The Key to Might and Muscle - (Circa 1926) - Chapter 21 - Why Home Exercise is the Best - By George F. Jowett

You may have heard would-be body culturists say, "Aw gee, how can I train? There is no gymnasium around here, and any way if there was, I couldn't afford it." Actually, hundreds of young men have presented this problem to me, hoping that I would be able to solve the little difficulty for them. It is quite natural for any person to consider exercise and a gymnasium at the same time. As I have said at different times, it depends on what you are after. If it is games or calisthenics, all right. By all means become a member of a gymnastic class. They will certainly teach you to become good at the game you prefer, and this will help to keep you healthy and fit at the same time. Calisthenics will freshen you up and keep you normally fit, but if it is your whole body you want to build up to a stage of perfection, then it is an entirely different proposition. Of course, there are exercise rooms in all gymnasiums to which you can go and seclude yourself, but they do not always have the proper apparatus at hand for the body culturist to use. Of course, there is always the congeniality of companionship, but I have found that this is often very embarrassing, especially to the man who is under developed or too fat. There is always somebody willing to pass remarks, which even when made in fun, go a long way to diminish enthusiasm. Often a man is too conscious of his condition, and what he requires is encouragement, not to made the object of fun no matter how good natured it may be.

This may give you the idea that do not approve of gymnasiums. On the contrary, I do approve of them, but if you want to do any body building, do it at home. Of course, if you know an instructor who has an unusual interest in his clients and understands progressive body building, then that is different. He will be a great help if you can afford to pay for his services. Unfortunately many cannot. Others live in the country, or do not have the time at their disposal. There is nothing in the world that can overcome these little difficulties like home training. As long as you have space in your bedroom to spread your arms level with your shoulders, and stretch out to arms' length overhead, you have all the room necessary to train. Three or four nights a week training just before you retire will fix you up, and if you have more time to spare, you can devote some of it at the gym to your favorite game, be it boxing, wrestling, or handball; but if you are deeply interested in building up your body to its finest state of perfection you will be apt to give more time to your training than just three or four periods a week. Home is more convenient, and there you have no one to bother you. If you can get another friend to train with you that will be fine, but more than one only detracts the others from their training, as conversation is bound to waste the precious minutes.

First, what a body builder or health seeker wants, is an outfit hat will give him the best results. I can honestly say that there is nothing that can equal a bar bell outfit. All that is required is a set of graded plates of iron that will enable the home exerciser to increase his poundage as he improves in size and strength, with a handle bar about five feet long, dumb-bell handles, and kettle-weight handles -- then he is all set to go. These sets can be bought to suit the purse of the individual. If a person wants to build up in size and strength enough to make his appearance a little better than the average, and yet feel vigorously fit, and outfit weighing from one hundred to two hundred pounds is enough. If it is great strength and muscular proportions that he desires, then he will require a heavier set. The next step is to be sure to obtain the best instructions from a teacher in whom you feel that you have faith. When you have these all these together and settled, you will be surprised to find how this will convert your room into a gymnasium of your own.

As I look back over the years, my mind dwells fondly upon the little bedroom that has long been treasured in my memory. Within those four walls I spent many hours struggling for a better body. It was right there that I fought my battles and won by victories. No matter how hopeless some things many have appeared during those days, I always saw the turn at the end of the road. How I loved those days. My parents took great pride in my healthy body and unusual strength, but they began to think I was too enthusiastic when I began to tow in weights. Oh, no, my dear friend, we were not so lucky then as to have all the convenient plate loading belts that you have today. They were all solid weights, or lumps of iron, and they were terribly expensive. Anyhow, my mother thought to scare me out of the idea, and told me I would have to go up in the attic and live. Well, I went up to the attic all right and carried all my stuff with me. Mother would shake her head and dad would grin. I first got a pair of dumb-bells, then a heavy iron part of an old axle, a block weight, and a ninety pound dumb-bell. I used the latter for a bar bell as well as a dumb-bell by catching hold of the outside on the big nuts and pushing it overhead with both hands. I pinned my exercises on the wall and started out. Bit by bit I accumulated my outfits, and a proud boy was I when I surveyed my first plate loading bar bell. Pictures began to appear upon the bare walls in neat formation, and on the winter nights I gazed upon my ideals and inspirations and plugged away. Bare floors meant nothing to me and , oh yes, I had a big cracked mirror too. I slept on a little camp cot, where I dreamed of my ambitions all night. I kept the place clean myself, and in later years mother would show her friends my little sanctum with pride. I accumulated a little physical culture library, and gradually decorated my room with my outfits, photos, diplomas, medals and other trophies. For years, after I left home, they kept the room just as I had kept it. No one else was allowed to occupy it. Perhaps the saddest part of it was that my wanderings took me so far away that I never returned to my boyhood home and its treasured memories. For in the meantime death had intervened and broke up my parental home. Still, you see others viewed it as a sacred spot besides myself. I attended gym classes and played all outdoor sports, but it was the environment I was able to build within the four walls of my bedroom that enabled me to concentrate on my exercise training in such a manner as would be impossible elsewhere. It laid the foundation of my athletic success.

You can create your own ideals in home training, without fear of disturbance, just as thousands of others have. You get a hundred times better results.There is no lost motion there, you can concentrate and win.

A little while ago I received a long letter from one of my old chums who had often taken a work-out with me up in my little bedroom. We had not met for about twenty years. He was a little older than I and went out to Australia. He still is an exercise bug. How I would like you to read his letter. He longed for the old days, as we all do, but he remembers best the many happy hours we spent together building ourselves into efficient manhood in that little attic. Proudly he reminded me that the very best specimen of manhood were all home exercise fans, men who did not require elaborate gymnasiums. It is true. Sandow, Maxick, Pullum, MacMahon, Berry, Coulter, Manger, Matysek, Willoughby, Snyder, Klein and a host of others got the foundation and the subsequent results of their marvelous physiques within their bedroom chamber. You can't beat it. Thirty minutes intensive exercise, a good rub down, and then jump into bed and you will sleep like a rock, waking up with the life coursing through your veins that will make you fit for any emergency.

If you want a forty-four inch chest, a sixteen and a half inch biceps, twenty-five inch thigh, or a sixteen inch calf, don't overlook the value of your own home. It is more economical and result producing, and then you are at home. When winter comes, don't be afraid of a little cold atmosphere; it will do you good and help you to pep up.

I know that many of the most famous strong men did all their weight lifting training in their bedrooms. It was within the confines of those four walls that they put up their best poundages.

Nowadays, home training has become recognized by the majority of people as the way to get the very best results in body building. Nowhere else can individual instructions be given to as good an advantage, for every prospective body builder must recognize the fact that no material results can be obtained unless the exercises are laid out to suit the physical requirements of the individual. What suits one person does not suit another, which is one reason why mass drill is only a body toner and not a body builder. Intensive training only, will produce muscular growth and proportionate strength. This method of training requires the knowledge of one who is fully acquainted with the body, and its peculiarities in muscular growth in order to secure the best results for the pupil. In this book I have tried to explain everything about the muscles and their operations, as well as the why's and wherefore's of exercise, how it should be done and what points to most carefully consider. In this way it is possible for every one to map out a course for himself to suit himself, which is bound to give him the very best results in his home training.

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The Key to Might and Muscle - (Circa 1926) - Chapter 20 - What is Man's Limit in Weight-Lifting? - By George F. Jowett

How quickly that question will make followers of the sport of weight lifting prick up their ears and listen. It is an eternal question and one that is asked in every line of sport. No doubt long before Samson carried away the Gates of Gath, and positively ever since, many have asked this question, "What is the ultimate limit of man's strength?" Everything has its limits, no matter whether it is a machine or a human being running a race, a limit is always reached; but what we are greatly interested in is how far we can go before the limit is reached. When Sandow made his first record in the bent press of two hundred and sixty-five pounds, the world thought the pinnacle was reached. Then along came Saxon and he shattered it by well over a hundred pounds. He did not receive any extra aid from any special lifting apparatus in any of his lifts. He could do as well with the weights of any other lifter. It is sometimes claimed that special apparatus is always used when record performances are made. The actual truth is that the weight lifter will always have to rely upon his speed and strength. His success lies within himself, as explained in the chapter "Where is the Science in Lifting Weights?" I do not deny that there are many types of bars which help him a little, but these are often the undoing of the athletes. The heavier the weight, the greater the rebound in a very springy bar. A cambered bar is useful in bent pressing a weight. It helps to kill the roll of the bar and the tipping in the hand, but neither Sandow nor Saxon used a cambered bar, nor did Gorner, Giroux, Cadine, or Rigoulot in their dead lifts with one and two hands. Not one of these men used any special bars for their snatch, swing, or clean and jerk lifts. Just the regular plate loading bells, and in some of the lifts they used the old type shot loading bell. All of which goes to prove that the weight lifter has not, up to date, received any really valuable aid from the change made in bars. Any records I have made were made with the ordinary plate loading bell, the shot loading bell, or a combination of both, and mostly with thick handle bars, excepting the swing when I employed a "back hang." Still there is no doubt in my mind that the cambered bar is very helpful in one and two hand dead lifting, and in the bent press. Some lifters can use this same bar to a greater advantage in the one hand snatch, and one hand clean and jerk. What I mean is, that the mechanical strides made in weight lifting apparatus are not as great as those made in some other sports. For example, the new ball used in baseball has greater liveliness and is calculated to increase its flight thirty or forty feet over the ball used a few years back, and this has naturally increased the number of home runs. At one time, hammer throwers swung a blacksmith's sledge hammer. Now a ball hammer has a specially constructed handle and revolves on ball-bearings. The weight lifting game is entirely different. The lifter cannot get up a great momentum with a weight and let it go the way a hammer thrower does. He always has to overcome the resistance of the weight, and sustain it in order to make a lift.

Laboratory research has done a lot for other sports, but nothing for weight lifting so far. Nevertheless, I can make a bar that could revolutionize weight lifting; at any rate increase the abilities of the lifter by twenty to twenty-five per cent on all lifts but the military press lift, and it would be more legitimate than the "western roll" used in high jumping and which has caused so much controversy.

