This article is dedicated to the training philosophy of one of the strongest, natural lifters I have ever had the pleasure of meeting or training with: This article is dedicated to my coach, Dezso Ban.
When it comes to developing power and muscle size, we must realize that there is a big difference between training with the use of artificial aids and training without the use of anabolic steroids.
What I am trying to say is that the man who is not using steroids will of necessity have to train harder and longer in order to achieve the same results, genetics allowing. This is not to say that the steroid user will not have to train especially hard, to the contrary; if the drugs are to do him any good at all, he will have to train very hard indeed. But for the trainee who is not interested in experimenting with the use of the substances, the only road to the top will be one filled with a lot of hard work.
We have begun with this premise for the reason that in his prime, the routines which he outlined for himself and advocated for others will seem quite extensive and voluminous, to say the least.
So in order not to give you the idea that either he or I are exaggerating, I must point out that he was not trying to gain any bodyweight at this time, so a bulk up routine was out of the question and he was NOT using any artificial aids of any kind, hence the amount of work may seem like quite a bit but the results were quite exceptional, to say the least.
Dezso's theory of training to the limits of one's potential lies in the assertion that the body WILL adapt to almost any stress if given enough time to become accustomed to the work load. In other words, if you allow the body sufficient time to adjust to a certain load, you will recover and actually become capable of even MORE work when this adaptability takes place.
The Russians and Bulgarians have known this for years and their lifters make their entire lives revolve around the gym; and while this might be somewhat objectionable to the majority of lifters reading this article, their results speak for themselves.
With this system of training you will be doing many sets of 3 and 5 repetitions with weights quite within the framework of your particular strength level. There is no forcing in this system of training. There is no place for straining under a maximum single repetition -- this is saved for the "peaking out" period when you give your body a chance to show how strong it has become during the preparatory period in which you will be allowing yourself to adapt to heavier and heavier work loads.
It makes no sense to continually try your limits in the gym. This should be both physically and emotionally worked up to over a long period of time so that when the competition season arrives, you are in truly great shape, ready to exert yourself to the fullest in order to register the highest possible total.
For the rest of the year, you should be trying to find ways of increasing your strength levels WITHOUT INCREASING YOUR BODYWEIGHT. Otherwise, your strength and bodyweight ratio may actually go DOWN instead of up, even though you may be handling heavier weights.
What we are trying to do is to get your body used to an increased demand of additional exercise, since the greater the work load the greater the conditioning of the athlete in question.
This is usually done by working with between 80 and 90% maximum for many sets of 3's and 5's. By using 3's and 5's we are assuring that the amount of weight lifted each set will be of some benefit to the lifter and not just a toy to be tossed around.
We do NOT advocate using baby weights and doing a great volume of work: We recommend using medium heavy to heavy weights and STILL doing a large volume of work!
Most of the routines you are reading in the magazines are routines used by guys with years of heavy steroid usage behind them, so they are actually living in a separate world from the rest of you. You CAN'T follow their routines and expect to make the kinds of gains they made, if you are NOT on the same steroid program and if you don't possess the same genetic potential. This is simple truth and sometimes when the truth hurts, only a lie appears beautiful.
This is not to suggest that these men have not trained and sweated blood for whatever gains they have amassed; nothing is further from the truth. However, we must realize that to try and copy a champion's routine without taking into account all that the champion has done and taken internally, in order to get to the point he is at, is asking for failure from the word go. Anabolic steroids will not take a mediocre lifter and make him into a champion unless he has the genetic potential to go that far, has the proper training facilities to train under and sacrifices everything for this sport, in order to reach the top.
At a bodyweight of around 190 pounds, Dezso cleaned and jerked close to 410. He power cleaned and pressed 285 for 5 sets of 3; regularly did shrug pulls from the floor with close to 500 pounds; stiff leg deadlifted 605 for 3 doubles, after a 40 set back workout, and front squatted, Olympic style 455 for 5 reps. He also did back squats, Olympic style, 445 for 5 sets of 5, did hyperextensions with 185 on his shoulders; once shrugged 940 pounds for a triple (I witnessed this myself); snatch grip shrugged 775 for sets and repetitions between 5 and 10, and also he power cleaned with thumbless grip and NO KNEE DIP WHATSOEVER, 335!
Dezso believes in training six days per week:
Three squat days
Three pull days, and
Presses are done every day.
The total number of sets of leg work goes to around 30 sets per workout, along with close to 20 sets of pressing. This is done three days per week.
On alternate days he would do close to 40 sets of pulls along with an additional 20 sets of pressing movements.
We should also include the assistance work such as Roman chair for the abdominals and hyperextensions for the lower back. These were also done three times per week.
The secret to this kind of training is not to rush into these methodologies too fast, but only to increase the sets when you are no longer responding to the particular work load you are presently handling.
It makes it MUCH easier if you are also trying to gain bodyweight while on such a training routine, because with the additional bodyweight your power and size should respond very quickly with such a work load. However, he was NOT interest in appearance or bodyweight during this time. He was interested solely in increasing his functional strength.
Doubles and singles have no place in such a routine, for the key to progress in this type of training is not how much you can force out for a single, but how much weight you can perform for sets and repetitions.
It is very close to bodybuilding, except the weights are kept fairly heavy, the sets are very high and the repetitions will not go over 5.
Also, the lifting movements themselves are not primarily chosen for their ability to beautify the physique. Yet the overall effect is the look of a David Rigert or Serge Reding (depending upon your natural body type).
What makes the training theory so appealing to me is that the sole consideration you need to be worried about is if you have enough time to put into your workouts in order to continue to progress as fast and as far as you can.
