Thursday, February 2, 2012
The Passing of an Olympic Legend - By Jim Duggan
Originally posted on Natural Strength.com On Monday, October 1, 2007
Al Oerter, the first man to win four consecutive Olympic gold medals in the same event, died of heart failure near his retirement home in Ft. Myers, Florida. He was 71 years old.
He won the first of his gold medals in the discus in 1956, when he was just 19 years old. He won his last gold medal, battling poor weather and injury, in 1968. He was in his thirties when he won his last gold medal, and decided to take a break from the sport. While today's olympic athletes are, essentially, professionals, Oerter pursued his career while holding down a full-time job and raising a family. He competed at a time when amateur athletes were truly "amateur." They were prohibited from receiving ANY money or financial assistance.
I first became aware of Al Oerter in the Spring of 1980. I was fifteen years old, and a sophomore in high school. I had been lifting weights for about a year at that time, and, with the encouragement of my father, joined the track team competing in the shot-put, and discus. It was around this time that Al was in serious training for the Moscow Olympic games. He had embarked on a comeback in 1976, and he was throwing better than he ever had. His comeback was being chronicled in Newsday, the Long Island newspaper. Al lived, and worked, on Long Island, and our track coach held him up as a fine example of talent, hard work, and dedication. We all followed his comeback, and tried to emulate him. And for good reason- his athletic career was as inspiring as it was successful.
In every Olympics that he competed in, he upset a reigning world record-holder to win the gold medal. He was never the favorite, in fact he never even won the Olympic Trials. However, he was, in the words of fellow Olympian Elliott Denman, "the supreme competitor, able to rise to every occasion, cool while others around him were collapsing." Additionally, he set a new Olympic record with every victory.
He overcame a lot to win each medal. In 1957, he survived a near-fatal car accident and was able to return to Rome in 1960. In 1964, he suffered a serious injury just prior to the Games- he tore cartilage off his rib-cage, yet still competed and won. In 1968, he endured a disc injury to win his fourth gold medal. In 1980, at the age of 43, he made a throw of 227'11" for his best throw ever. Unfortunately, politics prevented him from competing for a fifth gold. Yet, he still kept pushing, and was on his way to the 1984 Olympic Trials when a leg injury ended his competitive career for good. I still remember an interview he gave just prior to the Trials when he was asked what it was like to compete against men who were half his age. His response was: "So what if I'm twice as old, I'll just work twice as hard."
He did work hard. He began lifting weights when he was about ten years old, and trained diligently for his entire life. Although his college coaches frowned upon lifting weights, he began to incorporate serious weight-training into his Olympic preparation and the results were obvious. He was a fan of strength-training and, in 2002 was honored with The Highest Achievement Award from The Association of Oldetime Barbell & Strongmen.
He was a great athlete, yet viewed sports as a joyous personal challenge. He once described his discus pursuit as " very internal...a self-fulfillment, not an acquisition of fame and fortune." That philosophy, as well as his four gold medals, makes him one of the greatest- if not the greatest- champion in Olympic history. As well as an inspiration to all athletes, of all ages, in all sports.
Physical Culture Books.com
Al Oerter, the first man to win four consecutive Olympic gold medals in the same event, died of heart failure near his retirement home in Ft. Myers, Florida. He was 71 years old.
He won the first of his gold medals in the discus in 1956, when he was just 19 years old. He won his last gold medal, battling poor weather and injury, in 1968. He was in his thirties when he won his last gold medal, and decided to take a break from the sport. While today's olympic athletes are, essentially, professionals, Oerter pursued his career while holding down a full-time job and raising a family. He competed at a time when amateur athletes were truly "amateur." They were prohibited from receiving ANY money or financial assistance.
I first became aware of Al Oerter in the Spring of 1980. I was fifteen years old, and a sophomore in high school. I had been lifting weights for about a year at that time, and, with the encouragement of my father, joined the track team competing in the shot-put, and discus. It was around this time that Al was in serious training for the Moscow Olympic games. He had embarked on a comeback in 1976, and he was throwing better than he ever had. His comeback was being chronicled in Newsday, the Long Island newspaper. Al lived, and worked, on Long Island, and our track coach held him up as a fine example of talent, hard work, and dedication. We all followed his comeback, and tried to emulate him. And for good reason- his athletic career was as inspiring as it was successful.
In every Olympics that he competed in, he upset a reigning world record-holder to win the gold medal. He was never the favorite, in fact he never even won the Olympic Trials. However, he was, in the words of fellow Olympian Elliott Denman, "the supreme competitor, able to rise to every occasion, cool while others around him were collapsing." Additionally, he set a new Olympic record with every victory.
He overcame a lot to win each medal. In 1957, he survived a near-fatal car accident and was able to return to Rome in 1960. In 1964, he suffered a serious injury just prior to the Games- he tore cartilage off his rib-cage, yet still competed and won. In 1968, he endured a disc injury to win his fourth gold medal. In 1980, at the age of 43, he made a throw of 227'11" for his best throw ever. Unfortunately, politics prevented him from competing for a fifth gold. Yet, he still kept pushing, and was on his way to the 1984 Olympic Trials when a leg injury ended his competitive career for good. I still remember an interview he gave just prior to the Trials when he was asked what it was like to compete against men who were half his age. His response was: "So what if I'm twice as old, I'll just work twice as hard."
He did work hard. He began lifting weights when he was about ten years old, and trained diligently for his entire life. Although his college coaches frowned upon lifting weights, he began to incorporate serious weight-training into his Olympic preparation and the results were obvious. He was a fan of strength-training and, in 2002 was honored with The Highest Achievement Award from The Association of Oldetime Barbell & Strongmen.
He was a great athlete, yet viewed sports as a joyous personal challenge. He once described his discus pursuit as " very internal...a self-fulfillment, not an acquisition of fame and fortune." That philosophy, as well as his four gold medals, makes him one of the greatest- if not the greatest- champion in Olympic history. As well as an inspiration to all athletes, of all ages, in all sports.
Physical Culture Books.com
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Carry Like Crazy! - By Zach Even–Esh
Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on November 17, 2007
The simplest movements can often yield the most powerful results. Is this why I never saw anyone doing farmer walks with the 180 lb dumbbells at some gyms I’ve been to?
Or heavy rack pulls, heavy squats, heavy military presses (standing not seated) or heavy barbell rows?
These movements pack on the real muscle and make you stronger than a Bull! What about farmer walks with the farmer walk bars?
These long bars make the carries much harder and really hammer the lower body. Normally we used our 130 lb dumbbells or heavy kettlebells but these long bars were different and better for full body work!
