Spinal Erector Development - Peary Rader (1946)

This is a rather long article from Peary Rader. Before getting started, I wanted to share the only photo I've seen of him spotting at a power meet. "Click to Enlarge and no cheap-shot pun intended. 

Go Peary! 

The article begins . . . 

We feel that no barbell man should ever neglect the full development of the important muscles commonly known as the spinal erectors. They are important both from the standpoint of bodily beauty and of strength and vigor. We present herewith the most effective means of developing these muscles to their maximum of size, strength and beauty. 

Calling the muscles that erect the spine by the name of spinal erectors gives them a rather broad term. If you will look at the drawing of these muscles, you can see that they are not just two big masses of muscles up and down each side of the spine as is commonly thought. 

Note: The Lumber Interspinales muscles, quite small muscles that aid in maintaining an erect spine are of interest to lifters. There are four pairs, in intervals between the five lumbar vertebrae. They prevent rounding of the low back and when you suddenly round, when the flat low back rounds abruptly under a heavy load, they may be the ones occasionally giving you a week or so of grief in going from round to flat or flat to round. 

As you can see they are rather a complex set of many muscles. Strictly speaking  we would generally think of the erector muscles as being those seen just above the sacrum in the lower back. However, this muscle has many prolongations, all of them working together to move the spine in various directions. 

These are very important muscles, both to the bodybuilder and the lifter or for that matter to any man who wants to really be a man for it is said that the full development of these muscles contributes much to the vigor and virility of a manly man. They fill the hollow trough on both sides of the spine and are the muscles in closest relationship to this vital nerve area. The full development of these muscles is of utmost importance to the lifter for they probably have more to do with his success or failure in the quick lifts than any other single group of muscles. Without their stiffening influence on the spine the trunk would collapse upon itself when lifting a heavy weight. They likewise aid in the important second pull by arching the spine back in a snatch or a clean. There is hardly a lift performed in which they are not used in some way. Lack of full development of these muscles on bodybuilders will detract a great deal from their physique. The back will have a flat and uninteresting appearance. 

Thus you can see that the muscles under discussion  are of utmost importance. 

We'd like to give a full anatomical discussion of these muscles but as they are quite complicated in their origins and insertions and their various actions, it would probably prove very tiring to most of our readers. If you care to go into greater detail we urge you to obtain a Grey's or Cunningham's Anatomy for an accurate and enlightening study of these and other muscles. 

https://archive.org/details/cunninghamstextb00cunn/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/grays-anatomy-for-students.-4th-ed/Gray%27s%20Atlas%20of%20Anatomy/  

We do, however, want you to study the drawing given with this article as by so doing, you can obtain a good general idea of the placement and probable actions of the muscles under discussion. You will note that the largest mass of muscles is in the lower back from the sacrum on up to the lower ribs. Also note that the different muscles are attached in various ways to the vertebrae of the spine and the ribs. This muscle and its prolongations as they are called, range from the sacrum on up to the base of the skull. 

You can thus see that they have a unique control of the spinal movements over all this area. They move the spine backwards as in arching the back and they likewise movie it from side to side and also in twisting movements from the hips to the head. Because of their attachments these muscles may be moved or used independently of each other. At least one muscle control artist has been able to attain mental control over the various parts of this muscle so that he can contract them at will and can start at the hips and cause them to contract separately on up the spine to the neck thus creating the most unbelievable effect. This man is one you have all heard of -- Alan Mead of England. 

Note: There's an article in the July 1932 issue of "Klein's Bell" titled "Dancing the Spinal Muscles" that describes this well. Unfortunately there is no film footage of this. Alan Mead is on the cover. The photo below, I am quite certain, doesn't really do justice to his performance, the rippling movement and complete control of it. 

It has long been the contention of bodybuilders and teachers that the best manner to develop the spinal erectors was with the dead lift -- most notably the straight legged dead lift (often erroneously called the stiff legged dead lift). We will admit the great value of this exercise but on the other hand there are many super erector exercises that have been given little thought. 

The author found that he made his best dead lift not after he had trained on the dead lift for some time, but after he had trained on the bent press for some time. Art Gilroy, who used to hold the bent press record, also held the dead lift record though he never practiced it. Harold Ansorge, who holds the bent press record, has also dead lifted 680 pounds.   

