Ken Waller, YMCA Mr. America…His Story & Training

By Franklin Page

Iron Man June-July 1968

 

In writing about a new physique star with enthusiasm it is always a temptation to lay on the superlatives heavily; great, sensational, the lot. I am faced with that temptation now but I cannot help but feel the superlatives here would not be misplaced.

A new physique marvel has recently entered AAU competition who gives every indication of forging a new and higher development standard than we have yet seen. He is Ken Waller, recent winner of the National YMCA physique title in Chicago. This is the second contest he has ever entered; the first was the Mr. Kentucky contest in 1966 which he also won. Between these two appearances Ken had neither competed nor even seen a contest, so it is evident he is just beginning his climb. But what a beginning! In spite of his inexperience and resultant poor posing, and the fact that he has not yet reached his full development, the impact that Ken made in Chicago was tremendous. He has, in my opinion, every qualification to become perhaps our most spectacular muscle man. Let’s take a look at these qualifications in their formative stages and meet a man who will certainly be one of our greatest strength athletes.

To begin with, Ken is a very big man. He is 6 feet tall and weighs, at the moment, a rather light 218. His size begins with a very large bone structure, evidenced by wrists a bit over 8 ½ inches and substantially proportioned hands and feet. On this base he has remarkable depth and density of muscle, which although he has already achieved great muscle size, will soon give him a physique of unsurpassed quality. At the moment one cannot say his physique is yet perfected or fully developed in every detail, but I can say he is one of the most muscular men I ever saw. What will he be like a year from now? Today every muscle is clearly defined, in spite of their size, with each fiber and striation completely revealed. Ken has very fair skin, thin and translucent, so that it lies very lightly over the muscles and tendons. It is almost as though every muscle is laid bare and this body characteristic alone is sufficient to make his display dazzling. Imagine this coupled with his tremendous size and obvious strength and you have the picture of a really extraordinary athlete.

Ken has trained with weights for 6 years. He began with the intention of gaining weight and speed for college football. It is only in the past year that he has trained for bodybuilding. I first saw him at the 1966 Kentucky contest, when he was good but had nothing in any way comparable to his present development. All this has come within the past few months of concentrated effort. During the past Christmas vacation Ken went to California and sought advice from Zabo Koszewski, picking up points on training and diet. This seemed to turn the trick and get him really started along the road that it was obvious, even in 1966, that he should take. Now the dedication and drive are firmly rooted and growing.

Ken is a graduate of Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green. It was his ambition to make all-conference in football, accomplished as a Junior. He was also team captain. In the college days Ken worked out an average of 3 days a week for 1 ½ hours, doing nothing bug strength exercises: presses, squats, cheat curls, bench presses. During this time he developed tremendous strength which is now paying off in the rigorous training he now follows, enabling him to handle heavy poundages, to push his muscles hard. For example, on the day we took the training shots Ken put 235 lbs. on the bar on the floor. He cleaned and pressed it easily, then slowly lowered it behind his neck for the squat, all with no apparent effort.

At present Ken is training 5 times a week for 3 hours each session. His split schedule is as follows:

Schedule I

Bench Press, 8 sets, heavy, as many reps as possible.

Super set for chest: DB inclines, DB flies, DB pullovers

Roman chair sit-ups, 500 reps

Front chins, 5 sets, 10 reps

Back chins, 5 sets, 10 reps

·        Super set for arms: No. 1, triceps press-down, lat machine; concentration curl, reverse curl, DR triceps extension

·        Super set for arms: No. 2 – Seated DB curl, French curl, Reverse curl, E-Z bar, Decline French curl.

·        Both the above super sets, 2 sets of each, 10 reps

Schedule II

Seated press behind neck, 4 sets, 8 reps

Super set for shoulders: DB press, 4 sets. Upright rows, 4 sets

Super set for back: Hyperextensions, 4 sets. Bent over rows 4 sets

3/4 squat, heavy, 5 sets

Super set for legs: ½ squat, heavy, 5 sets. Good morning exercise, 4 sets. Calf raises, 4 sets.

Roman chair sit-ups, 500 reps

Go through 1 set of each arm exercises.

 

In his diet Ken relies mainly on meat, fish, eggs and salad. He drinks milk in the form of milk shakes. He eats a substantial breakfast and includes in it whatever he wants, even occasionally wheat cakes. He is sparing with food supplements, using only Vitamin B12, calcium and wheat germ. Like all bodybuilders he gets a minimum of 8 hours of sleep each night.

In the National YMCA contest Ken won the overall title, plus most muscular, best arms and best abdominals. The strenuous concentration on arms in his recent workouts has clearly paid off in a hurry, but the abs have had concentrated treatment only for the past month or so.

Ken is now 25 years old. He has an 18 inch neck, 50 inch chest, 33 inch waist, 19 ½ inch arms, 26 ½ inch thighs, 17 ½ inch calves. With those 8 ½ inch wrists and wide hips (42 inches) it is evident that his muscle size will increase markedly as his training steps up.

Physically, Ken’s outstanding characteristic is a tremendous massing of muscle in every body part. Especially notable are his great arms, tying in to the most massive deltoids I have ever seen on any man. The muscles of his neck, traps, and entire back separate into furrows and mounds of tremendous depths and rounded formations. He is now doing hyperextensions (a relatively recent addition to his schedule) to further emphasize the lower reaches of the erectus muscles, but already there is a thick development of these muscles all the way down to their insertion at the hip. They need to be brought out still more, however, to match the development of his upper back. His arms are spectacular – no other word for it -  with true baseball biceps and fully defined and massive triceps. The forearms are very good but need a bit more work to balance the gigantic upper arms. As in every other part of his body, each muscle is fully separated from its insertions out into the body of the muscle. His further training will greatly enlarge his chest and pecs and continue molding his already remarkable midsection. For a big man, his abs are outstanding but there will soon be deeper separation and form in that area. In time his legs will improve their already fine shape and muscularity, necessary only because of the great size of his upper body. Predictions of significant future gains in every area are safe because Ken’s body is quickly responsive to every effort he expends.

Well-educated, immaculate in appearance, courteous and soft-spoken, Ken is an outstanding man. He is a science teacher in a suburban Louisville high school and is quite serious in his attitude. Everything points to a very bright future for Ken Waller as one of the most powerful and best developed young men we have had the good fortune to have in many years.