You can also perform the other basic carries with dumbbells and sandbags. These movements will develop full body strength and you want to include these HEAVY in your workouts on a regular basis. These are the basics. After the basics you can start getting more advanced by using cross carries or mixed carries.
The cross carries can be used with dumbbells, kettlebells and even sandbags. All you need to do is hold them in two different positions. This awkward loading of the body strengthens the muscles and the body from unique angles that don’t get worked through traditional movements.
Carrying heavy objects of any type are awesome for full body strength development and work capacity.
In addition, the first rep of every set is some form of a power clean and / or deadlift just to get the weight off the ground. Putting the weights down requires control, so no dropping, only squatting /deadlifting the weights down under control.
I’ve met some seriously strong men who never touch free weights, their strength came from manual labor carrying objects, lifting them, throwing them, power cleaning them into truck beds, etc.
The guy who used to pick up our garbage when we were remodeling our house had an old pick up truck, it seriously looked like Steve Justa’s truck!
This guy’s name was Tony. Tony picked up junk for people as a side job, but it was always heavy stuff. Odd objects that makes you stronger than a freight train.
He would pick up all our stuff: toilet bowls, dish washers, heavy contractor bags filled with sheet rock, an old deck and more! I remember talking to him about strength training (as I always did) while we were loading his pick up with 20 + bags of sheet rock. He was holding one bag with a straight arm as he causally spoke with me! I was using two arms and my entire body to heave those bags up and I was starting to sweat bullets.
Tony was used to carrying car parts, scrap metal and other seriously heavy and odd objects. Essentially, all he did was carry junk. But, remember, like I said, when you carry objects, you power clean them up / down as well as deadlift the weight up /down.
It can’t get any simpler than that!
Now it’s time you begin to carry some odd objects!
Physical Culture Books.com
The simplest movements can often yield the most powerful results. Is this why I never saw anyone doing farmer walks with the 180 lb dumbbells at some gyms I’ve been to?
Or heavy rack pulls, heavy squats, heavy military presses (standing not seated) or heavy barbell rows?
These movements pack on the real muscle and make you stronger than a Bull! What about farmer walks with the farmer walk bars?
These long bars make the carries much harder and really hammer the lower body. Normally we used our 130 lb dumbbells or heavy kettlebells but these long bars were different and better for full body work!
You can also perform the other basic carries with dumbbells and sandbags. These movements will develop full body strength and you want to include these HEAVY in your workouts on a regular basis. These are the basics. After the basics you can start getting more advanced by using cross carries or mixed carries.
The cross carries can be used with dumbbells, kettlebells and even sandbags. All you need to do is hold them in two different positions. This awkward loading of the body strengthens the muscles and the body from unique angles that don’t get worked through traditional movements.
Carrying heavy objects of any type are awesome for full body strength development and work capacity.
In addition, the first rep of every set is some form of a power clean and / or deadlift just to get the weight off the ground. Putting the weights down requires control, so no dropping, only squatting /deadlifting the weights down under control.
I’ve met some seriously strong men who never touch free weights, their strength came from manual labor carrying objects, lifting them, throwing them, power cleaning them into truck beds, etc.
The guy who used to pick up our garbage when we were remodeling our house had an old pick up truck, it seriously looked like Steve Justa’s truck!
This guy’s name was Tony. Tony picked up junk for people as a side job, but it was always heavy stuff. Odd objects that makes you stronger than a freight train.
He would pick up all our stuff: toilet bowls, dish washers, heavy contractor bags filled with sheet rock, an old deck and more! I remember talking to him about strength training (as I always did) while we were loading his pick up with 20 + bags of sheet rock. He was holding one bag with a straight arm as he causally spoke with me! I was using two arms and my entire body to heave those bags up and I was starting to sweat bullets.
Tony was used to carrying car parts, scrap metal and other seriously heavy and odd objects. Essentially, all he did was carry junk. But, remember, like I said, when you carry objects, you power clean them up / down as well as deadlift the weight up /down.
It can’t get any simpler than that!
Now it’s time you begin to carry some odd objects!
Physical Culture Books.com
Sunday, January 29, 2012
My Story - By Efraín Vázquez
Ever since I was a kid in elementary and junior high I was your typical skinny-nerdy type. The textbook definition of hardgainer. I was very tall but packed little to no muscle, and all the time I was either picked on by the bullies at school or I was the last person to be chosen by any team when we played sports.
At 16 years of age I decided it was time to change, and entered a gym with three of my buddies. We went first at night time, when it’s packed with people, and we tried to talk to the pretty girls, have a good time, and so on. Eventually, all three of my friends stopped going to the gym, so I decided to go in the morning, so I wouldn’t be distracted by lots of people.
My first day of morning training (which was not really early, it was at about 7 or 8 am) I was greeted by the gym trainer, and he put me on a scale (I weighed 176 lbs. at around 6’1”) and literally told me that I had good starting weight, and with a “couple of shots” I would be bulking up in no time. I didn’t get it at first, but now I realize that without even seeing me train, or putting me in a training an eating program, he was already offering me steroids!!!
I declined the offer, but I did buy a can of protein powder, and started my 5-day/week training schedule, doing plenty of exercises and reps per “bodypart” and so on. This change in me took place during high school, and my confidence started to grow. (If you’re training for the first time, practically any method of training will get your body to grow)
When I entered college, I was looked upon differently by my friends. My look and my confidence soared! I enjoyed my college days very much, especially since the gym was dark, with old equipment, and a couple of guys did actually train pretty hard. We all inspired each other to work our asses off. At that time I started taking my training more seriously, so I started searching the web for info on weight training. I came up with a really cool website which I loved, called The Brotherhood of Iron, hosted by Sam DeLucia. I was hooked, reading page after page on this training method called “HIT” in which you trained to failure, using compound exercises, squatting, deadlifting and so on (Deadlift? What’s that?). In the “Links” section of that website, I finally saw the light by clicking on NaturalStrength.com.
I was introduced to names such as Bob Whelan, Drew Israel, Dr. Ken Leistner, Stuart McRobert and many others. I loved reading the training stories of Sean Toohey, especially the one about the squat lesson. I also changed my view on training, doing now shorter, infrequent, more brutal workouts using compound exercises.
At that time the college gym was being remodeled, so they moved all the equipment to the old “arts” building. There were paintings on the walls, huge columns, and it was built like the inside of a monastery or something of the sort. Since I started working part-time and going to school afterwards, I asked permission to train at 10 pm, after school. They let me in, so I bought my radio and my attitude and started hitting it hard. (My brother trained with me most of the occasions, so it was a great time in which we bonded together and became good friends in the process, but that’s another story)
We made great gains, started gaining strength, and all my friends started telling me “What are you taking man? Creatine?” I just laughed and said “tuna cans”. Still, I had no notion of progression, and I just added weight when I felt like it, and took it out when I felt kind of lazy. So my strength levels practically stayed the same.