It has often been taught that the latissimus dorsi muscles were used most strenuously in the bent press but I maintain they are used very little as far as actual contraction of their mass is concerned, but that the spinal erectors and used very strenuously in erection and straightening the spine under great load. 

If you will look . . . hang on . . . look here first: 

Whoa Daddy! Goin' low in 1933. 

What's sometimes called "floor in the back pocket" depth. 

Now then, if you will look at the lower part of the erector muscles in the drawing you will note that part of it runs out and has its attachments or insertions on the ribs a considerable distance from the spine. Thus they exert a considerable force in pulling the spine to the side, as in rising from the bent press position. 

It has been long been my belief that the majority of the exercises such as the dead lift, etc., leave much to be desired as an ideal erector exercise. Here is the reason. In the straight legged dead lift you can certainly obtain full extension of the erector muscles IF YOU HUMP YOUR BACK TO ITS LIMIT RATHER THAN TRY TO DO ALL THE BENDING AT THE HIPS. However, it is impossible to obtain full contraction of these muscle UNDER MAXIMUM STRAIN. Here is the reason. As you reach the erect position the weight of the bar is taken by the bones of the vertebrae or spine and the erector muscles are only half contracted. In other words you haven't been able to contract the most effective half of their range of action against the resistance in your hands. The last half of the movement in which you arch the back is just a muscle control movement with no resistance to speak of against the muscles. 

Before we go any farther we had better explain that the spinal erector muscles have nothing to do with bending at the hips. THEIR ACTION IS TO FLEX OR BEND THE SPINE ITSELF AS IN ARCING IT AND BENDING TO THE SIDE. This is a mistake too many, in fact most bodybuilders and trainers make. Remember this in our further discussion of the actions of these muscles and the exercises affecting them. 

    

Since we usually list sports and exercises that affect the muscles in question we will do so at this time also. Of course weight lifting as a sport gives the greatest developmental exercise to the erectors. However, we may find that balancing is also very effective especially in hand-to-hand work. Tumbling is also very good as is wrestling. Boxing has very little effect on the erectors. Many track and field events give some development to the muscles . . . this goes on for a while longer, but I'll leave it out and get to the lifting . . . 

These muscles can generally stand a great deal of exercise. However, you will be wise to exercise a certain amount of care in the amount and nature of the work you give them in the beginning as it is easy enough to cause yourself some trouble by slight injury to the delicate relationships of the various spinal vertebrae to each other as well as to the sacroiliac articulation. 

Each man must determine for himself the exercises that prove most beneficial in his own case without causing him trouble. 

As you will have noted by the above discussion we believe that the bent press is a very good exercise for developing these muscles -- however, it is limited in its action. A still more effective exercise is the two arm snatch. Both of these movements when performed with a strong second pull cause the erector muscles to contract to their limit under the strain of lifting the weight as you give the second pull by a vigorous arching of the back. By performing these lifting movements FROM THE DEAD HANG style in repetitions you make it a very vigorous erector exercise. This will affect the erectors up to the shoulders. 

From the shoulders up or shall we say the neck, we believe that the wrestler's bridge is very effective if performed correctly without cheating. We also find that head lifting (lifting weights from floor with the head strap) is very good exercise not only for the neck but for the entire length of the spinal erectors. Teeth lifting has the same effect. The standard head strap in bent over position is probably the best neck exercise, however, as it gives a complete range of movement with a fairly even resistance throughout. 

One of the most effective exercises for the erectors that I've found is the continental to shoulders. In this exercise you can use a very heavy weight -- it almost reaches dead lift proportions -- and it can be used to affect the erector muscles over a wide range. The latter part of the movement where the bell is brought from the waist to the shoulders corresponds to the second pull in the snatch and clean and works the muscles against heavy resistance in the latter stages of their contraction. I prefer that a pupil perform this exercise in the dead hang style for most benefit. 

You will wonder if I'm ever going to give the old favorites -- the dead lifts. Before I give you the standard styles I'd like to give a little invention of my own (I presume others have discovered it also but I've never heard of it before). This is sort of a modified dead lift. I take the bar in my hands in regular dead lift style and stand with bell at about knee height and bent over about half way. I allow my back to hump up as much as possible without changing my general position and I arch the back to the limit. Thus I have performed a complete spinal erector movement over the entire range of movement with the same weight resistance throughout the entire movement. This exercise will take a lot of practice and concentration before you perfect it enough to make it really effective but it is worth the effort. Remember to stand erect when you arch the back but keep the same position of being bent over at the hips. 

