George Jowett

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Footsteps of Yesterday - By George F. Jowett

Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on 30 June 2000Reprinted on Natural Strength with permission of The Iron MasterA great poet once wrote a great phrase; simple, but rich in eloquence. It ran: "Footsteps in the sands remind us of the great lives left behind us." To me that passage has been a guiding hand in my life work. I have always realized that in order to succeed, one must build on experience. While we are young we lack fundamental experience, and the only way we can get it,...

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Three Months of Training at WST - By Titus Solomon

If you train at WST you will reach your goals. I have been there for three months and very happy so far with my results. When I first met Bob at my orientation we talked about my goals: gaining weight andgetting stronger, how much I would have to eat and he told me in September "by this time next year you will be a solid 200+ pounds." And I was kind of surprised because I couldn't see myself being that big. I thought it would take a long time for me to get to 200. I weighed 165 at the...

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JOHN GRIMEK WAS THE MAN - By Bob Whelan

Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on 01 March 1999Reprinted with permission of Hardgainer, Issue #59, March-April 1999For all of my training life I've had the quiet comfort of knowing John Grimek was around to inspire and motivate me. He was my all-time Iron Game hero, a legend of unparalleled achievements, but who was universally described as a "good guy" by everyone who had the honor of meeting him. He was a guy you could really admire, look up to and respect not only for his...

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BARE BONES TRAINING - By "Maximum" Bob Whelan

Bob Whelan doing 2 inch thick bar reverse curls at WST.

Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on July 8, 1999. Reprinted with permission of The Dinosaur Files


I am an "Iron Game" guy, born and raised on free weights, now also using machines. I don't collect them (machines) or enjoy talking about them. I use them. I would rather talk about the strength of the guy using the machine than the "strength curve" of the machine. There are many who are just the opposite. They are not Iron Game guys; they are machine guys. They have no idea who George Jowett was and would rather talk about the latest Med-Ex machine. (Not how much they lifted on it, just about the machine!) I get calls from people like this all the time now. Once you get a few machines, you get into a whole new machine network. It's amazing. (They are like the guy who never drives his car and keeps it in his garage so it won't get dirty.)

I never had any machines until about two years ago. I trained only with York bars and plates and Jubinville stuff for years. Just for me, this stuff was great; but when you train ten people in a row, you can get exhausted! Your job becomes that of a laborer, no different from a bricklayer! The Hammer Strength and Southern Xercise machines I now have are great and make my job a lot easier, but my training is not BETTER just because of them. A lot of guys call me and almost apologize for not having a certain machine and use this is an excuse for poor training. My philosophy about (the good plate-loaded) machines is that they are nothing more than "guided barbells." Just alternate tools to get the job done. They should be viewed as secondary to the work being done, not the reason for training success. I had some of the best workouts of my life in crude, poorly equipped gyms. It's PASSION, EFFORT, DESIRE, and consistent HARD WORK that make just a simple barbell work wonders. You don't really need anything more. At a small, dingy, minimally equipped gym at Bitburg Airbase in Germany, from 1976-1979, I had some of the best workouts of my life. The showers frequently had only cold water. The cables on the pulley machines were always broken. They were always painting something for an inspection. (In the military, anything that doesn't move gets painted.) Even the barbell plates were painted several times during this period. They were black, gold, and white at different times. A few times they were still wet when we came to train, as some idiot painted them in the middle of the day. We still lifted and got paint all over us. As long as there were bars and plates, we were happy!

My "Iron Brother" training partner, Glenn Pieschke, and I trained like we owned the place, and we did. (We are still best friends.) Whenever we went for a personal record, we let everyone know. We would run all around the gym and tell everyone, the racquetball courts, basketball court, everywhere. Anyone who was interested, and there were many, would be brought to the weight room. Some thought we were crazy but just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. We loved to put friendly pressure on each other. THE WHOLE GYM WOULD ROOT US ON. I remember when I benched 350 for the first time and Glenn organized a large crowd. After completing the lift, I yelled, "350 pounds! Enough weight to CRUSH the average human being! Go home and tell your mothers!" We were cocky, but friendly. People loved it. It got them psyched! Soon every guy in the weight room was doing the same thing.

We rooted for each other. There was a lot of back slapping, screaming, yelling, grunting, groaning and sweating! We had a sort of "gang," and if someone wasn't there we all knew it and would get on his case when we saw him at the chow hall. There was peer pressure to train. The weight room was dark, damp, and cold; but to us, it was warm, bright, and full of energy and life. We LOVED that place! Weights were banging everywhere, and 10s, 5s and 2-1/2s were tossed back and forth around the room. Everyone had chalk; in fact, it was all over us! We had a true brotherhood and so much fun training.