After college I trained on and off for a few years (more “off” than “on”), until one day I looked in the mirror with 250 lbs. of weight (read: FAT) and said “What the heck happened to me?”. So I decided to do some cardio (spinning) for a month and lost around 12 lbs. of fat and I guess a little muscle. I didn’t care, I just wanted to lose all that fat which I had wrongly let in my body by not training at all and eating the wrong foods.
I had not trained for a while so I started going to a local gym, but again, training on and off because work was taking most of my time.
Last December the gym I was going to announced that it would be the last month of operations, and they would close for good. I spoke with the owner and bought a squat rack, a bar, a bench, an EZ bar and a few plates (adding up to about 260 lbs.). I also got a wrist roller.
As of January this year, I decided it was enough. I wanted to train seriously. So I took my copy of the Arnold Encyclopedia…. sorry, I mean, my copy of Brawn by Stuart McRobert, and designed a training program for me following his guidelines. I had lost a lot of strength so I needed to take it slow, cycling and adding small weight increments week after week.
I’m proud to say that, even though I have been training on and off for many years, I started my first real cycle of training this January, with a three day schedule as follows:
Tuesday
Deadlift 1x15, 1x10 (after two months drop the second set)
Pulldowns 2x8
Skull-crushers 1x10
Thursday
Bench press 1x10
Seated press 1x10
Barbell curl 1x8
Saturday
Squat 1x20
One-leg calf raise 1x20, 1x15
Ab and grip work take place on Tuesdays and Saturdays, although most Tuesdays I have a hard time with the wrist roller since my forearms are already fried by deadlifts and pulldowns.
I now weight 242 lbs. at 6’3”, but I want to trim down to around 220 lbs. After training with correct cycling and progression, I can say that I started deadlifting 135 lbs. for 15 reps, and now it’s April and I can deadlift 253 lbs. for 15 reps.
I started squatting 135 lbs. for 20 reps (never did 20-rep squats before in my life) and now I squat 225 lbs. for 20 reps.
I started benching 135 lbs. for 10 reps and now I bench 215 lbs. for 10 reps.
This after 3 and a half months of training hard, eating well (I could do better, though) and sleeping just enough (7 hours). I can only imagine the results I will get when I eat the right foods and sleep 8 or 9 hours per day, and this motivates me to train and live correctly.
Sure, these weights may seem small considering my size and build, but I have come to realize that I’m not really an extreme hard gainer. Maybe it’s my mind or maybe I have the genetic potential (or maybe both), but it’s my goal to reach a 300-400-500 by the end of the year, if I put my heart into it, and by next year I will be way stronger!
I started with very little strength, but I have reached levels of strength now which I never had before. I am squatting 20 reps and love it! I am training solo, at home, and I am more motivated than ever! No distractions, no talking with friends, just myself and the bar.
They guy who sold me the squat rack and the weights told me in December “don’t worry, you won’t need more plates in many months”. I’m calling him this week “I need another 250 lbs., bro! When can I pick them up?”.
I just wanted to share my story to motivate everyone to forget about being a hardgainer or an easy gainer. Forget of going to the gym for its “great social experience”. Forget about bioavailability of this and that protein powder.
Sure, those things may have their place, and some are more important than others, but my advice is to just develop yourself a balanced training program consisting of 5 compound exercises (upper/lower body, push/pull), maybe 2 or 3 assistant exercises (barbell curls are not forbidden), divide them in 2 or 3 days of training, start with low weights and add a little bit to the bar every single time you train. Keep a training log, eat lots of tuna cans and milk, turn off the TV and get some quality sleep, and you might just convince yourself, like me, that you’re not a hardgainer at all!
Eat like an animal, train like a horse, sleep like a baby and grow like a weed.
Live strong!
Physical Culture Books.com
At 16 years of age I decided it was time to change, and entered a gym with three of my buddies. We went first at night time, when it’s packed with people, and we tried to talk to the pretty girls, have a good time, and so on. Eventually, all three of my friends stopped going to the gym, so I decided to go in the morning, so I wouldn’t be distracted by lots of people.
My first day of morning training (which was not really early, it was at about 7 or 8 am) I was greeted by the gym trainer, and he put me on a scale (I weighed 176 lbs. at around 6’1”) and literally told me that I had good starting weight, and with a “couple of shots” I would be bulking up in no time. I didn’t get it at first, but now I realize that without even seeing me train, or putting me in a training an eating program, he was already offering me steroids!!!
I declined the offer, but I did buy a can of protein powder, and started my 5-day/week training schedule, doing plenty of exercises and reps per “bodypart” and so on. This change in me took place during high school, and my confidence started to grow. (If you’re training for the first time, practically any method of training will get your body to grow)
When I entered college, I was looked upon differently by my friends. My look and my confidence soared! I enjoyed my college days very much, especially since the gym was dark, with old equipment, and a couple of guys did actually train pretty hard. We all inspired each other to work our asses off. At that time I started taking my training more seriously, so I started searching the web for info on weight training. I came up with a really cool website which I loved, called The Brotherhood of Iron, hosted by Sam DeLucia. I was hooked, reading page after page on this training method called “HIT” in which you trained to failure, using compound exercises, squatting, deadlifting and so on (Deadlift? What’s that?). In the “Links” section of that website, I finally saw the light by clicking on NaturalStrength.com.
I was introduced to names such as Bob Whelan, Drew Israel, Dr. Ken Leistner, Stuart McRobert and many others. I loved reading the training stories of Sean Toohey, especially the one about the squat lesson. I also changed my view on training, doing now shorter, infrequent, more brutal workouts using compound exercises.
At that time the college gym was being remodeled, so they moved all the equipment to the old “arts” building. There were paintings on the walls, huge columns, and it was built like the inside of a monastery or something of the sort. Since I started working part-time and going to school afterwards, I asked permission to train at 10 pm, after school. They let me in, so I bought my radio and my attitude and started hitting it hard. (My brother trained with me most of the occasions, so it was a great time in which we bonded together and became good friends in the process, but that’s another story)
We made great gains, started gaining strength, and all my friends started telling me “What are you taking man? Creatine?” I just laughed and said “tuna cans”. Still, I had no notion of progression, and I just added weight when I felt like it, and took it out when I felt kind of lazy. So my strength levels practically stayed the same.