Now, the best of the dead lifts is probably the straight legged dead lift. It is a good erector exercise except as before stated it only works the erectors over half their range of movement. It, like a lot of other so called erector exercises, is a very good gluteus maximus or buttock exercise in that most of the movement takes place in the hip region. The standard flat backed dead lift is in the same category. It is a good erector exercise, but you have to do a lot of it to be effective because the range of action on the erectors is less than half that of the straight legged deadlift. 

In performing the straight legged deadlift many have found it to their advantage to perform it on a box or bench in order to allow them to bend over farther. Likewise others have found it to their advantage to use a dead lift hopper in order to prevent injury to their spine from using heavy weights in this exercise. We have discussed this hopper in detail in other issues of Iron Man (some can be found on this blog) and will not do so here at this time. 

One of the VERY BEST spinal erector exercises known, but little used is the one or two arm swing. This can be performed with either a kettle bell and alternate hands or one or two dumbbells. You should work up to heavy weights  in this exercise and allow the weight to swing back then swing the weight as high as possible with all the back arch you can obtain. A session or two of this exercise will make your back plenty sore the next day. Don't neglect this valuable exercise. 

Another one of the best exercises is the one hand dead lift with a round back. Place bar in front of you or between your legs as you prefer and lift it high and arch the back and lean slightly to one side away from the weight. Then when you go down allow the back to hump up. Some fellows will not have the necessary gripping powers to use sufficient weight for effective use of this exercise but most of you can gain benefit from it if you will use a small bar and one that is bent so it will not turn in your hand. Also, wrap black tape around it and use a hook grip. When we used to try for one hand dead lift records, our spinal erectors would become very sore indeed. You can perform this straight legged if you wish. 

Another exercise that we have illustrated above is performed on a bench. It is rather uncomfortable until you become used to it. Lay on your stomach on the bench. You are becoming very sleepy and your eyelids feel heavy. We would prefer that you lay with your hips on the edge of the bench so that your body extends over the table. Have someone hold your feet down or strap them down. Then take a light bar on the shoulders and allow your body to drop down low then come back up and arch to the limit. It is this last arching that benefits you the most. It will give you complete contraction against resistance. This is a tough one and will make you perspire in your sleep. 

I might mention the side bend while leaning slightly forward which might be classed as a slight variation of the straight legged one hand dead lift. This is an effective exercise for these muscles. 

The one hand snatch and the one hand clean also work these muscles very strongly and especially if you concentrate on them as erector exercises. 

The above does not comprise all the exercises for these muscles but we have given you the best and know that you can make a satisfactory selection from the above group.

Do not select several, but take one or possibly two and specialize on them for ultimate development. We suggest that you use several sets of 12-15 repetitions of whatever exercise you choose. Start with about 2 sets and work up to 4 or even 5 as wisdom gained from experience dictates. Do not work these muscles over three times per week. In many cases two sessions per week is best. Some have obtained best results on a heavy session every 4 days. These muscles do not always recuperate as fast as others. Massage is beneficial but should not be overdone as it would thus do more harm than good. 

Get busy on these muscles NOW! Bring them to their limit development and condition and you will never regret it. They will pay big dividends. 

Enjoy Your Lifting! 

An Economic Arm Schedule- Eberhard Schneider (1978)

Are you a hard-gainer who fizzles out on the champions' purported marathon workouts? 

Do you want to have bigger arms, yet can see no point in enslaving yourself for hours on end until your nerves feel like overstretched expander cables? 

Here is a tough but very brief  arm schedule embodying the most sophisticated training principles to jolt your arms into new growth. Supersets, negative work, pre-exhaustion, burns -- you name it, and the schedule has it. 

The need for toughness is self-explanatory: Doing what you have been able to do for the last dozen or so training sessions does not tax your muscles beyond their present performance capability and thus lacks the element of progressiveness. No one can hope to gain from such maintenance work. 