We would train come sleet or snow. Even base alerts (war games) didn't stop us from training. We usually worked 24-hour shifts, but when your shift was over you had free time. But you still had to comply with the "war" conditions if you remained on the base. Most guys would get the hell out of Dodge after they ate and slept. We would bring our gas masks to the gym and STILL TRAIN. I can remember squatting in my gas mask. This is real HIGH INTENSITY training! Glenn broke his lower leg (tibia) but kept training while it healed and even squatted with his cast on. He put a ten-pound plate under the shoe of his good leg to offset the heel bump on his cast. We never missed a workout, grew like crazy, and made tremendous progress. Anyone who trained with us at Bitburg would have made at least as much progress as they ever had anywhere else. As long as we had bars and plates, the rest of the equipment didn't matter.


"Maximum" Bob Whelan runs Whelan Strength Training in Washington, DC

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ONE SET OR MULTIPLE SETS? - By Bob Whelan

Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on August 3, 1999Reprinted with permission of The Iron MasterThis is one of the most argued about topics in strength training and the answer is not the same for everyone. Of course, you must train in a moderate to high rep range to make one set to failure work as low reps require a lot more warm-up sets. With classic one set to failure training, usually two, (or just a few), warm-up sets are done to start the workout. One for the major upper body...

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The Second Capital City Strength Clinic - By Bob Whelan

Reprinted with permission of Hardgainer, Vol. 9, No. 6 (May-June 1998) I put out 110 chairs thinking that I should have plenty, but I still had to borrow 6 more from the Chinese restaurant on the first floor. We almost doubled the attendance from last year. A very enthusiastic crowd of 116 people (excluding speakers) showed up, with many having driven hundreds of miles. We had people from all over, including Michigan, Ohio, Ontario, North Carolina, and Colorado. There were many from...

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GUYS WHO JUST LIFT - By Bob Whelan

Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on June 29, 1999Reprinted with permission of The Dinosaur FilesThese guys don't just talk about training, read about it, write on the internet about it, or make excuses about why they can't do it. They just lift. These guys are the backbone of the Iron Game. They are the passion and the beauty of modern strength training. These guys are my brothers. Guys who work hard, sweat buckets, and move great poundages regularly and diligently in the icy cold...

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Essentials for Success - By P.J. Striet

Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com in Aug 1999I've seen a growing trend in the weight training world as of late: attention to detail. It seems as if everyone wants to talk about the ideal time under load, what repetition (rep) range to pick based on their fiber type, what philosophy book to read, what supplement to take, how many exercises to perform in a session, how many movements and sets per body part, etc. etc. Some of these issues have merit, I suppose. However, in my opinion,...

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"LOWER REP" HIGH INTENSITY STRENGTH TRAINING - By Bob Whelan

Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on July 23, 1999

Reprinted with permission of The Iron Master

It may sound strange to some people to attach low (to moderate) reps with the term "High Intensity," but I've done it for years with great success. IN FACT, IT IS MY FAVORITE WAY TO TRAIN. Too many people assume too many things in the strength training field. They think like programmed robots. They need to follow an organization or play "follow the leader." They can't even be friends with people with different training ideas. They view them as "the enemy." That is one of the many things wrong with this field. If more people would just think for themselves, there would be less division and more brotherhood.

There are many methods that will work and there are many combinations of various philosophies that work. There are many schools of thought in strength training and most of these philosophies work. They each have some value and truth, (just more or less for different people). Why must HIGH INTENSITY always mean HIGH reps? It doesn't have to. It does not always mean ONE set to failure either. (Many high intensity types do multiple sets too.) HIGH INTENSITY means HARD WORK. It is measured by the amount of Work done per unit of time. If you work out for one hour, the more work that you do in that hour, than the higher the intensity.

I have always liked the high intensity philosophy, but I believe that it is even more effective for strength development if there is MORE EMPHASIS ON STRENGTH not muscular endurance. Of course ANY form of progression is beneficial, but I believe that a lower rep range puts even more emphasis on STRENGTH. (Just remember to do a few more warm up sets.) Many people confuse "hard work" with strength development and get too caught up in the image of vomiting or passing out on the ground, etc. Don't get me wrong, this definitely does happen with me too, but it is not the GOAL or the way to measure how hard someone has worked. Some guys are just more prone to get sick while others never do. Vern Veldekens is the type of guy who ALWAYS gets sick so I put his name on my bucket. Most of my people only get sick during the initial conditioning phase of training and once they are conditioned, they rarely do. The truth is, some of the hardest workers that I have ever seen have never vomited. It happens sometimes, yes, but it is not a way to measure a good workout.

I start beginners with high reps of at least 10 or more per set. I train myself (and some of my advanced clients) using a rep range of 5-8 reps most of the time, but will also train several months of the year using higher reps (10-20) too. I believe that it is healthy both mentally and physically to change your rep range periodically. It gives your joints a break from the constant heavy load too. This is what I call "common sense periodization," not the official orthodox definition of periodization which I find illogical. Strength and hypertrophy are built together, not in separate phases. (In my Go Hard or Go Home training video, I chose to use higher reps because I believe it shows effort better on tape as there is less breaks in the action.) Of course, if you are training to compete or demonstrate strength, or your sport is in a specific energy system, then you will have to keep your rep range constant in relation to your performance goal.