After college I trained on and off for a few years (more “off” than “on”), until one day I looked in the mirror with 250 lbs. of weight (read: FAT) and said “What the heck happened to me?”. So I decided to do some cardio (spinning) for a month and lost around 12 lbs. of fat and I guess a little muscle. I didn’t care, I just wanted to lose all that fat which I had wrongly let in my body by not training at all and eating the wrong foods.
I had not trained for a while so I started going to a local gym, but again, training on and off because work was taking most of my time.
Last December the gym I was going to announced that it would be the last month of operations, and they would close for good. I spoke with the owner and bought a squat rack, a bar, a bench, an EZ bar and a few plates (adding up to about 260 lbs.). I also got a wrist roller.
As of January this year, I decided it was enough. I wanted to train seriously. So I took my copy of the Arnold Encyclopedia…. sorry, I mean, my copy of Brawn by Stuart McRobert, and designed a training program for me following his guidelines. I had lost a lot of strength so I needed to take it slow, cycling and adding small weight increments week after week.
I’m proud to say that, even though I have been training on and off for many years, I started my first real cycle of training this January, with a three day schedule as follows:
Tuesday
Deadlift 1x15, 1x10 (after two months drop the second set)
Pulldowns 2x8
Skull-crushers 1x10
Thursday
Bench press 1x10
Seated press 1x10
Barbell curl 1x8
Saturday
Squat 1x20
One-leg calf raise 1x20, 1x15
Ab and grip work take place on Tuesdays and Saturdays, although most Tuesdays I have a hard time with the wrist roller since my forearms are already fried by deadlifts and pulldowns.
I now weight 242 lbs. at 6’3”, but I want to trim down to around 220 lbs. After training with correct cycling and progression, I can say that I started deadlifting 135 lbs. for 15 reps, and now it’s April and I can deadlift 253 lbs. for 15 reps.
I started squatting 135 lbs. for 20 reps (never did 20-rep squats before in my life) and now I squat 225 lbs. for 20 reps.
I started benching 135 lbs. for 10 reps and now I bench 215 lbs. for 10 reps.
This after 3 and a half months of training hard, eating well (I could do better, though) and sleeping just enough (7 hours). I can only imagine the results I will get when I eat the right foods and sleep 8 or 9 hours per day, and this motivates me to train and live correctly.
Sure, these weights may seem small considering my size and build, but I have come to realize that I’m not really an extreme hard gainer. Maybe it’s my mind or maybe I have the genetic potential (or maybe both), but it’s my goal to reach a 300-400-500 by the end of the year, if I put my heart into it, and by next year I will be way stronger!
I started with very little strength, but I have reached levels of strength now which I never had before. I am squatting 20 reps and love it! I am training solo, at home, and I am more motivated than ever! No distractions, no talking with friends, just myself and the bar.
They guy who sold me the squat rack and the weights told me in December “don’t worry, you won’t need more plates in many months”. I’m calling him this week “I need another 250 lbs., bro! When can I pick them up?”.
I just wanted to share my story to motivate everyone to forget about being a hardgainer or an easy gainer. Forget of going to the gym for its “great social experience”. Forget about bioavailability of this and that protein powder.
Sure, those things may have their place, and some are more important than others, but my advice is to just develop yourself a balanced training program consisting of 5 compound exercises (upper/lower body, push/pull), maybe 2 or 3 assistant exercises (barbell curls are not forbidden), divide them in 2 or 3 days of training, start with low weights and add a little bit to the bar every single time you train. Keep a training log, eat lots of tuna cans and milk, turn off the TV and get some quality sleep, and you might just convince yourself, like me, that you’re not a hardgainer at all!
Eat like an animal, train like a horse, sleep like a baby and grow like a weed.
Live strong!
Physical Culture Books.com
Saturday, December 17, 2011
THE TRUTH ABOUT WEIGHTLIFTING - (circa 1911) - CHAPTER 15 - (Last Chapter) - By Alan Calvert
In my long association with heavy-weight lifters, both amateur and professional, I have been a witness of some very funny incidents. I remember one time that a friend of mine was about to write an article describing a certain Herculean “hand-balancer.” My friend wishes to illustrate his article with photographs of this gymnast, so he arranged to have the gymnast meet him at the photographer’s studio, and I was invited to attend. The whole party met at the photographer’s studio, about two blocks distant from the theatre at which the gymnast was exhibiting. In his stage act the gymnast used two or three kettle-bells, which were supposed to weigh 75 pounds apiece. The manager of the theatre promised to send these kettle-bells by a team to the photographer’s studio, but on our arrival we found that the bells had not yet been delivered.
We ‘phoned down to the theatre and told the manager to hurry up the team. In this theatre they employed two or three very young boys who between the acts walked up and down the aisles and handled out ice water. After we had waited 10 or 15 minutes we went to look out of the photographer’s window. Coming up the streeet we saw one of these small boys with two of the gymnast’s kettle-bells in one hand, and one in the other. He was marching gaily along, swinging the bells and whistling a tune. Anybody who saw the boy at once realized that the bells weighed less than 15 pounds apiece, although the figure 75 pounds was painted on the side of each bell. If this gymnast’s muscles are as strong as the language he used on that occasion he must be a wonder.
Several times I have endeavored to get a good phootgraph of harness-lifting, but on each occasion something has happened to spoil the picture. On one occasion, however, I saw an expert photographer work in conjunction with a first-class harness-lifter, and I think if I copied their methods I would be able to get results in the future. At the time I mention the lifter wished to have a photograph taken showing him raising, by the harness lift, two good sized horses. I was among the few invited to witness the taking of the picture. We all repaired to the yard of a livery stable where the athlete’s lifting platforms were already in position. The athlete mounted the upper platform and two fair-sized horses were driven on the lower platform. I do not consider myself a judge of the weight of horses, but the stableman said that the horses weighed 1300 pounds apiece. When they were driven on the lower platform (and stood as quiet as lambs) the photographer got his camera ready, the signal was given, and the lifter made a tremendous effort - but the platform would not budge.
The lifter was very much put out; the audience was surprised, because it was supposed the lifter would have no trouble in raising anything under 3000 pounds. After a few ineffectual efforts to lift the horses, the lifter and the photographer held a consultation. The horses were led to their stalls and the stableman brought two ponies, which were led on the platform. The photographer took the camera from the tripod, laid the tripod to one side, knelt down and rested the camera on the ground, pointing it slightly upwards, so as to get the whole group. The lifter had no trouble in raising the ponies and the photograph was a beauty for advertising purposes. The ponies which were near, and above the camera looked almost as big as elephants, and the lifter who was high in the air looked very small in comparison.
