The Tight Tan Slacks of Dezso Ban

Part One:

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2026/07/from-neck-to-calves-part-one-bill-pearl.html

Part Three:

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2018/02/training-instinctive-way-bill-pearl-1977.html

Some experts use looser terminology than I when it comes to defining the qualifications and makeup of the typical intermediate bodybuilder. Usually a perfunctory training period (somewhere in the neighborhood of six months) is classified as the novice stage in the judgement of some savants.

I'm stricter about this particular clause, because the time factor is not that important. It takes a while for things to happen with a trainee's mental attitude. Along with his body, the mind has to develop to where it is in tune to the mechanics of a totally weight-trained temperament. It could take from six months on up before he really graduates from the novice bracket. It all depends on the individual.

Additional qualifications would include steady workouts of perhaps and hour and a half to two hours in duration, quality workouts, to be sure! This person must also be interested in making muscular growth rather than merely exercising for pure physical fitness. Another important facet in this person's intentions is that of food. He has to possess some knowledge of foods and is consciously trying to enhance his progressive gains by stoking the right fuel into his own furnace.

Functioning on the intermediate plane virtually requires the pupil to know just about every exercise in the book. He should realize which exercises his body does or does not respond to, even though he may not grasp the technical reasons why certain things work. He must be in a position to think for himself and design his own workout programs. Naturally, things will go wrong with some of these do it yourself courses, but then, that's where a guy like me comes in . . . a competent instructor is worth the price of admission at the local gym emporium.

It's the job of the instructor to get involved enough with pupils so it becomes possible to easily spot whatever training problems any particular student is experiencing. Immediate action has to be taken to rectify these problems, because they can end up like accumulating bills . . . if you don't take care of them when they're a singular problem, it gets virtually impossible to find a solution for a whole passel of them. Getting with a man and working out any momentary difficulties keeps his chances alive at making more advances in his training and gives him hope of one day owning a fault-free physique.

Training Frequency - Sets & Reps

Intermediate bodybuilders are ready for an explosive workout expanding technique: the Split Routine. At this juncture, either a four of five day split routine can be employed. It would depend on how much time the individual has, how strong-willed he is, and how well hid body responds to hectic training before it can be decided which plan to use.

In any case, the sequence is about the same. On a four day schedule, the upper body is worked two days, and the legs and arms on two opposing days.

A five day program has 3 days of upper body and 2 days of lower body for one week. The the sequence is upended with the lower body getting 3 days of work and the upper two.

I'd split the muscle groups like this: Chest, Shoulders and Back comprise the upper body grouping. Triceps, Biceps and Thighs are the other unit. Abdominals are to be worked every training day. Usually, calves are a weak point and this means they should be worked every day. If the calves are up to par to start with, work them only on the leg days.

I think it is important that guys at this stage of training shouldn't over-train. 9 sets of exercises for each muscle group is a good balance between not over-training, but there's still enough jolting power in 9 sets to insure fantastic gains.

The 9 sets are divided into 3 separate exercises. For most of the exercises, I prefer a minimum of 8 reps and a maximum of 10. My reasons for imposing those limits are: By doing less than 8, the muscle fibers aren't sufficiently stimulated to promote meaningful muscular gains, although lower repetitions greatly increase strength. On the other hand, if more than 10 reps are done, probably there isn't enough weight on the bar to overload the muscles with any worthwhile stimulus.

Putting together the set and rep guidelines with rest periods of about 45-60 seconds duration should allow you to do about 30 sets per hour. I like to see my students training hard and fast. That amount of sets is a very realistic goal for students at this level to shoot for.

Naturally, a variable factor could exist if heavy lifting or squatting is in the program. It'd be only natural under those circumstances to take longer rests. However, I don't believe in overly long rests . . . the muscles cool down and there's the probability an invigorating pump will deflate.

Here's a closing thought on the sets and reps situation. It has to do with the weight used in each exercise. It should be heavy enough for the trainee to have some difficulty in pounding out the 7th or 8th repetition in each set, but not to a degree where he's at his ultimate limit. Something should be left in hand so that he isn't training to failure. I don't subscribe to that philosophy in any way!