The need for brief programs has long been elucidated by Arthur Jones . . . 

library of some of his articles and papers here:

http://www.arthurjonesexercise.com/home.html 

Long workouts use up most of your recovery ability, thus depriving your body of the very energy which it requires for overcompensation, i.e., strength and muscle gains. This, too, is the reason why you should not train a particular muscle group more than twice a week: A hard schedule tears at your tissue, an if your organism is not afforded sufficient time for cell repair, you will end up looking like a long distance runner. 

Should that be your goal, you might as well skip the rest of this article. 

Anyone who tries this routine for the first time will find his arms quivering with exhaustion and feeling taut from the pump. But the pump is not extreme, and the delightful thing is that the trainee will be, apart from his arms, completely recovered about a half an hour later. 

There is one very important point which cannot be stressed too strongly: The keyword of this program is "economy" which, in this contest, is interpreted as 

maximum-possible dividends of muscle 

from minimum-necessary investment of time and energy.  

Economy in this sense is only practicable, however, if the trainee has already built some basic muscle bulk with basic exercises. [square one first, idiot]. Anyone who wants to try the schedule should, therefore, take an honest look at his own standard. 

If you cannot squat and bench press with bodyweight on the bar for at least a dozen easy reps, then this arm schedule will do you no good. You'll get sore arms, all right; but what is the advantage of sore arms when they don't grow because the foundation isn't there? 

This applies particularly to the shoulders. Increasing deltoid size via presses and upright rows is an absolute prerequisite for continued arm growth, or have you ever seen a melon-sized arm dangling from a tennis ball sized shoulder? So, if you are a rank beginner or near to new to this, train for all-round strength first instead of trying to hang 18" arms on a 140-lb. frame. Such science fiction is simply not realizable. 

Note: have a look at something like this three part article by John McCallum: 

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2009/04/gain-weight-to-build-your-arms-john.html 

Or straightforward, basic gaining layouts like the ones included here: 

pdfcoffee dinosaur arm training

Start the program with one set of seated presses with a light weight. 15 reps should not even find you winded, but they warm up the shoulder area and, much more important, the triceps tendons just above and around the elbows. Personally, I do even more than that: I lean forward against a windowsill and press out 10-15 very light reps in a sort of close-hands pushup. As the inclined posture leaves most of the bodyweight resting on the legs and puts no appreciable resistance on the arm muscles, this warmup movement does not drain any energy; it is exclusively intended to grease the injury-prone elbow region. 

The first arm exercise is the standing EZ-bar curl with a slightly more than shoulder width grip. Arthur Jones would probably like to rip my head off for propounding the sacrilege of not using a straight bar. 

But do it before you ditch it. 

The special quirk is that the movement is not the same as in the normal barbell curl, where the elbows come forward at the completion of the curl, but that the elbows are kept back as far as possible all the time. This assures tension in the biceps throughout the whole range, and there is no slackening effect in the top phase of your curl. Moreover, the EZ-bar forces your brachioradialis to work more than does a straight bar, which makes for better forearm development, and you need no extra exercise for this purpose. 

Remember . . .

So, take a weight that permits just seven very hard, concentrated reps; which means: Concentration in the concentric AND eccentric phases.  Now it's getting more intense: When the barbell hangs there without the slightest willingness to go up for another full rep, swing it up with a wild cheat and, with the elbows still held back, let it travel down very slowly for about 3-5 reps in negative fashion. More will be impossible, if you really concentrate. This gives you 10-12 reps in all, and your biceps will feel rather beat, because they have been forced to work beyond their normal performance capability. 

As this exercise is highly anaerobic in nature, your organism will try to make up for the oxygen deficit, and you should be somewhat "air-hungry." If not, then you have not grasped what hard work here is and would be better off with golf. 

After a rest of one minute, start with lying triceps extensions, lowering the EZ-bar over and behind your head with a close grip an with the upper arms held parallel throughout the movement. 

Choose a poundage that, again, permits seven concentrated reps. Most persons stop here and wait for the ensuing pump to make itself felt. But in this schedule the exercise goes on beyond that point. Without letup or loosening of the grip the trainee pulls the bar over his face and onto the chest, only to press it up in a sort of close-grip bench press, and then lets it travel down the old route of regular triceps extensions. 

In other words, the positive part of the exercise which the trainee finds momentarily impossible to perform is replaced by a combination of bent-arm pullovers plus close-grip bench presses, while the negative part is carried on along the regular lines, until the weight nearly falls down, because controlled negative action becomes impossible. This should happen after 3-5 of such negative reps. 

