Articles By Anthony Ditillo Part 1

A SAMPLE LEG AND BACK BULKING ROUTINE Monday Full Squat Bent Legged Deadlift Bent Over Row Tuesday Bench Press Seated Press Seated Curl Wednesday Complete rest Thursday Half Squat High Deadlift Shrug Friday Repeat Tuesday Saturday and Sunday Complete rest

And there you have a complete leg and back bulk building routine. In case you are wondering why I have included an upper body routine to performed two days per week along with the lower body routine which is also to be performed two days per week, it is because of the overall growing effect that such heavy lower body specialization has upon the entire body. This way, by also including some upper body work you will add somewhat to your upper body bulk while you are increasing the mass of your thighs and lower back as well. I shall outline for you now, in complete lift by lift form, the entire routine. I shall endeavor to explain more fully the individual performance of each exercise and also just what kind of sets and repetitions have proven to me to be most valuable in training. Monday Full Squat I want you to perform five sets of this exercise. On your first set load the bar up to 50 per cent of your one rep limit. Perform ten repetitions using this light weight for a warm up. Now increase the bar to 75% of your one rep limit. Perform as many repetitions as possible with this weight. Now rest for two minutes. Now increase the weight of the bar to a poundage which is 90% of your one rep limit. Perform three sets of as many repetitions as possible using this weight. Rest for two minutes between each of the three sets. Proper performance is most important while performing the full squat. Be sure that you take a wide foot stance, as this seems to give the steadiest balance position. Breathe in very deeply before you begin to descend into the squat, and hold the breath until you are almost standing erect. When you arrive at the sticking point, you may then forcibly exhale and strive to stand erect with this weight. Be sure to add weight to the bar whenever you can, as this is the only way for you to be able to keep an accurate check on your progress. Bent Legged Deadlift I want you to perform three sets of this exercise. For the first set put 50% of your one rep limit on the bar and perform ten repetitions for a warm-up. Now rest for to minutes. Next increase the weight of the bar to 75% of your one rep limit and perform as many repetitions

as possible with this weight. Now rest for two minutes. Finally, put 90% of your one rep limit on the bar and perform one set of as many repetitions as physically possible. When performing these deadlifts, I want you to be sure and breathe in very deeply when commencing to begin the lift. Then, while performing the lift itself, slowly but surely, exhale all the air out of the lungs. This will prevent possible muscle strains in the lower abdomen and groin area. I would also advise you to wear wrist straps as these will help you in concentrating on the lifting of the weight itself and not worrying about your grip giving out during the lift. I have only advised three sets due to the heaviness of the weight you will have to lift. I do not want you to go stale. Be sure to add weight to the bar whenever you possibly can. Bent Over Rowing This last exercise in your Monday routine will bulk up all the muscles of the upper back and I want you to use it here as a tapering off exercise. For the first set use 50% of your one rep limit and perform one set of ten repetitions. Rest for two minutes. Now increase the bar to 75% of your one rep limit and perform three sets of as many reps as you possibly can. Rest for two minutes between each set. Be sure and pull the bar up into the lower abdomen and pause two seconds when it reaches this spot. Use a close grip and be sure to add weight to the bar whenever possible. This, then, is a step by step description of your Monday bulking routine. Next on our agenda is a step by step description of the routine you will be following on Tuesday and Friday. These three exercises are for the upper body. Since this is primarily a lower body bulking routine, I shall not go into minute detail concerning these three upper body exercises. They are placed here in this routine only to allow you to continue to gain in the upper body while you are specializing on the lower body. Now since these routines are not for beginners, I feel that all of you readers should know just how to perform these three exercises for best results. However, I shall give you a brief account of sets and reps which I feel will be helpful. Tuesday and Friday

Bench Press: 5 sets of 5 reps, add weight whenever possible Seated Press: 5 sets of 5 reps, add weight whenever possible Curl: 5 sets of 5 reps, add weight whenever possible Be sure to perform these sets and reps slowly and correctly for best results. You should rest for two minutes between each set. Wednesday Complete rest. Do no training at all. Thursday Half Squat. Begin this movement by taking your top FULL SQUAT POUNDAGE and perform one set of ten repetitions. You should use a power rack for this movement. BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN PERFORMING THIS MOVEMENT. Now, rest for two minutes. Next, increase the weight of the bar to a poundage which is heavy enough so that you cant do more than three repetitions with it. Stay with this poundage until you can perform five sets of three reps with it. Then it is time to add ten pounds to the bar. Rest for two minutes between each set. Remember: when you are able to use the same poundage for five sets of three repetitions, you should increase the weight of the bar by ten pounds the very next workout. This will be the way you can gauge the progress you are making. Rack Deadlift. begin by using the same weight can deadlift full from the floor one time. Perform one set of ten repetitions in high deadlift, using this poundage. Rest for two minutes. Now increase the weight of the bar to a weight which you cant possibly do more than three reps with. Stay with this poundage until you can perform five sets of three reps with it. Then on the next training period, increase the bay by ten pounds. Because of the heaviness of the barbell, it will be necessary for you to use wrist straps in order for you to hold onto the bar. Be sure to rest for two minutes between each set of various repetitions.

Shrug. This movement will help develop all the remaining muscles of the upper back and the shoulder area. It is included in this routine more or less as a tapering off exercise movement. I want you to perform one set of ten repetitions using 50% of your one rep limit, then rest for two minutes. Now increase the weight of the bar to 75% of your one rep limit and perform three sets of as many reps as possible, while using this same weight. As soon as you are able to, be sure to increase the poundage. Rest for two minutes between each set. While performing the shoulder shrug, I would also advise you to use wrist straps and get a complete circular motion to the bar as you raise and shrug your shoulders. This will help to fully develop your shoulder group and upper back muscles to their fullest. Be sure to perform the repetitions slowly and correctly for best results. I hope I have made the execution of this routine simple and easy to follow. I would advise anyone interested to reread this routine over and over again, until they are sure they know just what it is they are to do. Be sure to perform your repetitions slowly and correctly for best results. Be sure to add weight to the bar whenever possible. Try to follow the instructions I have given you just as I have written them up. I have a definite reason for grouping the exercises in this certain way and I would like you to perform this routine just as I have written it up for you. NEW IDEAS ON TRAINING DOWN AND HOW THEY WORKED by Anthony Ditillo At 5 feet 6 inches in height I have weighed from 185 to 258 pounds at one time or another during my training, so I know what it is to be big. I can recall wearing slacks that 4 years previous would have been identical to my coat size, and I have also worn coats the size of tents! At 185 my family said I had a good build; at 258 my friends said I radiated power and massiveness and yet, all the while, my wife has been telling me that Im just plain fat!

If you are interested in losing a few pounds to keep in your weight class, or perhaps are just a wee bit too chubby or bulky (whichever name you prefer) I feel Im the man to see. Even though I cant lift my way out of a paper bag compared with other lifters, and even though my physique may appear rather piggish to any Mr. winner, I do claim a title which can be very important to many overweight people. That title is: Mr. Weight Control. The diet and routine I am going to list later on in this article are the exact ones I have used for the past half a year in reducing my body from a monstrous high to a more subtle low of 215. Before diving right in on the matter of my diet plan, I would first like to give my own personal views of weight control. To me, losing fat and losing loose skin, in order to define yourself for some physique event, are two entirely different situations and require two entirely different remedies. Many, many trainees misconstrue a fining down routine with a training down routine, and the consequence in the pre-mentioned situation is very little weight loss in proportion to the amount of strength that fades away. You see, as far as defining a physique is concerned, light weights and absolute concentration, along with peak contraction movements are the key. Naturally, a high protein, low carbohydrate diet is necessary or all is in vain. This diet plus training principle applies to a man who is already well developed and needs to lose 10-15 pounds in order to show outstanding definition. The diet alone will result in a more defined physique and coupled with many sets of many repetitions with light weights success is almost assured! But, dear readers, there is another side to out coin. What about the REALLY bulked-up fellow with the low metabolism? Will the same principles apply for him? I, for one, dont think so. I have personally tried a protein diet and while I did lose some weight without having to count calories, the results were certainly slow. I also felt devoid of any energy. I did find, however, when I used heavy weights, high sets and low reps, using a slight cheat on the last few, and performed only muscle-group exercises, and along with this training plan ingested a diet that was medium-high in protein, high in carbohydrates and very low in fats, my strength increased along with my training drive and the weight began to really melt off. I also used water excretion tablets which reduced my water weight somewhat. I know this sounds like a complete reversal concerning nutrition and exercise, yet all the same this is how I reacted. I also feel I can give reasons for this strange phenomenon.

I have read and hold to be true, that carbohydrates supply a great abundance of energy for a short time and then are completely burned-out by the body and used very quickly. This is unless the diet is very high in calories with a surplus of all types of food; then the carbohydrates turn into body fat. This is why FAT is said to be a better source of energy. It has more staying power for the body to use. I agree this is quite true. But what if you were to lower your calories to maybe half of what it normally takes to maintain your present weight? Wouldnt you be operating on a deficit? Do you think it would really matter what type of food you ate? Since fat stays longer in the body wouldnt that mean that it would be a poor food for a calorie-counting diet? A tablespoon of butter has 100 calories in it all fat; yet a cup of macaroni has around 10 times the filling power of butter and only 50-60 calories. Do you get my point? Also, if carbohydrates are supposed to move through the body faster than fats, unless there is an overabundance of food ingested, which on a calorie-counting diet there couldnt be, then wouldnt it be easier to burn up the calories contained in the carbohydrates and proteins than in the fats? I will leave the final decision up to the reader himself. Next on the list is protein. I feel we all know enough about this nutrient without trying to get too technical, so Ill come right to the point and say that I feel many fellows overdo this blessing much too much. No matter how much you stuff yourself with protein you can only use as much as your body needs and the rest will be excreted. Only so much can be used for building muscle and this amount is governed by the amount of HARD WORK you perform. Thats the key, fellas, HARD WORK! Suppose we have two guys perform the following routine, starting with the curl: No. 1 performs 5 sets of 10 reps with all the weight he can use. No. 2 performs 10 sets of 5 reps with all the weight he can use. They each concentrate as much as possible on the muscles being worked and the movement being performed. Which one performed the harder work? Even though they both totaled 50 repetitions in the movement, No. 2 handled more weight, so he increased the intensity of the work performed, while No. 1 did not. Therefore, wouldnt it be sensible to infer that No. 2 would need more protein than No. 1, all other relevant facts and figures being equal? I certainly think so. Yet in reality No. 1 may be

forcing himself to gulp down 200-300 grams of protein per day. Where is it all going? Out the other end, in all probability. A 1200-1500 calorie diet, in most cases, without concern for how much of each nutrient ingested, will cause a large man to lose weight very quickly. Smaller built fellows will probably not fall into the weight-reduction category I have been referring to throughout this part of the article, anyway. While on this type of power routine-low fat diet, my energy has been at an all-time high. I now train 5 days a week with full body routines and my enthusiasm is growing by leaps and bounds. I have lost very little muscle size while on this diet and my strength has increased somewhat also. I feel tighter now and more like a recoil of a rifle ready to spring when the bullet is sent on its way. I find I am ore alert at my job (store keeper) and more content with the variety of food that I can eat. I have decided to stay at 215 for a number of reasons. First, I felt too weak and brittle at 185. Second, at 258 I felt (and looked, to some) like Paul Anderson, who is not generally known for his aesthetic physique. At 215 I like the way I feel and look and I also enjoy that heavy bodyweight feeling of power. To put it briefly (paraphrasing Goldilocks and the Three Bears): This ones too big; this ones too small; this ones just right!
SQUATS

At this point we are going to begin a section your strength training program which is of the utmost importance to you, no matter what your ultimate goals are in the field of weight training. It makes no difference where your aims may lie in the would of weights, leg work is of the utmost importance in determining whether you eventually reach your maximum potential or whether you fall by the wayside, somewhere along the road. There is so much positive information concerning correct leg training for increased muscular development and increasing muscular power, that to outline such a subject in minute detail would take in itself a complete book. The value of heavy leg and squat training is so far reaching that by now it should seem somewhat redundant to hear these time worn clichs repeated here, once again. Yet, I feel such remarks are indeed necessary , for in todays world of weights, the amount of competition has increased so drastically and dramatically that some feel in

order to reach the top in a given lift or two, only these particular lifts should be concentrated on so that increased workloads can be adapted with little or no increase in the overall training volume, which would take place , should we include sufficient leg work and squatting practices along with our particular chosen lifts in our particular chosen fields of physical endeavor. However, such a situation is not conducive to any great increase in the individuals overall conditioning and overall body power. This is because it is absolutely necessary to work the thigh and hip area quite hard and regular in order for these sought after attributes to become physically possible for any real length of time. Make no mistake about it hip and thigh specialization is necessary for any great increase of bodily strength and proficiency in which the immediate gains are sought to be held onto for any great length of time. Hip and thigh specialization, with most emphasis placed upon the various squatting movements, can and will literally transform your physique beyond your wildest dreams, should you have the intelligence and fortitude to undertake a rigorous training regime and all around training program. The most important aspect of hip and thigh specialization is the overall conditioning such training will develop in you. It matters not what field of lifting you are interested in, be it powerlifting, Olympic lifting or bodybuilding, such specialization will enable you to handle longer and more intense workouts, for all the areas of the body and this in itself is worth the price in energy such work warrants. One major value of gross amounts of lower body work is the stimulation of the circulatory and metabolic systems of the body. Such stimulation will enable you to develop greater muscle mass and definition as well as muscle density, not to mention the increase in physical strength such undertakings will involve. With heavy lower body work, the blood is circulated to the working muscles at a faster rate and this has a carry over effect on the rate of muscular recuperation and physical adaptability, which we have already mentioned in previous chapters. Since one prerequisite for muscle growth lies in the increase of muscle pump, through exercise such an increase in your circulation is a handy way to develop the ability to pump the muscles with less sets and repetitions. This means the muscles will be operating at a higher level of proficiency and capability and this will develop greater gains in

muscle size and athletic conditioning given enough time and sweat as well as determination on your part. Make no mistake about it, a better conditioned athlete has the potential to be a stronger athlete as compared to another trainee with the same amount of basic power but without the same level of athletic conditioning. How many times have you been to a lifting meet and noticed how tired and pooped out the lifters were by the time it came to take their third attempts on either of the two Olympic lifts, or the three power lifts? Do you think the Western European athletes of the lifting platform suffer from this same lack of conditioning? I should say not. Nothing could be further from the truth. The major difference between our lifters and theirs lies in their superior conditioning. When training the lower body for the purpose of developing greater physical conditioning, certain points in the training should be emphasized for the greatest results in the shortest possible time. To begin with, it is not necessary to use any assistance movements besides the conventional Back Squat when training for this pre-mentioned goal. Three workouts per week on the Back Squat will be necessary and for the most part weights will be handled that are well within the lifters physical capabilities. Further gains in strength will come as a natural by-product of such vigorous training and no attempt to handle maximum weights for singles will ever be necessary. Why? Because such training will cause a strength increase without the usual coaxing with very heavy poundages that most strength programs deem necessary. However, in our situation, we will be using the Squat as an exercise, sot as a lift. and the difference will be both seen and felt after the initial breaking-in period and with regular performances. With our three day per week squat routine for conditioning purposes we will break our training into one heavy, one light, and finally, one medium day. On the first squat day we well be working with 80% of our limit for ten repetitions and our goal will be to ultimately perform five sets of ten reps with this weight. This means that if your limit for ten reps is 300 pounds, then you would be using around 240 pounds for the five sets of repetitions and your ultimate aim on this day would be to get five sets of ten reps with it. I would advise one or two sets of six to eight reps with lighter weights to properly warm up the muscles. After these sets you are ready to go. Finish up with one set of eight or so reps with around 50% of

your maximum and then call it quits for that day. To do them first would over fatigue you for the rest of your program. On our second day of squatting we will be using 50% of our one rep limit and our goal will be two or three sets of twenty repetitions with this weight. Have one warm up set and then get to the working poundage and get to work. Although the weight will be light the high number of repetitions will greatly stimulate your entire body with increased physical endurance and long lasting stamina. You can cool off from this work with a very light weight and one set of ten reps. Do these last in your program because you will not be able to walk properly after doing them. All rest between sets during this leg work (on all three days) should be kept to a minimum in order to further intensify the stress (effort). All other upper body work can be done on alternate training days, if you desire, or first on the squatting days before such leg work is undertaken. It is this light training day, with its few sets and very high repetitions, which is so important for increased cardiovascular efficiency and muscular development. Do not be misled by the use of such light training poundages that the routine is not of any great importance. One month or six weeks on such a routine will more than testify to its value and importance. On our final day of squatting we will be using 70% of our one repetition limit and the rep scheme will be seven sets with between five and seven repetitions. Naturally a thorough warm-up will be necessary and desired. Two or three sets with increasingly heavier weights, until we are at our poundage for the days work, will be necessary to enable us to train unhampered with injuries. After our selected number of sets, one or two cooling off sets with around 50% maximum should do nicely. Finally, be sure to do this work at the end of the days routine or on another training period. By no means put this leg work first! The kind of routines I have outlined for you here will revamp your metabolism to new heights of efficiency and ability. The overall results will be an increase in training drive, an increase in your workload capability, and finally, a great increase in tour leg development and repetition squatting proficiency. Your ability to recuperate from heavy exercise will enhance beyond your wildest dreams and the beauty of this type of repetition squat training is that the amount of weight handled will seem oppressive and overly heavy on the shoulders. This will enable you to use fairly good style and finesse while using this kind of squat training. This freedom from pain will enable you to attempt limits in repetition

strength which you would have never reached had you continuously used the usual five by five routine used by so many of us. After some time at this type of training, you will find yourself using repetitions for very heavy weights. For bodybuilding, heavy leg work and various assistance movements are both desirable and necessary for complete physical development. Make no mistake about it, heavy leg development is of the utmost necessity for top physique honors. The day of the top heavy bodybuilder is slowly but surely coming to an end. Such a half-developed physique is surely becoming a thing of the past. Leg work is paramount in importance for the would-bebodybuilder competitor and champion. Along with the various squats, there are many leg assistance movements which are also necessary for complete development along aesthetic lines of achievement. To be sure, the high repetition squatting previously mentioned will develop a well developed pair of legs, but for the bodybuilder such development must also be defined, shapely, and aesthetic in shape. Correct squatting techniques are of the utmost necessity when planning to develop a pair of legs to rival John Grimek and all the rest of our bodybuilding heroes. It will take a lot of work and a lot of planning. First and foremost, an exercise style should be developed which closely patterns itself after the style exhibited by the various Olympic lifters who use the Back Squat and Front Squat as a means to an end and not an end within itself. For the bodybuilder, squatting should be done primarily with the muscles of the frontal thigh and not with the muscles of the hips and buttocks. To work the muscles of the hip and buttocks at the expense of the thigh is indeed foolish for both the Olympic lifter and for the bodybuilder, since the lifter depends on the frontal thigh when coming out of the clean and snatch position. The bodybuilder will miss an important shaping benefit if he does not squat correctly and such a development will offset his overall impressiveness and beauty. To Back Squat correctly the bar should be placed high on the traps for better control and balance. The foot spacing should be medium to medium close and the most important part: when lowering into the deep position, keep the torso erect and make the knee the axis of movement, not the hip. At the fully flexed bottom position, the leg biceps muscle should be crushing the calves with the upper thigh folded over the lower thigh as much as possible. Rebounding out of the bottom position is necessary so as not to utilize the muscles of the hips and buttocks.