However, that has nothing to do with my subject, analyzing the possibilities of the strong man as they exist today. Quite a number of years ago I drew up a tabulated list of records on various lifts, naming certain poundages that I believed would be reached within the period of a few years by lifters in the three classes that I scheduled. Most of my weight lifting friends and followers raised their brows in amazement, for as they expressed themselves, they were not used to hearing me talk outside the realms of possibility. Some were kind enough to say that if they had not known me so well they would have doubted my sobriety when I made the schedule. I will agree that they did appear staggering, as they were way out of sight at that time in comparison with the then existing records. I had many reasons for my prophecy, which I have explained in other chapters. However, the World War broke out and everything was set back, but in the few years of post-war reconstruction most of the records I had named have been equalled and in many cases surpassed.

What is more remarkable, many of these records have been knocked off their pedestals by lighter men than I took into consideration at that time. In those days a middleweight was from one hundred and fifty-four pounds to one hundred and sixty-one pounds, and a lightweight scaled from one hundred and forty-seven pounds up to one hundred and fifty-four. Now a lightweight can only scale from one hundred and twenty-six pounds to one hundred and forty pounds, and the middleweight follows up to one hundred and fifty-four pounds. I kept the chart of figures and thinking you will find them interesting, I will lay them before you. But I want you to bear in mind when surveying the records that they were listed according to the bodyweights of that time. Another thing I want to bring before your attention in respect to bodyweight is the difference in the European class weights and ours. All of the European bodyweights are a few pounds heavier than ours in the same class, which according to our figures would throw many of their best men up into the next bodyweight class. So please always remember that when making your comparison. It is really this vexed bodyweight question that has developed the belief that the Europeans are much better than the American strength athletes. When you have concluded reading this chapter, you will be both surprised and proud to see how the American post-war weight lifter has forged to the front, and the favorable comparison he makes with our foreign strong men.

It seems like a hard job for me to get started to give you the promised list, but I feel I have so much to talk about that I believe may interest you, that I fid it hard to include everything in the space of these chapters. Anyway, here goes. Look these figures over, just so that you will not feel the shock of the high marks so badly. I have placed an asterisk alongside of each record that has been either equalled or surpassed.

Heavyweight class. Two Hands Continental Jerk *425 pounds. Two Hands Clean and Jerk *375 pounds. Two Hands Snatch *270 pounds. Two Hands Anyhow 475 pounds. One Hand Clean and Jerk 265 pounds. One Hand Snatch *235 pounds. One Hand Swing *220 pounds. One Hand Anyhow *400 pounds.

Old Middleweight class (161 pounds). Two Hands Continental Jerk *340 pounds. Two Hands Clean and Jerk 300 pounds. Two Hands Snatch *230 pounds. Two Hands Anyhow 375 pounds. One Hand Clean and Jerk 240 pounds. One Hand Snatch *200 pounds. One Hand Swing *180 pounds. One Hand Anyhow 325 pounds.

Old Lightweight class (147 pounds). Two Hand Continental Jerk *275 pounds. Two Hands Clean and Jerk *250 pounds. Two Hands Snatch *200 pounds. Two Hands Anyhow *320 pounds. One Hand Clean and Jerk *200 pounds. One Hand Snatch 175 pounds. One Hand Swing 165 pounds. One Hand Anyhow *265 pounds.

You will see that of the twenty-four records listed, sixteen have been equaled or surpassed. The remaining eight are not so far out of sight as you may imagine. The fact is that by the time you have this book in your hands some of the eight records will have fallen. Already, they are dangerously threatened. The records that are likely to remain untouched longest are the Two Hands Anyhow and the One Hand Anyhow in the middleweight class. The sole reason for this is that the bent press is the principal part of these lifts, especially in the One Hand Anyhow. In the Two Hands Anyhow, quite a few perform the lift by jerking the weight overhead with two hands and then transferring it to one hand; then by reaching down and picking up a dumb-bell or kettle bell and pressing overhead, the lift is concluded.

As I was saying, the principal part of these two lifts is the bent press, and just no we haven't many good middleweight bent press men. If any man at the present time can do either of these lifts, Fournier is the man. He is a master of the bent press and the two hands jerk and can handle a rare poundage in either lift, which makes him quite capable of equaling these marks, if he trained for them. He is much below the old middleweight limit, scaling one hundred and fifty-four pounds, but at that weight he has bent pressed from the shoulder and held at arm's length a living weight of over three hundred pounds. As I said in another chapter, to bent press a man is easier than a weight, but the fact remains he held the weight at arms' length after raising it, which proves that he has the sustaining power, which means a great deal in the Two Hands Anyhow. I have seen him jerk with two hands three hundred pounds three times in succession. We have seen that he can hold over three hundred pounds at arms' length in one hand, and jerk three hundred pounds easily with two hands, therefore there should be no trouble for him to transfer two hundred and eighty pounds to one hand, and raise a hundred pounds with the other hand, with a little training.

Then there was Kosakwitz, who at only one hundred and forty-five pounds found no difficulty in jerking with two hands over three hundred pounds, and he too was a great bent press man. Even Maxick was a great bent press man. Although it is not so well known, at one time he trained to lift double his bodyweight in that style, and in training succeeded, which means he was able to raise at least two hundred and ninety-four pounds in the bent press. Business in the first place, and the outbreak of the war in the second place prevented him from obtaining an official record. His wonderful two arm jerk of three hundred and twenty-two pounds, at a bodyweight of less that one hundred and fifty pounds shows the wonderful ability he possessed. Had he been trained for those two lifts he would have been able to surpass those marks. Tromp Van Diggelin, who brought out Maxick, believed that his protege could have raised four hundred in the Two Hands Anyhow. Time was when people thought the records made by the famous veterans of the past would never be equaled; but history, in repeating itself, has completely eclipsed nearly all of these marks. The great prodigies of man power do not come often, but they do come, which proves the saying that "where there is one good man, there will be another."

In the Two Hands Continental Jerk, we find the mark of four hundred and twenty-five pounds not only equaled but beaten by the great Austrian butcher, Swoboda, and the South African German, Gorner, even went higher that the crack Vienna iron man. The mark in the Two Hands Clean and Jerk is equaled by no less than four men; Gorner, Alzin, Rigoulot, and Steinborn. Rigoulot is given credit in training with a mark of three hundred and seventy-seven pounds, and the terrific weight of four hundred pounds is predicted in French lifting circles for this great Parisian weight heaver. I have also heard it said that if Gorner could develop the same skill as Rigoulot, four hundred and fifty pounds would not be beyond his limit in this lift. It is a fact that Gorner is not as skillful a lifter as Rigoulot, Cadine, or Steinborn. Like Swoboda and Alzin, he relies solely upon his prodigious strength. The mention of Alzin brings to my mind no reason why he could not make the grade in the first named lift. He is undoubtedly the heaviest man in the game. His bodyweight given to me just recently is in the neighborhood of three hundred and twenty-six pounds. I know some time ago, when I first heard of him, he have his weight at two hundred and eighty-nine pounds stripped. He is tall and seems to unlimited man power, and it would be interesting to know what he could do in a trial on the Two Hands Continental Jerk.

The affection that our present day iron manipulators have for the fast lifts quickly wrecked the scheduled mark on the Two Hands Snatch, and it looks as though it is in for a real beating. Steinborn was the first man to draw American attention to the one and two hands snatch and prove their great possibilities as I had outlined them, when he made a mark of two hundred and sixty pounds with the two hands. Previously, Josef Steinbach had done two hundred and sixty-four pounds and three quarter pounds, and most lifting authorities had thought the highest mark was then reached in that lift. Indeed, on famous European when speaking to me said, that it taken many centuries to produce a man like Steinbach, and we would never see his lifts equaled, because he had the great combination of speed, size and strength. His press lifts I admitted appeared to be out of sight, but I told him that he would be surprised someday. No doubt he was when he heard a man like Steinborn, who is considerably smaller that the Vienna Cafe proprietor. had put up two hundred and sixty pounds, and Rondi, the German, was given the world's record with two hundred and seventy pounds two years before Steinborn made his record in Philadelphia. It is also a fact that Steinborn snatched the same bar as Rondi, in an impromptu contest in Germany. We find that Hackenschmidt had scored a mark of two hundred and fifty-five pounds, eclipsing the big Vienna butcher, Swoboda, whose best stood at two hundred and forty-three pounds. The great Louis Vasseur, had and official mark of two hundred and sixty pounds. Giroux and Alzin, both stopped at two hundred and fifty-six pounds. Ernest Cadine, when weighing well under two hundred pounds, made a fine mark of two hundred and fifty-nine and a half pounds. Then Rigoulot came forward and eclipsed the former Olympic champion, with a mark of two hundred and seventy-one pounds and finally he hung up two hundred and seventy-seven pounds. This figure beat Gorner's record of two hundred and seventy-five and a half pounds. Just recently Rigoulot made another attempt to break his record on that lift, but just failed at two hundred and eighty-six pounds. There is no doubt that this is marvelous lifting, and they claim that the Parisian wonder has set his heart on reaching three hundred pounds in the Two Hands Snatch, before he says he is through. On the fourth lift, the Two Hands Anyhow, while no one has broken Saxon's record of four hundred and forty-eight pounds, yet I believe it is only a matter of making the attempt. I feel quite sure that any of the following four men, Gorner, Moerke, Steinborn, and Alzin, could beat the mark if they tried. Gorner made four hundred and forty and three-quarter pounds in this lift in an impromptu attempt. Judging by his other lifts, I would not put five hundred pounds past this giant. Arthur Saxon stated years ago, that if Gorner would train on the bent press, he would beat all of Saxons's own records, as he admitted that Gorner--who was a younger member of the same club--was a much stronger man than he. I quite believe that Henry Steinborn could equal that mark, with even employing the bent press. It is a fact that four hundred pounds in the Two Hands Anyhow, is way below his best. The One Hand Clean and Jerk has been closely approached by both Gorner and Gaessler in practice. Gorner has jerked from the shoulder with the right arm, two hundred and sixty-four and a half-pounds, and Gaessler has a clean all the way record of two hundred and fifty-one pounds, although it is claimed that Arthur Saxon lifted two hundred and sixty-seven pounds which beats my figure. When I consider the ability of the snatch and swing lifter of today, it is a wonder to me that the mark of two hundred and sixty-five pounds has not been broken before now. Although the one hand snatch record has not made much progress since Vasseur did his stuff, yet I have head that Steinborn equaled my figure while training in New York. I believe it is quite possible for him. One time he was quite serious in wanting to make a bet that he would give five dollars for every pound he snatched below two hundred and thirty pounds, providing anyone present would give him ten dollars for every pound he snatched over two hundred and thirty pounds. They all seemed quite satisfied that they would be handling the losing end, so the contest never took place. We find that Rigoulot in his match against Cadine, scored two hundred and twenty-three pounds. If he could score a splendid total like that in a match of ten lifts, where a man must of necessity conserve his strength; what would he do on a single attempt? I would say two hundred and forty pounds. On the One Hand Swing, Gorner gets credit for breaking my schedule of two hundred and twenty pounds, by swinging two hundred and twenty and a half pounds. Just by half a pound. Yes, but I would like to impress upon you the fact, that when he created that record, he swung with a lead dumb-bell. Of all the unwieldy objects to handle, the lead weight is the worst. You may think that there is no difference. Well, just try it. Anyhow, a spherical dumb-bell is a very bad implement to swing, as the weight is distributed over too large an area. It is hard to say what he would do employing a back hang style, where the weight is more compact, and one end being heavier than the other enables the dumb-bell to be more easily controlled. Rigoulot is creeping up to the mark too, so we must not be surprised at what follows. On the last named lift, the One Hand Anyhow, I think we can rightfully give Arthur Saxon the honor of equaling the schedule. He actually lifting four hundred pounds in London before witnesses, but just as he was straightening up beneath the weight, some of the miscellaneous weights that had been tied to the bar, fell off. Still, that does not alter the fact that the weight had already been pressed. What he actually attained, was a total of three hundred and eighty-six and three-quarter pounds, as verified by the scales.

