YOUR COMPLETE BARBELL TRAINING PROGRAM

YOUR COMPLETE BARBELL TRAINING PROGRAM

by Peary Rader

In the July issue we closed with the promise to tell you of three exercises which would form a specialization course for problem cases. You may wonder why we suggest just three exercises for such a course.

It has been found that quite often the reason for not gaining is too many exercises and overwork.

Many problem cases have been solved by the following program of special exercises and the addition of a great deal more protein to the diet. In the days before special protein supplements, we made this addition in the form of foods such as meat and milk. This was probably the secret of the success of the milk diet in combination with heavy muscular exercise. The milk, being an excellent protein food, supplied the necessary proteins for muscular growth. Milk is still a major food in most bodybuilders’ diets for this reason, though it must be taken in comparatively large quantities to supply enough of the needed elements for progress.

So the reader may suit himself regarding diet. He can either increase his quota of meat, eggs, cheese and milk or he may add a good quality protein supplement to his diet. We would like to recommend that he do both, however, as it has been found that progress is much more rapid if both food proteins and protein supplements are taken in adequate quantities.

There are some who criticize the abbreviated program because they feel that it does not cover the entire body well enough. It is true that an abbreviated program would not be the best for a permanent schedule if one wanted the finest shaped physique. However, many of these critics have never been in the shoes of the poor fellow who finds it almost impossible to gain on the standard programs with 15 to 25 exercises. They do not know the thrill of the big gains in strength and bodyweight that come from these abbreviated programs after being so long without gains at all. After a satisfactory degree of progress has been made on the abbreviated program and you find your gains come easier, you may then add other exercises to your program to balance your development.

We have known many men who made little, if any gains after years of hard training, who, upon adopting an abbreviated and specialized schedule, made very rapid and almost unbelievable gains.
Some people say that you get to be nothing but a big fat slob from abbreviated programs. This is a lack of clear and intelligent thinking. You only get fat because you eat too much of the fattening foods. There is no other way to get fat. Such foods as starches, sweets and fats cause you to
become fat when you eat in excess of your body’s needs for fuel foods. Protein foods will not allow you to get fat. Eat plenty of them and you will gain muscle only. Don't let any crackpot critics worry you with their faulty arguments. Sure, there are a lot of barbell men who have gotten quite fat, but they got that way only because of their diets as mentioned above, and they can remove this fat any time they want to cut down on the foods that caused their trouble.

Remember, you are the master of your body. You can mold it as you wish according to the INTELLIGENT EFFORT and control you are willing to exercise in the operation. There is no such thing as a man or woman who cannot make progress (except in diseased conditions—and most of these could progress also). It is all a matter of studying the body, its functions and malfunctions and applying proper treatment.

The proper treatment for a lot of you fellows who consider yourselves problems, is an adequate diet and a specialized and abbreviated exercise program.

Now, there is very little POSITIVE knowledge about bodybuilding, so we don’t like to state beliefs as absolute facts, but we are often very emphatic in our beliefs.

One of our beliefs is that in addition to a good diet you must also have ample rest and sleep between exercise sessions if you wish to make good progress. Have you ever noticed how a bull will bulk up when kept penned up and fed on a nutritious food (most usually special supplements with a high protein concentration). He gets huge and muscular. The protein in his diet keeps him from getting very fat but he becomes very muscular. If he could be made to do heavy exercise in a scientific manner he would probably become unbelievably large and muscular but then his meat probably would become too tough to eat. Much of my convictions on nutrition have come from observation of
scientific feeding or animals which has progressed much farther than the study of correct feeding of humans. Living in an agricultural community where much of the beef of the world comes from_, I have been amazed at the minute care and attention given to the exact correct feeding of the cattle compared to that given humans. Most of these feeders have a wide knowledge of "diet" for animals, but know almost nothing about the correct "diet" and its values for humans. The comparison makes one wonder at the sanity of the human race. We have done so much for the animals and so little for ourselves.