For bodybuilding purposes I would advise two squat workouts per week. I also would advice additional assistance movements in order work the thigh from various angles so as to gain both in development and muscle density as well as shapeliness. The repetition scheme should incorporate both high and low repetitions so as to develop both usable strength as well as muscular size. I would still advise that such leg work be done at the end of the usual routine so as not to deplete oneself too early in the training day, or better still, do such work on separate days of the week which the lower body would be worked alone, so as to incorporate maximum muscular recuperation. The main assistance movements used by the majority of successful trainees would be the Leg Press, Leg Extension, Leg Curl, and at certain times, the Hack Squat. As mentioned earlier, I would recommend a strict, upright, Olympic squat for properly developed thighs without excessive use of the hips and glutes. Be sure to keep the bar high on the traps and fold the thighs over the calves when in the low squat position. For the shaping movements such as the Hacks and extensions and Leg Curls, I recommend rather high repetitions such as ten to fifteen reps and at times, even higher. The Front Squat could be incorporated here on one squat training day, in place of the Back Squat, however, by using the correct squatting techniques Ive outlined, the Front Squat is not really necessary for the bodybuilder. His Back Squat will work the same muscle groups much more comfortably. Using a two day squat routine, the following is an example of an intermediate trainees schedule: Monday Back Squat seven to ten sets of eight to ten repetitions increasing to a weight just about maximum for one set of ten repetitions. Leg Extensions four sets of ten to fifteen repetitions, done slowly. Leg Curls four sets of ten to fifteen repetitions done slowly. Calf Work eight to ten sets of whatever movements you decide to work on, keeping the repetitions rather high and the sets done rather quickly. Thursday Front Squat seven to ten sets of ten to fifteen repetitions done quickly for muscle shaping and pump effect. Hack Squats four sets of ten to fifteen repetitions done slowly. Calf Work the same as chosen previously.

On the opposite days you would work the upper body and on one of the squatting days you would finish up the routine with heavy deadlifts, if you are a powerlifter of light Stiff Legged Deadlifts, should you decide to do them solely for bodybuilding purposes. Leg work for the bodybuilder is no longer a point of debate in lifting circles. The necessity of such work is made more apparent with each succeeding bodybuilding championship. The kind of routine listed for you here is a basic, sound, intermediate routine which you can work with after a given period of time, and improve upon by choosing your own method of incorporating the previously discussed training theories. The rest is up to you. Squat specialization and leg work for the Olympic lifter or powerlifter is another matter which will require further discussion in this part of our chapter. Although many will disagree with me, I feel the training methods of the Olympic lifter will more than suffice as a training medium for the powerlifter also. This is because the Olympic lifter sill try to develop as much usable strength in the frontal thighs as he possibly can. This is necessary in order to recover strongly from the front squat-like clean position. Also, the squat snatch will necessitate such frontal thigh strength or he will never be able to recover from this position. I also believe that their attitude towards the amount of weight one regularly handles in the Back Squat is a more intelligent application of training ego. An Olympic lifter is not interested in how much he can Back Squat for a single, he is interested in how many sets and repetitions he can handle with a certain percentile of his limit as this volume and load training will develop itself in terms of how much he will be able to lift in competition. While the powerlifter is in a somewhat different position, being responsible for back squatting very heavy limit attempts in training during his peaking period before a contest, this idea of being concerned with not how heavy you can go, but how much work you can do does have merit. By keeping this mental attitude in place of trying to force up anything you can in training to impress your friends, you will develop a much superior style in your squats due to not having to concentrate solely upon the weight of the bar. Moreover, such use of the Olympic Back Squat as a main thigh strengthener will undoubtedly increase your leg strength to such an extent that during your pre-contest peaking periods, when utilizing the much more lax powerlifting style, the pre-developed leg strength will show itself with an increase in your powerlifting squat capability.

When formulating a basic power squat training routine, we must remember that the kinds of overload principles discussed in previous chapters will be most useful in trying to develop our ultimate squatting potential. However, it would be almost impossible for me to outline an example routine for each and every type of training principle and training methodology previously outlined. This is because such a topic would take the length of a book, in itself, to discuss fully. By attempting to overcome the stress of the proposed training routine which I am about to give you, the Olympic lifter as well as the powerlifter can incorporate the various training methods into future advanced routines as he sees fit. By first working on the program outlined, he is guaranteed that he has developed past the intermediate level of training and from there on in, it will be his own choices of training programs and how to mix these various methods, that will develop him into an advanced lifter. The powerlifter should be squatting two days per week. The Olympic lifter can go to three days, since he will not be interested in some of the assistance movements which will prove most helpful for the powerlifter. For the powerlifter, one day heavy and one day light will usually suffice. On your heavy day you will be using the power style of back squatting. This means that the bar will be placed low on the back and the foot placement will be necessarily wide. Hips and glutes will be forced into play with this style and this will greatly add to your squatting poundage. This is as it should be since this is the style you will be using in competition. On your light squatting day, perform the squat in Olympic lifting style. There should be no need to go over performance style again. The Olympic lifter would doing Back Squats twice per week in Olympic style and Front Squats once per week. The amount of sets and repetitions he will decide to utilize will be chiefly up to him and his coach, since he will be using these squatting movements for a means to an end, not as an end in themselves. For the powerlifter, I would advise Partial Back Squats within a power rack after the light Olympic Back Squats in his light training day. By using the power rack and doing a few sets but without maximum poundages, he will be adding to his training intensity without undue strain to his physical capabilities. The closer you will get to a contest, the less volume of work you will be doing in your squats. This is known as peaking. For the powerlifter, this is the time for doing the heavy singles and doubles in the power style and for holding back on the power rack work and the

Olympic style squats. For the Olympic style lifter this is the time to be mainly concerned with how much you can handle in the Clean and Jerk and the Snatch, not in the Squat. Be sure to realize what a peaking period in your training really stands for. For the powerlifter to rely on strict Olympic squatting at this time would be a mistake. For the Olympic lifter to be doing power squats at this time would be ludicrous. Think, and then train accordingly. By cultivating an intelligent approach to lower body training, both the power and Olympic lifter may learn that they have a lot more in common than they would have previously thought. Correct leg training is one such consideration. By incorporating the Olympic strict style in back squatting our powerlifter will develop the ability to use his frontal thigh muscles to great advantage and this increase in sheer leg strength will definitely gave a carrying over effect on his regularly performed power squat. The Olympic lifter will also benefit from such regular strenuous thigh programs because his sport requires that he have developed just about the most powerful thighs one can imagine. Both facets of our sport require massively developed, terribly strong lower bodies. In closing out this part of Chapter 3, let me remind you all, once again, that no matter what facet of the sport you are into at the present time, you will never make it to the ultimate of what it is you are really capable of without hard, regular lower body training. Intense, voluminous leg work will literally revamp your conception of just what constitutes plain, hard work. It will also aid you in developing a more muscular physique. The ability of the metabolism to be greatly stimulated through vigorous leg training is the key to your weight training future. Without this intense worthwhile training, you will be doomed to a future of lifting mediocrity. It is up to you to decide just what it is you want and where it is you wish to someday go.
WEIGH GAINING Routines If I were to choose four movements which would work all the muscles of major importance of the body, I would choose the Parallel Squat, the Deadlift, the Medium Grip Bench Press and the Medium Grip Bent Over Row. These four movements will force power and muscular growth into just about all the major muscles of your body. However, you must be sure that your set and repetition scheme will work with and not against such a choice of exercises. First of all, you must learn to know when you have had enough. As the late Earl Liederman used to say, "There's a little voice inside you which tells you when you should stop." This is quite true. Remember: you are trying to add to your physical proportions, you are not trying to define them. The amount of sets of each exercise performed will vary naturally with the particular schedule, but your repetition scheme

should always remain the same. I personally feel that in order for you to gain muscular bulk you must and should use heavy weights. The heavier the weight gets the slower the repetitions become in performance, and it is this slowness of movement which will work your muscles most severely. That is why I would not advise you to ever use more than five repetitions per set of any exercise movement which you use. This way, by constantly keeping the repetition scheme to five and under, you will be forced to perform each repetition and set with grit, determination and slowness, and it is these factors which will enable ou to gain as hour should in muscular bulk. A proper warmup and a final 'pump' set can be used and these naturally will be of a higher repetition scheme. So remember: stick to basic major muscle building movements and a high set, low repetition scheme, along with a high complete protein and high calorie diet for best results. The following four routines are ones that I personally have used and they have also aided many an underweight trainee to gain. They will be comprised of the aforementioned four basic exercise movements. The number of days per week and the set and repetition scheme have slight differenced in order for you to be able to go from one type of training schedule without suffering from mental or physical staleness. At the end of each of the four routines are a few remarks concerning the proper performance for the best results. Routine No. 1. Monday and Thursday: a.) Squat - One set of 10 reps, as a warmup, followed by five sets of five reps using all the weight possible for each set. b.) Deadlift - Same as Squat. c.) Bench Press - Same as Squat. d.) Bentover Row - Same as Squat. This full schedule should be repeated 2 times per week. However, if you want, you could increase it to three times per week, but this is up to your ability to handle work. Routine No. 2. Monday: a.) Squat - 1x10; 1x8; 1x6; 1x4; 1x2 and then 5 sets of 3-5 reps using all the weight possible. b.) Bench Press - Same as squat. Thursday: a.) Deadlift - same sets and reps as Monday. b.) Bentover Row - same sets and reps as Monday. This kind of training routine is more severe and that is why you only do 2 movements per training day. You will be working these 2 movements quite hard and this will cause you to gain. Routine No. 3. Monday, Wednesday and Friday:

a.) Squat - 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps using all the weight possible. b.) Bench Press - same as Squat. c.) Deadlift - same as Squat. d.) Bentover Row - same as Squat. This would be he ordinary every other day schedule for the ambitious, underweight trainee. Routine No. 4. Monday: Squat - 1 set of 10 for a warmup, and then 8-10 sets of 3 reps using all the weight you can possibly handle for each set. b.) Bench Press - 2 sets of 10 for a warmup and then 3 sets of 5 reps using all the weight you can possibly handle. c.) Bentover Row - 2 sets of 10 for a warmup and then 3 sets of 5 reps using all the weight you can possibly handle. Thursday: a.) Deadlift - 1 set of 10 for a warmup, and then 8-10 sets of 3 reps using all the weight you can possibly handle for each set. b.) Bench Press - 2 sets of 10 reps, and then 3 sets of 5 reps using all the weight you can possibly handle. c.) Bentover Row - 2 sets of 10 reps, and then 3 sets of 5 reps using all the weight you can possibly handle. This type of routine would enable you to concentrate on one movement per workout for power and the other two for added muscular bulk. However, you will positively have to be sure to eat enough of the complete protein foods and get more than enough calories in order to grow.

Single Rep traing

It should be obvious to most of you now that to develop yourself to the limits of your physical capabilities will be a long and hard road to follow. It is not going to be easy to make yourself into a new, massively strong man. In order to fully develop your strength potential, you will have to learn to handle heavy poundages regularly in your training. Many shy away from this. They fear heavy weight. For them, the power rack will be of some assistance, since it will offer them protection from falling barbells and failures. But along with this assistance work, heavy poundages will have to be utilized in the regular barbell moves or else we will not be able to show our usable strength in an accepted manner. This is where the Single Repetition Principle comes into play. For, by using it correctly, we will be able to demonstrate our functional strength.

I feel that a regular increase in training poundages is necessary for continued progress. A trainee should strive to handle as much weight as he can possibly accommodate to, for the given number of sets and repetitions which are contained in the training regimen. There is no point in training for increased strength if you are going to persist in training with light weights. Strength comes from intense effort, whether in the form of low repetitions or single repetitions, it does not come from pumping out set after set with medium heavy resistance. This kind of training will only tear down your strength potential. And just because the bodybuilding champions look strong, this does not make them strong! This is why I have decided to speak about heavy singles in your training, because they are a sure measurement stick for you to understand where your limits, weaknesses and strong points lie and then the ability to correct these faults (if any) will lie in your grasp. By using the contained information, most of you hard gainers will at last have a reasonable approach to your lifting and should realize regular strength increases with applied work and attention. One only has to take a look at todays powerlifting champions to see the physical limits of size and strength, concentrated in a single body. All these men look strong and are strong. This goes for the Olympic lifters also. There was a time a while back when the Olympic lifter could as an example of strength without muscular development worth speaking of, but today, due to improved methods of raining and the intensity of competitions you have to be both muscular and strong in order to win. Some of these men are carrying enough functional muscle on their frames to look almost inhuman! This is especially true of the heavier classes since this is where there is enough bodyweight to make up appreciable size. The lower classes have an athletic, well knit together look and such an appearance gives the impression of hidden strength and a look at the records in these lower classes will convince you of the truth of this. There can be no doubt about it, these men have somehow learned to find the right combination of much work and hard work and the result is an incredibly massive and powerful body. What makes this so pertinent for this part of the book is that they all have used in one form or another, the Single Repetition Principle in their training. And by absorbing the training principles of these men the average strength seeker will be able to gain like he has never

gained before, without the endless hours wasting away in the gym, seeking answers and not knowing exactly where to go or what to do. In my own search for better and faster training methods, I came across many fallacies which most men hold on to in their training and for the most part, did not gain regularly because of it. I am not going to say that such training systems do not have their place, only that they, in themselves are not the complete answer. Just about any system we use will work, to some degree, as long as we work. So it would be wrong to assume that these methods are a complete waste of time. It is only that I have found a faster way, and I want to make this known to you for your own sake, that I make these negative comparisons. The first fallacy I saw through was the notion that high repetitions and light weights could reduce fat and at the same time build muscle. Many lifters feel that if they go on a periodic pump routine, they will be able to train down some and perhaps go into the next lower class, thereby becoming lighter and yet almost the same in strength. Hogwash! It just doesnt happen that way. Your diet is the key to whether you are soft or lean. Your dietary habits determine how much muscle density you are going to carry. That along with genetics will eventually make you into your finished product. Try and remember that light weights will do nothing for you in developing physical strength. For if you try to exercise excess weight off, without continuing your strength schedules, you will wind up smaller, flabbier and a lot weaker and who needs this? In the long run you will be very disappointed. The second fallacy I came across was that if you were underweight and you tried to build up using light training methods, with long and frequent schedules, just like you read in the magazines, that this would somehow transform into a superman due to all this excessive work. Nothing could be further from the truth. Strength is not built from endurance training. Anyone with enough guts and determination can do set after set of light weights and high repetitions and get nothing out of it but a strong heart. If you are going after such a healthy condition, fine. But light and excessive work will not help you gain useful size or strength and if you think it will, think again! The third and final fallacy was the notion that single repetitions are only a test of strength, they in themselves do not build strength. This is simply not true. There is not one Power or Olympic lifter who has ever made it to the top who has not utilized this method to some

degree. You cannot properly prepare yourself towards competition without practicing singles because they are not going to ask to see how many reps you can get out with a given weight at the contest. On the lifting platform its how much you can do for one repetition that counts. There are ways of incorporating this training method into your program which will enable you to use it with regularity and not go stale on it as so many of its detractors will moan about and bring your attention to. You simply do not do limit singles but do singles over and over with around 90 or 95% or your limit. By leaving this safety margin of 5 or 10% you reduce the possibility of going stale or of getting hurt. I shall now ask the following question: Why is this training method so valuable to the average trainee and how does it compare with other accepted theories? To answer this we shall have to take look at what most of you are already doing in your training routines and then a fair comparison can be made. First we have the forced reps method of training. This is when you have a helper who aids you to perform more and more repetitions with a weight which usually would limit your performance to only a few counts. Now this kind of training is very good, except for one point. For the man with low energy reserve it will be far to strenuous for continued use or continued gains. Hence it is unsuitable for most men who must work hard at their jobs all day. These men would never recuperate from this type of training. Training for forced reps is only for the gifted, chosen few. For the rest of us I feel that the only time we should try to force repetitions is in the comfort and safety of the power rack, because there you know you cant get hurt by a sudden failure to finish a forced repetition. Another method is the cheating method. This is where you try to move the weight by using other muscle groups to assist you. In my opinion all you get out of this is mild stimulation for a lot of muscle groups and shortness of breath. It makes no sense to take the stress off the very muscle you are trying to develop, does it? It is also possible to really hurt yourself from this exaggerated style of exercise performance. The cheating curl has hurt many a lower back! The third old standby is the long respected method of high sets and low repetitions. A good example of this would be using 10 sets of 3 repetitions, using the same weight and