This analysis of the heavyweight class, substantially proves their ability to equal the marks that I have prophesized for them, and as we continue with the other two classes, further facts will be advanced that will prove to what really has happened in the world of weights since I made that schedule, and that will give you a more definite idea of what we can expect in the future.

In the middleweight class, you will notices that the schedule was given at the old bodyweight, therefore let us still continue to consider the marks of men within that limit, and see just what has been done. You will surprised to see what the athlete has accomplished in the lighter bodyweight classes. I think it is only fair that we should consider them this way in order to make a fairer comparison with our own athletes, for as I have previously remarked, the European bodyweight classes are heavier than ours. Just for example, Aeschman, the Swiss crack middleweight, scales around one hundred and sixty pounds, and when he made his attempt at two hundred and ninety-seven and a half pounds in the Two Hands Clean and Jerk, he weighed one hundred and sixty-five pounds Commencing with the first lift, which I have marked at three hundred and forty pounds, Maxick at about one hundred and fifty pounds jerked in the Two Hands Continental style three hundred and twenty-two pounds. I came next a one hundred and fifty-four pounds with three hundred and ten pounds. Both Maxick and myself have beaten our official marks in training. I was informed that Maxick did three hundred and forty pounds, and while I did not have my arms perfectly straight underneath the weight, I managed to sustain three hundred and thirty-eight pounds. Of course this is not a complete lift, but if my time had not been so much occupied with wrestling, I believe I would have broken the mark myself before I had left the middleweight ranks.

However, keeping within the present middleweight limit I believe Fournier could train up to that mark, as I have seen him jerk well over three hundred pounds in ordinary training, without concentrating on that particular lift. In fact, the only time I ever saw him perform the Two Hands Continental Jerk, was when I suggested it to him. Within the European limit, I knew two men who made the grade. Unfortunately these boys were casualties of the late war.

The Two Hands Clean and Jerk is being badly crowded although not yet equaled. It is due for a tumble at any time. At one hundred and fifty-four pounds I cleaned two hundred and seventy-two pounds, and my pupil , Fournier, is crowding the same mark at the same bodyweight, hanging up two hundred and seventy pounds to his credit. At a little heavier bodyweight which put me in our heavy middleweight class, but as a middleweight, according to the Olympic bodyweight scale, I succeeded with two hundred and eighty-two pounds. Kikkas, of Estonia, recently made a fine performance coming close to the scheduled mark with two hundred and eighty and a half pounds. However, his mark did not stand too long. Vibert, of France, jumped into the setting with a scant lead of a half pound. Not long afterwards the fine Swiss middleweight, Aeschman, crowded into the limelight with two hundred and eighty-seven pounds to his credit. Now Holland, a country little heard of in weight lifting, has produced an amateur in Verhyen, who is only three pounds my hypothetical mark; namely, two hundred and ninety-seven pounds. As I said earlier in the chapter, Aeschman just failed with two hundred and ninety-seven and a half pounds, so you see this mark is not going to stay unequaled long.

One record that brought forth quite a debate was the mark I gave for the Two Hands Snatch in the middleweight class. They all calmly told me I was crazy. Two hundred pounds was the limit. Now here is the I figured it out. At one hundred and fifty-four pounds I could two hands snatch two hundred pounds and that lift was one I seldom practiced. I could Military Press any time with two arms two hundred and thirty pounds, and I figured a man in the lighter classes than the heavyweights should be able to snatch with the two hands whatever he could Military Press with both hands. So far most snatchers are poor press lifters, but good press lifters can usually snatch what they press.

Of course, you may say why did I not do so. The only excuse I can offer was that I never cared for the lift. Then again, I do not want to talk about myself, as I would far rather talk about what others have done to prove my prophecies, although I have made mention of myself on two or three occasions. Again, I will have to remark about myself as I did perform that poundage in practice. I believed others could do better than myself, as I never really concentrated on weight lifting training like many of the other men I am recording. Actually my feats were more the result of my strength gained from exercise that the result of constant practice aimed at enabling me to break records. To get back to my subject let me say that the two hundred pound mark was easily beaten. Fournier went past it. Then Neuland, who rates as a lightweight in Europe, sent the record soaring up to two hundred and twenty pounds. Aexhman beat it with a mark of two hundred and twenty-two pounds, which is near enough to prove that what I did in practice will be done by many others.

Previously I explained why neither the One Hand Anyhow or the Two Hands Anyhow marks have not been equaled, so I will pass these lifts over and talk about the One Hand Clean. At the present time on one has come near the mark set by Maxick of two hundred and thirty-eight pounds, which is only two pounds below the schedule on this lift. Bicheel, of Switzerland, holds the present amateur record in both the light and middleweight class, with a mark of two hundred and nine pounds, although I have heard that he has since succeeded with two hundred and sixteen pounds. Maurice De Riaz, as a middleweight, was give credit for doing two hundred and twenty-three pounds. In the One Hand Snatch a former partner of Maxick told me he saw the Bavarian wonder do two hundred pounds which equals my scheduled mark. Others are coming close as is proven by the record made by Neuland, of Estonia, with one hundred and eight-one and a half pounds, which was later pulled down by the Austrian, Treffany, with one hundred and eighty-three pounds only to be superceded by Zinner, of Germany, with a mark of one hundred and eighty-seven pounds.

The one hand swing brings the British lifter into prominence, and I am give to understand that the fine English swing lifter, C. V. Wheeler, equaled in a practice swing my named record of one hundred and eighty pounds. Aston, another British swing lifter at a bodyweight that would qualify him for the class where the mark was set up, came only two pounds short of the mark, using the old style swing.

The lightweight division has come to the front strongly in vindicating my schedule. Kosakwitz, at one hundred and forty-five pounds. performed three hundred and eight pounds in the Two Hands Continental Jerk. Of course, he is five pounds heavier than our present lightweight scale allows, yet his is about right for the European limit and is two pounds under the old lightweight limit. This great little Russian went thirty-three pounds over my selection and Marineau has equaled two hundred and seventy-five pounds at a bodyweight of less than one hundred and forty pounds. We find the mark of two hundred nd fifty pounds for the two hands Clean and Jerk almost as badly shattered as the first named lift. Marineau has done two hundred and sixty-six pounds in my presence. Reenfrank, of France, did two hundred and fifty-two pounds, then his countryman, Arnout, did two hundred and fifty-three pounds. The final coup was supplied De Haas, the Belgian, with two hundred and sixty-nine and a half pounds. Nineteen and a half pounds in excess of my mark. Sigmund Klein, who would have come within the old lightweight limit, goes over two hundred and fifty pounds, and I expect to see him do quite a lot more. The Two Hands Snatch Mark has taken a good beating. Neuland, of Estonia, and Arnout, of France, are tie at two hundred and twenty pounds. We must not forget that when Maxick was within the lightweight limit he could wreck some of the scheduled marks. In the Two Hands Anyhow, for instance, three hundred and twenty pounds would not stop him. A year ago, Marineau claimed to have performed three hundred and eighteen pounds by employing the Bent Press as part of the lift. Being such a master lifter I know quite well that he could equal three hundred and twenty pounds. The one lift I thought I had made a little high was the One hand Clean and Jerk. I fully believed that the mark would be reached, but I figured it would be some time before this was accomplished. However, the great little Swiss, Bicheel, backed up my belief with a real lift of two hundred and nine pounds some time ago, and just to prove that wonders will never cease, Hans Haas came forward with an astounding lift of two hundred and twenty pounds.

The One Hand Snatch record lacks ten pounds of my record, but it will be reached. Neuland has performed with one hundred and sixty-five pounds and promises to lift much more. The One Hand Swing is not so good. Colby, an English lifter, has done one hundred and forty-five pounds, but I believe that Monte Saldo with the old limit did somewhere around one hundred and fifty-four pounds. Incidentally he was the first man in the world to ever swing more than his own weight. The last two lifts show the slowest progress, but the fast lifters are invading the ranks of the lighter class and like the One Hand Clean and Jerk, the selected marks will be equaled. The One Hand Anyhow of two hundred and sixty-five pounds has been equaled by Marineau not long ago, and Fournier also made the same poundage before he stepped into the heavier ranks of the middleweights.

Not a great many years ago, all the records that compose this schedule were considered impossible, but as you see, most of them have already been shelved, and the rest are scheduled to go at any time now. This goes to show that the limitations of man are governed by the times. Within the last few years we have marched fast, and the records have kept pace. Undoubtedly they will go higher yet in every class as new apparatus is introduced and perfected in the game as it has been in others sports. The sport of weight lifting is just in its infancy, and much can be predicted for its future. What the actual limits will be, time alone can tell. I one set a standard that was deemed impossible, but within a short time my marks have been proven beatable, and I will say that whatever the marks of today may be, the records of tomorrow will eclipse them all.