By now most of you are getting impatient for the exercises we promised you, so here they are. Very simple and common exercises - the bench press, rowing exercise and the squat. You may wonder why we have made this choice. We could have selected several others almost as good and sometimes in our personal training we do, but with the exception of the rowing exercise, all three of these are simple and almost foolproof and the rowing exercise can be easily learned correctly,

The squat is easily the most important of the three. It used to be thought that the main reason the squat was such an effective bodybuilder was because it stimulated the metabolism and increased the functional vigor of all the organs. This has never been proven, however, so it still remains more or less an opinion-nevertheless, one that seems well founded. Be that as it may, it has been found that the squat is a most important exercise, in that it works large muscle, groups very vigorously. It is an exercise that is convenient to use and it is difficult to do it wrong. It is a good all around exercise - not because it works all the muscles - because it doesn't -- but it seems that growth stimulated by the squat exercise is not confined alone to the legs and other muscles it effects directly, but also effects added growth to the entire body. It is generally recognized by most bodybuilders and lifters as the most valuable single exercise known.

The bench press has, in recent years, become known for being an upper body counterpart of the squat in its value and effectiveness. There are those who feel this is a very poor exercise but this I believe is
because they do not understand it properly and have attributed the effects from other exercises to the bench press. When I mention the bench press, I also include the supine press on floor for it is so close in its relationship as to be considered almost one and the same. In years past, the supine press on floor was very popular until the bench press came along. Then because the bench press, as practiced by most bodybuilders, is a rebound exercise, it proved more effective than the floor variety. On some men it is possible to lower the bell farther in the bench press too. I say some because some men have such deep chests that they can’t lower the bell any farther than if they did a supine press on the floor.

Whenever we do a supine press on the floor we use the rebound system. The sticklers for the rules want the press started from a dead start at the bottom. This is okay for record purposes but to follow this practice in exercising is foolish for you waste a very valuable adjunct to your training, "rebound". Rebound, as we have said before, accounts for much of the value of the squat as well as the dead hang cleans and snatches.
The Rowing exercise is one exercise that most bodybuilders dislike because it can become a little uncomfortable during performance. However, when properly performed, it is a superb exercise. There are several methods of “correct” performance. The style which you choose depends on what you desire in the way of development.

If you want good latissimus muscles and deltoids then perform it as follows: Assume the bent over position and grasp the bar. Pull bar to chest then hold it high while bringing elbows to sides and shrug shoulders towards hips then slowly lower the bar close to legs all the way. Concentrate on this strongly. Yon will find that this works the Trapezius also. It is the proper way to perform the exercise for best development. If you want power, you of course grasp as large a weight as possible and pull it to the waist or chest fast with power and even a little cheating. Rowing should be done with both wide and narrow grips (hand spacing). The rowing motion will work the entire back more or less when properly performed. It also works the forearms, for you should curl the wrist as you pull the weight up. When you use a narrow grip you also use the biceps some.

Of course, we also have the upright rowing for the lifter and for developing deltoids, trapezius and arms. We are not concerned with this variation in this issue, however.

Many of our readers wish a detailed procedure outlined to follow so we will give it at this time.

The Flat Footed Squat

Your first exercise is the squat. We want you to start out doing 15 reps of this exercise, one set. As you gain in strength and endurance, add more sets up to 4. You will probably find it necessary to reduce the poundage with each set. When adding weight to the bar you will probably find your reps dropping to about 11 or 12. Gradually work back up to 15, however, then add poundage again (usually in 10 lb. jumps). Use all the weight you can for the necessary reps.

For these squats we want you to do them flat-footed, not on a block. This will work the entire leg to better advantage. (Using a block under the heels localizes the effort more on the lower front of thighs.) We want to work the entire leg and buttocks, as well as lower back and somewhat the upper back.