trying to slowly get to where you can get 10 sets of 5 repetitions with this weight. Then you would increase the bar by maybe 20 lbs. and begin all over again with 10 sets of 3 reps. This gas worked pretty well for mw in the past, its main drawback is the amount of time such a schedule takes and the onset of training boredom doing the same number of sets and reps with the same weight each training session. Most trainees are too lazy to make the periodical weight increases which would make this system work pretty well. What happens is that they stay at the same sets, reps and weight too long and what happens is that the trainee loses interest and stops gaining. Finally we come to the Single Repetition Principle. This system is valuable to strength lifters because it lets you know where you stand strength wise during any time of the year. You can gauge your overall strength condition by your ability to do a certain number of singles with a certain percentage of your weight limit. It is used by just about every top power and Olympic lifter in the country. This is especially true when they are peaking for a meet. Since you are not, you can use it with great regularity. All you need is determination and hard work. When using the Single Repetition Principle in your training you should keep in mind the following pertinent facts: be sure that you get enough proper rest and recuperation into your work schedule since this heavy type of training places a great demand on your nervous systems capability to respond with renewed vigor, workout after workout. Working with single repetitions is just about the hardest type of training you can do, save only the power rack. Remember this and try to get in enough rest and nutritional supplement into your schedule so that you will gave everything working for you for gaining and nothing holding you back. You must also be sure that you are neither underworking nor should you be overworking. It is possible to train six days per week on this system without overworking. It is also possible to train for only three days per week, with an improper scheduling of these principles and you will be overworking to such a degree that you will be sure to fail, should you not try to remedy the situation by discussing this with someone who is in the know as to how to revamp what it is that you are doing so you can continue to gain once again. You must remember that training with heavy singles is very intense work. It will take a lot out of you both physically and mentally. Your muscles and tendons will be worked to the limit an the

mental stress such training will place upon you defies description. But rest assured, with the application of this training system the way I am going to outline it here for you, it will be very hard for you to become overtrained and you will enjoy the success such training will bring you. With this program I feel three or four movements per workout is best. Try it this way and see if it doesnt react favorably on your system. Just be sure that your diet is adequate and you are resting enough between workouts and finally that the movements are the right ones for your particular aims and goals. I am sure after a short while of using this principle you will be able to judge just what is and what is not good for you, and a proper application of all pertinent information, you will know how to go about using this system and the goals will start to come quite regularly. The following routines are used as models for you to pattern your workouts after. Feel free to make changes wherever you feel the need to. Remember: What we are trying to do is to work the particular exercise movements with a series of single repetitions with a weight close to your maximum. Ninety or ninety-five per cent is more than heavy enough. There are various ways to incorporate this principle into your lifting and I am going to list a few of them for you here and now. One way is to pick a particular movement and do that twice per week. On the heavy day, you would do a set of 10 reps with 50% of your one rep limit. Youd then go to around 75% of your one rep limit and do a set or two of between 3 and 5 repetitions. These are the necessary warm-up sets. Now jump to 90% of your maximum and perform 5 single repetitions with this weight. Do each single as strictly as possible. Be sure to have a spotter or two in case you need them. After 5 singles with weight, drop down to around 60 to 70% and gut out 2 or 3 sets of all the repetitions you can possibly handle. The key to progression here is to key to add a single or two to the heavy attempts with this 90 to 95% limit weight. It is then time to take a few days off and go for a new personal record in the lift. After doing so, simply adjust the training percentiles according to the new strength level and begin once again. On the other training day, Id adjust the strength level to around 60% maximum and do between 5 and 7 sets of whatever repetitions are possible with this particular weight.

On such a schedule, I would do all the heavy single attempt movements on days one and five and Id go medium heavy on days two and four. If Monday were heavy then Tuesday would be medium and Wednesday would be a rest day. Thursday would again be medium and Friday would be a heavy day, but for a different exercise movement. If I wanted to use this principle on the Bench Press and the Squat, then I would bench for singles on Monday Tuesday would be a medium squat day, and Wednesday would be a day off. Thursday would be medium bench day and Friday would be a heavy squat day. This way you are able to recuperate most efficiently. You could also do your heavy singles on both exercises in one workout and rest for two days or maybe three and hit them both again with medium reps and sets. This way you would be training hard twice per week. It is really up to you just how many workouts you decide to undertake. The reasoning behind the training theory is sound, so whatever you choose will work. The need for single attempts as a training medium cannot be overlooked because they teach you, just as the power rack teaches you, to fight against heavy weight. And this is a requirement for continued success in any strength. Some may argue that all that is necessary is medium heavy resistance and the strength will come whether you perform singles or not, but I beg to differ. What happens in most of those cases is that the lifter becomes proficient at performing many sets of three and five reps with a medium heavy weight and he also gains in muscle size and density from the work but his limit single and double attempts do not come to par with his repetition capabilities. It is far easier to learn to do more repetitions with a given weight than it is to lift a heavier weight for the same number of repetitions. This is where we have so many guys falling by the wayside. They can squat maybe four hundred for fine repetitions and fail with four fifty for a single! This is almost assuredly caused by training with many sets of low repetitions but very little single repetition work being done. We who seek higher levels of strength development must admit to ourselves that the man who can lift heavier weight is stronger than the man who can do more sets, but with a lighter weight. The second man has more muscular endurance, but the first man has more strength. If you can overcome this hurdle then you will be one more step on the road to where you want to go. And if you use the heavy single repetition approach in your training,

along with common sense and a correct combination if proper recuperation and diet, your strength level should come up quite fast. The Single Repetition Principle is one of the hardest and heaviest training methods available for you to use. It takes a freedom from fear of heavy weights and it takes guts and determination to achieve your aims while using this system. It also takes a great deal of hark work. But we all know that you get nothing for nothing, so hard work is not a problem, is it . ..

I do not feel that anyone can train a person as well as they could train themselves. What may work for me may not work for you. I would advise anyone who is interested enough to follow these examples to substitute the various exercise movements which I have used with ones which work better for him in the long run. Before I begin with the actual routines, there are a few things which I would like to discuss with you. First of all, you must realize that we all cannot be champions. All of us cannot break records or own a prize winning physique. But these rather depressing facts should not detain you from trying your best to succeed as much as you can. Cant you see that the journey is more important than the journeys end, in this case? Wouldnt it be rather idiotic to decide not to train even though you like to, simply because you feel that will never be able to make it to the top? I mean, once you get to the top there is no other place to go but down, right? So then, why do so many of you place such a great value on becoming world renowned in the field of either strength or bodybuilding. Enjoy yourself. Allow yourself to think. Live life as best you can. Do not neglect the other aspects of your existent spectrum. There are too many lifters and bodybuilders today who have nothing to offer anyone but their ability to either lift up a heavy weight or flex a large arm muscle. These men are only half alive, they live only in a physical world. They have neglected the intellectual side of their lives. They have neglected to feed their spiritual appetites. They are a very sad breed of men. BULK AND POWER ROUTINE NO. 1 Monday, Wednesday and Friday:

Bench Press: 5 sets of 2-4 reps Bench Press: 2 sets of 10 reps Full Squat: 5 sets of 2-4 reps Full Squat: 2 sets of 10 reps Deadlift: 5 sets of 2-4 reps Deadlift: 2 sets of 10 reps In this routine you will be performing the three basic power lifts. In it you use both low and high repetitions. This will allow you to gain in both muscular power and muscular size.

BULK AND POWER ROUTINE NO.2 Monday: Bench Press: 5 sets of 3-5 reps Incline Press: 5 sets of 3-5 reps Wednesday: Bent Over Row: 5 sets of 3-5 reps Hang Cleans: 5 sets of 3-5 reps Friday: Full Squat: 10 singles using 90% of your one rep limit Deadlift: 10 singles using 90% of your one rep limit In this routine I have you working for bulk in the upper body while you are specializing on the lower body for power. The sets and reps are well suited to gaining in both and I have

even broken down the workouts themselves into three distinct sections. I have you working the chest and shoulders on Monday and the back and arms on Wednesday (rowing and cleans work the arms quite hard!). Then on Friday I have you really work your thighs and hips and back.

BULK AND POWER ROUTINE NO. 3 Monday: Full Squat: 1 set of 20 reps using a weight which is 50lbs. greater than bodyweight. Take 5 deep breaths between each rep. Deadlift: 1 set of 20 reps using a weight which is 50 lbs. greater than bodyweight. Take 5 deep breaths between each rep. Heavy Bent Arm Pullover: 5 sets of 5-7 reps, maximum weight Wednesday: Full Squat: 5 sets of 5-7 reps Deadlift: 5 sets of 5-7 reps Bench Press: 10 singles with 90% of your 1 rep limit Friday: Half Squat: 5 sets of 3-5 reps High Deadlift: 5 sets of 3-5 reps Seated Press: 10 singles with 90% of your 1 rep limit This routine has you training for power on the bench press and the seated press while your leg and back work aids in gaining size.

BULK AND POWER ROUTINE NO. 4 Monday and Thursday: Bench Press: 10 sets of 3 reps Bent Row: 10 sets of 3 reps Full Squat: 10 sets of 3 reps Tuesday and Friday: Incline Press: 5 sets of 5-7 reps Deadlift: 5 sets of 5-7 reps Half Squat: 5 sets of 5-7 reps

BULK AND POWER ROUTINE NO. 5 Monday: Full Squat: 10 sets of 3 reps <Dip: 5 sets of 5-7 reps Weighted Chin: 5 sets of 5-7 reps Wednesday: Deadlift: 10 sets of 3 reps Bent Arm Flyes: 5 sets of 5-7 reps Curl: 5 sets of 5-7 reps

Friday: Bench Press: 10 sets of 3 reps Half Squat: 5 sets of 5-7 reps Rack Deadlift: 5 sets of 5-7 reps

Some time ago I wrote an article entitled "These Three Exercises Will Give You Fantastic Size and Power." Since I had received many letters and reports from trainees all over the world telling me how much they enjoyed the article and, more importantly, how much they gained in size and strength after trying the routine, I have decided to write up a few more such articles from time to time, so that you hard gainers will have a selection of routines to use whenever staleness or periods of no progress depress you into inactivity. The theory behind working extremely hard on only two or three movements in order to overcome training staleness or to stimulate faster bodyweight, size and power gains is not new, for Peary Rader has been advising thin fellows and hard gainers to do just that for many, many years. But sometimes a younger fellow is hesitant to follow the advice of an older man when it comes to weight training, whereas, if another younger fellow offers him the SAME advice, he will unhesitatingly agree to give it a try, and it is for this reason that I am writing this article. It wasn't so long ago when my arms measured fifteen and a half inches and I had a chest which measured all of forty-four! I was as weak as a kitten and as massive as a hat rack and many people who know me then would not recognize me if they saw me now! For one thing thing, my chest is just under fifty-six and my arms just under twenty-one pumped and, while I freely admit I am carrying some lard as well as muscle, I still favor my present appearance to my former one! One of the first things I had to learn before I really began to gain was how to properly use my training energy without overtraining. Believe me, this can be very hard to finally come to grips with, because when you're young and ambitious and have plenty of free time, it is easy to fall into the trap of training all too frequently and much too much. This has probably happened to you and it most assuredly happened to me. One of the biggest mistakes an intermediate or beginning trainee can make is to try to emulate the workouts of the "champions." This type of intensive, gut-busting training bay be alright for Franco Columbu or Bill Kazmaier bit it is certain suicide for the fledging bodybuilder or size and power seeker. This kind of advanced work necessitates that you're in tip-top muscular shape to begin with from ten to fifteen years of agonizing hard work and sweat. This kind of work is for perfecting the almost perfect physique for competition with the world's finest strength athletes. It is not for any one who is just starting out, it is not for the underweight trainee and it is not for fellows like you or me! I have been training for around nine years and if I tried to follow a Mr. Universe's training routine for

any length of time I'd fall flat on my face. And believe it or not, so would you. You must minimize the amount of training time and effort into intensive, short workouts on two or three basic movements in order to gain quickly in size and strength or you are going to shrink instead of grow. I train with a fellow who is really coming up fast in size and strength. His name is Steve and he's been training with us at the Elizabeth YMCA for about seven months now. Steve has an upper body that is out of this world. His deltoids and pectorals are massive, thick and loaded with striations. His back looks a yard wide and lumpy with muscle and his arms are finely shaped with high, thick biceps peak and massive horseshoe triceps. With a few months of thigh specialization he'd be good enough to enter in national competition. This is what I am presently trying to talk him into doing. And when he feels ready, I'd like to do a story on him. Steve trains six days a week with workouts which last three to four hours. He is one of the hardest workers I've ever seen in the gym and I've already told you about his great physique, but even though he gained training the way he does, this doesn't mean you or I could do the same thing. I have seen this fellow train his chest and shoulders with such ferocity it is enough to awe and inspire you, but in all honesty, I would not advise his routine to any of you. This is why I haven't listed it here for you to see. I'd be afraid some of you would try to copy it! I know such tales are stimulating and encourage you to train harder but as I said before, overtraining is suicide for the underweight man and severe training is only for th fellows with years of hard work and experience. In order to follow a champion's routine you must already be big, big enough so you can afford a few inches here or there in order to get into top muscular shape. Now do any of you fellows reading this feel you're big enough already??? The following workout is short, concise, and very hard. It is not for those of you who are afraid of hard work nor is it for those of you who like to pump up with light weights. It is a workout for a man and it will make QUITE a man out of anyone who cares to try it. It will not only build a fine looking physique but it will also bring, with the newly acquired muscles, much power. This routine can be followed three times per week. However, if after being on it a week or two you feel that it is too strenuous, then cut it down to twice weekly, but remember: Follow all movements as described and in the given order. Strive to handle the heaviest weights possible and finally, follow the advised diet. 1.) Full Squat: Begin with a weight comfortable for twelve repetitions. Now load the bar to a weight heavy enough for five, possibly six reps and perform three sets with this weight. For the next set, load the bar for a weight comfortable for eight reps and perform this last set for as many reps as possible. Rest as long as necessary between sets but try not to rest too long. About three minutes is right. 2.) Clean and Press: Power clean the weight for these presses and perform the press slowly and strictly and NOT in the Olympic manner. Begin with a warmup set of eight repetitions. Now jump the weight for six reps, then four reps, and finally two clean and presses with your heaviest weight. If you wish you can now drop down to a weight you can clean and press around ten times and this last

set will really work your muscles, heart, internal organs and metabolism quite hard. Be sure to return the weight to the floor after each press and then clean it again for your next repetition. In this way, for every clean you do, you also press, and vice versa. Rest as long as necessary between each set but do not dawdle. 3.) Bent Arm Pullovers: This is the last movement in your mini-routine. The squats and clean and presses have worked the major muscles quite hard and tis last movement will the finishing touches on the routine. Primarily the chest, shoulders and upper back are worked hard with this movement and I am sure you fellows will enjoy the pump and muscle growth ache this movement will give you. Begin with a set of twelve for a warmup and then jump to two sets of four to six reps using the heaviest weight possible. For a final set, drop the weight so that at least eight reps are granted without undue effort. Be sure to breathe deeply between each repetition and be sure to perform each repetition slowly and strictly for best results. Rest as long as necessary between each set. All in all you have performed only fourteen sets during this entire workout. Yet you have worked up to heavy weights in three of the most severe and result producing movements you can find. This entire routine shouldn't take more than one and a half hour's work and this is really too long! It really shouldn't take more than an hour and fifteen minutes. Couple this routine with an one of the bulk gaining diets that are published regularly and get enough rest and sleep throughout the week and I'm positive you will gain greatly.

The Power Look : What It Is and How To Get It by Anthony Ditillo

Nothing is as impressive to the eye as the look of power. While many men come to mind immediately when discussing this phenomena, there are many, many more who are winning physique contest today, on the physique platform particularly, who do not, and will never, possess this physical trait. The look of power begins with the size and thickness of the neck and the deltoids. Without huge, thick, sloping trapezius muscles, you will NEVER obtain this power look. Heavy trapezius development comes from very heavy shrugs and high pulls; you will not obtain this kind of development using thirty pound dumbbells and doing sets of twenty repetitions these muscles need both time and effort to start to grow, but the results will be well worth the sweat, blood and pain. Take a look at ANY top Olympic lifter in just about ANY weight class and you will see what I am talking about.