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The Key to Might and Muscle - (Circa 1926) - Chapter 19 - How Specialization Destroys the Jinx Of Stubborn Muscles - By George F. Jowett

Some great old sage once passed the pleasant remark that "Anything worth having is worth working for, and the more desirable the object the more difficult it is of attainment." Many a young man who has started out to build a better conditioned body for himself has found the latter part of the saying to be only too true. He fully realizes that a perfect body is worth having, and he often figures that he has worked for it, but something is wrong with the work, as the progress registered is not proportionate to all his labors. Brutal as it may seem, I doubt if all have put forward the right amount of effort. Unfortunately, some believe that as long as they go through their routine, results should be obtained. Others quit too easily, and others are too impatient. They forget the amount of things that have to be taken into consideration. In the first place, thought, care, and concentration are required from the moment the first movement is made in the first exercise to the very end. Impatience is the worst thing in the world, no matter where it is concerned, and the person who is afflicted in that way is as badly off as the quitter, who never gets anywhere. The old saw that "Rome was not built in a day" is still true. Some of us are not as fortunate as others, who seem to be blessed with the magic wand of Vulcan. They build up in leaps and bounds, acquiring great ability in proportion, just as some people acquire wealth easily. Still, it would not be right to expect something without working for it, and neither is it right that a person should work so hard at his exercises that he makes the time spent seem like a torture period.

Exercise is a subject that requires deep study and calls for the guiding hand of an efficient instructor. Anybody can pick up a few exercises and by practicing them keep himself normally fit, but where the developing process starts it is a different question. A few exercises picked and practiced at random are all lost motion. The beginner does not know whether the type of exercises he has scheduled for himself are of any real value or not, but the moment an expert views his measurements he can tell just what is required, and such a man should be consulted first.

Some men make wonderful gains; their body seems to respond very readily to exercise, but in every case you will find that each of these men has applied himself intelligently to their routine. They never for one moment viewed exercise as a fad. With them it was considered a necessity. If a man starts with a bodyweight of 125 pounds, against a height of 5'9", it would be foolish for him to expect to build up into a 175-pound man within two or three months, or to compare his results with those of a man who started in at 165 pounds at the same height, and who in a very short time displayed a splendidly formed body with exceptional strength. The latter had less distance to go to win his goal. Therefore, the road must necessarily be a little longer and the going harder for the one who starts in underweight with an ill-shaped body and a lesser degree of manpower.

I have known a great many who within a few weeks made fine gains on one part of their body, but the rest of their body stood still. In such a case it is not necessary to become excited, as some parts of the body will always respond more quickly to exercise than others. Therefore, before any thought of specialization is considered, at least three months should be devoted to all-round exercises. Then the exercises have been given a chance to prove their value. If it is found that the biceps or the chest have not improved in proportion, the thing to do is to change the exercises, or else specialize upon the one part of the body that you most desire to improve. But this does not mean a body builder should begin to specialize immediately after putting in a few months' practice. He must give the body a chance, and as I just explained, a change of exercise should be given first. A great deal will also depend upon the actual condition in which the body may be. If the exerciser has a fairly well built body, he can start in to specialize earlier than it is advisable for the other fellow, who has a longer way to go. Just what I mean is something like this. Imagine two men, who are both five feet six inches tall, and one strips at 150 pounds and has a 15-inch neck, a 38-inch chest, 13-1/2 inch biceps, 22-inch thigh, and 14-1/2 inch calf, and the other fellow weighs 125 pounds stripped, with a 13-1/2 inch neck, 35-inch chest, 12-inch upper arm, 19-inch thigh and a 13-inch calf. The former is in a much getter position to commence specialized training than the other fellow, and it is always the under developed fellow who gets the most excited.

Of course, we can forgive him, for we know it is only because he is very anxious to build up a body that is worth while. Yet, he should restrain himself and realize that his position is similar to that of one man who must walk twenty-five miles to accomplish the same object, for which the other man has to walk only twelve. It will take him a longer time. The smaller man should be content to follow a general routine for a longer time. Of course, it is quite justifiable for him to change certain exercises, but they should be included with the other regular exercises. When the time for specialization is reached this does not mean that all other exercises for the other parts of the body must be neglected. Training on the principle of one exercising period in each forty-eight hours, the exerciser would be required to reduce the length of time devoted to the rest of the body, so greater time can be spared for the concentration of the part of the body that is below par. Training is required every night or day, from this time on, and I might say that it is a better method to select two or three parts of the body for specialization at the same time, but with the first consideration given to the one part specially desired.

Let us suppose that the chest is going to be our chief object, and we find that the biceps of the thigh are not developed to balance the general development of the thigh, and that the calf can also stand some extra attention. We find that we have three exercises for the chest that are calculated to give the results, so we concentrate on these; but do not get the idea in your head that the way to go after real chest improvement is to go the limit on each exercise, or that these three have to be practiced in rotation. The reason I selected two other parts of the body to work in conjunction with the chest was to offset that idea, because there is a right and wrong way to practice special training.

It is wrong to work on an exercise until you are tired out. Suppose you find fifteen movements with a certain weight fatigues you. Then the thing for you to do is to go no higher than twelve counts. Commencing upon a chest exercise you use enough repetitions so that they will make you just comfortably tired. The next exercise should be for the calf; thigh biceps after that; and then come back with another chest exercise. Then, just as before, practice another exercise for one of the other parts, and every time come back with another chest exercise, to be followed by any other kind of an exercise, so long as it is not for the part of the body under consideration. The same process must be followed out if it is the neck, arms or any other group of muscles that require specialization. The first, and every other exercise, must be for the specialized part of the body. No doubt you will wonder why this procedure should be followed, so in order to make everything understandable I will explain this to you.

In one of my other chapters I explained how the blood is always drawn to the center of activity. This is the natural method of repletion and absorption. Now after an exercise has been done the blood continues to circulate over the stimulated area in a greater quantity in order to reconstruct the tissue. One thing I have not explained is this. If you practice any movement until you are fatigued you will deplete your energies so that this process will not be properly performed. Fatigue is brought about by over-relaxation and contraction of the muscle fibres. They continue to contract until the nerve source is not capable of vibrating its electric life through the tissue, and this also lessens the quantity of the blood supply, and thereby deprives the muscles of their nourishing fuel. If you notice the color of the skin you will see that it has become white, just as the face of a person becomes balanced from a mental shock. That is why it is wrong to work or exercise any muscle to the stage where fatigue has set in.

As I have previously stated, the natural function of the blood is to replenish, but everything has a limit, and as long as you keep within that limit, which is expressed as being comfortably tired, you can build up continuously. If you go the limit on an exercise that is all you will be able to do, and the reaction of this effort will make itself felt in the rest of the body. By cutting down well within your limit you will both build up and conserve, and while you are practicing an exercise for some other part of the body, nature is doing her work well, carrying away the broken down tissues and leaving its reserve supply for further necessity. This is why it is that by training on the plan I have explained, a body builder can keep coming back to his one center of specialization and continue to build up. As you practice in this way observe the change of the skin. It will turn a healthy pink, and you will feel the warm glow of the blood as it suffuses the muscles. In this manner I have exercised for hours at a stretch, always coming back to the one part that I was specializing upon. I never tired, but finished full of pep. Of course, I was somewhat stronger than the average, which enabled me to stand by my practicing so long. Just the same, I was obliged to specialize upon different groups of muscles like any other body builder who had in view a well-balanced physique.

The man who seems to have the most trouble is the small boned man, and the greyhound type. There appears to be an accepted belief that a man who has small bones cannot build up to any considerable size. The same belief exists with the greyhound type. They find it hard to believe that slabs of muscles can be created upon themselves to fill out their frames. I do not consider these two types as one, as the majority of people do. The greyhound type is invariably the tall, slender, hungry looking individual, who appears to have nothing hanging on his frame. Many men in this group have large bones, but the meat is missing. The small bonded man is often a neat looking individual, particularly if he is short. Of the two I find the small boned man much easier to build up than the greyhound type. But, there is no doubt that both of them find the going much harder than their more robust brothers. At that I find that the small boned man is inclined to be a little unreasonable in his demands. He allows figures to overrule certain conditions that he forgets to take into consideration. He will go to a show, and see a fine, big fellow, with a 17-inch biceps and a 46-inch chest, who sweeps him completely off his feet with admiration. Right there he wants to be built just like that man. On going home he is almost discouraged to find that his biceps measure only 12 inches and his chest around 36 inches. Still, he will plug away, and maybe get a 15-inch arm and a 40-inch chest, and finally decides there is no use for him to try any more to get that 17-inch biceps. He says it can't be done. In his desire for that 17-inch arm he does not realize that his 15-inch arm is as entirely in proportion to his weight, as the 17-inch arm of the other man. However, even getting the 17-inch arm can be done. When I commenced heavy training, after putting in years on other athletic work, I had only a 7-inch wrist, and weighed 147 pounds stripped. When I finished I weighed 200 pounds and had a 17 1/2-inch biceps and a 47-inch normal chest. Carl Moerke has an 18-inch biceps and a wrist measurement of only a little more than 7 inches. Thomas Inch, the famous English strong man, with a wrist measurement that does not measure 7 inches, developed his body to an enormous degree. His biceps became about 20 inches and chest around 50 inches. Arthur Dandurand, the Canadian Sandow, has a beautifully proportioned arm that measures 17 inches at the biceps, but his wrist is only 7 1/2 inches. In fact, I could name many such examples, where men of small bones developed their body to an extraordinary degree. As a general rule, the small boned man makes the prettiest muscular picture. Now the greyhound type is absolutely a different proposition. His muscles generally present a hungry, stringy appearance, that make a man feel he has nothing on which to build. He has the appearance of a barren filed. There is one thing I do find missing about the man with the lean muscles is the entire absence of any interstitial fat. This condition of flesh is very necessary in fertilizing the muscles. In fact, it is an ingredient of exceptional value. The work interstitial means "in between the tissues," and between the fibrous tissues of the muscles this fat secretes itself. The stronger the man, the greater quantity of interstitial fat will he have. This it is which gives his muscles that smooth, silky appearance so often seen, but not so generally understood. Therefore, the greyhound type has to find a method that will create this natural fertilizer. He has two factors to consider, diet and exercise. Ordinarily, I do not pay particular attention to diet. As long as a man is normally healthy and fit, he should allow his stomach to be his guide, but of course, not make a glutton of himself. In this case, the greyhound type should be considered an exception, and by studying the various foods he is able to provide his body with the nutriment that is converted into musculature by exercise, and the other particles not absorbed in this way are carried by the blood stream to the various parts of the body, to become secreted between the tissues, as interstitial fat.