Point the toes well out and keep the feet about 10 inches apart. Keep the head up and the back as flat as possible while you squat. Take a deep breath just before squatting and then hold it until the squat
movement is completed. Go straight down in the squat until your thighs on top are parallel or slightly below parallel, then come back up. Don’t listen to some self-styled expert who tells you to go into a full squat. When you do this you run about a 70 percent chance of hurting your back.

Only a few people can do a full squat with heavy weights without danger of sacroiliac injury. Those who can think everyone should be forced to do it this way. Don’t take a chance. Tense the muscles for a muscular rebound just before you reach bottom and don't allow momentum to carry you to bottom. Jump right back up as fast as you can.

Do the first 5 reps of your squats with one breath for each squat. After the first 5 reps take 3 to 5 deep breaths between each rep. Don't breathe into the abdomen, however. Lift the shoulders up and back and breathe high into the chest, lifting the chest high with each breath. Watch this breathing. It will be hard at first but well worth the effort of learning. Rest about 2 to 5 minutes between sets or only until your breathing begins to return to normal. Don’t sit down between sets but walk slowly around. Remember, these are bodybuilding squats, not power squats, although they will give you great power too. 

The Bench or Supine Press

Now take about a 10-minute rest after your squatting session. If you are doing supine presses on the floor you can roll the weight up over the abdomen and by arching the back you can lift the bar with
abdomen up on the arms supported by elbows on floor. If you are doing bench presses you will either need helpers or else a specially built pair of supports from which to take the weight.

After weight is at arms’ length, take a deep breath and lower the weight fairly fast until it almost touches chest, then drive it back to arms’ length, take another breath or two and repeat. We do not recommend bouncing the weight from the chest, although some fellows do this. Catch the weight with the muscles of the arms, shoulders and chest. Give them the benefit of this rebound training.

Start the program with one set and gradually work up to 4 sets of from 8 to 10 reps. That is, you add 5 pounds to weight of the bar and you will only be able to do 8 reps but work up to 10 reps and then add another 5 pounds, dropping back to 8 reps again. In other words, use the double progressive system in addition to the sets.

We want you to use the narrow grip (about 6 to 8 inches apart) and the medium grip and then the wide grip for different sets of this exercise. This will give you a wide range of action. Learn to fight the weight in both the bench press and the squat. If you don't you will never handle big poundages or develop big muscles and the power to go with them.

Bentover Barbell Rowing

We have already described the correct performance of the rowing exercise but we want you to start with one set of 10 to 14 reps and work up to 4 sets in this exercise. Use light poundages until you get the right form, then add weight to your maximum for CORRECT PERFORMANCE. You should be able to feel quite an ache in the latissimus muscles a short time after doing a set of rowing carefully. Work very hard on this rowing. Most men quit it before they have done enough to benefit because they don’t like it. While resting between exercises, do a set of either the "Rader Chest Pull" or a good set of pullovers. This will stretch your chest and aid in its development. 

Conclusion

 

Follow the suggestions for diet as given in the early part of this article. Get all the rest and sleep you can. Do not indulge in any other exercise or sport. Conserve all the energy possible for your workouts. Most fellows can grow well on three workouts per week, but if you are especially low on energy (as many men are who have to use abbreviated, specialized programs) you may find two workouts per week enough. In extreme cases, do two workout programs but split them up so that you do the squats in the morning and the bench presses and rowing in the afternoon. This will enable you to work very had on each one without becoming exhausted.

 

Now this type of program is primarily for problem cases who have had trouble gaining and for those with low energy reserve. However, many advanced bodybuilders and some of the top weight lifters have found great improvement coming from such abbreviated programs. It is also ideal for the man with but little time who wants the best exercise for maintaining the maximum of fitness, strength and condition in a minimum of time. These exercises can be done one set each in about 10 minutes or
less if you are in a hurry.

 

From these exercises and diet you can expect quite a rapid increase in muscular bodyweight and great improvement in strength.