One of the best stories regarding lifters that I ever heard was told me by an Englishman, who claims to be an eye witness of the scene. It appears that in a certain city in England two great weight-lifters were appearing in the same week, at rival theatres. I will not mention their names, but the reader would recognize them at once. One of the lifters had boasted for years that he was the real champion in trhe “Bent Press,” and this man was a popular idol in England. The other man was equally proud of his prowess in the “Bent Press and had long desired to meet lifter No. l.
Lifter No. 2, in order to decoy lifter No. 1, had posters printed announcing that he would give L50 ( $250) to any other lifter, amateur or professional, who could raise a 240-pound bell (belonging to lifter No. 2), by the right arm “Bent Press.”
These posters were scattered broadcast and everybody in town knew it was an indirect challenge to lifter No. 1. The advertised performance finally arrived. Lifter No. 2 produced the 240-pound bell, which had 12-inch globes and a handle-bar nearly three inches thick. The bell was weighed by one of the city officials and it was announced that the advertised weight was correct,
Lifter No. 2 took the bell, stood it on end, “rocked” it into position on his shoulder and then after balancing it very carefully, slowly pressed it to arm’s length overhead and stood erect. At that instant a man sprung out of one of the boxes and with a dramatic gesture tore off a false beard and stood revealed as lifter No. l. Immense applause!
No obstacles were put in the way of lifter No. 1, who, after a short hesitation, took the bar-bell, stood it on end, “rocked” it into position at his shoulder, and then tried to press it. As he started to push the bell aloft, he suddenly lost control of it, and the bell dropped to the stage with a tremendous thud. As challenger he was entitled to five trials, but he was not able to get the bell over his head, although he took advantage of all the trials. Finally he had to leave the stage amidst the jeers of the supporters of lifter No. 2.
Lifter No. 1 was prefectly capable of performing the “Bent Press” with an ordinary 240-pound bar-bell, but this bell was very far from being ordinary. The big handlebar which looked so massive was nothing but a piece of hollow tubing, about 6 feet in length, and this tubing contained about 50 pounds of mercury, which ran freely from one end of the tube to the other, and naturally made the bell extremely difficult to balance. Lifter No. 2 had practiced for weeks before he had mastered the art of holding the bell absolutely horizontal. He knew that lifter No. 1 always tilted a bar-bell slightly in making the “Bent Press,” and he figured that when the bell was so tilted the mercury would do its duty and run to the lower end of the handle and wrench it from lifter No. 1’s hands. I believe the case was afterwards taken into Court, but lifter No. 1 failed to recover and damages.
I remember a little incident I saw on the stage some years ago. A couple of traveling lifters, one of whom was a European celebrity, appeared at a vaudeville house in Philadelphia and offered a substantial money prize to any local lifter who could raise with one arm above the head a certain dumbbell. I saw one attempt made, not to lift the dumbbell but to get a chance to do so. The young Philadelphia lifter to whom I refer on page 140 jumped on the stage and demanded the chance to tackle the big bell. This man looked so strong that the strangers were evidently afraid of him. One of them stepped forward, took two 56-pound ring weights, passed his little fingers through the rings and quickly swinging them to his shoulders, pressed them aloft a dozen times. He then invited the Philadelphian to try the same thing.
For some reason the Philadelphian was unfamiliar with the feat. He did not notice the stranger had the rings between his third and little fingers and really had the weights lying on the back of his forearms. When the Philadelphian tried it he hooked the first joint of little finger in the rings and tried to lift the weights above his head while they were hanging from his little fingers. Naturally he was unsuccessful and because he had failed to see through the trick (which was really a simple one) he was refused the chance to try the big bell. The next day another local lifter “put him wise.” The Philadelphian tried the feat, found he could do it with two 90-pound weights, and you never saw a more disgusted man when he realized how he had been fooled by a competitor in his own line of work.
I believe that I have seen as many “strong acts” as most men, but I have never seen anything to equal the feats performed by the heroes of some novels. Even writers who have the reputation of knowing something about physical training will make absurd statements. I remember reading a story in a magazine which was devoted to bodily exercise. You would have thought that the editor of the magazine would have known better than to publish such a story.
The hero of the tale was a small, slight youth who located in a western town. The youth’s weight was about 130 pounds, and he appeared in the town carrying a gripsack in each hand, and it afterwards appeared that these gripsacks each contained a 100-pound dumbbell, and that the youth had carried them from the nearest railroad station (which was five miles away). The youth astonished the old inhabitants of the village by exercising for an hour every day with these dumbbells. (Personally I do not know any 140-pound man who could use two 100-pound bells for an hour, but to the writer of the story this was evidently a commonplace form of exercise.) Of course as the story proceeded the wonderful youth got into a quarrel with the town bully, who naturally, was a 200-pound giant. The little hero won. He always does in stories. In real life, when a big man and a little man get into a scrap, the big man usually comes out on top, but he is never by any chance allowed to do so in fiction.
To be serious, it is not as hard to push up 100 pounds as most people suppose. Most men and boys who have done apparatus work in the gymnasium have strength enough to push up a 50-pound dumbbell, and if they were instructed how to supplement the strength of their arms with the strength of their back and legs, they would learn to raise 100 pounds in a very few lessons. I have seen a 200-pound bar bell lifted with one arm by a boy of 17 years.
There seems to be a great deal of interest among amatuers regarding the professional lifters’ habits of life, diet, method of training, etc. As I have pointed out before, the man who lifts steadily does not have to worry much about condition. Very few of the lifters whom I know, pay any attention to diet. They eat what they like and when they like. I do not know any “strongmen” who are vegetarians. Meat seems to be an essential part of their diet; beef and pork being the favorite meats. A man who performs feats of strength need the kind of food that will produce a great deal of energy and the lifter seems naturally to incline to meat, eggs, cheese, etc.
Most great lifters are temperate drinkers. An occasional glass of beer or ale helps to keep them from getting overtrained. Any man who wishes to excel in feats of strength should be careful not to train himself into a finely-drawn condition. A few extra pounds of flesh form a good reserve. The very strongest men are naturally inclined to flesh and excel the wire-drawn athlete, both in strength and endurance.
Most of the lifters of my acquaintance are moderate smokers. Some care must be exercised when indulging in tobacco. Too many cigars or cigarettes in a day will affect the heart, and cut the wind.
Most professional lifters train only for a short time every day. Some lifters only train three or four times a week. A total of two hours’ time each week is enough to keep a man in the highest possible condition, and it is also enough to develop a novice from a a totally undeveloped condition into a perfect Hercules.