You no doubt have often head trainers speak of an athlete training until he goes stale. This is a condition brought about from too vigorous training, in which the muscles are trained raw. Just so raw that the interstitial fat has been absorbed. This causes a reaction upon the nervous system also, which makes an athlete become just "a bunch of nerves."

I have noticed that many of the lean subjects develop into the type of men classified as "raw boney," and while he does not secure the exceptional measurements, yet his muscles seem to be a mass of cords. He becomes one of cordy muscle type who has as the foundation of his ability very thick ligaments. This type often displays a thickness around the joints, and the owner generally becomes exceptionally strong.

Apart from a special application of diet in the case of the greyhound class, there is a triple method of specialization that can be used by the small bone type, as well as the lean type. However, this is only after they have grounded themselves for a while on a regular all-round system of body culture.

The first thing we know that is desired is size, or, I might better say, space. This is absolutely necessary because as a general rule, the type of men that we are now considering are rarely broad of shoulder, deep of chest, or thick of limb, so we have to develop these conditions. To do this, we must pick out the parts of the body that are most likely to aid us. It does not take long to decide after a physical survey that the back, chest, and thighs are the three parts best suited by nature for our purpose. From now on the men who fall in these two classes must concentrate on broadening their backs, deepening heir chests, and rounding their thighs. As this is done a greater space is created on which heavier slabs of muscle can be built. The building up of these three parts will certainly help to make the bodily appearance of any man more massive. I found in many cases that it does not call for any remarkable change on the tape measure around these parts to increase the bodyweight at least ten pounds; but the supposition that these three parts of the body alone when fully developed will build up the rest of the muscles in proportion, is not true. I have seen many athletes with a fine chest who have a poor neck, and men with broad shoulders have a weak lower back. Others, with good thighs, have poor arms and calf muscles, By training on these triple parts, good abdominal and lower back development is apt to be created, along with better formed hips. The neck, forearms, biceps, deltoids and calves will not be developed in proportion, and specialization, as I explained earlier in this chapter, will be found necessary.

I cannot understand why anyone should become worried because they have only a small wrist. The man who has a big hand is likely to have a large wrist. If a man had a large hand and only a small wrist it would be very different, as the difference would be disproportionate. Just the same, the man with the big wrist has to build up his arm in proportion to the bony structure he possesses. Anyhow, why worry over what the other fellow has? You have a fixed object in your mind that you want to build up certain proportions, so concentrate upon the subject. Don't get the idea in your head that because you have a weight in your hands it alone will give you the results if you simply go through a number of repetitions in a certain position. It has been explained long ago that the mind moves the mass. The thousands of nerve centers in the body that are directed by the brain control the activity of the whole muscular system, and mentally, your movements can be registered as fixed determination or arrant listlessness. The first gives power, the second lacks power. Whenever you concentrate your mind, your nerve energies will center, and a greater resistance is evidenced. Mental concentration draws all the natural resources forward in mutual sympathy to intensify the function duties of the motive muscles. Therefore, it is readily seen what is meant when a pupil is advised to concentrate strongly upon the physical movements that form the exercise.

Of course, there is no use in any of us kidding ourselves that we can all be big men with enormous proportions. That would not be logical or even desirable. Take it this way. If you stand only 5'3" and if it was possible for you to weigh 225 pounds all solid muscle, what would you look like? Nothing nice. You would only make a monstrosity of yourself. You can be equally as strong by being proportionate. I do not see what necessity there is for everyone to want to be a Gorner or a Steinbach. All well and good; if your physical possibilities throw you in their class, but talking with the fact in mind, that all cannot be two hundred pounders, we must realize the impossibility of this. Of curse, I know it would be great if we could be as good as those men by building up from a natural angle, but we cannot. Build yourself up to the best of your ability and be satisfied to be a good man in your class. Charles Schaffer was the Gorner of the 112 pound class, just the same as Marineau was the Gorner of the lightweights. If our are only 5'3" tall, and weight 150 pounds stripped, with a 15 1/2" neck, 15" biceps, 14 1/2" calf, and a 39" normal chest, you will be a pretty husky chap. Of course, there are men much heavier than that, but I am talking about a condition that is well within your reach, and which will make the man an unusually capable physical machine. When a man reaches the height of 5'6", he can scale from 175 pounds up to 200, and safely combine the dual attributes of size with strength. Such a man is dynamo of power, and his measurements can all be large and perfectly balanced. A 200-pound man of this type would have to register a 17 1/2 inch biceps, 18" neck, 47" normal chest, a 16 1/2" calf, and a 25 1/2" thigh. These measurements will give you an idea of what a man can work up to according to his class, and still remain out of the phenomena order. Look how well balanced Gorner is. His great strength is the result of highly balanced attributes. There have been many men much larger that Gorner, but not half as strong, which is a positive proof that they lacked balance somewhere. I dislike phenomenally built men; it really does not mean anything. These monstrosities, with twenty-two inch biceps and calves, with sixty-inch chests, with 22" biceps and calves, with 60" chests, while standing less than 6' in height, do not come within the sphere of the body culturist, who worships a beautifully built body and vigorous strength. I have met them, but none were nearly as strong as I am, and they were unlovely to look upon. If I have to pick out the two biggest men who combined the two qualities, shape and strength, in a proper balance, I would name George Hackenschmidt and Herman Gorner as the finest combination ever produced. Size , strength, speed and physical loveliness they possessed, with registering any unusual bodyweight.

Hackenschmidt had only ordinary measurements with which to start, but right living and intelligent exercise on the bar bell principle progressive principle made his what he was, and is today. No matter if your wrist is only 6", and your weight 125 pounds, you can build yourself into a fine a specimen of manhood as any other of your own height. Height should rule more than bone size, and always bear in mind what one man has secured for himself you can get also. This may not be absolutely true, but it is true that you can come near enough to him to invite a favorable comparison.

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The Key to Might and Muscle - (Circa 1926) - Chapter 18 - Building a Shapely Arm - By George F. Jowett

When Sandow started a wave of enthusiasm for physical training throughout the world by the demonstration of his beautiful physique, his admiring followers were entranced with the beauty of his perfectly built arm. It was a sight that started many off on the quest for a similar arm, but very few obtained one like Sandow. At the time his biceps measurement was only a little over sixteen inches; it had the appearance of being eighteen inches. Sandow was fortunate by nature in having clean-cut joints. This, combined with the shapeliness of his arm, made his biceps appear very massive. He also possessed a thin skin, which allowed the muscular separation to stand out with a very pronounced distinction. I have heard some people remark that the public had never seen such beautifully shaped muscles before the advent of Eugene Sandow, but I would not say that, for I know that there were other beautiful specimens of physical manhood at that time, but they lacked that something, whether it was showmanship or popularity, that put Sandow over. This, no doubt, was the reason why they were overlooked while the world was lionizing the famous inspiration of Audrey Hunt. However, it seems that every young man's idea of being strong and well built consists of being able to show a big biceps. Well, I certainly like to see a well shaped arm, providing it is balanced and symmetrical, but I dislike a big biceps that does not show forearm and triceps development to balance it. Performers on Roman rings generally have large biceps. I knew one young man who only weighed one hundred and twenty pounds and he had a sixteen inch biceps and stood less than five feet three inches in height. He was a marvel on the rings; but a sixteen inch biceps on a man so light in weight and so short is out of all proportion. His upper arm looked larger than his thighs. Chinning fiends get the same development. A fine looking young chap came to me one time and told me he would like to be a good hand balancer, but he was not able to straighten out his arm to make a handstand. I asked him what he was best at, and right away he began telling me how many times he could chin himself. He rolled up his sleeve and showed me a mighty fine biceps, but he had practically no triceps worth speaking about. I told him if he would devote as much time daily to his triceps development for the next four weeks as he had to his biceps work, and leave out the chinning, he would then have what I termed a real arm and, besides, become capable of doing hand stands. It did not take him four weeks. Three weeks later he came to see me and you should have seen those triceps. The arm was beautiful.

Just notice any mechanic who is using a hammer all day. You will see a nice looking arm, but notice how his arm is bent at the elbow. With so much flexion of the arm the biceps have become shortened, and to straighten the arm out is almost painful in some cases. If you do any amount of heavy shoveling the same condition will come about. No man can become a successful weight lifter, or hand balancer--understander as well as top mounter--unless he displays a perfectly balanced arm. Therein lies the real secret of arm strength, and if there should be any disproportion it should favor the triceps and not the biceps. The triceps is an extensor muscle, and the biceps is a flexor.

I have often advised arm builders to practice chinning, and I do yet, but the trouble with the chinning fiend is that he never fully straightens his arm out; and the more tired he becomes the less he straightens his arm. That is where he is wrong. If he straightened his arm out completely, as he lowers his weight, the biceps would receive full extension as well as contraction. The supinator longus will straighten the arm more than the triceps will in chinning, but the triceps get a little action.

Some men find their bodyweight too heavy to handle in chinning, especially when they are around two hundred pounds, and have had no previous experience. But by following the advice I will give here they will not be deprived of the benefits of chinning. Tie two lengths of rope on a bar-bell and pass these ropes through a couple of pulleys placed in the ceiling, or throw the ropes over a horizontal bar. Take the two loose ends and tie a stick in them for a handle, then pull on the stick with both hands. You will be obliged to experiment a little before you know to what weight to load the bar bell in order to pull up. Pull on the handle bar until it is at your chest, just the same as if you were chinning yourself on a bar. This method will satisfactorily answer the purpose and give you a good workout.

