Thursday, February 20, 2014

FROM THE PIT - By Dick Conner

Reprinted with permission from HARDGAINER issue #61, July-August 1999


Finding out how much exercise you need and not how much your body can stand is still the biggest problem most weight trainees have failed to understand. In the last week two HARDGAINER readers have been in touch with me. Both were doing workouts that "would kill a horse" if done in the way "you must" in order to gain strength and size. On top of that they were doing way too much cardio work. One of them said that his workout takes him two hours to complete.

If you’re a hard gainer, then working out for two hours will wear you out.

The strongest man in the history of The Pit is Kelvin Hayes. Kelvin has been drug tested many times, both lie detector and urine. Plus I’ve watched his gains over the years and it’s evident to me that he has never used drugs.

Though Kelvin is not a hard gainer, if he trained the way of the two hardgainer readers who contacted me, then he would probably think he was a hard gainer. Kelvin has a 804 squat, 500 bench press and 695 deadlift.

At this stage, Kelvin never does cardio work. He could do a little, but very little, as it would cost him strength. Twenty minutes twice a week would be a max. But he does none.

How does Kelvin train? Over the years that I’ve seen him lift, he has had two basic movements for his upper body, and they are the bench press and a high incline. At times he has done other work, but his down-to-business movements are the bench and high incline, done with 8 reps and a couple of work sets. He also does deadlifts, squats and leg presses. Other than that, nothing else is even worth the mention. And remember, this is the amount of exercise that does the job for Kelvin. This is already less than most hard gainers use. If Kelvin can get the job done with so little exercise (but done hard), then hard gainers don’t need more exercise.

About fifteen years ago I trained a teenager called Dan Turpen. Dan was very gifted, with great muscle shape, good looks, and tougher than nails. Dan would work as hard as anyone I’d ever seen. I made it my business to see he worked hard, and I would have a good man training with him when I could, to get the best out of Dan. One such man was Jeff Sellers, Strength Coach at The University of Evansville. Jeff told me, "Every time I worked with Dan I got sick," such was the intensity Dan worked with.

Anyway, Dan went on to win the Teenage Mr. USA and along the way he attracted some writers and people from the bodybuilding scene. One such writer asked me about Dan’s program at the time. When I gave him the program--an abbreviated one, of course--the writer looked at it with horror, and proceeded to tell me he would put in the magazine that Dan was working out three days on and one off, which was nothing but a lie.






Read More »

TRAINING AT THE PIT - Dick Conner


Dick Conner's Strongman Contest outside The Pit, Evansville, Indiana



Dick Conner is one of the most respected men in the Iron Game. He has loved the Iron Game and strength training since the early 1950s. While stationed in the Navy at San Diego, he trained with Leo Stern, the same man who trained the famous Bill Pearl. He is a retired police officer and suffered serious injuries in the line of duty that made training himself almost impossible. Dick decided to turn this into a positive situation and to use his knowledge to help others. 

He has been contributing to teaching others proper training methods for decades and runs one of the best hard-core gyms in the country, The Pit, in his home state of Indiana. He is the long-time coach of the famous PIT Powerlifting Team, which has won numerous drug-tested powerlifting championships. The PIT Powerlifting Team has won 19 state powerlifting championships and 9 national championships. The team has traveled all over the country to meet any challenger. Dick trains many athletes at the Pit and has also written numerous articles for HardGainer magazine and NaturalStrength.com.



Read More »
Does modern bodybuilding make you sick? You should write for Natural Strength! I always need good articles about drug-free weight training. It only has to be at least a page and nothing fancy. Just write it strong and truthful with passion! Send your articles directly to me: bobwhelan@naturalstrength.com
BODY • MIND • SPIRIT

Vintage Bodybuilding Literature

Vintage Bodybuilding Literature
Oldtime Strongman Books

This site does not provide medical advice. We assume no liability for the information provided in NaturalStrength articles. Please consult your physician before beginning any exercise or nutrition program. Copyright © 1999-2024 NaturalStrength.com | All Rights Reserved.