You might think that the triceps have had it, but this is not the case, and, consequently, the exercise is not finished yet . . . 

Without giving the triceps any rest you pull the bar over your face and onto your chest for a last time -- and then do close-grip bench presses with your elbows held out. When full reps are becoming impossible -- this should happen after 4-9 reps -- do partial movements near the lockout position (burns), until the bar comes thundering down and does not budge an inch. Then, and only then has the triceps exercise come to an end. 

The problem now is how to get the weight off your upper body. 

You'll find a way and figure it out. 

Thus, you have three triceps training parts rolled into one continuous exercise:

1) regular triceps extensions;

2) negative-only triceps extensions; and

3) close-grip benches plus burns.

This threefold combination goes far beyond anything that your triceps could normally manage and gives a terrific growth stimulus. 

The second (and last) biceps exercise is the standing one arm dumbbell concentration curl performed in a bent-over manner and with a heavy weight. But again, that's only half the story. 

When you have done five very concentrated peak contraction reps, and another full clean rep is absolutely out of the question, you simply push the dumbbell up with your other hand and then let it down in a slow, controlled negative fashion for 4 or 5 more reps. Your biceps will start screaming for mercy, but even when the negative reps are becoming jerky, the exercise is not through yet . . . 

Without delay you pronate your hand to the halfway mark so that the palm points to your body and then switch over to one arm bentover dumbbell rows. With the assistance of the bigger muscles that effect the lat row movement, the biceps is forced to work even more. This is the pre-exhaustion method developed by Robert Kennedy and popularized by Arthur Jones. And exhausted your arms will be! After 10 reps of lat rows the dumbbell will literally fall out of your agonized hand. 

You will need at least one minute's rest before you can work the other arm fully in the same manner. And after that you will be breathing almost as heavily as after a set of hard 20-rep squats. 

Here, you have three biceps training parts combined into one continuous exercise: 

1) regular peak curl;

2) negative-only peak curl; and

3) lat rows. 

If you should suspect that after such an ordeal your biceps have really had it, you are ever so right. Or, you got that fuckin' right, pal. 

The last exercise is a reiteration of the triceps combination already performed. Use the same poundage, but do not be surprised if you cannot squeeze out the same number of reps as in the first set. 

Finish off with a light set of deep-breathing flyes or straight-arm pullovers with 10 or 15 lb. dumbbells to stretch the ribcage. 

To recap: 

1) Warmup of the triceps tendons. 

2) EZ-curls, elbows held back, 7 reps, followed by 3-5 negatives. 

3) EZ-bar triceps extensions, lying, after 7 reps do 3-5 negatives, followed by 4-8 close-grip benches plus burns. 

4) Bentover peak or concentration DB curls, after 5 reps do 4-5 negatives plus 10 lat rows. 

5)Same as 3. 

6) Light breathing flies and pullovers for the ribcage. 

The whole schedule does not take more than 20 minutes twice a week. Again, before you embark on this compact arm-specialization schedule, be certain you have laid a solid foundation already. After a maximum three months on the program, go back to your all-round strength training on the basics and build up a little more . . . and continue to alternate between these two schedules, three months each, until you're happy with what you've achieved. 

Enjoy Your Lifting!

 

Al Feuerbach The People's Champion - Ray Leso (1973)

 Strength & Health October 1973

Lifting and throwing attire peaked with Feuerbach

It was January 1971 and this was to be my first chance to see an indoor track and field meet. Bob Kemper and myself were driving up from San Jose to San Francisco to see the annual Examiner Indoor Games. The event we especially wanted to see was the shot-put as our friend and training partner, Richard Marks, was to participate. I was very impressed with the meet as 13,000 people attended and cheered each event with vigor. That night the shot-put was to be spotlighted as the world champion Randy Matson was scheduled to appear. As the time for the event came closer, each of the shot-putters came out to the arena on his own. Randy Matson looked relaxed as he chatted with the officials. Richard Marks and Doug Lane were very impressive in that they were so big. When Al Feuerbach appeared I had to look in the program to find out who he was, as I had never heard of him before. One thing I noticed about Al as he came into the arena was that he spoke to no one and he looked the most intense of all the athletes. It was as though he was in another world.