Exercising Methodology

Some of you might question my theory of 9 sets per muscle group here, and I'll admit it doesn't sound like one helluva lot of work . . . especially when the muscle-grapevine always has prevalent rumors that "so-and-so" is knocking out 30-40 sets per bodypart. Don't let this intimidate you! 9 sets are extremely effective when they are designed around exercises that totally blast every ounce of muscle tissue in a given area. What's the difference if you can thoroughly work a particular muscle to its limit with 9 sets instead of 20?

To do this correctly, you first have to understand the structure of the muscle itself. In most cases, each bodypart or muscle group has different segments, or different heads, or different phases, or they're omnidirectional in composition and have to be worked from all angles.

A simplification of this would be to point out that the pectoral muscles can be broken down into three portions: upper, lower, and outer segments. It is impossible for one exercise to work the entire pectoral muscle completely. But you could work it very thoroughly with three separate exercises, like incline flyes, flat bench flyes, and decline flyes.

At the intermediate stage, a guy should be conversant with how everything in the human body's muscular system operates. The information has to be deciphered to where it is applicable to his own strengths and weaknesses. Then it becomes much easier to select the three exercises best suited for producing results in a given muscle group.

On the subject of muscle groups, we mustn't ever forget the importance of the abdominals. They could very well be the most important of all the body's muscle groups. And I think the midsection should be thought of in a broader perspective, to that of being the entire hip-girdle area. Again, there are many parts to it.

There's upper and lower abs; intercostals and obliques; the serratus and so forth. Even the lumbars of the lower back are related to this area. That's why carving out deep-set, brick-sized abs takes more than one exercise. Perhaps a series of four exercises would be more appropriate. Each workout day must start with this series of ab exercises. They're to be done not only for the benefit of the muscles involved, but abdominal exercises are excellent warmup movements for the entire body. I think they lessen the chance of injuring or pulling muscles in other areas because circulation is accelerated throughout the body by midsection work.

A WORKOUT PROGRAM

Waistline

Start out with 25 repetitions, but add reps in each workout until you reach a maximum of 100 reps.

Good mornings, 25 reps

Side bends, 25-a-side

Bent-knee situps, 25

Alternate leg raises, 25

Do not exceed one set of 100 reps for each abdominal exercise. A total of 4 sets is more than enough for the duration of this particular program.

Upper Body Day

Chest:

Incline flyes, 3 x 8-10

Flat bench flyes, 3 x 8-10

Shoulders:

Standing laterals, 3 x 8-10

Standing dumbbell press, 3 x g-zz

Bentover laterals, same sets and g-zz's

Back:

Wide grip chins, 3 x 10-12

Lat pulldowns, 3 x 10-12

Bent-arm pullovers, 3 x 10-12

Lower Body Day

Start off with the abdominal routine as a warmup, the same as it was done on the upper body day, then go to the triceps exercises.

Triceps:

Triceps press-down, 3 x 8-10

Triceps extensions, same sets and reps

Biceps:

Incline DB curl, 3 x 8-10

Standing BB curl, 3 x 8-10

DB concentration curl, 3 x 8-10

Thighs:

Leg extension, 3 x 10-12

Squats, or hack squats, 3 x 10-12

Leg curls, 3 x 10-12

Calves:

Calf raise, 3 x 12-15

Other Things to Do

At the tail end of each workout why not throw in a little extra effort and do 5-6 sets of forearm or neck. Maybe one, or both areas need some attention. Only concentrate on one or the other for any five or six week period.

That reminds me . . . the routine I've listed should only be used for five or six weeks. After that, it must be changed. Doing this will eliminate the boredom or sticking point factors.

And when I say change - I mean CHANGE! A new exercise must be substituted for each exercise listed. I don't care if you're particularly fond of one of the movements listed, it has to be changed too. No exercise exists that cannot be eliminated in favor of another capable of accomplishing the same job.

Jawing Over Foods

An intermediate interested in substantial gains and continued training progress should eat as many simple foods as possible. He should stay away from the processed garbage foods but not the tasty processed awesome foods.

He should eat some raw fruit and raw vegetables every day. His protein intake must be in the neighborhood of on gram or more of protein for each two pounds of bodyweight.

Enjoy Your Lifting!