I believe that the lower rep range, combined with the high intensity philosophy is optimal for strength development and an extremely tough way to train. I believe it is more productive than the usual high rep sets for strength development as each set is usually kept in the first energy system of 0-45 seconds. This is the system (ATP) where the type 2b Fast twitch fibers are targeted which are the primary fibers for strength and power development. In other words, you should reach muscular failure for the set at 8 reps or less. When 8 reps are done in perfect form, ADD WEIGHT.

The poundage should take care of speed of motion. Controlled positive speed reps are more sensible using higher reps. The first four or five reps are controlled and then as the weight gets harder to move, you let yourself go. This does not apply to low reps. If the weight is HEAVY ENOUGH and you are doing lower reps, there is no time for games. You just focus on getting the weight up. If the weight is HEAVY with low reps, it won't fly up. Just concentrate on LOWERING THE WEIGHT SLOWLY. If you do this, it is not ballistic. You can not use proper mental focus if you are worried about your speed of motion. Your mind should be in the mood of a "disgruntled Postal Worker," or, COMBAT/HATE/ANGRY/ATTACK mode. When your mind is ready and in this mode, you should not ruin it by counting and worrying about how many seconds it takes to ram it up. This splits your mind. Just get the weight up. If the weight is moving too fast (in 8 reps or less), then it's too light. Add enough weight to slow it down!

Alternate pushing and pulling exercises to give your muscles additional time to rest even though your actual rest is minimal. Do sets to failure. If doing multiple sets use the "Controlled Failure" method where you stop at 8 reps (if reached) but on the LAST set, go all out to failure. I usually do three exercises in a row and then give a minute rest. I give a longer rest after leg exercises like squats, deadlifts or leg presses. I manipulate exercise sequence to keep rest to a minimum too. I now do neck work (Hammer 4 way neck) after legwork so not to waste time. They are getting additional rest while still training. These tricks help to raise intensity and keep rest to a minimum.

WAYS TO INCREASE INTENSITY

1. PROGRESSIVE RESISTANCE - The primary way to increase intensity is to increase the LOAD, (or progressive poundages). This is BY FAR the most important way, in fact the other ways are meaningless UNLESS YOU DO THIS AS A TOP PRIORITY. One of my pet peeves with some high intensity advocates is that they always talk about going to muscular failure and maximum muscular contractions as if this were the most important thing. This is important, but secondary to poundage progression. You can go to failure doing pushups or any other bodyweight exercise. If you go to failure using light weights, you are just kidding yourself.

2. MAXIMUM MUSCULAR CONTRACTION (or going to muscular failure).

3. REDUCE REST between sets. If you train for an hour, the more work you do in that hour, than the higher the intensity as you are working more and resting less. Also you are training for strength under adverse conditions. When you get the extra rest when you DEMONSTRATE your strength, you will be even stronger for it.

4. STRICTER FORM. The stricter the form, the more work for your muscles. (Less momentum etc.)

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MINIMUM MENTALITY - By Bob Whelan

Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on June 2, 1999Reprinted with permission of The Dinosaur FilesThere is a cult of underachievers in the strength training field that believes in a "minimalist" training philosophy. These minimum mentality advocates are constantly searching for the minimum amount of training possible. They stretch the limits of recovery to the extreme and train as little as possible. They go far beyond recovery and deep into atrophy. Only in strength training do you...

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Practical Progression - By John Szimanski, Jr.

Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on June 1, 1999Every good lifter knows of and accepts the idea that progression is the key to getting stronger. Progression can be in the form of more weight or more reps, or, both. While we all know that being able to do more reps means that we are stronger, it's the increase in weight that brings a smile. It's the increase in weight that demonstrates improved strength.Typically, regardless of where we start out, we reach a point where it seems...

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Effort and Dedication Make Many Methods Work - by Bob Whelan

Reprinted with permission of Hardgainer, Vol. 9, No. 5 (March-April 1998) A few years ago, while attending the annual conference of the National Strength and Conditioning Association in New Orleans, I was having a conversation with a well known Ph.D. “researcher type.” We talked for about twenty minutes, and seemed to be getting along great. Out of the blue he asked me, “Do you do power cleans?” When I replied that I did not usually do them (but I had nothing against him for doing them),...

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Effective Strength Training: Understanding the Intensity-Duration Relationship - By Dave Durell

Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on June 1, 1999The optimal number of sets of resistance exercise required to produce maximum increase in strength remains a very controversial topic. In order for any strength training program to be considered effective, obviously that program would have to produce an increase in strength. If two different systems both produced an equal increase in strength, then other criteria must be utilized to determine which is truly the most effective. These...

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