Along with proper trapezius development, we must also include the middle and lower back muscles for they are the hinge muscles connecting the upper torso with the hips and proper development of these upper, middle and lower back muscles with adequate muscle size in the buttocks will give the entire torso when viewed from the rear a compact, athletic, yet powerful appearance, not to mention quite a bit of strength throughout the entire body. Heavy bentover rowing movements will greatly aid you in developing the upper and middle back muscles. Another hint would be to use the cambered McDonald bar for the bentover rows, so as to enable yourself to continue the movement without the bar stopping where you would normally hit your torso on the upward pull. David Shaw, a personal friend and one of the most massively muscular men, knows what he is talking about when it comes to pulling power and proper back development and he has been doing heavy bentover rows for years! Another favorite movement of his is the deadlift with feet on a block so as to incorporate the same principle of additional range of motion for added stimulation and the result is: world record deadlifts! When discussing the look of power, we cannot ignore the legs, simply because most trainees do not look forward to the amount of work necessary for development and strength, not to mention the length of time it takes to get up to the heavy poundages some of the leaders are using today. Yet, we simply cannot ignore the lower body, for without adequate development of the thighs you will NEVER give the appearance to anyone with a trained eye of being a strong man. But I am going to give you one secret which may help you, should you care to take my advice. When it comes to development of the thighs, you CAN obtain adequate development without straining to back squat with six hundred pounds. All you have to do is change your squatting style to the style used by Olympic lifters and the results will be forthcoming. Do NOT use a wide stance. Do NOT drop the bar low on your back. Do NOT wrap your knees and wear a thick belt. Do NOT stick your butt out as you lower yourself into the bottom squatting position, and finally: do NOT squat flatfooted, but use a raised heel. You will eventually find that you are squatting more upright, your buttocks will be somewhat tucked in UNDER you at the bottom position of the squat and you will feel most of the stress of the movement in the THIGHS, not in the buttocks and hips.

If you are of average weight and body structure, it will take you quite a long time to do these with double your bodyweight, but you will enjoy much in the way of attractive muscular development while aiming at this strength goal. Also, the strictness of the movement will alleviate the need for such heavy poundages since these heavy weights will be impossible for you to handle, in the beginning anyway. Fred Hatfield has been advising his men to squat this way during their off season for powerlift competition since this style will develop great quadriceps strength which will enable them to power squat much more when they go back to their competitive style later in the year. His advice has recently been noted, but I and my coach Dezso Ban have been advocating this style of squat for the average trainee, be he bodybuilder or powerlifter, for YEARS and your OLYMPIC lifters have been squatting this way for many decades. This is the only way to squat without using your hips at the expense of your thighs! Remember, to incorporate this squatting style, you MUST keep your buttocks under the bar, for without this proper bottom position, you will NOT be doing an Olympic squat. So far we have mentioned the upper, middle and lower back muscles, and we have also gone into proper squatting for this power look. Now we shall get into the movements most of you enjoy doing the most. Now we will get into the chest and shoulders. All of us bench press. Ninety percent of us really enjoy the movement and in most gyms this movement and how much weight you can lift in it will either give indication as to whether you are a strong man or a weak man. This in not fair by any stretch of the imagination; yet it does exist. How much can you bench? How many times I have heard this question. Do they ever ask, How much can you press? or How much can you incline press? No. Its always How much can you bench? To be sure, bench pressing is the most popular movement in the weight training world today. Now, I am not going to try to downgrade its importance for the development of the look of power, but I must add that many of the finest, strongest Olympic lifters in the world do not do these bench presses to any degree, and yet they are quite strong and give an extraordinary appearance when on the lifting platform. I think the answer lies somewhere between proper exercise performance of the bench press and the additional incorporation of the seated front press and/or the press behind neck. By working on all three of the movements with equal time and effort applied to each one, you

will be assured of complete development throughout the entire chest and shoulder areas with the end result being a more complete, harmonious development and the look of an allaround strong presser. Not someone who specializes on one movement at the exclusion of others. Would this not satisfy the majority of you trainees? For the powerlifter who is or who will be competing, it is a somewhat different story. His success lies in performing the bench press with as much weight as possible, while keeping within the rules of the game. But even he will undoubtedly use these additional assistance movements while on a break from his competitive season. And it is during this time in his training that he will actually be developing most of the lifting strength which will become apparent when he drops his assistance movements and gears down to his pre-competition cycling period, getting ready for his next competition. Take a look at the chest and shoulder development of David Shaw or Roger Estep. And what about Cash or Kaz? Do you think they got this development with bench presses alone??? A few years ago I did two or three articles on Mel Hennessy, a past world record holder in the bench press and all around powerlifter, a massively developed man. Some of the poundages he used in his assistance movements were astounding! And he had the physical appearance to show for it. And what about Pat Casey and Steve Merjanian? Caseys upper body was as thick as it was wide, and big Steve was a regular tailors nightmare! Both of these men relied on many different assistance movements for the bench press and both men could bench with the best in world at that, and this present time. For complete, massive and thick development of the chest and shoulders, do not bounce or thrust the bar when performing repetitions. Do not lift your hips off the bench. Try to perform your repetitions smoothly and correctly for best results musclewise. For those of you who can use a wide grip on the bench without running into shoulder problems, by all means continue to do so. But for the majority of us, a closer, medium grip is best, not only for a more complete development but also for minimizing trauma to the joints of the shoulders. The McDonald cambered bar is quite effective, not only for hitting the deeper fibres of the pecs and delts, but also for aiding the lifter to develop an easier, more powerful initial push from the chest when attempting maximum weights.

Weighted parallel bar dips are another good movement to incorporate along with heavy dumbbell bench presses and/or flyes. These movements will adequately work the pectorals as well as the triceps. While the competitive powerlifter must reserve adequate time and energy for the bench press itself, he could incorporate these movements as well as the following deltoid movements into his routine, choosing judiciously, of course. For direct deltoid stimulation, we have been using a particular type of seated front press with very fine results. What we do is sit on a seated press behind neck bench, pulling it into the power rack, having the bar resting on the pins so that when you get into position the bar is at the proper pressing position, just off the clavicles and is resting on the pins just waiting for you to press it. By using this style, the bar can be pressed from a dead stop for each and every repetition and the steep angle of the bench used will cause this movement to be the most effective shoulder movement you've ever tried, if you work hard and regular on it. We do the same for the press behind the neck, simply having the bar o the pins, resting on our trapezius muscles, with no bouncing possible for each and every repetition. While dumbbell side and front laterals are fine and they have the advantage of not necessitating the shoulder joints to additional stress along with the constant stress they go through with bench pressing, I, and to the best of my knowledge, most other men will respond better to these two mentioned pressing movements, for the dumbbell laterals are very easy to cheat with (unconsciously or otherwise) and this is what we are trying to avoid. I might also mention, and will go into greater length later, that it is not necessary to use ONLY doubles, triples, or singles with these movements since there will be ADDITIONAL muscle growth without the joint trauma using lighter weights and higher repetitions like eights or even tens. These are assistance movements and should be treated as such. For both the press behind neck and the seated front press, I would recommend a medium or even close grip as this seems to hit the deltoids more fully than a wide grip and does not usually cause the shoulder strains regularly associated with pressing behind the neck. How many times have you seen someone hurt themselves while doing presses behind the neck or wide grip bench presses? Believe me, bring your grip in and save your shoulders! Finally, we come to actual arm work. And while not meaning to let you down, I really don't have much to say in this regard. This is because most of you are already doing too much

work for these small muscle groups anyway. From most of your letters, it seems that you will easily do as many sets of arm work as of chest work or shoulder work,and MORE sets than you'd ever want to do for the legs and back!!! All I am going to say is this: Of all the muscles we've mentioned, the arms are the least important when it comes to developing the look of power. First of all, if you work the exercises mentioned herein, you will necessarily be working the upper arms quite hard without even doing one set of curls. Believe me, triceps pushdowns and concentration curls will NOT make you a powerful or event powerful LOOKING man . . . anyone with a trained eye knows what to look for. Don't take my word for it. Just look for photos of the following men and I will use three men from each of the three fields of lifting endeavor so as to show you that the look of power is not owned by only one facet of our sport. For bodybuilding look at Tim Belknap, Bill Pearl and Bertil Fox; for powerlifting look at Bill Kazmaier, Roger Estep and David Shaw; and for Olympic lifting look at Anatoly Pisarenko, David Rigert and Blagoi Blagoev. These men are among the strongest and best built athletes the world over and it was not through armwork that they got where they are. It was, for the most part, doing a LOT of work on basic movements, done strictly and correctly, for a LONG time. Any arm development which came along for the ride, so to speak, was O.K. But I don't think "Kaz" is losing any sleep over how to increase his biceps by another inch. Do you get what I mean? Just do one movement for the biceps and one movement for the triceps and do these movements strictly and slowly without jerking and cheating and you WILL increase your arm size! Training frequency and sets and repetitions are another set of topics which I feel too much is being made of. Simply put; if you are constantly sore, not improving in either bodyweight or poundage gains in your exercises and simply dread going to the gym each day, they you are overtrained. Take a few days off and when you begin, go on a three day routine. Work the entire body with one exercise per body part, picking one movement from the list we've just discussed and perform eight to ten total sets for the movement. Warm up with two or so sets and then pick a weight you can use from five to eight repetitions and try for around five sets with this weight. Cool off with two lighter sets. This means you'll be doing around two to two and a half hour workouts, three days weekly.

As long as you're recuperating and gaining slowly but regularly in size and power, leave yourself alone. When you begin to go stale, yet are NOT overtrained, I'd then jump to a four day week. This would allow you more time for each area, thereby allowing for additional work for each area while allowing you to still recuperate on your off days. Perhaps two or even three movements previously listed for each area will suffice. One movement for around ten or so sets and the other one or two for five sets each. Once again, I would recommend medium repetitions for the most part. You also could include two or three heavier sets of triples or doubles periodically, for the one movement per area which would be your main lifting movement. For the most part, the important thing to remember is to make sure your performance is correct and your recuperation between each workout is adequate. The actual amount of sets, reps and number of exercise movements will have to be ultimately left up to you. Proper diet should guarantee proper recuperation. Proper dieting, whether you are trying to gain weight or not, is of the utmost importance when on such a grueling schedule. Here again, most of you should know by now what to eat and what not to eat. It's only common sense - if you overeat with the wrong foods, you are going to get fat, and if you don't take in enough calories you are not going to grow larger. I have gained and lost one hundred and seventy-five pounds, so believe me, I KNOW what I am talking about. Simply let your diet revolve around fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, eggs, cheeses and fish, fowl, yogurt and low fat cottage cheese and you will be going in the right direction. If you want to gain weight check your daily caloric intake and simply add 1,000 calories to this amount daily while keeping your choice of foods from the aforementioned list of choices. This will insure regular weight increase with minimum bodyfat increases. If you don't wish to gain any more weight, gradually decrease your caloric intake until you are at an amount which will maintain your desired weight. Once again, keep to the aforementioned foods for best results. I don't think you need much in the way of vitamins or supplements while on such a diet. It is most complete, natural and well balanced. What I have tried to do with this article is outline for you the types of exercise movements and the performance style which will give you this well-knit, well-balanced, rugged look. The men I have mentioned have to be among the most massive yet muscular in the world men who not only look strong but ARE strong! This has not been simply an article listing

for you a sample routine of five sets of this and ten reps of that; for by now, most of you should be able to figure these points out to your greatest benefit. Until next time, train wisely and train well. Adaptability A Possible Training Aid by Anthony Ditillo

Scientists tell us given enough time and bringing in the law of survival, man will adapt to his outside environmental conditions in an attempt to accept the circumstantial changes of his environment, his aim being survival. I am positive this same law of adaptability can be incorporated into the lifters or bodybuilders routine with great gains in muscle size, strength, condition and an increase in the trainees workload capabilities, plus an ability to handle heavy weights without any waste of nervous energy. You will also be amazed at how easy it is to recuperate overnight from each days workout. After a while you will start watching other fellows train in the usual accepted manner and youll begin to notice all the wasted energy, the psyching, the pumping, cheating, etc., and it begins to dawn on you how advanced and scientific your training is becoming compared to theirs. But perhaps Im getting ahead of the story. Perhaps I should start at the beginning. Last July (74) I began training with a good friend of mine who at one time was quite an accomplished Olympic lifter. Dezi and I began an intensive six days a week training routine which lasted all summer long. It was during this time that he began sharing his training philosophies, experiences, etc., with me and to say he helped me tremendously is putting it mildly. Dezi has lifted over 20 years and when you realize what knowledge such a lifetime of work creates, you learn to listen and watch such a man carefully. It was during this particular time, through various conversations I learned Dezi had used this law of adaptability without ever consciously being aware of it. At least he didnt make too much out of it and seemed to use it as though EVERYONE knew of its existence! He told me that when he was a competitive lifter he pressed EVERY DAY. Various pulls, squats, lunges, etc. were done every day, day after day, until unrecuperable fatigue set in and then, and only then, three days or so were taken off and the result was you were stronger AFTER the short rest than before, and this enabled you to continue with the everyday

training once again until nature would once again step in and literally FORCE you tot rest once more. For the past nine months I have trained using my coachs advice, for the most part five days a week on the following movements: Bench Presses, High Pulls, Shrugs, and possibly sometimes Power Snatches. I also include whenever I feel like it, full, bar high on the neck, back completely straight, Olympic Squats. Most of these movements are done in sets of three or five repetitions working up to a maximum poundage for the day. It seems that after two weeks work, the limit set is able to be increased and progress is slow but steady and you are psychologically secure as to where you are strength-wise and the need to psych up for a workout or limit lift is no longer necessary. This is because your body is slowly adapting to the workload you are putting on it and it gets to the point where you can recuperate overnight. It seems far more rational to me to condition the body to accept workouts on a DAILY basis than to use the two or three times a week method of operation. Let me try to break this point down some, for easier understanding: most trainees will hit a muscle group most severely once or twice a week. In other words, each muscle group is subjected to many sets and repetitions, using medium heavy and heavy weights twice weekly. The severity of such exercise requires 72 hours rest for recuperation, removal of lactic acid, and finally, growth. Naturally, if you tried to work the same muscle group every day you would lose strength and undergo great physical and emotional trauma (by way of soreness and tiredness) at least through the first three weeks. But I guarantee, if your diet is adequate and you fully supplement your diet with additional nutrients and if you discover CORRECT TRAINING LOAD for each movement each day, you will OVERCOME the trauma and your body will recuperate more rapidly. For me, the correct training load is as follows: one pressing movement and either one pulling and one squatting movement; or two pulling movements daily. I use five sets per pulling or squatting movement and usually five repetitions for the first three warmup sets (jumping weight each set) and then one medium-heavy set of three repetitions and finally one heavy set of three repetitions. For example, in the Shrug Pull I usually follow the foregoing schedule: 245 x 5, 335 x 5, 425 x 5, 515 x 3, and finally 605 or 655 x 3 (depending on strength level for that day). My High Pull workout goes something like this: 205 x 5, 255 x 3, 295 x 3, and finally 315 or 325 x 3 (depending on my strength level for that day). To put it simply: if Im tired I reduce intensity but maintain tonnage as closely as possible and if Im

energetic I go for broke on the heavy set for that day. Usually on the third or fourth training day stress comes into play and that workout would consist of relatively light weights with a low repetition scheme so the next day I am right back on course, however, I NEVER omit a prescribed movement for any reason on any day. As Jim Williams said, Most guys do more sets and reps, but how many can hit a max weight every workout? Using this training theory of every day performing the same movements but with different intensity had really helped me in both muscle growth and strength. I have grown a pair of trapezius muscles the size of a male gorilla, my entire back musculature has dramatically improved, my competition-style bench press has reached an all time high and my pulling style and strength have also improved. I am more energetic and enthusiastic about my training, and I also never feel dragged out or overtrained and I know I am progressing just about as fast as I can. I am recuperating overnight and muscle soreness is almost a thing of the past. For me, the benefits are well worth the sacrifice of such hard daily training. Are You Ego-Training? by Anthony Ditillo Come with me as we enter into an average gym, in an average city. Usually, in one corner of the gym there will be placed a sturdy power rack and loads of Olympic plates, along with the bar. Today there is a very big man standing inside the power rack and he is performing repetition squats with very heavy weights. He begins by warming up with a weight which he can perform ten repetitions with. He then rests for a few minutes and continues with a weight increase of fifty pounds and one set of five repetitions. This goes on for about four or five sets, each one performed for five repetitions per set and each one increased by fifty pounds. On the other side of town we have entered into another gym. Here we see a man with huge chest and shoulders performing bench presses. He begins with one set of ten reps for a warmup. Then he jumps the bar about fifty pounds and performs one set of about five reps. Now he jumps the weight to his ultimate limit for a single repetition and he begins to perform many, many sets of single repetitions. All the gym members, especially the smaller men, comment on his power and his great size. Everyone stands there quietly and reverently

as he mechanically performs his many sets of single repetitions. Everyone is impressed. The moment of his last single repetition verges on holy. Finally we are in MY hometown at the Elizabeth YMCA. My training partner, Artie Petridis is about to go into his deadlifts. He was recently in one of the local meets and placed third in his weight class. At a bodyweight of 165 he has deadlifted 505 in training, 495 in competition. Not only is Artie powerful, but he is well developed also. His thighs have a clean sweep from the knees right into the hip attachments and his entire torso is well developed and shapely. He begins with 275. He performs as many repetitions as humanly possible with this weight. As he is going through this initial set you can see blood coursing throughout his body as the areas where the most strain is felt are becoming swollen and red. When he is finally finished he drops into a nearby chair for a few minutes rest until he is fully recuperated for the next set. To make a long story short, Artie will perform close to eight sets with continuously increasing loads for AS MANY REPETITIONS AS POSSIBLE FOR EACH SET. His eighth set usually finds him close to his limit of 500. Even though he has performed seven previous sets he still manages to get in the last set with maximum work and vigor. He claims that the many, many sets of forced repetitions enables him to fully warm up for his last two or three really heavy sets. Contrary to many opinions, he does not perform heavy singles nor does he perform five sets of five repetitions using a given weight increase for each set with the repetitions staying the same in number. The results of this one type of training are varied and many. Physically speaking, he has the cut up muscular physique of a bodybuilder. With six months training in bodybuilding, I feel confident he could win the local contest without unduly extending himself. Strengthwise, he has squatted to below parallel with 450, benched 320 with a three second pause and as I said before, he has deadlifted 505. Now what I have been trying to show you by the three short little tales is the most common mistake fledging trainees fall into. Most beginners will try to copy some advanced mans routine in hopes that they too will someday resemble the same fellow they are presently admiring. Little do they realize that for every fellow who can become extremely powerful and muscular there are literally hundreds of thousands of us normal human beings who could never by any stretch of the imagination compare to these natural gainers who are