The reader is probably aware that when a man takes up a sport like running or rowing, he is compelled to train most rigorously. I do not mean that he simply has to practice, but that he has to pay special attention to his diet, regular hours, etc; but a man who is training for jumping, or throwing weights, does not have to train nearly as rigorously as a man who runs or rows. The man who practices weight-lifting scarcely has to train at all. The nature of the exercise promotes a good appetite, good digestion and sound sleep. And these things make for good health.
Most lifters are of phlegmatic temperment. I do not know whether they are lifters because they are phlegmatic or whether heavy dumbbell exercises fosters a calm, even dispostion. There is one thing about heavy dumbbell exercises, and that is they do not impose any strain on the nervous system. The work is thrown entirely on the muscles.
When a man takes up light dumbell exercises or resistance exercises, he cannot get any benefit from them unless he concentrates his mind upon the muscles he is using, and every time he flexes a certain muscle he contracts it as much as he possibly can. All the tension he puts on the muscles results from this intense concentration, and this causes a great drain on the nervous system. I have seen men practice for half and hour at resistance exercises and get their nerves in such a high-strung conditgions that they were unable to sleep for twenty-four hours.
Are great “strong-men” born, or made? As I have assisted in the making of a good many first-class amateur lifters and strong men, I naturally incline somewhat to the latter point of view. I am not so foolish, however, as to make a sweeping statement that any man or boy who practices with heavy dumbbells can develop himself inot a Cyr, a Steinbach or a Saxon. Nature gives us a certain foundation on which to build, and nature also fixes a certain limit to the amount of development any individual can acquire.
As a general rule, the larger a man’s bones the larger the muscle they will support. Like every other rule this one has its exceptions. Sandow is a small-boned man; so is Thomas Inch of London. Both these men have superb muscles. I think that a man with small bones and large muscles is apt ot have a better figure than a large-boned man, because when the bones are small the joints are small, and everybody knows that a small, trim wrist or ankle helps the appearnce of the arm or leg. But these small-boned men, nothwithstanding the beauty of their figure, are rarely as strong as their large-boned brothers. Some authorities go so far as to judge a man’s natural strength by the girth of his wrists and ankles, but I do not think that this is a gauge of real strength.
The size of a man’s parents, naturally, greatly influences his ultimate development. The son a six-foot father and strongly-built mother, naturally, can make himself a great deal stronger man than the son of a pair of puny parents. Some men inherit physical strength, and other men inherit physical characteristics from one or both parents, that will assist them, or retard them (as the case may be) in their pursuit of great muscular strength and development. The careful observer will have noted that in some cases all the male members of a certain family have extraordinarily broad shoulders. Other men inherit long arms from their father, and in such cases as these, where good physical characteristics are inherited, the acquirement of strength and muscle becomes an easy matter. I know one man who is celebrated for the size and strength of his wrists and forearms, and he once told that his mother had the largest and strongest forearm he had ever seen on a woman.
The general athletic public usually underestimates the improvement they can make by systematic exercise of the right kind. They are apt to judge by the very meagre results which they, or their friends, have gotten from the use of light dumbbells, pulley weights, etc. Go out on the street, take the first hundred men you meet, and I doubt if more than five men out of the hundred have enough physical strength to raise from the ground 400 pounds in a dead-weight lift. After a year of heavy dumbbell exercises any sound man, no matter how weak his previous condition was, should be able to press above his head with one hand, a 125-pound dumbbell, to raise a 200-pound bell with both hands to arm’s length above his head, and lift at least 600 pounds dead weight from the ground. These are not unusual results, but are if anything, a low average.
To illustrate - two or three years ago I helped to form a class of eight young men and put them under the instruction of an expert weight-lifter. They exercised with heavy dumbbells and barbells four times a week during a period of three months. Not one of these boys was above the average in size or strength when he started. I suppose a 34-inch chest, 12-inch upper arm and 20-inch thigh was the most any of them could show in the way of development. Not one of them had seen a heavy dumbbell before starting this course, and not one had strength enough to raise a 100-pound barbell above his head with both arms. The average increase in chest measurement was 4 1/2 inches; the upper arm measurement 1 7/8 inches; the average increase in thigh measurement was 2 1/2 inches. The most wonderful increase was in the bodily weight. From an average weight of 140 at the beginning they went up to an average weight of 162. These boys had the advantage of expert personal instruction, but any intelligent man could do almost as well by training in his own room with heavy bells.
In conclusion, I wish to defend myself from the charge that I lack patriotism because I state that foreign lifters are better than our American professionals. As I have endeavored to show, it is merely a matter of numbers and systems of training. When a nation has 25,000 or 30,000 men training for strength, they are bound to produce more champions than a nation which has only a few hundred men training along the same line. I have seen my fellow-country men, many young men, who, if they took up progressive weight-lifting would give the European champions all they could do. I have a pupil in New England who can raise 295 in the two-arm press. He weighs only 220, and is only 24 years of age. This young man will improve. I know a Philadelphian, a former champion oarsman, who has “snatched” 160 pounds with his right arm. If this man would practice steadily for one winter, at all-around weight lifting, and specialize on the snatch, he could create an American record for that event. Every day I see men who have been favored with great physical advantages, and if I had the chance to train some of these men, I would produce some great lifters.
If this little volume encourages any number of young men to take up this fascinating sport, I will consider that the time and trouble spent in producing it have been well repaid.
Physical Culture Books.com
We ‘phoned down to the theatre and told the manager to hurry up the team. In this theatre they employed two or three very young boys who between the acts walked up and down the aisles and handled out ice water. After we had waited 10 or 15 minutes we went to look out of the photographer’s window. Coming up the streeet we saw one of these small boys with two of the gymnast’s kettle-bells in one hand, and one in the other. He was marching gaily along, swinging the bells and whistling a tune. Anybody who saw the boy at once realized that the bells weighed less than 15 pounds apiece, although the figure 75 pounds was painted on the side of each bell. If this gymnast’s muscles are as strong as the language he used on that occasion he must be a wonder.
Several times I have endeavored to get a good phootgraph of harness-lifting, but on each occasion something has happened to spoil the picture. On one occasion, however, I saw an expert photographer work in conjunction with a first-class harness-lifter, and I think if I copied their methods I would be able to get results in the future. At the time I mention the lifter wished to have a photograph taken showing him raising, by the harness lift, two good sized horses. I was among the few invited to witness the taking of the picture. We all repaired to the yard of a livery stable where the athlete’s lifting platforms were already in position. The athlete mounted the upper platform and two fair-sized horses were driven on the lower platform. I do not consider myself a judge of the weight of horses, but the stableman said that the horses weighed 1300 pounds apiece. When they were driven on the lower platform (and stood as quiet as lambs) the photographer got his camera ready, the signal was given, and the lifter made a tremendous effort - but the platform would not budge.