Curling dumb-bells and bar bells is another standby of the big biceps boys. I often watch them, but I seldom see them carry out the real idea of a one or two arm curl. Maybe the first two or three curls are fair, but soon I begin to see them lean forward and then the curl becomes shortened from not lowering the weight enough. It might interest you to know that the two-arm curl is a stunt which a weight lifter likes to see his opponent try before a match. Sometimes he will even try to get him to warm up with it. If he succeeds in doing this he will try to start the contest off with a two hands snatch, and force the pace. The other lifter, knowing his possibilities, will start near his limit. To his amazement he finds that while the weight is snatched, yet it comes down before he can lock his arms. Generally he becomes rash and uses up his three attempts with the same weight or a heavier one, and fails each time. This is the penalty of curling before the contest. His biceps become shortened just enough so that it prevented him from locking his arms, and the match is lost.

When an exerciser gets to about fifty per cent of his bodyweight in the two-arm curl I like to see him make a change. Not because this amount of weight will shorten his biceps, but because the two-arm curl brings about a depression of the diaphragm, which has a similar effect to that produced by the two-arm Pull Over when using too much weight. In the place of the bar-bell curl I advise curling with a pair of kettle-weights. You may ask yourself, "What is the difference?" a great deal. In the first place a greater extension of the biceps is given, and a longer pull is secured, which develops the muscle in a more capable manner, and makes it strong every part of the way.

Sometime or other you have tried to do a feat that a friend of yours did, or perhaps you saw a stunt at the vaudeville theatre you wanted to duplicate and you failed. Do you ever remember remarking to your friend how you almost got it, but at a certain angle your muscles did not have just the right power ? That is because your muscles lacked the full power in their pull. The cables of connection lacked the power, or else the contraction of the muscle fibers was not sufficient at that point for the appointed task. Perhaps by now you will see the value of my constant urge to always give the muscles their full play when exercising them. What is the use of half exercising them? Nothing is right unless it is done correctly. Getting back to where I left off on the curl, let me say that the divided action prevents any diaphragm compression. Curl the kettle weights simultaneously and curl them separately. Use dumb-bells also, curl them endways for a change; bend over from the waist and while in that position curl one of them to the shoulder without standing erect. Keep the other hand on the knee for a support. If you raise a pair of fairly heavy dumb-bells overhead, and then slowly lower them by bending the arm at the elbow, until the upper arm is level with the shoulder, you will find the action of the biceps again different. Develop your muscles from every conceivable angle. Then their quality becomes better in construction, as well as in action.

The biceps has a double head, as its name implies. They also have a double insertion, and the two bellies unite into one tendon that is attached deeply in the hollow the elbow joint. The action of the muscle is described as being of the shoulder and humero-radial and radial ulnar joint, and altogether it is an extremely variable muscle. It has been know to have possessed a third head of origin, and rated at ten per cent, which is the reason why some people naturally seem to have larger and better formed biceps than others. Some diligent arm builders have been very puzzled over the fact that while their biceps registered only a slow gain in size, their biceps strength has increased out of all proportion to its gain in size, their biceps strength has increased out of all proportion to its gain in size. Invariably they attribute this to the possession of a longer humerus bone than the average. That is the bone of the upper arm. This condition is common among tall people, although once in a while I do come across a short person with a longer upper arm than usual. However, that makes no difference, but it is an actual fact that a person who has a longer humerus will have a stronger arm all-round. This is not due to having more muscular tissue over a greater space. The source of power is found in the longer attachment, which is seated further up on the bone of the forearm. This gives the biceps a greater leverage, and make flexion of the forearm upon the upper arm easier. The individual thus constructed is capable of pulling weight off the floor to the shoulder more easily, and also of raising a weight to arms' length in a jerk movement more readily.

The biceps has a peculiar method of shaping itself as it grows larger. In some cases it shapes itself like a ball, showing a groove where both heads separate. On the other hand, some biceps just become a mass of muscle that completely fills up the entire space on the upper arm. The tissue at the elbow joint will be almost as dense as it is further up the arm. This type of muscle is more apt to be like good rubber when relaxed, and hard when tensed. I have noticed the ball shaped muscle is inclined to be very hard when tensed and there is not a great deal of change when relaxed; but the latter is by far the more admirable muscle form the standpoint of its beautiful shapeliness. Yet, if they lack a certain amount of depth at the elbow joint, they take on a grotesque appearance. Personally, I never like to see any abnormal in muscular development. No matter how large or how small the muscles may be, they can all acquire symmetry.

Otto Arco and Sam Kramer both have beautiful upper arms, and I remember that Arthur Saxon had, too. There are many who have beautifully shaped arms, but it would be useless for me to mention them, as the reader is not familiar with them. Well shaped, strong biceps are not such a rare possession. They are a gift that can be acquired by yourself. You do not have to stand by and be satisfied admiring others. However, never forget the triceps. Let us turn these muscles now, which are actually more important and more powerful than the biceps. The next time you go to the theatre and see a hand-to-hand balancing tam, just pay careful attention to the contour of the understander's arm when it is relaxed. He will have to be standing so you obtain a side view of him. Then you will see in the back of the arm a curve commencing from a little above the elbow joint which swells out as it runs up to the shoulder. This is the triceps. For a contrast, look at he upper arm of a clerk, or a salesman, or anybody who does not use the arm muscles to any great extent. In place of the curve you will see just a straight line, and probably the elbow joint will look as though it is going to stick through the skin. It might surprise you to see how weak the latter is when it comes to raising any heavy object overhead. Most of them, if they had their arm cut off, would hardly miss the little good that their triceps are to them. So little are these muscles employed by the average person that their existence is very rudimentary, whereas they should be swelling and powerful. As their name implies, the triceps has three heads. They are the only muscles on the posterior part of the upper arm. Each has a lateral, a medial and a scapular origin, and becomes inserted on the forearm. In appearance, it takes the shape of a horseshoe, but one head is longer than the other, as you can easily see. The triceps is the extensor muscle of the elbow joint, but he long head also acts as an adductor of the humerus, at the shoulder joint. Because we always speak of this muscle as the one that straightens out the arm when pushing a weight overhead, it is often referred to as s pushing muscle, but as I have said before, there are no such things as pushing muscles; they all pull.

Perhaps the finest pair of triceps I ever saw are those that adorn the arm of Joseph Urlacher. They are remarkably clean-cut, and show every line of separation in their process. Unlike the majority, his triceps seem to form more deeply. I mean, that while most triceps show a great fullness closer to the shoulder, his starts to swell out from their points of insertion at the elbow. Especially the inner head. Arco has a beautifully balanced upper arm, and also Arthur Hyson, but their triceps are exceptionally well developed. Also, I can recall a slaughterman, who was employed by a butcher who had his store next door to where I once lived. I never grew weary of looking this man over. He was the most magnificent specimen of what we would call untrained manhood that I ever saw. His biceps measured seventeen inches, and he weighted around two hundred pounds. From the crown of his head to the soles of his feet he was beautifully built. I never saw him other that bare-headed, shirt throat open, and sleeves rolled up to the shoulders. Often I have seen him carry on his shoulders, from the slaughter house to the butcher shop, a distance of half a mile, a dressed beef; and incoming he had to walk up a very steep grade. When he flexed his biceps the triceps bellied out underneath in a wonderful sweep. However, no professional weight lifter ever did more heavy lifting than he. His work entailed long hours and he enjoyed using his strength in place of a block and tackle. Every muscle in his body got a workout. But those arms! They were a sight for the gods.

Just pushing a bar bell to arms' length is not enough, although a lot of this will develop fine triceps, but everybody does not have that amount of time to spare. Such labor is not necessary, as direct methods will give faster results that are equally as good. Here is a real good exercise. You take up your position as the illustration shows on page 231. The main thing for you to observe is that your body is kept perfectly straight. The moment it is allowed to sag at the waist the exercise becomes useless, simply because very little triceps contraction is registered. From that position, lower yourself by bending the arm, but keeping the body absolutely straight when lowering and raising. If the exercise becomes a little too easy, attach a weight to a sling and have it handing around the forehead. This will supply you with the necessary resistance. Two more good exercises are as follows: Stand erect with a light bar bell of about twenty-five pounds hanging from the waist, and at the same time, raise the bar bell as high as you can, backward, then lower, and at the same time, straighten the body. The next exercise should give the triceps a little more kick. It always give vigorous play to the triceps and it really has been my favorite triceps exercise. Take either a light dumb-bell, or an iron plate in your hand and stand erect with the feet spaced a suitable distance apart. From this position bend the hand back on the wrist, and do not let the palm of the hand twist sideways. Keep it facing forward throughout the exercise; then grip the weight strongly and begin to raise the arm backwards. As you do this you will have a tendency to twist the body sideways. This you must vigorously counteract, and by so doing, a stronger pull will be given to the triceps. When the arm is at the limit of its height, pause, and then rotate the wrist and hand in a circular movement. If you do this right you will feel the triceps action very strongly. After two or three wrist rotations lower the arm and stand erect before you repeat. Work out both arms and massage the muscles after each exercise period. The severe contraction of the muscle in this exercise necessitates this procedure.

There are many movements that will give these muscles a certain amount of play, but the trouble is that the play is not sufficiently direct. All the exercises I have given are specific in their uses, as required by the various muscles. I know they will give you the very best results if you concentrate upon them as you should, and I hope you will. Unless you do you will never have a shapely arm, and when remembering about triceps exercise, don't forget that this muscle helps to swell the tape measure to sixteen inches.

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The Key to Might and Muscle - (Circa 1926) - Chapter 17 - Where is the Science of Lifting Weights? - By George F. Jowett

If we wish to be successful in any of our undertakings we are obliged to study the scientific side of the subject, no matter what it may be. No business man overlooks this important question, which is true of selling cloth or erecting bridges. The man who pitches the ball over the plate and the salesman must each study the separate science that is involved in their respective vocations. Years ago the word science was explained as 'knack" in pitching a baseball, and the salesman's tongue was termed slick." It may still be true, if you want to put it that way, but we know that the great pitchers have all studied how to hold a ball to send the baffling curve from the box just as the successful salesman studies human psychology.

No person was ever born with the knack of doing a thing so well that it placed him in the top-notch class. There is no doubt many men have a natural ability to do one certain thing much better than others can do it, but if he is wise enough to recognize that trait, he concentrates upon the cultivation of his natural ability and becomes, to a large extent, invariably successful.