causing all the trouble in the present game, however innocently they are involved. This is because of the present trend in our various physical training magazines of only publishing information and routines of the already accepted stars. When you pick up the average muscle magazine you will see the same faces month after month after month. They will tell you how this particular man developed his calves this month and next month they will speak of his favorite arm routine. This may go on for almost a year in succession. And what do you think happens to the average trainee when he tries to incorporate the same training principles and exercise techniques into his own training programs? Do you think he can possibly gain the same way? Do you think he well gain for any length of time at all before he finally comes to a dead halt? Do you think Mr. Average will benefit from the various set progressions which these natural gainers and super advanced men employ? Will five sets of five reps performed with the same weight for weeks on end even come close to completely working this type of fellow as compared to, let us say, Bill Pearl? And what about our power enthusiasts? Do you believe that working continuously with heavy weights with single repetitions will grant them gains for any length of time? Well, my dear friends, the answer to all these questions is NO! What I am trying to get you guys to do in this article is to think about what it is you are trying to do when you lift weights. Your main aims will be muscular size and muscular strength. No matter whether you are primarily a bodybuilder, powerlifter or weightlifter, both of these attributes size and strength will almost certainly be uppermost in your mind. And how do you think you will ever develop either of these attributes if not by placing continuously heavier and greater demands upon your muscular system? In short, how will you develop into anything at all if you fail to realize the most important aspect of any successful training routine? How will you gain properly without HARD WORK? Now let us return to the first routine once again. What sense does it make to continuously use the same number of repetitions per set as you increase the weight each set. Let us suppose you can squat with four hundred pounds for one rep. Using this training principle you would be doing 200, 250, 300, 350 for sets of five repetitions each. Now if you are able to do five repetitions with 350 after all those previous sets, then without all that much previous work you could probably do seven or eight reps with this weight. Such a set for this number of reps would really work you hard and in time you would progress on and on. But how would you ever get into such a condition of finally using 350 for eight reps if you limit the

repetitions to five for each and every set you perform? The answer is you cant gain this way unless you are an easy gainer and it is these impressive easy gainers who are using this type of routine in the various gyms throughout the country and in the muscle building books. And it is these same impressive men who are the idols of so many and who are responsible for many, many new recruits and also many, many failures. And who is to blame for these many disillusioned trainees, who sooner or later find out, much to their dismay, that Mr. Universes arm routine will not give them 19 inch arms in six weeks? And what about the powerlifters and Olympic lifters? Do they really think that Pat Caseys squatting routine is going to have them squatting with the same 800 pounds in a few years time? Do they feel that just because Doug Hepburn performed for a certain time sets of single repetitions and just because he claimed that this type of routine greatly aided him in his quest for power, do they feel that if they went on this same routine they would gain for any given time, no matter what, just because it worked for him? If you answer yes to either of these questions then you are indeed wrong, for although single repetitions are fantastic for building power, they cannot and will not work for everybody, everywhere, all the time. And even if they do work for you for quite a while, if you continually used this type of workout, in time you would most assuredly go stale. Your body needs periodic rests and changes in its performances for proper mental and physical growth, weight training being no exception to the rule. I, myself, have always preferred single repetitions with limit poundages in my training and nobody but nobody could tell me otherwise. For almost one year I used this same type of routine: One set of ten repetitions for a warmup, five single repetitions with 90 percent of my one rep limit and finishing off with one or two sets of five to seven repetitions using a lighter weight. In the beginning I gained quite regularly and quite fast. But in time I found that this type of routine was beginning to get very boring and internally I did not feel satisfied after such a workout. What I mean to say is that there is a feeling of accomplishment after you complete one burn out set with a heavy weight for all the repetitions possible that no single lift can compare with. This is what I felt was lacking in a continuous program of primarily single repetitions even though these singles would have to be performed quite slowly and hard due to the heaviness of the weight used. I slowly but surely came to a halt in my increasing of the weights and I also became quite indifferent to my training. It was

about this time that I joined the Elizabeth YMCA. There I met quite a few power trainees and none of them would perform their workouts the way I did. Either they would jump the weight each set and perform as many repetitions as possible with each set, or they would perform sets of assistance reps, doing as many reps per set by themselves as they could, and then forcing out a few more reps with the aid of a training partner who would slightly nudge the bar to help the fellow finish the rep. It wasnt long before I also tried this method, and to say I was astounded with the results and the feeling of intestinal strength such a training routine can give you is putting it mildly. Forced repetition training, used at the right point in your training, will help you to gain like nothing else, to my knowledge, if what youre after is strength, size and endurance. The manner in which you train, by trying to get out as many reps as possible for each set, will teach you how to work and work hard! And it is just this that you need the most! You must train hard or you will not gain! Forget about the fellow squatting for five sets of five reps each of the fellow bench pressing for many sets of single reps with a heavy weight. This type of training may help you if you are a natural gainer of high qualities or if you are very, very, VERY advanced, and even then, such programs can help you but for a limited time only. And do you know why? Because they do not WORK you hard enough, thats why. When you have brought a set to its climax you should KNOW you are finished. There should be no question in your mind that you could have done more that last time. THIS is the type of training which will help you to grow and improve. THIS type of training is not EGO-TRAINING. Ego-training is any kind of training which enables you to use your heaviest poundages although you do not really work yourself at all throughout the workout. It is the quickest and easiest way to impress uninitiated onlookers and it is also the easiest type of training to perform and I have already explained two types of this kind of training, the heavy weight, single rep system and the same rep but heavier weight system. Neither of these types of routines will continue you gaining for any length of time and neither will help you get very, very large or very, very strong. They WILL make you look very impressive to your training buddies and I guess this is why they are used so much by our everyday average trainees, as well as out lifting and physique champions. However, I am sure that neither a physique champion nor a champion lifter would even consider working out in this manner for any given length of time, particularly if there was an upcoming event just around the corner.

I truly believe that the major reason why so many fellows do not gain the way they say they would like to is because they just dont know what it is to work and work HARD! I also feel that it would indeed be absurd if I went through all this verbal rigmarole without giving you fellows workable examples of just what kind of routines to use in order to be sure that you are indeed working and working hard. And hard youre gonna work, Joe Buck. Well, the following three routines will fully enable you to utilize our prementioned hard work principle and I can assure you, none of these routines could ever be considered Ego Training. Our first routine consists of using one exercise movement per body part. We begin with one light warmup set for about eight or ten repetitions. From here we make consecutive jumps with the weight and we perform one set each with these weight increased sets. We perform as many reps as possible for each of these sets and we should wind up with a weight which we cannot possibly perform for more than three times in succession. Do not be concerned with how much weight is on the bar. Just keep forcing out all the reps possible and keep the weight increasing set for set. I am sure you will not need more than three or four sets for each exercise movement. If you make the weight increases correctly spaced poundage-wise, by the end of any exercise movement you should be up to heavy weights. The second method of hard work consists of warming up for one or two sets with light weights and then jumping up to a weight which is about twenty pounds below your one rep limit. Do one set with this weight, forcing out as many reps as humanly possible. Now drop the bar by twenty or thirty pounds and do another set of as many reps as possible. Keep decreasing the weight on the bar and keep striving to do more and more repetitions. By the time you are down to a light poundage, none of them will feel really light! You have more than adequately worked for power and muscle size and shape using this particular method of training. Our third example of really hard training is the forced or cheated reps type of routine. In this type of routine he weight on the bar stays the same, but, in time, you try to perform more and more work with this same weight. For instance, you press overhead 200 for five reps, then you continue on cheating or push-pressing as you go along in reps, but continuously trying to do more and more reps no matter how you get them up. Another way

is to have a training partner help you finish off each set by aiding you slightly in forcing out as many reps in addition to the ones you can perform yourself in the correct manner. All three of the routines I have outlined for you require very hard work for proper performance. They will aid you in developing both muscular power and muscular strength. In short, these types of approaches require both HARD WORK for their performance and HARD WORK is what you need of you are ever going to become the man you have always wanted to be.
Olympic Assistance Movements For Size and/or Strength There is a very large segment of our lifting and training population which neglects a very important facet of athletic training which, for want of a better name, we will entitle Olympic Assistance Movements. Why these muscle building and power building movements have become ignored by so many otherwise interested trainees is beyond me, unless the reason lies somewhere within the confines of basic ignorance and a repulsion of hard work. To be sure, the basic movements used by Olympic lifters in their quest for Olympic lift proficiency will cause an almost immediate increase within the musculature and the power potential of just about any interested trainee. All that is necessary is a basic understanding of the principles at work and a desire to make use of these facts in order to improve. To save time and a bit of your patience, I will endeavor to outline the basic movements and how to perform them for the proper training results. But before we get into the actual training movements and the routines used to utilize these movements to greatest advantage, I would like to digress for a moment if I may, on just why this type methodology will work for you in ways impossible for any other. First of all, it is the intensity of the movements involved which results in such dramatic development and strength increases. You see, in order to perform movements to aid a lifter in Olympic lifting, the movements themselves must be of the dynamic type for best results. This means that not only must the weights be heavy enough to require adequate exertion for correct style of performance, but the movements must be performed dynamically and explosively or the lifting value of such movements is completely lost. This means that the muscles are developed not solely through the muscular overload of the training itself, but also through the intensity of the physical exertions required to move the weights fast, dynamically and explosively with speed and technique being of paramount importance. This is basically why so many other trainees will not incorporate these movements into their routines: they fear the intensity and hard work required. There is a world of difference between training on basic slow movements in which the trainee grinds through each repetition of each set with very little speed or techniques involved, and in the type of speed of movement necessary when utilizing these Olympic movements in your training regime. There is just no way can grind up a Power Clean or a High Pull or a Power Snatch. These movements must be performed with the utmost speed and explosiveness or the entire effect is lost. It is for this reason that they are so effective as a training medium when combined with basic power movements; they compliment one another and they enable the trainee to develop speed, coordination and a sense of timing and balance possible through no other way. Also, somewhere

along the line, they also develop quite a bit of muscle and quite a bit of strength. For years we have put up with old wives tales concerning the incorporating of Olympic lift training within a basic power format. We have heard from one authority after another that these movements will not develop any real strength, that they are all technique and this has caused many a trainee to overlook these otherwise very effective training mediums. Yet, if one uses sheer objectivity in assessing the value or worthiness of these previously discussed movements and the technical aspects concerning correct performances of the involved lifts and assistance movements, in general, we cannot overlook the apparent fact that such training must help us in acquiring greater muscle, greater muscle density and size, and quicker reflexes and athletic ability. In order to incorporate these useful movements into your present training routine it is of the utmost importance to outline for you just what is required as far as training methodology is concerned, in order to solidify your understanding of just what you will be doing and how you will be doing it, and for what ultimate goal or purpose such hard intensity work will be done. For any Olympic assistant movement to be used correctly, it is necessary to realize that with these movements style plays an important part in the ultimate outcome of the training motive. To try and force up the weights when using these movements will not give you the effect you are looking for. In order for these movements to develop you correctly, you must pay paramount attention to exercise style! When an Olympic lifter performs a Backsquat, he is not solely interested in how much weight he can shift up, he is interested in working primarily his frontal thigh muscles without utilizing the muscles of his lower back and hips. What he tries to do is perform the Backsquat in such a way as to localize his exercise so that the developmental value of the movement is intensified within the muscles of the thigh. By placing the bar high on the traps and using the knees as the axis of the movement, by way of rotating the body around the knee and not rotating the body around the hip, he is able to utilize the isolation principle of training and the end effect is a pair of very muscular, impressive legs! Also, he is not apt to become poundage happy in his leg training since his leg work is a means to an end (increased lifting performance) and not an end in itself. This will enable him to train quite comfortably within his present physical capabilities without the constant urge to see how much he can lift for one repetition. This also will alleviate most training injuries, since the brunt of the work done will be done with weights not too difficult to handle. What all this means for the average trainee is that by utilizing these movements we free ourselves from overtraining and overstraining which usually happens with powerlifts as a rule of thumb, followed for any length of time and with any regularity. By using the assistance movements to supplement our training, we are given an emotional break so to speak, with the end result being a rekindling of training desire, after a sweet respite incorporating these movements. We must also mention that these movements will strengthen us for practicing the powerlifts, since they basically take the different powerlifts and make you perform a close cousin of a sort, with speed, technique, and explosion. Then, when we revert back to the usual lax method of performance, the lifts improve since they gave been strengthened through the full range of motion with a style which usually borders on the ridiculously strict side! What the end result of this situation usually is, is a change in the ability of the trainee to utilize explosiveness when he is called upon to lift his maximum in a powerlift and also, his musculature usually is greatly changed and developed. By now, you are probably wondering just what kind and how large a variety of movements we have to choose from when deciding to utilize this training medium. There are usually a few movements

for each bodypart and also, there are usually quite a few deviations of the basic powerlifts, done in specific ways, with the results being a much harder workout for the affected muscles due to the strictness of the style of the movements employed. There is no way you will be able to learn good operational technique in these movements without having an experienced Olympic lift trainee coaching you for quite some time, watching your performances and keeping track of your style improvement and your over-all progress. For from it being helpful, such coaching is necessary if you are to reap much muscle-stimulating value from these types of exercises. However, since most of you are not that interested in having yourselves be coached to any great extent, and since the aims of most of you are not to become proficient at the Olympic lift competition, it will not be necessary to go to such extremes in your training in order to obtain much in the way of benefits such training will bring out in you. By studying the basic explanations as to how to best employ the various movements, you will develop a certain amount of training style and technique, enough to utilize these movements with great success in your musculature and in your basic lift training proficiency. By remembering that the training ideology of these movements lies not within the amount of pounds lifted for each set, but within the quickness, explosiveness and dexterity of each exertion, you are already part way home, so to speak. By continually trying to improve your lifting ability through proper technique, without the constant forcing and forcing heavier and heavier exertions, you will learn that these movements must be performed correctly for the best of results to take place and when you have learned this, you have learned practically all you have to know! When attempting to utilize the proponent theories of such Olympic lift assistance movement training you must keep uppermost in your mind that this system of exercise movements are primarily athletic in nature and their chief value for you as an all-around trainee lies in their mode of performance and their strictness and intensity. While discussing these assistance movements we should at this time list most of them for you, along with the particular powerlift they have the most effect of strengthening. For the squat we have the Olympic Back Squat and the Front Squat. These two leg movements when utilized in the way I will outline for you later on in this section of Chapter 5, will literally revamp your entire lower body musculature while at the same time increase your overall squatting proficiency when the laxer power style of squatting is once again employed. For the deadlift, we have the various High Pulls, with close and wide grip. Shrug Pulls with both style grips also, and finally we have the Stiff Legged Deadlift from the floor, from the knees, and from the standing block. making the bar closer to the floor. We should also mention the Prone Hyperextension, which will thoroughly congest the lower back as well as develop for you a strong tie-in between the lower body and the upper body, which is necessary to be successful at heavy squatting and deadlifting in the conventional manner. We have not even begun to mention the various kinds of cleaning movements from the floor, from the hang, off of blocks, etc., and by now you should be able to see that it is the pull which is of primary importance in Olympic lifting. For increasing the bench press, there is also quite a list of assistance movements which can be utilized for good training effects. The Seated Incline Press at 45 degrees, the Steep Seated Press at around an 80 degree angle, the Push Press from a Rack, and the Jerk From the Shoulders all make up a pretty good selection of exercise movements to choose from. What these movements do is work the muscles of the shoulder girdle and the triceps muscles quite hard and quite completely, and when coupled with heavy bench work, success is almost guaranteed. The strictness of performing the Steep Seated Presses will strengthen your shoulder girdle muscles like nothing else under the

sun, and it will take a very strong man to handle over three hundred pounds in this movement, utilizing a pause at the chest and no bouncing and heaving and keeping the body solid and rigid under the weight with the back flush against the back support of the bench. This movement is paramount in developing frontal deltoid power and we all should know by now that bench pressing success relies upon having strong deltoids! The physical results of utilizing these assistance movements , borrowed from the Olympic lifters, are varied and many. By incorporating these movements into your routine you are sure to see a difference in your musculature, given enough energy and training time. I would say that the lower thighs and the entire lower and upper back musculature will be the first areas to develop a difference, both in appearance and in density and power. This is quite simple to explain, as it is due to the complexity and intensity of the different exercise movements and how they develop the involved muscle masses. By properly using the various pulling exercises, your upper and mid back will grow and become more dense by leaps and bounds. The trapezius muscles will begin to fill out and the overall appearance of your upper body musculature will take on a new, rugged look which will amaze and impress both you and your friends. This will give mute testimony as to the effectiveness of the new movements in your workouts and this should instill in you a desire to continue this type of training for yet more time and energy with a look to the future as to further physical gains. By incorporating Olympic back squatting into your present squat routine, the lower thigh will take on a new, exciting shape and fullness which will allow you further advances in strength due to the greater musculature developed as well as the stronger frontal thigh muscles which this strict style of squatting will develop. There is no Olympic lifter on the platform today with weak, underdeveloped legs. for strong legs and back are prime requisites for successful lifting. By copying their exercise choices and style of performance, you too will be assured of continued progress as well as increased muscular development. Finally, we come to the shoulder girdle muscles. By far, the most severe type of pressing is the Seated Press on a Steep Incline, set at around 85 degrees. It is almost to cheat in this position and the brunt of the work is performed by the frontal deltoid muscles with secondary consideration being given to the muscles of the upper arms. There can be no cheating, shifting, or bouncing the way it can be done on the flat bench when bench pressing, so the amount of weight will be limited somewhat, but the overall results will speak wonders. By utilizing these upper body movements within your present pressing routine, you will be developing such an immense amount of size and strength in the shoulder girdle that it will literally shock you! I know. I have experienced this myself. Of particular importance as an assistance movement to increase overall pressing strength is partial pressing on the power rack, with the bar positioned in front as well as behind the neck. This will develop all-around muscular size and power and when the regular routines are instilled once again, the carrying over of these overload movements will bring up your bench pressing power like nothing else will ever do. Finally, by combining these heavy partial overload movements along with the steep seated inline presses, your entire shoulder musculature and power potential will be redeveloped at such a quickened pace that it will be useless for you to purchase any new shirts, etc., for in no time at all you will most assuredly be outgrowing them! By isolating the lower back while doing Stiff Legged Deadlifts, the legs are not brought into play and the back can be worked quite adequately without the legs combining into the movement thereby taking away somewhat of the developmental value towards the lower back with the thighs taking much of the muscle effectiveness. Also, by standing on blocks so that the bar is at the level of the