In Dezso's opinion, "You must pay the price. You can't get it for nothing.
I can't give it to you!"
Here then, is a brief explanation of Dezso's training routine:
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
Legs and Shoulders
- Back Squat
- Front Squat
- Lunges
On all of these do 8-10 sets of 5 repetitions, 5 x 5 with the heaviest weight.
- Standing Press
10 sets of 3's and 5's working into heavy weight.
- Bench Press
8 sets of 5 working into heavy weight.
- Roman Chair Work
6 sets of 5's working into heavy weight.
Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday
Pulls and Shoulders
- Power Clean
- High Pull
- Stiff Legged Deadlift
On all of these do 10 sets of 3's and 5's.
These movements were not done continually in the listed manner given above, yet during the course of the workout, the entire scope of the work load remained somewhat the same.
Also, on these days he used assorted pressing movements for 20 sets once again, to work his shoulder muscles.
He actually thinks overtraining is in the mind, and as long as your diet is good and your mental attitude is one of ACCEPTANCE to the necessity of the stress, then your body can adapt to just about ANYTHING!!!
The secret to this kind of training is not to rush the work load too fast, but to take your time and adjust yourself to the work load during a certain period of training time and continue to increase the work load as time goes by.
Finally, we should also consider training injuries and how this system allows you to work around them. Let us suppose that for one reason or another, whenever you incorporate heavy singles in your training, your thigh becomes injured. So how to you increase your squatting power without using heavy singles or doubles? How do you maintain or increase leg size without using these heavy attempts?
The answer is many sets of medium repetitions, which will neither overwork the muscles nor the joints but will, WHEN TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT TOTALLY, work the muscles both adequately and sufficiently without undue physical trauma or recurring pain.
Let us say you can squat 400 for one. Let us also assume that you can get 350 for 5. Now suppose you NEVER go above 350 but systematically work at getting more and more work done with this weight until you're getting 3 x 5 reps with 350 and then 2-3 sets of 3's with this same weight. Perhaps a few months go by and now you're able to get 350 for FIVE or SIX sets of THREES . . . Do you think you are any stronger than when you started? You surely arre!!! And if you decided to peak out for a few weeks to see how much you could squat for a single, I am sure that you would go far above the 400 for one with which you started this program. And what did it cost you??? Only the willingness to do the increased work load and the additional training time.
Why do you think the Bulgarians are training twice per day? Because they have nothing better to do? No. It's because they know that a better conditioned athlete is a stronger athlete. Period.
And they also know it doesn't come for free. You have to pay the price somewhere. Their lifters are willing to pay the price.
Stop reading the routines in the magazines nd thinking this is the way the guy trains all year long. For the most part, the routines you are reading are the pre-contest routines that the lifter uses right before a contest and this necessitates that the routine is heavy but rather short, since at this time recuperation is most important.
With Dezso's style of training you are working ALL the necessary muscle groups quite adequately and thoroughly, while at the same time, you are saving nervous energy.
This type of training should not drain you mentally. For the most part, it is easy on you mentally, since you know just about where you are, poundage-wise, in advance. You will not be going through the trauma of failure with single attempts because there are no singles in this type of training, at least not for the majority of the months of the training year. Also, there is very little chance of injury since the weights used for the majority of the work should be well within your limits.
The main thing to remember when trying to work this way, is to pick a weight you can handle for sufficient volume and are able to perform sets and repetitions with, IN CORRECT FORM.
For someone who is interested in embracing this type of training I would advise you to pick 3 movements for the thighs, 3 movements for the back, and 2 movements for the shoulders.
Work your shoulders six days per week, two movements per day, 10 sets of each [see above for "10 sets" explanation].
The same is done with the pulls. Make the first 3 sets progressively heavier for warmup, then jump to a weight you can get from 3 to 5 repetitions with and perform 5 to 7 sets with this weight.
When these 7 sets can be done for 5 reps each, it is time to add 10 or 20 pounds to the bar and begin once again.
Stay with this workload until one or two things happen: either you can get 7 sets of 5 with a weight, but CAN'T seem to increase the bar in order to begin the routine once again with heavier weight; OR you simply are NOT responding physically (muscle size or density increase) to the work load, though your body IS recuperating. When this happens, here's what you should do:
Go to two squatting movements and two pulling movements done three times per week and one pressing movement done six days per week, for 10 sets of 3 to 5 repetitions per exercise, OR keep the original number of movements per exercise and body area but lower the number of sets per movement from 10 to seven.
Yes, I know. This sounds like a lot of hard work. Well, it is. And if you STILL wish to somewhat emulate the men you are reading about, then you will HAVE to work like two men in order to go to the limits of your natural potential, and this will take up MUCH of your training time AND physical and mental energy.
I AM NOT going to tell you a fairy tale about 5 sets of this and 3 sets of that, and have you think it takes two hours per day three days per week to look like and lift like a Bulgarian or Russian lifter.
You are going to have to almost LIVE in the gym.
And even then, you will go no further than genetics allows you to.
And when you come to this particular point, you will be faced with a basic dilemma, which most advanced trainees face at one time or another in their careers: "I have no more spare time to give to my training, so without increasing the work load how do I continue to gain?"
The answer is: You don't! You have reached your feasible peak, all things taken into consideration, and you've gone as far as you're going to.
But you'll NEVER even get to this point if you don't gradually increase your work load, as time goes by.
So there you have it. I know it isn't pretty to think about or look at objectively, but it is the simple truth, and I would rather tell you an unpleasant truth than to lie to you and have you disillusioned as to there being secrets about all this tht no one ever told you.
You know now what you have to do to go as far as you can genetically, without using any drugs.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
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