The lifter was very much put out; the audience was surprised, because it was supposed the lifter would have no trouble in raising anything under 3000 pounds. After a few ineffectual efforts to lift the horses, the lifter and the photographer held a consultation. The horses were led to their stalls and the stableman brought two ponies, which were led on the platform. The photographer took the camera from the tripod, laid the tripod to one side, knelt down and rested the camera on the ground, pointing it slightly upwards, so as to get the whole group. The lifter had no trouble in raising the ponies and the photograph was a beauty for advertising purposes. The ponies which were near, and above the camera looked almost as big as elephants, and the lifter who was high in the air looked very small in comparison.
One of the best stories regarding lifters that I ever heard was told me by an Englishman, who claims to be an eye witness of the scene. It appears that in a certain city in England two great weight-lifters were appearing in the same week, at rival theatres. I will not mention their names, but the reader would recognize them at once. One of the lifters had boasted for years that he was the real champion in trhe “Bent Press,” and this man was a popular idol in England. The other man was equally proud of his prowess in the “Bent Press and had long desired to meet lifter No. l.
Lifter No. 2, in order to decoy lifter No. 1, had posters printed announcing that he would give L50 ( $250) to any other lifter, amateur or professional, who could raise a 240-pound bell (belonging to lifter No. 2), by the right arm “Bent Press.”
These posters were scattered broadcast and everybody in town knew it was an indirect challenge to lifter No. 1. The advertised performance finally arrived. Lifter No. 2 produced the 240-pound bell, which had 12-inch globes and a handle-bar nearly three inches thick. The bell was weighed by one of the city officials and it was announced that the advertised weight was correct,
Lifter No. 2 took the bell, stood it on end, “rocked” it into position on his shoulder and then after balancing it very carefully, slowly pressed it to arm’s length overhead and stood erect. At that instant a man sprung out of one of the boxes and with a dramatic gesture tore off a false beard and stood revealed as lifter No. l. Immense applause!
No obstacles were put in the way of lifter No. 1, who, after a short hesitation, took the bar-bell, stood it on end, “rocked” it into position at his shoulder, and then tried to press it. As he started to push the bell aloft, he suddenly lost control of it, and the bell dropped to the stage with a tremendous thud. As challenger he was entitled to five trials, but he was not able to get the bell over his head, although he took advantage of all the trials. Finally he had to leave the stage amidst the jeers of the supporters of lifter No. 2.
Lifter No. 1 was prefectly capable of performing the “Bent Press” with an ordinary 240-pound bar-bell, but this bell was very far from being ordinary. The big handlebar which looked so massive was nothing but a piece of hollow tubing, about 6 feet in length, and this tubing contained about 50 pounds of mercury, which ran freely from one end of the tube to the other, and naturally made the bell extremely difficult to balance. Lifter No. 2 had practiced for weeks before he had mastered the art of holding the bell absolutely horizontal. He knew that lifter No. 1 always tilted a bar-bell slightly in making the “Bent Press,” and he figured that when the bell was so tilted the mercury would do its duty and run to the lower end of the handle and wrench it from lifter No. 1’s hands. I believe the case was afterwards taken into Court, but lifter No. 1 failed to recover and damages.
I remember a little incident I saw on the stage some years ago. A couple of traveling lifters, one of whom was a European celebrity, appeared at a vaudeville house in Philadelphia and offered a substantial money prize to any local lifter who could raise with one arm above the head a certain dumbbell. I saw one attempt made, not to lift the dumbbell but to get a chance to do so. The young Philadelphia lifter to whom I refer on page 140 jumped on the stage and demanded the chance to tackle the big bell. This man looked so strong that the strangers were evidently afraid of him. One of them stepped forward, took two 56-pound ring weights, passed his little fingers through the rings and quickly swinging them to his shoulders, pressed them aloft a dozen times. He then invited the Philadelphian to try the same thing.
For some reason the Philadelphian was unfamiliar with the feat. He did not notice the stranger had the rings between his third and little fingers and really had the weights lying on the back of his forearms. When the Philadelphian tried it he hooked the first joint of little finger in the rings and tried to lift the weights above his head while they were hanging from his little fingers. Naturally he was unsuccessful and because he had failed to see through the trick (which was really a simple one) he was refused the chance to try the big bell. The next day another local lifter “put him wise.” The Philadelphian tried the feat, found he could do it with two 90-pound weights, and you never saw a more disgusted man when he realized how he had been fooled by a competitor in his own line of work.
I believe that I have seen as many “strong acts” as most men, but I have never seen anything to equal the feats performed by the heroes of some novels. Even writers who have the reputation of knowing something about physical training will make absurd statements. I remember reading a story in a magazine which was devoted to bodily exercise. You would have thought that the editor of the magazine would have known better than to publish such a story.
The hero of the tale was a small, slight youth who located in a western town. The youth’s weight was about 130 pounds, and he appeared in the town carrying a gripsack in each hand, and it afterwards appeared that these gripsacks each contained a 100-pound dumbbell, and that the youth had carried them from the nearest railroad station (which was five miles away). The youth astonished the old inhabitants of the village by exercising for an hour every day with these dumbbells. (Personally I do not know any 140-pound man who could use two 100-pound bells for an hour, but to the writer of the story this was evidently a commonplace form of exercise.) Of course as the story proceeded the wonderful youth got into a quarrel with the town bully, who naturally, was a 200-pound giant. The little hero won. He always does in stories. In real life, when a big man and a little man get into a scrap, the big man usually comes out on top, but he is never by any chance allowed to do so in fiction.
To be serious, it is not as hard to push up 100 pounds as most people suppose. Most men and boys who have done apparatus work in the gymnasium have strength enough to push up a 50-pound dumbbell, and if they were instructed how to supplement the strength of their arms with the strength of their back and legs, they would learn to raise 100 pounds in a very few lessons. I have seen a 200-pound bar bell lifted with one arm by a boy of 17 years.
There seems to be a great deal of interest among amatuers regarding the professional lifters’ habits of life, diet, method of training, etc. As I have pointed out before, the man who lifts steadily does not have to worry much about condition. Very few of the lifters whom I know, pay any attention to diet. They eat what they like and when they like. I do not know any “strongmen” who are vegetarians. Meat seems to be an essential part of their diet; beef and pork being the favorite meats. A man who performs feats of strength need the kind of food that will produce a great deal of energy and the lifter seems naturally to incline to meat, eggs, cheese, etc.