Science is recognized in sports much more readily that elsewhere, because all mechanical aid is taken away and the athlete has to resort more to his skill and physical ability to accomplish the best that is in him. Practically speaking, the skill an athlete exhibits is a practical demonstration of his scientific knowledge. As long as he receives no mechanical aid, there is no trickery in his science. Everything depends upon his skillful co-ordination of mind and body. The ability of a boxer or wrestler to outguess his opponent is as valuable as that of the crack billiard player to sense where the ball will break upon the green baize; or the weight-lifter who knows the leverage principles as applied to the muscles in lifting weights, and the law of gravity as it controls the actions of a weight. No other sport involves such a deep knowledge of these principles as is required by the sport of lifting weights. By the application of correct exercise, and the study of the body, and by knowing the fundamentals of the laws of resistance, any man can become more that normally efficient in this sport. This is not the case in sprinting or jumping. A man first has to have considerable natural ability in these directions, and his training is done more with an eye to intensify his speed and nervous force, rather that to build up his body. Experience has taught that weight-lifting as a sport is a builder, and speed racing takes such an expenditure of force that the racer does not recuperate the spent energies as quickly as is done in weight lifting, which is the main reason why a weight-lifter can continue to practice and stay at the top in his sport, while six generations of sprinters come and go.

One time I was sitting eating with a friend in a restaurant when he drew my attention to two men who were paying their checks. He explained that both these men drew a large salary for their technical knowledge, that enabled them to tell much resistance it took to bend any size of iron or steel a fraction of an inch. These men understood the law of resistance in a different sense from that in which we shall use it, but the end to be gained is the same. They understood resistance as applied on material inert force, while the weight lifter must understand its application to the physical living force. The muscles of the body resist like the structural column of a building, the only difference being the latter resists by its support and the former by its active opposition. Both are a matter of energy.

Many people, unfortunately, do not comprehend the full significance of science in lifting heavy weights. They say skill in weight lifting is nothing but a trick, although at the same time they conceded that the use of skill in such sports as baseball or tennis is legitimate, Still, I realize that we have a habit of using the word "trick," and do not always mean it in the sense of a fake. It is mostly used to explain the knack or science, of a sport we do not fully understand. It is not given for us to be good at everything, therefore, we are not able to fully understand the science of everything, but we can at least be appreciative.

The sport of lifting calls for more science than any other sport, simply because there are many more phases or sides to it. There are numerous lifts, each of which calls for a varied technique. I have heard it suggested that if any lifter is the strongest man in the world, he ought to hold the highest mark in every lift. How utterly out of reason such a belief is shown by other sports that do not embrace a third of the technicalities employed in weight lifting. You never heard of a football star, who could play every position on the team, well enough to be All-American at hem all, or with occasional exceptions, of a pitcher who could hit decently, let alone play any position on the diamond as well as he could pitch. Condensing it further, where is the stroke in an eight who can pull an oar in any part of the boat as well as in his appointed place; or a sprinter, who held every record over the short distances, let alone all the track records. Then, we could not logically expect any more of a weight lifter. I believe it is generally understood that in order to become thoroughly efficient in this sport the athlete's body must be built to a well-balanced scale. This being understood, the common foe of the weight lifter is gravity. The lifter has to learn to overcome this law as much as possible without resorting to artificial aid. In the same sense, the catcher behind the bat has to know how to catch the fast ball in order to minimize its force. In the sport of weight lifting this is called "timing." Of course, every sport has its timing, but where lifting a weight is the issue, a greater mathematical deduction is required. In all such lifts, as the one and two hands snatch, the swing, and clean and jerks, speed is the greatest factor to oppose gravity. Take it this way. Suppose you were pulling a weight to the shoulders in one clean movement; if the weight was fairly light for you it would be pulled to the chest as came erect, but if the weight was very heavy, the movement would stop as it reached midway between the knee and the waist. Now, if you knew the principles of muscular leverage you would know that the arms play a rather unimportant part in pulling a weight to the chest in one movement. It is the strength of the back and the thighs that supplies the largest quota of power. If the proper amount of physical vigor is supplied, the weight will be snapped off the floor to a certain height, but, as the back and legs straighten, their power of propulsion is lessened until it becomes neutral. When you have determined the point where your pulling-in strength diminishes, it is time for you to call into action the co-ordinating factors of physical speed, which is nervous energy combined with strength. Like a flash you must release the contraction of the thigh muscles and make a deep knee bend as your arms travel under the weight, with elbows pointed forward. Practically speaking, your thigh muscles should collapse under the weight. The ordinary person may think this is easy, but it is not. Incredible speed is called for to allow your body to descend low enough so you can get under the weight. Ordinarily, the legs seem unable to move under such pressure; they act like sticks that cannot be bent. Only quick thinking and rapid co-ordination, with the operation of the right muscles, succeed here.

Here is exactly what happens. As you exert your strength to pull the weight off the floor, the greatest amount of force is expended as the back begins to straighten. This effort is only sufficient to carry the weight to a certain height, then it begins to lose its momentum, and gravity begins to assert its forces and the weight begins to descend. Really two things happen. As the back loses its leverage the weight loses its carrying force. As these two forces lose out you have to do something else to defeat the material resistance.

Wait! Let us consider it this way. Take a stone and throw it straight up in the air, and watch it closely. At first, the stone will start skywards with a rush, gradually it will slow up, then for a fraction of time it will seem to hang suspended in the air before it descends. As it comes down, how do you catch it? You don't cup the hands and stand stiff legged and receive the whole shock of the falling stone. Not at all, you give at the knees a little to absorb the shock. This being true, what happens as you throw up a heavier stone? Why! It does not soar as high, and its descent is more rapid, and you find you have to give more at the knees to enable you to sustain the greater shock. Now that is just what happens with a weight as it is pulled in to the chest, and you must dip as you receive the weight at the shoulders. The only difference being that at the point where the weight loses its flight, and becomes suspended in the air like the stone, for that brief fraction of time, you dip and get under the weight before it gathers too much speed at its descent, and the dip helps to take away the concussion of the weight when received.

The place where the observant lifter looks for this to happen is about the line of the stomach. A fast worker can catch the weight successfully if it travels no further than the line of the navel. Anyhow, as the weight becomes heavier, the pulling height lessens, but a skillful athlete learns to time where a weight is likely to lose momentum in its various transitory stages. Also, an intuitive sense is developed that signals as a weight is dying. This is better understood as the co-ordination between mind and matter. Every athlete develops this sense, which is often spoken of as "out-guessing."

A big controlling factor in opposing gravity is the height of the person. This is a circumstance which at first thought does not seem true. It is generally believed that a short person is better at this game than a tall person, particularly at pulling the weight to the chest, because, as the average person says, "he is closer to the weight." Well, there is such a thing as being too close to the weight. If you do not believe it, just try raising some object with a stick as a lever. Contrary to common belief, the tall man is naturally better fitted than the short man to succeed at a clean pull-in. He can secure a longer back leverage and a deeper knee bend, all of which enables him to bend over further. His pull-in is more powerful. This is proven by the fact that most of the best clean records are performed by men over the average height. Of course, Cadine and Rigoulot are not what we would call tall, but they are over the average height, and when we speak of a short person, it is in the sense that he is less than the average height. Yet, here must be a reason why these short men are so good, and also Moerke, who is very short. The reason is a different application of principle.

Somehow I have come to this point of the discussion a little earlier in this chapter than I expected, so while I am here I want to have sink in your mind one very particular lesson. Many young lifters have written to me asking me how to do a certain lift. I explained to the best I possibly could in a letter, but with always an emphasis on the words that they must consider the possible necessity of a variation of the regular principle. If I have a pupil before me I can put him right on the spot, as my experience enables me to see immediately his peculiarity, as occasioned by his physical construction. Seldom do we see a man actually imitate another in style. The change of a foot, or some other little thing, on which the success of the lifter has depended, make the slight variation. Emphatically, I say for every would-be lifter, to accept the general principle by all means, but apply your intelligence to locate your point of control. Educate yourself to the principles, but employ your intelligence. It is the intelligence of the generations that has accumulated the science of weight lifting, and by its genius created the formula of education, which makes it possible to grasp the fundamentals, once properly learned.

But intelligent application will be always required. It is this that has made such remarkable clean lifters of the two Frenchmen and the German Moerke. They have combined certain laws to overcome resistance. Quite a number of years ago the Swedish lifters used a method which became known as the "Swedish Hang." The lifter would take the weight off the floor rather slowly, and when the weight was almost the height of the knees, they threw their weight backwards with all their power and dipped under the weight. This caused the weight to travel towards them in a slanting line rather than in a perpendicular line. This is a law I have always taught, in just he words the terms conveys. The weight must be pulled "in.," not "up," but "in towards.' While the natural foe of the lifter is gravity, his natural fault is lack of centralization. If you pull a weight "up," by the time it is where it should be it is hanging out in front of the body an inch or two more than it should be. The lifter has to step forward to meet it. If the weight is pulled "in" you are in the right place to receive it, with all the physical forces of the body marshaled to distribute their powers more forcibly where they may be required.

Steinborn does the same thing, and so does Klein. If you saw them lift you would imagine that they were not going to succeed, then, like lightning, they "pull" the weight "in" and are under it. Tall men can use this method to as good an advantage as the short man. The only difference is he does not have to, but the short man's short back purchase makes the method more adaptable for him. It is this same reason why, when making a two arm snatch lift plates of a low height are preferred. Here is one lift where the short man does not excel, not so much for any leverage advantage he may have, as because he has more concentrated energy than the taller man. His nervous force is distributed over a less area and in the snatch his limitation of pulling is decreased, as compared with the clean lift to his shoulders. But in this lift, centralization is the key to success. Again I must admonish all lifters that the weight must be snatched to arms' length in an oblique line overhead, not a perpendicular line. Just stand over an imaginary weight and snatch slowly with your hands, then stop at a line level with your eyes, and if you place a stick upright with the floor and your hands you will find you are away off center. We say that the weight must be snatched to arms' length "overhead." Then see that it goes over the head so your forces can co-ordinate, and not expect a few isolated muscles to do the impossible. Pull the weight towards you and snap under it. Speed and strength are intensified more in this lift than in any other one lift. No crack representative of any other sport move his forces so swiftly as the two arm snatcher. The greater the amount of weight he is able to snatch the faster he must be.