toes. thereby making it much harder to begin the pull, and also performing this movement with somewhat stiff legs, the muscular effect is twofold, both in its severity and in its effectiveness. Then, when we begin to use the deadlift with the legs bent in the usual performance style, this pre-worked area of the lower back will make itself felt and the increase of the amount of weight capable of being handled will surely show an increase. With the trapezius muscles further strengthened through the heavy shrugs, and the heavy high pulls, it will help you in finishing the top part of the deadlift in the competition style and in the competitive situation. Many times we will see a competitor make the deadlift through the hardest positions (or so it seems) only to lose the lift at a point when the only thing necessary would be a standing erect with a pulling back of the shoulders, and for the life of him, the fellow cannot loch his shoulders back! This is due primarily to a weak trapezius muscle and a lack of power throughout the shoulder girdle. This painful situation can be remedied through the correct application of the described exercise movements of this chapter. With the shoulder girdle further strengthened, the lifter will never fail to get the shoulder back in the finished position of the competitive deadlift and with utilization of the various lower back pulling exercises, you can see how the entire pulling structures of the lower back will be retained, so to speak, to use in a more proficient manner, with the end result being a high lifting total. This then, is the true value of such training. At this time, it will be necessary and helpful for me to outline for you a series of training schedules utilizing these important assistance movements in order for you to reap the utmost results from your training endeavors and the sweat and strain contained therein. It is my hope that by the utilization of these training aids and principles you will be able to see a difference in your training poundages and in the musculature of the use areas of the body with the end result being a new and improved you! What we shall do first of all, is to develop for you a routine based around the three power lifts, with each of these lifts being trained on one day per week and on the other training day we will be utilizing the pertinent Olympic assistance movement. This means we will be training four days per week. We will be working the upper body on two days and the lower body on two training days with the emphasis being placed on registering higher totals in the three power lifts. Whether or not any additional weight is going to be gained at this time will depend chiefly upon the diet you choose to follow while on this routine. Therefore, the end result of weight gained or not gained will be left primarily up to you. By following the dietary suggestions of the last chapter, I am sure, for the most part, bodyweight can be gained quite easily with a little bit of experimentation on your part as to what to use for best results. With this routine there will be listed for you a few basic muscle-shaping movements which can also be utilized with this routine along with the assistance movements already discussed within the section of this chapter, since there will have to be more to the program than four of five lifts, for best all-around results. Here then is your first listed, four day per week training routine: Monday and Thursday Upper Body Work Bench Press: utilizing a medium grip for all-around muscle stimulation, perform one set of ten reps for a warm-up and then jump to a set of five, a set of three, and finally three single attempts with around 90% of your one rep limit. Steep Seated Inclines: after two warmup sets, with conservative weight jumps. work up to three reps using all the weight possible. Shoulder Shrug: take fifty or one hundred pound jumps and perform sets of five reps with each

weight until you hit a heavy weight for five reps and you should stay with this weight for between five and seven sets of these five repetitions. Barbell Curls: this movement is used solely to bring some work into the upper arms. Perform five to seven sets of five to seven reps with a fairly heavy weight. Lying Triceps Extension: once again, five to seven sets of five to seven reps with a heavy weight. Tuesday and Friday Lower Body Work Power Squat: one set of ten, one set of eight, one set of six, and finally, three sets of three reps using around 85% of your one rep maximum poundage. Olympic Squat: five to seven sets of three to five reps after a warm-up set of ten reps. On this movement you should concentrate on proper exercise form, not weight. Stiff Legged Deadlift: three to five sets of three to five repetitions using a fairly heavy weight and concentrating on proper exercise form and not weight lifted. Prone Hyperextensions: five sets of eight to ten reps using light weight and performing the movement correctly, fluidly, and slowly. Another way of handling this amount of work is to perform the Bench Press by itself on Monday and on Thursday to work the Steep Seated Incline, once again working it by itself. Also, on the lower body training days, you can do the Power Squat by itself on Tuesday and the Olympic Back Squat by itself on Friday. This would be useful for you if you have a limited supply of training energy and a limited amount of time to train. For those souls who are not afraid to work like two men to get the goals they have formed for themselves in their mind, I shall now outlined a six day per week training routine. However, we shall limit the amount of work therein in order for most men to gain on it. On this training program we will be working six days per week and in this way we can incorporate adequate work for the entire muscular system without fear of overtraining or undertraining any particular body part, with the developing of a lopsided lifting proficiency or with the muscular development of a lopsided nature, also. For the lower back we will be utilizing two weekly workouts with the emphasis upon conditioning as well as complete muscular development. Monday and Friday Upper Body Bench Press: one set of ten for a warm-up and then take regulated jumps to a weight you will be handling for three sets of three repetitions. Steep Seated Press: two sets for a warm-up and then jump to a weight you can handle for five sets of three to five repetitions. Press on Rack: five sets of three to five repetitions using an adequate amount of weight. Tuesday and Friday Thighs and Hips Power Squat: five sets of three to five reps working up from a warm-up to the heaviest weight possible for three reps. Olympic Back Squat: five sets of three to five reps using an adequate amount of weight. Front Squat: after one set of ten for a warm-up, jump to all the weight possible for rive repetitions and work for three sets of five reps with this weight. Wednesday and Saturday

Lower Back Stiff Legged Deadlift: one set of ten for a warm-up then work for rive sets of five to seven reps using a medium amount of weight for resistance. Shoulder Shrug: five sets of five to seven repetitions using heavy weight and good style. Prone Hyperextensions: five to seven sets of eight to ten repetitions using adequate resistance. Arm Work: six of seven sets for the biceps and six or seven sets for the triceps. You can choose whatever barbell movements which may strike your fancy at any particular time. This choice is solely up to you. The final routine in this section of Chapter 5 will be a three day per week routine, in which we will attempt to utilize the Olympic assistance movements, solely throughout the training week, with the complete lack of other training exercises. In other words, we will be working solely with the Olympic assistance movements for a period of three or so months. In this way, this type of routine could be utilized for a short period of specialization within the non-competitive season of the year. This change of pace would be sure to give you a well-rounded look at these training exercises and training methods and in this way you will gain firsthand knowledge as to how these techniques will work for you. Since you will only be using the Olympic assistance movements throughout these periods of intense specialization, you will be sure to have more than enough time to incorporate the wide variety of movements which would have had to be reduced somewhat when attempting to couple this work with the basic training exercise movements. This means that the muscles used will be further developed since they will be more than adequately worked from all the possible angles of exercise application. This should increase both the size of these muscles and their density and shape, because you will be using dynamic movements which will completely develop and fatigue the muscle fibers. The density aspect of this exercise methodology will be caused by the complete contraction and extension of the exercise movements and in the manner in which they are performed. Here then is your final, three day routine: Monday Partial Press in Power Rack: take fifty pound weight jumps and work up to all the weight you can move from the chin to the height of the eyes, for five reps. Power Clean From Hang: these should be done in sets of fives. Take regular jumps in weight until you are at the maximum weight you can rack for five reps. Olympic Back Squat: you should be taking fifty pound weight jumps until you reach a maximum of weight for three sets of three to five reps. Stiff Legged Deadlift: perform five sets of three to five reps using a medium heavy weight, concentrating on style and not solely on weight used. Wednesday Steep Seated Incline Press: after a few light sets for a thorough warm-up, take thirty pound weight jumps until you are at a weight you can handle for three reps. Work with this weight for five sets of three to five repetitions. Jerk Press From Rack: take fifty pound jumps and do sets of threes. Work up to all the weight possible for one heavy triple. Be sure to use correct style. High Pull: take a grip between the Clean and the Snatch grip and perform sets of threes. Taking conservative weight

jumps, work up to a poundage heavy enough for three sets of three reps using good style and explosiveness. Front Squat: after a set or two for a warm-up take conservative weight jumps until you are at the appropriate weight for five sets of five reps using good upright style. Prone Hyperextensions: five to seven sets using reps of between eight and twelve. Friday Seated Press: after one or two sets for a warm-up, take thirty pound jumps and use a five repetition scheme. Work up to a maximum weight for five sets of three repetitions. Shoulder Shrug: take the bar from crotch height in the power rack. Take fifty pound jumps until you reach a maximum weight for five set of five to seven reps. Snatch Grip Deadlift: five to seven sets of three repetitions. Take fifty pound jumps and work up to a maximum set of three repetitions. Partial Front Squat: take the bar from the three quarter position in the power rack. Take fifty pound jumps and work up to a maximum set of five reps. Three-Day Training split using Olympic Lift Variations Monday Partial military press (from chin to eyes) - 5 reps, taking large jumps to top set Hang Cleans - pyramid to top set of 5 SLDL - 5x3-5 (focus on form, not weight) Wednesday High Incline - 5x3-5 Jerks - Work up to heavy triple Clean Pulls Work up to heavy triple Front squat - 5x5 Hyperextensions - 5-7x8-12 Friday Seated Military Press - 5x3 Snatch-grip Deadlift - 5-7x3 Partial Front Squats (starting at 3/4 position & going up) - work to top set of 5 As can plainly be seen, while this routine does not contain the actual competitive lifts which the Olympic lifter uses in competition, the amount of assistance movements are most complete with the exception of the two lifts themselves. In other words, although the competitive two lifts are not included, the workouts are most complete from a developmental standpoint, with emphasis being placed on the muscles which are usually neglected in the usual training schedule. Whether you have particular aspirations for the lifting platform or whether you are a dyed in the wool home trainee, you should really give these Olympic lift movements a decent chance in your schedule to see what changes they can make both in your lifting proficiency and in your muscular development. I am sure, given enough time and training energy, you will be amazed at your rate of progress. Your muscles will be developed from different angles than you are customarily used to experiencing. This may at first seem quite a bit hard and unusual but with patience and practice,

you should be able to persevere to a level of capability otherwise unavailable to you, with the customary training routine you have become accustomed to following. These Olympic assistance movements should not be overlooked by you, though your goals may be somewhat different than the Olympic lifter. For the powerman, the new ways of working the thighs and the lower back will open up new developmental vistas. For the all-around trainee, additional muscle growth is most assuredly guaranteed, with the muscles taking on a new, capable look which will add to your overall physical ruggedness. Do not sell these movements short by limiting their supposed usefulness to the Olympic lift specialist for nothing could be further from the truth. I am sure, with the addition of all the heavy pulls, shrugs, and squats, your entire physical conditioning and mental outlook towards the value of this kind of training will be greatly changed, for the better I might add.

An Intermediate Mass Program by Anthony Ditillo

During the past eight or nine years of writing for Iron Man magazine I have received many letters from aspiring trainees, all seeking physical improvement in one form or another. By far, the most popular subject on the minds of most young men is the increase of muscle size and all over body mass and power. The routine I am going to outline presently is in direct response to these letters. This routine is NOT for the advanced man. He would never respond to the amount of work Im going to advise herein. Being advanced necessitates diversity in performance and volume of work as well as tightening up the dietary schedule, since continued weight gain would NOT be desirable for the truly advanced man who has already gained sufficiently in basic bodyweight. For the majority of beginners and intermediates, three total body workouts per week seems to be just about right. You will have two heavy days and one medium day, for variety and recuperation. On you two heavy days the movements are heavy and basic. The repetitions are kept low to enable you to use truly heavy weights to ensure mass gains. The first and second sets should be warmup sets. Sets three, four and five are to be performed with all the weight possible for the required reps. Rest no longer than one minute between sets. When

sets three, four and five can be done fairly easily, add ten pounds to your upper body movements and twenty pounds to the lower body movements. The entire schedule consists of between twenty-five and thirty sets. Surely this much work can be finished within ninety minutes. Wednesdays workout consists of two strenuous freehand movements which will give the joints, ligaments and tendons time to fully stretch during performance and also greatly add to your conditioning and shape. The two sets of Full Squats will enable aerobic conditioning, as well as metabolic stimulation, which in turn will greatly intensify your ability and desire to assimilate protein and nutrients. Use half your twenty-rep limit for set number one and go for broke on set number two. Do these (as well as the benches) using some type of safety rack or device. Stiff-legged deadlifts should be done lightly and performed fluently for a flushing throughout the entire lower back. It will also give you the lower back development of a gorilla, if you perfect its performance. Wednesdays workout consists of approximately twenty sets and could be done in one hour, should you care to push it. You could superset the chins and dips to further flush the tissues and also, weight can be added to your own bodyweight as strength permits. These routines are for the goal of adding muscle size, strength and power for the beginner and intermediate trainee. They are short because rest is necessary for the would-be strongman in order for complete recovery. Believe me, as you progress from intermediate to advanced youll have more than enough problems trying to find enough time and training energy to continue to gain. So why jump into this situation prematurely! Better to rest and grow. As far as nutrition is concerned, I feel a well-rounded diet consisting of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grain cereals, eggs, fish, poultry and meats, adding on milk and milk products should do nicely for the average fellow. A basic protein powder mixed with skim milk, a few soft-boiled eggs, peanut butter, bananas and a choice of flavoring should work if one is desperate to put on a few pounds.

Finally, I encourage you to believe in yourself and in your actions. For your actions make you what you are and your dreams and plans are possible future actions. Remake yourself continuously. Monday & Friday (heavy days) Press Behind Neck 5 sets of 5-7 reps. Bentover Barbell Row 5 sets of 8-10 reps. Barbell Curl 3 sets of 8-10 reps. Lying Triceps Press 3 sets of 8-10 reps. Half Squat 5 sets of 8-10 reps. On your off days, do four or five sets of calf raises and light abdominal work. Wednesday (medium day) Dips 4-5 bodyweight sets doing all the reps you can. Chins the same as dips. Full Squats 2 sets of 20 reps as described. Stiff-Legged Deadlift 2 sets of 10-15 reps using light to medium weight. Training Proficiency Simplified by Anthony Ditillo

A few days ago the two owners of my gym and I had a very interesting discussion concerning the fellows training there and the seeming lack of gains they made recently, though all of them were training regularly for quite some time. We came to the conclusion that the men who looked pretty good, when compared to the average guy, looked that way for the most part two years ago when my two friends took over management of this gym. In other words, these guys looked the same as they did two years ago. And they had been coming in six days a week and training for close to two hours each day for all this while.