Most great lifters are temperate drinkers. An occasional glass of beer or ale helps to keep them from getting overtrained. Any man who wishes to excel in feats of strength should be careful not to train himself into a finely-drawn condition. A few extra pounds of flesh form a good reserve. The very strongest men are naturally inclined to flesh and excel the wire-drawn athlete, both in strength and endurance.
Most of the lifters of my acquaintance are moderate smokers. Some care must be exercised when indulging in tobacco. Too many cigars or cigarettes in a day will affect the heart, and cut the wind.
Most professional lifters train only for a short time every day. Some lifters only train three or four times a week. A total of two hours’ time each week is enough to keep a man in the highest possible condition, and it is also enough to develop a novice from a a totally undeveloped condition into a perfect Hercules.
The reader is probably aware that when a man takes up a sport like running or rowing, he is compelled to train most rigorously. I do not mean that he simply has to practice, but that he has to pay special attention to his diet, regular hours, etc; but a man who is training for jumping, or throwing weights, does not have to train nearly as rigorously as a man who runs or rows. The man who practices weight-lifting scarcely has to train at all. The nature of the exercise promotes a good appetite, good digestion and sound sleep. And these things make for good health.
Most lifters are of phlegmatic temperment. I do not know whether they are lifters because they are phlegmatic or whether heavy dumbbell exercises fosters a calm, even dispostion. There is one thing about heavy dumbbell exercises, and that is they do not impose any strain on the nervous system. The work is thrown entirely on the muscles.
When a man takes up light dumbell exercises or resistance exercises, he cannot get any benefit from them unless he concentrates his mind upon the muscles he is using, and every time he flexes a certain muscle he contracts it as much as he possibly can. All the tension he puts on the muscles results from this intense concentration, and this causes a great drain on the nervous system. I have seen men practice for half and hour at resistance exercises and get their nerves in such a high-strung conditgions that they were unable to sleep for twenty-four hours.
Are great “strong-men” born, or made? As I have assisted in the making of a good many first-class amateur lifters and strong men, I naturally incline somewhat to the latter point of view. I am not so foolish, however, as to make a sweeping statement that any man or boy who practices with heavy dumbbells can develop himself inot a Cyr, a Steinbach or a Saxon. Nature gives us a certain foundation on which to build, and nature also fixes a certain limit to the amount of development any individual can acquire.
As a general rule, the larger a man’s bones the larger the muscle they will support. Like every other rule this one has its exceptions. Sandow is a small-boned man; so is Thomas Inch of London. Both these men have superb muscles. I think that a man with small bones and large muscles is apt ot have a better figure than a large-boned man, because when the bones are small the joints are small, and everybody knows that a small, trim wrist or ankle helps the appearnce of the arm or leg. But these small-boned men, nothwithstanding the beauty of their figure, are rarely as strong as their large-boned brothers. Some authorities go so far as to judge a man’s natural strength by the girth of his wrists and ankles, but I do not think that this is a gauge of real strength.
The size of a man’s parents, naturally, greatly influences his ultimate development. The son a six-foot father and strongly-built mother, naturally, can make himself a great deal stronger man than the son of a pair of puny parents. Some men inherit physical strength, and other men inherit physical characteristics from one or both parents, that will assist them, or retard them (as the case may be) in their pursuit of great muscular strength and development. The careful observer will have noted that in some cases all the male members of a certain family have extraordinarily broad shoulders. Other men inherit long arms from their father, and in such cases as these, where good physical characteristics are inherited, the acquirement of strength and muscle becomes an easy matter. I know one man who is celebrated for the size and strength of his wrists and forearms, and he once told that his mother had the largest and strongest forearm he had ever seen on a woman.
The general athletic public usually underestimates the improvement they can make by systematic exercise of the right kind. They are apt to judge by the very meagre results which they, or their friends, have gotten from the use of light dumbbells, pulley weights, etc. Go out on the street, take the first hundred men you meet, and I doubt if more than five men out of the hundred have enough physical strength to raise from the ground 400 pounds in a dead-weight lift. After a year of heavy dumbbell exercises any sound man, no matter how weak his previous condition was, should be able to press above his head with one hand, a 125-pound dumbbell, to raise a 200-pound bell with both hands to arm’s length above his head, and lift at least 600 pounds dead weight from the ground. These are not unusual results, but are if anything, a low average.
To illustrate - two or three years ago I helped to form a class of eight young men and put them under the instruction of an expert weight-lifter. They exercised with heavy dumbbells and barbells four times a week during a period of three months. Not one of these boys was above the average in size or strength when he started. I suppose a 34-inch chest, 12-inch upper arm and 20-inch thigh was the most any of them could show in the way of development. Not one of them had seen a heavy dumbbell before starting this course, and not one had strength enough to raise a 100-pound barbell above his head with both arms. The average increase in chest measurement was 4 1/2 inches; the upper arm measurement 1 7/8 inches; the average increase in thigh measurement was 2 1/2 inches. The most wonderful increase was in the bodily weight. From an average weight of 140 at the beginning they went up to an average weight of 162. These boys had the advantage of expert personal instruction, but any intelligent man could do almost as well by training in his own room with heavy bells.
In conclusion, I wish to defend myself from the charge that I lack patriotism because I state that foreign lifters are better than our American professionals. As I have endeavored to show, it is merely a matter of numbers and systems of training. When a nation has 25,000 or 30,000 men training for strength, they are bound to produce more champions than a nation which has only a few hundred men training along the same line. I have seen my fellow-country men, many young men, who, if they took up progressive weight-lifting would give the European champions all they could do. I have a pupil in New England who can raise 295 in the two-arm press. He weighs only 220, and is only 24 years of age. This young man will improve. I know a Philadelphian, a former champion oarsman, who has “snatched” 160 pounds with his right arm. If this man would practice steadily for one winter, at all-around weight lifting, and specialize on the snatch, he could create an American record for that event. Every day I see men who have been favored with great physical advantages, and if I had the chance to train some of these men, I would produce some great lifters.
If this little volume encourages any number of young men to take up this fascinating sport, I will consider that the time and trouble spent in producing it have been well repaid.
Physical Culture Books.com
Friday, December 16, 2011
Iron Nation Gym Trade Mark Rights (USA) For Sale
If you're interested in owning the American Trade Mark Rights to Iron Nation Gym, (we hope it's because you love the iron game, weight training, physical culture, building strength without drugs etc), Please Email us at:
info@IronNationGym.com
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Wisdom From Jack LaLanne
Videos from the sports training centers known as ASAP~Athletic Strength And Power.
Hard Training Videos with Arthur Jones