This reminds me of an amusing incident of which I was a spectator. Some young baseball players wee belittling the merits of a rival pitcher, and in giving advice to the Babe Ruth of the team, they informed him all he had to do was to get a "line on the ball" and he would make a piker of the rival pitcher. Sounds good to a novice, but getting a line of that ball was like a novice getting a line on gravity. It takes some doing, and at first you are apt to be made the piker. Incidentally, people with that kind of advice never seem to be able to practice what they preach. You will find it takes a great deal of mind co-ordination to control the right muscles in the right place, but, like shooting at a bull's-eye with a rifle, practice makes perfect.

Jerking a weight with two arms to arms' length overhead is not fraught with as much difficulty as is the case in taking a weight off the floor to the chest in one movement. This is proven by the clean and jerk records, which are lower than the records in the two hands continental style, which allows the lifter to use two or more movements in getting the weight to the chest. Just the same, gravity appears to react more quickly in the second stage of this lift than from the ground to shoulders. Really it does not; it is the difference in the motive power employed, which is explained by the fact that a heavy weight can be lowered more slowly to the ground than it can be lowered from arms' length overhead down to the shoulders. This apparently contradictory fact may confuse your mind, as you remember I told you it was easier to succeed in lifting from the shoulders than from the ground. It is the sustaining force that is reversed. Suppose you jerk a weight aloft, and it only goes part of the way up. You find that with a combined leg dip and arm pressure against the weight you are able to finish the lift. Your sustaining powers are directed entirely beneath the weight. From the ground to the shoulders the sustaining force is above the weight, which enables you to lower a greater weight slowly to the floor that you can raise to the chest. But, when jerking overhead, you will find many athletes who jerk the weight to arms' length and fail to hold it. When such is the case, it is caused through lack of centralization, and failing to dip under the weight at the right time. You see, there is what lifters call a "dying point" in all lifts; this is the place, as explained before, where the weight loses its momentum, and the muscular leverage diminishes. In jerking a weight overhead the dying point is between the crown of the head and about three inches past it. In this space leverage is neutralized and physical resistance is lessened. In order to offset this you must dip under the weight and press against it, which enables a lifter to straighten his arms under the weight in order to complete the lift. A speedy lifter will snap the weight on to its journey, and, like a flash get underneath, but if this is not backed up by a certain amount of sustaining power the reaction takes place like a flash and the weight is speedily back where it started. We know that men lie Rigolout, Cadine, Strassberger and Steinborn are fast men, with more that the usual amount of sustaining force, and men like Swoboda, Alzin, Giroux and Moerke have greater sustaining power rather than greater speed, which makes it possible for them to slow up gravitation, just enough to allow them to finish the lift. Gorner, Steinbach and Neuhaus have both these powers, but in a greater degree than that is possessed by the other lifters. In each case these men named have centralization, leverage and the laws of resistance figured out to a fraction. They know the value of mathematical deduction, and always apply arithmetic in lifting. It is as necessary for the lifter to understand how a weight decreases in its transitory flight as the poundage becomes increased, as it is necessary for a deep sea diver to understand why he cannot dive below a certain depth. In each case it is the resistance per square inch, and each can be figured out almost exactly. At one time this was a great hobby of mine, and I have often proven in demonstration just where the dying, or sticking place was in each lift, and have shown how it was possible to overcome it with one of the many co-ordinating factors, such as speed, strength, leverage and sustaining force. Some men who jerk overhead are satisfied if they can they can jerk the weight to the height of the crown of the head. These men are capable of great sustaining force and can resist to an extraordinary degree. But the theory that a man who can jerk a weight a less height than other and succeed "is more tricky," as some say, or less strong, is ridiculous. He is the man who is terrifically strong. He has to be.

I once took part in a demonstrative debate on this point. My opponent said, " Look how high that man can jerk the weight (referring to a well-known Polish lightweight, now in the country), which is a record for his class." I agreed, but I replied that he does not hold the weight and such a lift is not considered. Now, I argued, let us prove him according to lifting rules, which say he must hold the weight for a count of one, two, and stand erect under it. Right away the lifter dropped from 250 pounds to 225 pounds, which is a poundage that can be surpassed by many lightweight lifters. The moral is this: The Polish lifter had no sustaining force, and to prove my assertion, I told my lifter to lift as the Pole did, and he went away up in his poundage to about three hundred pounds. However, that is not lifting. Rarely do we come across men with such great sustaining force; but when we do, we find they are always men who have a complete mastery over the leverage principles of their muscles, and know just when and where to apply them, much as a motorist knows when to shift his gears when climbing a steep hill.

Take the one hand swing for another example of applied science. Here is a lift that calls for many changes and a lightning co-ordination of all the forces, that result in making it bewildering to the novice. In this country, we swing with a straight arm throughout the lift, as is practiced in Europe. The British have a style of their own, of which I do not approve, as a genuine swing. They used to swing in the accepted style. However, in this lift the weight is carried to a point where there is absolutely no physical control over it-when the weight is traveling at right angles to the body. We all know that no lifter could possibly hold the weight out that is swung at right angle by sheer strength. It must be carried past that point by the sheer force of the sweep taken off the floor. Most lifters only get a quarter swing out of their sweep, because they do not co-ordinate. Now an intelligent survey will show you that for about two-thirds of the distance the weight is traveling away from the body, that is, if you swing right. But to be successful in this lift, every inch of the way, the weight must be controlled. A quarter swing is the cause of lack of centralization, and uncontrolled gravity. The real swing lifter sends the bell sweeping through the air in a half circle, which keeps the weight traveling towards him, as it passes the dead line. In order to do this he must pull backwards with his body as he comes erect, which turns the arc of the weight form a quarter circle to a half circle, and thus carries it past the dead line, traveling towards him from the half-way point. A lot more has still to done, for the flight of the weight may not be high enough, which would cause his arms to bend. As soon as the weight is felt to pass the turning point, he thrusts with the straight arm against the weight and steps forward to meet it with the lifting foot advanced. Thus a connection is made by meeting the weight as it travels towards the lifter, offsetting gravity, and centralizing the forces. Stepping forward takes the place of a dip and lowers the body under the weight.

This thrust may seem vague to the beginner, so let us find an ordinary circumstance with which you will be familiar, to illustrate visually what is meant. At some time you have seen a big door, or some similar object, blown over by the wind, and as you rush to save it from the fall you thrust against it with the hands. However, you may recollect that natural instinct caused you to employ a straight arm, and with your weight thrown behind the arm thrust the heavy door was propped back in place. If your arms bent at the elbow the door beat you, and the arms became like broken props. Now, that is just what happens in a swing. If the arm is bent, no leverage is registered; if it is straight, it becomes a rigid prop of advantage, and the bodily strength springing forward its reserve, completes the whole show. It is a fast lift, and calls for quicker thinking, faster action, and more vigorous strength in one combined effort that any other lift. Greater skill is required, and the man who excels on this lift with a good poundage hung up as his record is apt to be a good, all-round lifter.

The bent press is always considered a very skillful lift, and, incidentally, is a lift that always brings up a controversy. Some argue that is it purely a case of knack, without any expenditure of strength required. Now, if it is solely a balancing feat, why cannot everybody succeed with it? However, when I hear a person talk that way I am quite sue I am listening to one who is not good in the bent press. I think it is a very useful lift, due to the value attached to it in teaching a lifter to know how to control a heavy weight. It gets the body accustomed to overcome greater resistance. It is barred from use in national, or world's competition, largely because it is not a universal lift. Anyhow, let us study it for the value of what it teaches us. We will concede the point to the argumentative chorus, and say it is a balancing feat, but to suggest that no strength is required is a theory exploded at the very beginning of the lift. The weight must be taken to the shoulder first. Now show me the average strong man who can toy with two hundred pounds in one hand at the shoulder, even if some one is helping him to the shoulder. Why! He is anchored. He cannot move with it. Then what on earth would he do with it arms' length? No matter how well centralized a lifter is, or how he balances a weight, the skill applied cannot lessen the weight of the object. Two hundred pounds will always register two hundred pounds of pressure, and the longer the weight is held the greater the depression that is registered. It takes power to hold the weight, even if it is balanced in such a position as to make its passage from the shoulder to arms' length easy, and the lifter must stand erect under it. Even if we consider it a balancing feat, strength is an absolute necessity. Somehow, it savors a little of the story of Pat and Mike. A big bale fell on Pat and pinned him to the ground. He roared for Mike to pull it off, but Mike informed him if he got under the bale he ought to be able to get from under it. No great strength was required to get under the bale, but it certainly was required to get from under it. At one time, and that is not a great while ago, all that was required to call a bent press a lift was to bend under until the straight arm was secured. Later, when the sport became organized, the lifter was obliged to stand erect with the weight at arms' length. Then what became of all those bent press agents? They simply could not make the grade. A centralized poise is the main issue in this lift, but when a man begins to handle two hundred and fifty pounds and over and do the lift correctly, you will always find that he has enough power to do other lifts with a meritorious poundage, as well as the bent press.

In most sports, all an athlete has to handle is his weight; the lifter has to have the power to handle his own weight and another weight, that invariably exceeds his own bodyweight considerably. He is the one athlete who must possess dynamic force. It often takes years to become an accomplished all-round lifter. The brilliant performer of today id not succeed in a few months. It took time and study. The science of the sport was not all compiled in a day, either, nor by any one man. It has taken generations of lifters to cultivate the skill that the sport now embraces. The skill of boxing is made up of blocks, blows, and stops, plus speed and stamina. The skill of wrestling consists of locks, blocks, breaks, and bars, plus speed and stamina. Every sport has its special line of science, but the science of weight lifting always resolves itself upon the amount of knowledge possessed by the lifter on the muscular principles of leverage, mathematical deduction of timing a weight, the sustaining power of the combined physical forces, co-ordination between mind and body, plus speed, strength, stamina and a well-balanced body. The greater success of the present time heavy weight lifter in handling heavy weights over the strong man of a generation ago is the result of better teamwork within himself, that has brought his co-ordination to a higher plane of perfection.

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