All readers interested in a personal reply to their questions should remember to enclose a stamped and addressed reply envelope or 10 cents in coin to help the cost of answering.
This was prior to what I call the "Golden Calf" era of bodybuilding . . . Arnold and all the, well, fill in that by yourself as you currently see fit. Okay . . .
May I express appreciation to those who have written to thank me for advice I have given them. To personally answer all letters would take a good working day, so I would like to ask readers to accept this medium of thanking them.
In writing a letter requesting me to help you with your problem, the following points should be noted:
1) It is useless to just ask how one can obtain a good build without supplying all possible data concerning the individual's physique, type of physique, height, weight, wrist measurement, shoulder breadth, type of exercise previously engaged in, occupation, hours of work, amount of sleep, diet.
2) It is useless to ask advice, and after obtaining it not follow it through.
3) It is useless to ask for advice and when you have obtained it, to add other exercises, cut exercises out of the schedule given you or otherwise make changes and expect to make gains. [this was prior to the "z" being used in the word gains]
4) It is not logical to obtain advice and then indulge in other extra physical activities and expect to make gains in strength and development.
When you ask for help with your problems, give that advice a fair trial. Follow directions. Get plenty of good food. Get at least eight hours of sleep each night. Keep tranquil in mind and banish all worry with only minimal use of alcohol and/or drugs. Do not start switching your schedule around. The men who run the various body building columns in the weight magazines are men of experience but they are not psychic and can not be expected to supply information on physical conditions of which they have no knowledge.
Take the advice they give and let it have a fair trial, not two, three or four weeks, but as many months before you pass judgement upon it. Success is only obtained in this game by hard work. There is no easy path to physical excellence.
Q: Will you please tell me how a specialization program should be followed. I have often seen it explained like this - 6 or 8 exercises performed in series (sets) of 3 with about 8 or 10 reps 3 times a week. Nothing is said if we should use the same weight each workout period. I think Iron Man is swell and only wish it was published every month.
A: I certainly agree with you about the magazine. It is a fine little magazine and Peary Rader deserves every bit of success.
To answer your question. Exercise is simply a matter of common sense. It is ninety percent perspiration and ten percent intelligent observation. It is simply a matter of finding the exercises, number of reps and regularly increased weight of exercise poundages and then sticking to them, and you cannot fail.
The limit of your development and strength is determined by many things - by your enthusiasm, personal habits, and physical potentials.
In following a specialization program, take a poundage that one can easily perform 10 repetitions and work up to 12 or 15 reps with this poundage. For arm and upper body development, 15 reps will be found sufficient, but with the legs 15 to 20 reps are best.
Work up to 3 or 4 sets of 10 reps, 3 sets of 12 reps, and then 2 or 3 sets of 15 reps. As soon as you reach this 3 sets of 15 reps INCREASE YOUR EXERCISE POUNDAGE BUT DO NOT INCREASE IT MORE THAN 2-1/2 POUNDS, that is a 1-1/4 pound disc each end.
Then start again with 10 reps on the increased poundage. Follow this even with the squats. DO NOT INCREASE THE EXERCISING POUNDAGE BY MORE THAN 2-1/2 POUNDS at a time.
You will find the increased poundage so light that it will seem as easy as the previous weight and thus you are practically assured of steady advancement in strength and development.
Five exercises are plenty to use in a weight-gaining schedule. Any of the following are very good: prone press or press on box, two-hands curl or alternate curl with dumbbells, upright rowing motion or bent forward rowing motion, squat, bent-arm pullover or flying exercise with dumbbells.
GET PLENTY OF SLEEP and you are bound to succeed.
Q: Could you help me with my barbell and dumbbell training and map out a course for me on the same lines as the schedule used by Steve Reeves? I am thirty years of age and have done a lot of barbell and dumbbell work and want your advice on advanced training so that I may obtain the same physique as Steve.
A: You are certainly ambitious in your desire to "obtain the same physique Steve has." I would be dishonest if I told you that this was possible.
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO OBTAIN THE SAME PHYSIQUE AS STEVE REEVES. But it is possible for you to obtain a very excellent physique that may or may not stand comparison with Reeves. You are thirty, Reeves is twenty-one and will be a vastly different Steeve Reeves when he is your age than he is now.
Reeves is an outstanding example of physical development. His photos simply do not do him justice and unless you have seen him in the flesh, you can have no idea of how terrifically he is developed. The man is amazing and has everything - good looks, good teeth, hair, skin, and a build that is out of this world.
On a side note, here's a photo of Giovanni Cianfriglia in his later years.
He was Reeves' body double in a lot of movies.
My friend, I think you would be wiser to take honest inventory of your good and bad points and do all you can to better your bad points and improve your good ones.
A writeup on Reeves and his training appeared in Volume 7 Number 5 of Iron Man magazine. It would be best for you to use these schedules as they appear in the magazine, with this exception - the present-day diet in England [still rationing after WWII up till 1954] is against your following them in their entirety, so cut down on the heavy leg work and on the sets of reps.
I am of the opinion that the magnificent Reeves' latissimus development and the equally impressive triceps development was obtained with lots of pulley work.
I would suggest you use the inclined press on box, two-hand curl, triceps curl (or French presses), side presses, and deep knee bends.
Use the group system [a.k.a. "set" system] - that is 3 consecutive sets with each exercise. Again, if it is at all possible for you to rig up some pulley arrangement, then by all means do so, and use this for your lats and triceps.
Q: I do my exercises in sets. Would appreciate it very much if you would tell me (1) what is the best total number of movements to do in a given exercise period. (2) What effect do high reps and few sets have as opposed to few reps and more sets.
A: I assume from your first question that you refer to the number of exercises to perform in a schedule. It depends on two factors - the individual, and the results desired.
The most important factor is of course the individual himself. He alone obtains the objective. He can be given advice, can be corrected, can have his schedule adjusted, but it depends on himself if he is successful.
Secondly, his objective. Does he want to gain weight or lose weight. It has been found that an abbreviated schedule with at least 3 sets of each exercise produces the fastest weight-gaining results. The exerciser wishing to reduce must follow a much wider variety of exercises, a more all-round program than the weight-gaining schedule of press, curl, and squat, as successfully used by Joe Hise and others. For a weight-reducing program, all types of abdominal work, plus the various presses, squats with light poundage and not more than bodyweight, using AT LEAST 20 reps, and light stiff-legged deadlifts will help in getting rid of superfluous poundage. Most important part of a reducing schedule will be the sit-ups, leg raises, side bends, side presses, and one-arm snatches.
The effect of various combinations of sets and reps have been studied very thoroughly and it is generally agreed that few reps and more sets are best suited to strength and competition lifting - to men training for Olympic lifting.
An illustration of this is the method John Davis used to bring up the press. He would take a poundage well below his best and perform 10 or 12 sets of 2 reps with the weight.
Others, notably the Egyptians, have used 3 x 3 reps, 3 x 2, and 3 singles finishing up with a weight 10 pounds below their best.
The higher reps-fewer sets are used by those bringing up their muscular development to its highest peak. Clancy Ross and Al Stephan are notable examples of this system. The usual combination is 4-5 sets of 10-12 reps. Kimon Voyages has used as much as 10 sets, and usually 7 sets of the various exercises.
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