Now something must be wrong. But what could that something be? All these guys ate pretty good, most of the time, and many of them were taking protein supplements to supposedly aid them in their gains. Yet they were not growing in size or strength nor were they becoming leaner or more muscular. A few of the other guys did gain muscular bodyweight but they were no stronger at the heavier bodyweight. So, in reality did these men gain anything either? And if the truth was that they did not, then that meant that the majority of the men training at my gym for the last two years were simple maintaining what they already had. Ad this mere maintenance was taking twelve to sixteen hours per week training time, not to mention the additional time to and from the gym and the added expense of food and supplements. Something was definitely wrong and something had to be done to help whichever of these men had the ears to hear and the mind to decipher what had to be learned. After much debating on the subject we came to some pertinent conclusions which I shall pass on to you in this article, for these mistakes are the very same mistakes the majority of you are making in your training, and that is likely why you are not progressing as far and as fast as you would like to. I am sure if you take the time to read and reread what I have outlined here for you and apply it, the results will be pleasing. First and foremost, the major mistake you men are making is incorrect exercise style. You simply will not perform the movements correctly. In the beginning, when your body is not used to much in the way of physical exertion, any lifting, no matter how incorrectly performed, will increase the muscles to a certain degree. But this will not continue forever. There comes a time when all such progress will come to a halt, unless you cut back on the excessive cheating and heaving, lighten the poundages somewhat and begin to actually feel the movements. Muscles do not just grow overnight and they do not grow in response to vague stimulation. In order for the muscles to greatly increase in size, you have to place direct, intense demands upon them. Intensity can either be obtained through performing as many repetitions per set as you humanly can, using heavy weights, or you can increase this intensity by decreasing the rest time between sets thereby performing more work in a shorter period of time, or you can greatly increase your training volume and neither decrease

your training rest periods or perform any set to maximum burnout and still increase your intensity due to the great increase in volume. All three will work. As my coach used to say, There is more than one way to Rome. You men with heavy bone structures will undoubtedly enjoy using rather heavy poundages and forcing the reps to the max, burnout for each set. Your heavier constitution will allow you to do this and still recuperate, while the lighter-boned man will probably enjoy further success by greatly increasing his workload for each muscle group and performing each exercise slowly and strictly with great concentration. Both will work for either type. And no matter which style you decide upon you must remember to perform the exercise movement with correct, slow, grinding repetitions in order for the muscle fibers to receive the growth stimulation they need to further respond. Every time you bounce a bar when doing any kind of press you are robbing the pressing muscles of the very thing they need to further respond. You cannot increase muscle size by working the joints using excessively heavy weights with heaving, thrusting movements, since such exercise style will totally neglect the muscles and favor the tendons and the joints and this throwing and swinging around heavy barbells will not increase muscle size to any degree. Your repetitions, whether high or low, should be performed with great control for best results. I mean great control on both the raising and the lowering in these kinds of movements done for this purpose. The lowering is just as important as the lifting, for they both work hand in hand in increasing your muscular development. I would also suggest that you attempt to make any movement a full range movement. What sense does it make to use an exaggerated wide grip on your pressing movements when this wide grip will actually decrease the length of the movement and the amount of contraction that can take place? If all you wish to do is to show how much weight you can lift, such techniques might be excusable, but if you desire to build muscle size such antics are a complete waste of time. I would advise all of you who seek to increase muscle size to use a medium stance when squatting, with no wraps of any sort until you can perform six to ten repetitions with double your bodyweight in this style, and only then begin to use knee wraps, belts, suits etc. By this time the muscles will already be large and strong and the lifting aids will enable you to

quickly increase your limit poundage for a single rep, should you care to see just how you compare to lifters in your weight class. But for increasing your muscle size, use a medium stance and do not use wraps. Another movement which many of you fellows are performing incorrectly for the results you seek is the bench press. In fact, I would venture to say that for the most part all of your pressing movements are done with the same silly mistakes. First, you try to use weights far too heavy to be used correctly and your style is actually an eyesore to behold. Why would you want to use a collar-to-collar grip on the bar when this wide a grip will undoubtedly sooner or later injure your shoulder joints due to the unnatural stretch and strain such a grip implies. The wideness of the grip will also cut down on the length of the movement to such an extent that it will only be half-performed. And half movements done with a bounce and kick will get you nowhere fast in the muscle size department. Wouldnt it make more sense to simply use a medium grip and weights light enough for you to PRESS and not PUSH or THRUST to completion? Do you think that the top powerlifters of today got their strength and development from continuously cheating in their competition movements? Well, if you do think that, then youre wrong. For the most part, especially during the off-season, these men are doing lots and lots of heavy bodybuilding/assistance movements and this means relatively lighter weights, higher reps and strict, slow, correct exercise form. This, combined with the heavier power movements, is where they get their size from. It works for them and it can work for you if you have the sense to try it. In ALL your pressing movements use a medium shoulder width grip on the bar. Your muscle size will increase and the development will go hand in hand with greater usable strength. Use a repetition scheme that goes somewhere between six and ten for the most part. Use as many sets as are necessary to thoroughly congest the muscles before going on to the next exercise or bodypart. These repetitions should be done slow and steady with continuous tension on the muscles being worked for best results. I notice a lot of you performing your pulling exercises entirely wrong for what you desire. What sense does it make to do a bentover row with weights so heavy it looks more like an exaggerated deadlift than a row? You are supposed to feel the movement in the lats and

somewhat in the biceps, but most of you complain of feeling this movement mainly in the lower back. This is because you are ashamed to use 135 and slowly work up to a heavier weight, so you load the bar up and away you go, jerking and pulling the bar around like youre engaged in a wrestling match with it. Youre NOT supposed to fight with the bar, youre supposed to exercise with it. Another movement almost always done incorrectly is the seated cable row. Why do you use so heavy a weight that you have to use every muscle in the body just to get the movement started, and in reality the arms are bent to such a small degree that the lats are barely utilized, it at all. For the most part, the lower back and the hips get the brunt of the work when done in this style and is it any wonder that your gains in lat size dont come around with such a foolish way of performing the thing? Why not lighten the weight and keep the torso inclined to the front, kept stiff and tight as a support, pull with the arms and upper back and perform enough reps to fully work and congest these areas? Doesnt this seem to make more sense? Who cares how much weight you cant use properly? Are you actually interested in developing muscle size? Your dumbbell work also gets adulterated somewhere along the line. You perform lying flyes as if they were dumbbell bench presses and fail to see your purpose in doing the exercise. There is no sense in doing flyes with a weight you can barely press. And the dumbbell bench presses are no better. Most of you do them with such a shortened range of movement, quickly work up to the 100s and are confused when no development results. When performing dumbbell laterals for the shoulders, why do you use such heavy weights that the movements are nothing more than rapidly swinging up and down with no hope of or attempt to control them on your part. Do you think that if you can swing 50 lb. dumbbells you are going to increase your shoulder development? How can you, when you would have a hard time using 30s, done slowly and correctly. You have got to reach a point in your exercise where the muscles are taxed to the limit. This is intensity. You can get to this point with light weights and higher reps or you can get to this point with much heavier weights and lower reps. Its up to you. But you must reach this point! What most of you do is try to stay away from this point by cheating through the movement and the discomfort. This is your basic mistake and you are avoiding the very event which will give you what you want.

You are trying to avoid muscle fatigue, and you cannot obtain much in the way of continued progress without this fatigue. You cant have one without the other. Some of you try to cheat your way to continued improvement. Some of you fatten yourselves up as a way of getting heavier and thereby obtaining larger size and, inadvertently, heavier poundages. Some of you do absolutely nothing and remain absolutely same, year in and year out. And what I have tried to do is to show you some simple examples of your precious self-deceit. You guys who are trying to bulk up had better take a long range look at what you are trying to do, for the majority of you will end up only fattening up and in five or so years will be trying to lose this now-precious, then-excess weight. You can get much heavier and less muscular at the same time. You can overeat and look bigger and more massive to the eye, but with your shirt off the truth comes out. You are smoother and filled for most part with fat and water. I would advise the majority of you to follow a high-protein, high-carbohydrate, moderate-fat diet for most of the training year. Eat small meals throughout the day so as not to tax the digestive system to any great degree. Figure out your ideal training weight and simply determine the amount of food you consume to maintain this weight without too much difficulty. If you add more to this amount, do it in small increments and wait for the results to show, and here I am talking not to underweight beginners, but to intermediate trainees. Work your muscles with your training until they are thoroughly fatigued and train each bodypart as frequently as you can and still recuperate from the exertion. Train as long as you can and as often as you can, keeping recuperation in mind. Pick a repetition scheme that your mental attitude and body can tolerate. Perform each and every movement with proper form, with no exaggeration in the performance and let the training poundages take care of themselves, and they WILL increase in time, providing you do not bounce, or cheat, or heave . . . you have nothing to lose but your mediocrity. Size Increases With The Power Rack, Parts One and Two by Anthony Ditillo

Part One

When mentioning power rack training and its relationship to the increasing of muscular bodyweight and muscular size, we must mention the discretionary habits necessary for success in this type of training venture. Since power rack training uses the deepest lying fibers in its functioning training scope, it stands to reason that it will be very easy to overtrain while using the rack. To avoid this is not as easy as at first it may seem. There is something contagious about power rack work which invades your soul and you are apt to go overboard while working on the rack with the end result being a decrease of performance potential and a lack of bodyweight and muscular size increase. You simply cannot overtrain on the power rack and expect to continue to make gains. You will have to learn to meter out your training enthusiasm when working on the rack if additional muscle size is what you are going after. Also, the generally accepted theory of working the sticking point, the hardest position of any exercise you do. does NOT apply in this case, since we are not particularly interested in the sole acquisition of power, but more into gaining than much desired powerful, bulky physique with body size and massiveness being paramount in our considerations. One method used in the rack for the acquisition of size and strength is the Theory of Maximum Fatigue. For lifters, it aids them quite quickly to increase their lifting performances. For the bulk fanatic, such a training method will aid you in gaining additional size throughout the entire body. You would have to go a long way to find a more effective method for gaining useful muscle size. This Theory of Maximum Fatigue will enable you to utilize and develop the size of the deepest set muscle fibers, which would otherwise lay dormant with the sole training methodology used being basically accepted exercise performances. Since you will be training to gain in muscle size, the set and repetition scheme will have to be updated for the use of a size seeker, not merely a power seeker. This means that the repetitions will be somewhat higher than previously accepted. Let us use a repetition scheme of between six and eight repetitions. The number of sets for each section of each movement will depend upon many factors. Take into consideration the total workload and evaluate the amount of rack training from that point. Naturally, if you are going to depend

solely on the rack work, then you will be able to stand more volume of work done in the rack. If, however, you wish to combine rack work with regular movements, then the overall amount of the rack work will have to be reduced in order not to overtrain yourself to a point of nervous exhaustion. This can, and has happened to many an overenthusiastic trainee. It is very easy to overdo this kind of training due to the likeability of the performance of basic movements with extremely heavy weights. Finally, we must take into consideration the previous experience of the trainee before assuming this training methodology. Naturally, the more experienced the trainee, the more he will be able to handle without becoming completely exhausted. What I would advise you to do is surmise just how much work you will be able to realistically handle and formulate your training routine around this fact. As time goes by, you will be able to add a set here and a set there, and as long as the gains are coming your way you will know you are on the right path. With a little patience and some thinking on your part you will find the right amount of work which will work for you personally. In this and my next article I will outline for you various schemes utilizing the power rack for size increases. The first rack routine I am going to outline for you will be a basic, three-day-per-week training plan with emphasis on the power rack. This fundamental routine will allow the majority of you fellows to begin to get used to rack work and will allow you to also begin to grow from its application. Further on down the line, as it becomes harder and harder for you to continue to gain in both size and strength, I will outline more advanced methods of using the power rack which will require greater effort and training time, but which will aid you in continuing your aims and goals of increasing size and strength. With this first routine we will have to be interested in the amount of work as well and the intensity of this work, since we do not want the intermediate trainee to become overtrained for this is a real consideration in the beginning of any intense weight training program. Later on, after the trainee has become used to such workloads, he will be better able to adjust his volume suitable to his training energy and level of recuperative ability, which is as it should be for continued progress. Up until this point, however, do not deviate from the foregoing introductory routine. Try to be regular in your training habits and in your living habits, for these play a major part in achieving your goal of adding muscular bodyweight.

Also, do not add anything to this routine, save some calf or abdominal work done for a few sets at the end of each workout, but not to any great extent. Here then is your primary three-day power rack routine:

Monday Full Movements Bench Press: One set of ten repetitions for a warmup, then a set of seven with heavier weights, then a set of three and finally three to five single attempts with around 90% of your one repetition limit. Finish up with four sets of four to six repetitions using all weight possible. Bentover Row: One set of ten for a warmup, then jump to five of so sets of four to six repetitions with a heavy weight. Parallel Squat: One set of ten for a warmup, one set of seven, then work with a weight hard for five sets of five repetitions. Wednesday Power Rack Bench Press: Use three positions. From the chest, midway, and lockout. Perform three sets of between six and eight reps for each of these positions. On the last rep of each set, old and push against the top pin for around six seconds. This will activate the deeper muscle fibers, and the higher rep scheme will cause greater muscle pump. Power Squat: Use three positions. Form the bottom, midway, and from a quarter squat position. Perform two sets of between six and eight reps from each position and be sure to push against the top pins on the last reps of each of these sets. Your parallel squat will surely improve from going this route! Deadlift From Below The Knees: Go for six or seven sets and work up to a maximum set of three with all the weight you can

properly handle. This movement will greatly strengthen your lower back as well as building great deadlifting power and confidence. Friday Power Rack Work Combined With Full Movements Incline Press: Five sets of between five and seven repetitions using a fairly heavy weight. Bench Press: Press from the sticking point in a power rack using five sets of threes and working up to a maximum set of three repetitions. This movement will immediately increase your bench pressing ability. Leg Presses or Front Squats: Four sets of six to eight repetitions. Use a heavy weight, one which makes you work, and work hard! Power Rack Squat: Place the bar at your sticking point and stand up with the weight from a deadstop for each and every repetition. Go for five sets of threes, working to a maximum triple. Shoulder Shrug: Five sets of eight to twelve reps, using a very heavy weight, pulling the bar as high and as fast as you possibly can. The weight should be so heavy that you MUST use straps. With this first routine we have been interested in coupling full movements with partial movements in order to maintain a necessary maintenance of lifting ability as well as wellroundedness of muscle structure and flexibility. While the brunt of the work will be done in the rack, there are also corresponding movements used in which standard barbell exercises have been utilized to bring about the desired results. The combination of these two types of training procedures should enable you to gain in an all-around way without losing any basic muscular qualities which were originally developed through standard exercise methodology. As you can see, if you look over this routine most carefully, it is quite complete in its training volume and intensity, yet it is not as severe as some of the other rack programs which I will be outlining for you in my next article, which you will be able to incorporate with time and persistence. I have coupled the full movements with the rack work so as to

incorporate the good points of both systems of exercise, and to utilize the best that both have to offer. This is a most complete way to fulfill your aims. Upon further consideration you will discover that the smaller muscle groups have been given adequate work to carry them through this intensive training period, yet the brunt of the work has been placed on the large muscles of the shoulder girdle, legs and hips. This is so that the amount of size gained will be put in the right places with the bodyweight going all over the entire body, giving it a well-rounded look with symmetrical development being the end product. This workload is also suited for increasing body power and this is another basic requirement of any weight gaining routine for it makes no sense to gain additional size if this size is not accompanied by additional power. By working the major muscle structures of the body quite hard you are guaranteed to build usable power along with your increased physical size. The arms and calves will grow somewhat, from the intensity and volume of work placed on the larger muscle structures. As long as we work the basic muscle group exercises the hardest with the most consideration, the smaller groups will coast along and go for the ride, so to speak. In my next installment I will endeavor to outline for you a few of these more complicated, more demanding power rack routines. Until then work, and work hard!

Part Two Of all the types of training available to the trainee today, to me, none is more important and beneficial than work done in a power rack. If the same trainee is trying to gain muscular bodyweight while working in the rack, gains will come to him all the faster. This is due to a multifaceted situation which encompasses rack work in general. First of all, the use of the rack for heavy partial repetitions is just about the most severe form of overload possible. Also, this severe overload training will force the trainee to gain useful bodyweight, due to the stimulation of the deeper muscle fibres and the overall stimulation to the muscular system and the metabolic system such heavy workloads bring with them.

I have never met a man who trained on the power rack for any length of time who has not gained greatly in size and strength and since this article deals with just this same goal and situation, you can be sure power rack training will aid you greatly in your quest for additional size and strength. This goes along with the theory that the proper diet will be followed during this training scheme. Without the proper diet, size will just not be possible to develop. You need the proper diet to maintain a positive nitrogen balance to stimulate bodyweight gain. Just as there are a multitude of movements you can perform on the rack, so too there are quite a few different methods of using the rack for best results in gaining bodyweight. It would seem at first that the basic training theories which powermen follow for gaining power would also help you in gaining size, but this is not always the case. If it were, we would have no smaller men in the lighter classes, since they all would have outgrown themselves before they were through competition. Gaining bodyweight and size with a power rack will require somewhat of a different repetition and set scheme than what is customarily used for gaining power in the body. For one thing, the set scheme is decreased somewhat and the repetitions are increased to stimulate more muscle fibers into growth contraction. We should also mention at this time the ability to couple various movements together for he pumping effect, and the growth effect such a coupling will produce. For regular power rack work, this would be out of the question, since the main idea would be to gain in strength, not bodyweight. However, in this situation, you will be trying to cause the muscle groups to respond with additional growth and so the inclusion of two or more movements for the same bodypart, both full and partial, will be of utmost helpfulness and availability. It is possible to combine various partial movements in a rack with full movements done in the standard way, with the end result being a thoroughly congested, fully worked and pumped up muscle. Another way of combining these two distinct types of training is to work in the rack once or twice weekly and for the other workout do full movements. This way both types of work will be adequately used with enough training time and volume of workload to produce most favorable results, given enough time and sweat.

The following routine is advanced and will be performed in four days per week training. It will require a sound nutritional basis for complete success. You are going to be expanding immense amounts of nervous and physical energy and the end product is meant to be increased bodyweight as well as increased power, so be sure to maintain a sound diet. If at all possible, try to find the time each day for a half-hour nap, or a few fifteen minute breaks throughout the day. Also, try to maintain a tranquil mind, a positive mental attitude toward the amount of work you are going to have to do, because there is going to be plenty of it to get used to. We are going to couple the movements so as to maintain a fine balance between partial movement proficiency and actual lifting finesse, but in this routine the rack work will be of optimum importance. The free movements will be only for muscle stimulation and not for the acquisition of strength. For this, we will depend on the power rack. I would also advise additional stomach work on the off days when you are not training on the rack, so as to strengthen the abdomen and maintain a trim waistline while gaining in size and power. I would not advise any additional barbell work beyond the amount of work I advise here in this routine. If given a chance, it will prove to be most complete within itself. Here then, is your four day routine:

Monday and Thursday Partial Standing Press: from below the chin to the top of the head. Perform 8 sets of 5 to 7 repetitions, working up to a maximum of 5 repetitions. On the final rep of each set, push against the top pin for 6 to 8 seconds. Bench Press Lockouts: from three-quarters off the chest to lockout. Perform 6 to 8 sets of 4 to 6 repetitions with the last set being the heaviest weight you can handle for 6 reps. On the last repetition of every set push against the top pin for an additional six to eight seconds. Deadlift: from below the knees. Perform six to eight sets of three repetitions working up to a maximum set of three repetitions on the last set. Hyperextension:

five to seven sets of eight to twelve repetitions using bodyweight as resistance and later adding weight behind the neck. As you can see, this first half of our four day routine is quite complete in the amount of work performed for the chest and shoulders with additional work being included for the lower back region.

Tuesday and Friday Partial Squat: position the bar at your sticking point and work up to eight sets of three to five repetitions, using all the weight possible for the final set of five. Front Squat: perform between five and seven sets of three to five repetitions with the final set being the heaviest weight you can properly handle in strict Olympic style. Bentover Row: perform five to seven sets of six to eight repetitions using all the weight you can properly handle. Cheat Barbell Curl: five to seven sets of six to eight repetitions using all the weight possible, slowly lowering the bar on the lowering part of each repetition. Close Grip Bench Press: perform five to seven sets of five to seven repetitions using all the weight possible for each and every set after warming up for the first set or two with a somewhat lighter weight. What we have tried to do within this routine is to activate the deepest fibers with an overbalance of rack work, while at the same time adequate amounts of work are included for the adjacent muscle groups so that muscle shape is maintained. We have made sure that this power work in the rack would be sure to carry itself over to the regularly performed movements, so we have even included the close-grip bench press to maintain a certain amount of bench pressing familiarity. Coupling this with the heavy partial bench presses in the rack should cause not only size gains but a carrying over power effect as well. For the squat, while we have not included the actual full squat, we have concentrated on the

sticking point of the movement in the rack, and it would take a very short time to acquaint our muscles back to the competitive manner of squatting with the back log of work which we have performed here in this routine. Let us not forget that the front squat is quite a leg developer, and I am sure by including this movement along with the sticking point squat the effect on the power squat should more than make itself felt. Since the sticking point in the deadlift for most people is just below the knee, we have concentrated on this position for our rack work on the deadlift. To be sure, your deadlift will increase with enough training time and patience. If you check out the routine more closely, you will see that the number of sets have been increased in comparison to the first routine I listed for you earlier, and it is just this increase in workload which will make you more advanced and better conditioned by the time you have fully adapted to this routine. Upon graduation of this routine you will be ready for an advanced power rack routine. When this conversion time comes around I want you to first and foremost get yourself set for the most demanding and severe type of work you have ever asked your body to perform. Be sure that the dietary end of your lifestyle is most complete, for you will need all possible energy at your disposal to enable you to further yourself along the goals and aims of this article. The kind of work you will be doing will be the hardest and most tiring of all. This routine will require five training days per week. Before undertaking this routine, reread my past articles concerning rack work and the theory of maximum fatigue. Most men will shy away from this routine saying it is too intense and voluminous for the average man to make gains on. THEY ARE RIGHT! This routine is not for the mediocre lifter, but until you allow yourself an honest attempt at such a routine you will never know just how far your particular potential will take you. Besides, you will be trying to gain weight and eating in quantity with this routine, so it will not be as hard as it may seem at first. Just give it a solid try and see how your progress comes along after the first six weeks or so.

Monday Partial Press in Rack: press from he clavicle to eye level. Perform ten sets of three to six repetitions, using the heaviest weights possible and pressing against the top pin for six seconds on the last rep of

every set. Eye-Level Press in Rack: press from eye-level to completion. Five sets of five to seven repetition Steep Seated Press: place a deeply inclined bench in the rack and press from pins set at clavicle height. Perform five to seven sets of five to seven repetitions Seated Press Behind Neck Perform five to seven sets of between five and seven reps. Tuesday Half Squats in the Rack: perform eight sets of three to five repetitions from halfway to completion. Do each rep from a dead stop off the pins. Work up to very heavy weight. Quarter Squats in the Rack perform five or so sets of three to five repetitions with extremely heavy weight. Many years ago I handled over 1.000 pounds in these for a few repetitions while weighing around 230. No wraps. Place the bar at the midpoint between parallel and upright. This is the quarter squat position Olympic Back Squat: perform five to seven sets of five to seven repetitions working up to a max set of five each workout. These are done outside the rack wearing no belt and no knee wraps. Front Squat: five to seven sets of five to seven reps just as in the back squat above. Wednesday Upright Row: five sets of five to eight repetitions done outside the rack. Shrug Pulls: perform these in a rack and place the bar just above the knees. Use a shoulder width grip and use lifting straps. Work for eight to ten sets of six to eight repetitions using very heavy weights. Deadlift Below Knee: once again you are in the rack. Perform five of so sets of three to five repetitions working up in weight.

Stiff-Legged Deadlift: do these outside the rack. Five or so sets of three to five repetitions working up in weight. Thursday Bench Press: outside the rack, work up to eight to ten sets of four to ten reps working to heavy weight with repetitions done slowly and strictly. Close-Grip Benches: outside the rack, place two fingers inside the knurling and perform five or so sets of four to six repetitions. Dumbell Bench Press: work for five sets of five to seven reps with the heaviest weight you can possibly handle. Bench Lockouts: these are done in the rack, using a rep scheme of three to five and working for five sets with a heavy weight. The bar is placed on pins just above the halfway point and pressed from here to completion. Friday Dips: eight to ten sets between eight and twelve repetitions, adding weight whenever possible. Chins: the same as the dips above. Full Squats: no wraps and no belt, five sets of eight to twelve repetitions. Deadlift: five sets of three to five reps working up to a heavy triple. As I mentioned earlier, this is quite a routine! Do not be afraid of it, nor become too complacent in your attitude towards it. It WILL work if it is coupled with intensive dietary consideration, rest, proper mental attitude and TRAINING BELLIGERENCE. Work your way into it very gradually and see what you can do with it.

Specialization Programs by Anthony Ditillo

With these routines we are going to get into the utmost effective specialization programs of which there have been many records kept. For the most part, these methods of acute specialization will work the muscles and the lifting movements to a peak of development and proficiency which beforehand would have been felt were completely impossible or out of the question of being attained by the average trainee. What we are going to be doing in this section of Chapter 5, is outline for you in the most intense situation of physical endeavors. This means that you will be narrowing in on your training goals and aspirations in order to milk from your body all the utmost potential as far as development and physical lifting abilities you are capable of. These techniques are by no means completely new or untried by other men before you; on the contrary, most men who are the champions of today and yesterday have tried these training methods at some prior time of their lifting life. These routines must cause an increase in size and strength, due to their severity and their specificity of nature. When you work only one or two movements per workout and those workouts are both voluminous and intense, with the brunt of the work strictly and thoroughly performed, you must gain in one way or another, due to the very nature of such an undertaking and the way in which the average persons body will adjust to an overload of stress. This is especially true for the man with a very low energy level, who has trouble in formulating a routine which he can recuperate from, throughout the many years of his lifting career. For the man who is constantly complaining of being overtrained, these types of routines will do wonders for both his physical development and his all-over lifting potential. This does not mean that these routines will not also benefit us more toughened-up trainees, for we all can reap great amounts of benefit from this type of workout if we have the self-belief and the self-control to give these short, intense routines a chance to show us exactly what they can do. Therefore, it would be to all or our benefit to look over these suggested routines, no matter haw short and simple they may seem to us at first, for in the long run they will work only if we will work.

This first specialized routine will be for the man who wishes to experiment with training for only one hour per day and using one exercise movement per training session. This will mean that each movement will have to be an all-around muscle group movement to stimulate the most available fibers of the largest muscle groups of the body. In this way, such short training will be most complete and result producing and in the long run, will develop the most muscle for the amount of work and time put into the training period of any type of training that I know of. By training five days per week and using only one movement per day, we must make sure that such choices will not cause muscle overlap and therefore become physically redundant, thereby leaving out certain muscle groups which would produce a lopsided physique and d decrease in all-around lifting power. Therefore, before undertaking this type of routine, be sure to know how to set up your schedule beforehand as to what to do and what not to include so that the entire body becomes stimulated to greater developmental heights during the course of a lifting week. This will allow not adequate recuperation although you will be training almost daily and also, it will develop for you an increase in all-around listing power. This will develop the capability of going just about as far as your particular potential will take you in the way of lifting proficiency. To stimulate additional muscle growth, it will be necessary to include in the future additional work for the aforementioned muscles in order to fully work them and reshape them, as it were, to greater development and shapeliness. But for the fellow who is primarily interested in all-around lifting proficiency and a well-developed rugged physique, this is the routine to follow. Here then is your five day per week training routine: MondayBench Presses Tuesday Squats Wednesday Deadlift or Bentover Rowing Thursday Power Clean and Push Press Friday Jerk From Rack With the choice of these movements we have given the entire body quite a workout by the end of the week. For each of these movements I would suggest you choose one of the

following set and repetition schedules. The reason I am giving you somewhat of a choice as to the number of sets and repetitions you will be using, is due to the complexity of the choices of exercise movements and the importance of your being able to choose the right schedule which will work best for your personal preferences as to how many sets and how many repetitions will work best for you. With such a short, daily exercise program to work with, it is important to choose the right balance of work. I would advise either that you perform each exercise for around ten sets of five to seven repetitions, with the first three or so sets as progressive warm-ups and the brunt of the work taking place from set four to set nine, and the final set or two being flushing sets with somewhat lighter weights. Another suggestion would be the following tried and proved effective repetition and set scheme: one set of ten, one set of eight, one set of six, and five sets of three reps using all weight possible. Finish up with two or three sets of five or so reps with somewhat lighter weight for complete flush. Finally, when feeling particularly energetic and strong, you could take a set or two for a warm-up and then progressively add to the weight of the bar until you are at close to 90% of your limit and try for three to five single attempts with this heavy weight, finishing up with a few sets of lighter poundages with higher reps. All three of these suggestions will work for you on such an intense, short routine. In fact, one week you could use one schedule and the following week the other, and so on. It really is up to you in the final estimation as to how many sets and how many reps you choose to follow when working on such a course. They all have merit, if followed using intelligence and patience. You fellows who are always complaining about how little time you have to spend on your training will find that these schedules take very little time as compared to other routines that the majority of us trainees follow in our attempts at getting bigger and stronger. With such short workouts you should be able to recuperate quite easily and the result will be an increase in your training enthusiasm, less missed workouts, and a general increase in both lifting proficiency and in muscular development. The next type of specialization routine will be somewhat more complicated than the first example I used to demonstrate such training and the effects of such types of work. With this

following routine, we will be training four or five days per week, with the average routine consisting of two movements per day. This way, you will be able to perform a more diversified amount of work each workout and in the long run, the all-around effects will be more predominant in muscle building and strength level increases. This is because of the coupling of two such movements each day. By coupling two movements daily, or almost daily, it is not necessary to train each and every day; in fact, it will be possible to cut down the number of training days each week to four. Also, with the coupling of two movements daily, you will be training a bit longer each day, but the total amount of work done weekly will remain approximately the same. This may mean the difference between success or failure depending upon the rate of recovery your body can acclimate itself to. Some men will find that two movements per day is just about right for best results. Others will prefer less training days per week but will prefer maybe three movements done on each of these days. Others, in the extreme other end of training energy levels, may find that one movement per day is just right to insure continued gains. So you see, in this section of this chapter, we will be discussing each of these types of personalized specialization routines, so as to give all of you a chance to try whatever kind of routine you may feel will be right for you. There is only one way to find out: you must experiment and see what will work and what will not work. This following routine is for the man who wishes to specialize on the pressing muscles of the upper body, but at the same time, wants to be sure that he is including enough work for the additional parts of the body so as to not lose anything previously developed in the past. In order to insure this not happening, you will have included on an almost daily basis, enough work for the additional muscle groups which will keep them in proper state of tone as the brunt of your workouts will be geared to developing additional size and strength in the pressing muscles of the body. What I would advise you to do in this case, is to work one pressing movement each training session, with one squatting movement on one day and one pulling or arm movement on the following training day. This way, the rest of the body is adequately stimulated. Here then is your two movement per day training routine: Monday Bench Press and Power Squat Tuesday Incline Press and Bentover Rowing

Wednesday Press Behind Neck and Arm Work Thursday Take the day off Friday Close Grip Bench Press and Front Squat Saturday Standing Press and Bent Legged Deadlift Sunday Take the day off With this routine I would advise you to perform the following set and repetition schedule: for the majority of movements except the Bent Legged Deadlift, warm up for two or so sets and then move up to weight which you can handle for between three and five sets of four to six repetitions. After this, cool down with two or so sets of eight or so repetitions, with a somewhat lighter weight. For the deadlift, I recommend sets of three repetitions, working up to a maximum triple. This should develop more than enough power for the limit deadlifting. For the rest of the body, there is more than enough work to stimulate increases in muscle size and power. With continued application of this kind of training, you will realize a great increase in your pressing power from all angles and the rest of the body will not suffer in development or power because of the inclusion of additional work for these areas. This type of training can become most meaningful and enjoyable for you and many men enjoy this kind of training so much that they stay on these kinds of programs for the entire training year. For the man who has a greater ability to recuperate after strenuous training there are further methods of training which will stimulate even further rates of growth and development, due to the extent of their severity and complicated nature. With these types of workouts you would do all your pressing on one day, the whole amount of squatting on the following day, and finally, on the third training day you would follow a most complete routine to fully work the pulling muscles of the body. In this way, although you would be training six days per week, you will only be working each muscle group twice weekly, so that the entire workload would be evenly distributed throughout the entire body, with adequate rest between workouts. The severity of this routine will make it necessary that you do not try to stay on this routine for more than a month or so, unless you are one of those rare individuals who can thrive, or seem to do so, on such a great quantity of hard work. If such is the case, then by all means stay on this type of routine as long as you wish to. But for the majority of the rest of us, a

month and a half of so would be long enough to stimulate correct training responses. As soon as one begins to feel somewhat drug out and less proficient at ones workouts, it is then time to switch to a less severe amount of work until full recuperation is realized. Here then is your six day per week specialization routine: If you cannot train on Sunday, then train from Monday through Saturday and take Sunday off. With this type of routine, there is a tremendous amount of stress placed on the physical and emotional parts of the mind and body, so be sure to realize this and take steps to deter physiological staleness, which may step in and force an unwanted layoff. A good idea would be to take a few extra naps throughout the day so as to make this excessive work more acceptable to the body and more easily recuperated from. Just as we must learn to creep before we can walk, so must we find our way through this kind of workout, slowly and with great hesitancy to overwork, since this would work against us, not for us. Rest assured, if enough care is taken to see to it that the correct kind of diet is followed throughout this entire training affair, the result we are seeking will make itself felt. All that is necessary is to barter our energy and see to it that we are properly fed and adequately rested. Another avenue of experimentation which has been proven most successful to the few men who have proved to be innovative enough to attempt such a unique incorporation of training schedules and exercise frequency would be where you will be working the entire body each and every workout. Then, after working extremely hard on the entire body, you rest until you feel that you have completed the amount of rest and then, and only then, do you take another workout. This means that some weeks you may be training three times per week and other weeks you will be training only two times per week. But in both cases, you will be sure to work more than enough to stimulate sufficient gains without the chance of underrecuperation or overtraining becoming a problem. This way, there are very little wasted training programs when on this type of routine. By limiting the amount of training periods each week, you can greatly magnify the amount of work done on each chosen exercise period. Also, you will be able to rest assured that sufficient rest takes between each workout bout. For the man with limited training time and limited training energy, this type of routine may be just what the doctor ordered.

In this situation, we would naturally place the most important movements first in our routine, in order that most of the energy can be spent on the movements which are the most important to us, with our particular training goals and endeavors. This does not mean that there will not be enough work for the rest of the body, for this is the beauty of such a scheduling of exercise periods. When you know that you will be training the entire body only two or three times per week, it is only natural that you wish to work very hard and completely an each and every exercise chosen for each and every exercise period. When you know that the workout of the day will be the only chance you will have to get to work the body for a few days, you will really try to get psyched up for the workout and this will help you to get the most out of each and every training routine. Some men cannot seem to keep up this amount of psyche for any length of time. For these men it would be wiser to work out more frequently but less intensely. But for the man who can gear up this extra emotionalism two or so times per week, this is the way to go. On the days you are not training, be sure to rest adequately and as completely as possible for this how you will be able to gear up for the next workout. Try to get in an occasional nap every so often to enable you to save necessary training energy. For let no one tell you differently: with this program you will have to work! This then, would be your whole body, twice per week specialization routine. Monday Bench Press, Press Behind Neck, Bentover Barbell Rowing, Scott Curls Lying Triceps Extension, and Power Squat. With this workout you should perform the following set and repetition schedule for the majority of movements, except perhaps with your arm work, in which higher repetitions should be included. For the rest of the body, try to warm-up sufficiently with two of three sets of medium repetitions and then jump to a poundage you can handle for between six and ten repetitions and work with this weight for three to five sets. Cool down with two or so sets of somewhat lighter weights and somewhat higher repetitions. For the upper arms, I would recommend that the set scheme be somewhat reduced while the repetition scheme be increased so that you are handling weights for each set for between eight and twelve repetitions.

After a two or three day rest, try to get in the following routine. This will be somewhat different from the first routine since you will be trying to work the muscles from a somewhat different angle. However, both routines will work the muscles most fully, completely, and adequately. Friday Standing Press, Parallel Bar Dips, Lat Machine Pulldowns, Shoulder Shrugs, Cheating Barbell Curls, and Olympic Back Squat. For this workout, I would recommend a similar set and repetition schedule. Warm-up for the first two or so sets an then work into a weight you can handle for five to seven repetitions. Use this for four sets and then cool down with two sets of eight reps. The secret of properly working the body through these periods of super specialization lies within the mind and the integrity of the trainee. He must see to it that his diet is adequate and complete for the increase of workloads he will be undertaking. Also, in order for him to stimulate additional muscle growth, it will be necessary for him to face the fact that only through a great deal of self confidence and a strict adherence to the dietary principles discussed beforehand, will he succeed to the limit of his potential and physical capabilities. What I have tried to do in this chapter is to give you a selection of the most potent tools or weapons you will ever have at your disposal in the hopes that through the proper utilization of these techniques, you too will move one step closer to the goals of which your dreams are made . . .