When the event began, we found out that Al, indeed, was in a different world that night. Using a style unique to his body, he exploded with the iron ball a distance of 68’11 ½” for a new world indoor record. The old mark was 67’10” held by Niel Steinhauer. Randy and Al had a tremendous battle that evening, the record was broken a total of four times. The event was climaxed when Al Feuerbach was spotlighted on the winner’s stand, raising his hands in victory to the thunderous applause.

I remember and talk about this particular meet because to me it was the more inspirational of my sports’ career. Also, it was the climax of an old order and the beginning of the new.

Actually, the beginning was in Preston, Iowa, when young Al (one of five brothers) began to take an interest in the shot-put. Al began throwing the 12 lb. shot when he was 14 years old. He would practice every day of the year. His older brother had been an outstanding athlete and Al figured to follow in his footsteps and then some. He became an outstanding prep athlete and participated in all sports. However, the shot-put took precedence over all other sports, and Al would always hurry home after practice so he could practice with the shot. One might wonder what would motivate a boy of this age to practice so diligently. Most would think of the school record or letter and the prettiest girl. Al was motivated from the beginning by the gold medal in the Olympics, and all the fame and glory that go with being a super athlete. Al’s main desire was to achieve beyond what any other man had done. He was also aware that it would take time and serious training and he prepared for the task. This is truly a unique characteristic in a boy of 14 years of age.

What Al considered serious training, and still does, is throwing all-out every day and training with weights. Make no mistake about it, Al never wasted any time doing meaningless exercises. He has done four basic lifts since he was 15 – the full squat, the snatch, the clean and jerk and the dumbbell incline. He had a crude barbell set-up in his basement and a shot-put ring in his yard. Al did do the Olympic lifts, but by no means was he really efficient in the lifts at that time since everything he knew about them, he read and taught himself. This type of training paid off quickly as he threw the 12 lb. shot 52’ when he was a senior in high school. We may add here also that Al has a tremendous base of natural strength developed from working on his father’s farm. The work was not easy as there was hay to be baled and stacked, and hogs to be fed.

After graduating from high school in June of 1966, Al decided to go away to college. He chose Emporia State College at Emporia, Kansas.

His shot-putting continued to improve as he hit 55’ in 1967 using the 16 lb. ball. Something else happened in that year to help motivate Al a little bit more. Randy Matson threw his world record 71’ 5 ½”. Al relates that he was driving down the street when he heard the news on the car radio and he was so shocked that he almost drove off the road. At that time Randy was over 15 feet ahead of Al.

Al continued to train and improve throughout his college career. Most of his technique was developed by himself as were all his training programs. The sports program there in Emporia was far from inspirational. He won the NAIA and held the school record but he hungered for more because he was merely a big fish in a small pond. The coaching staff was continually wishing they had a big shot-putter (they thought you had to be big to throw far). This was not particularly motivating to Al yet he continued to improve. Also there were times when he would try to talk about the future, and the staff was more interested in how clean he kept the weight room. This sort of thing may seem small to the everyday person, yet Al is not every day. There is a lot of emphasis on team sports these days and coaches are becoming less concerned with the individual athlete. In sports like track and weightlifting you are dealing mainly with individuals, and each one has different psychological needs.

As dismal as the situation may have seemed it did not prevent Al from making progress. Al had learned to thrive on overcoming all obstacles, mental as well as physical. These are the factors that have made him into the tough competitor that he is today. I believe him to be one of the toughest men to psych out before a competition.

By the end of his senior year in college Al was rounding out into a lifetime peak in the shot-put. He put it all together at the AAU’s for a personal record of 65’. This was a good enough throw to win him a spot on the national team that was going to Europe, and rank him 4^th in the nation, but it was not enough to worry Randy Matson. The year was 1970.

When Al returned from Europe that fall he decided his putting must take a new turn. His first major decision was to move to the West Coast, the second was to forget all outside factors and concentrate only on shot-putting. Al settled in Los Angeles and trained at USC, a center for track and field. His daily regimen consisted of throwing the shot and lifting weights. It was also about this time that he was allowed to join the elite Pacific Coast Club, the leading club in track and field in the nation.

Inspired by the new turns in his career, Al seemed to train beyond what his fellow athletes thought was humanly possible. He worked out with weights four days per week with near maximum or maximum poundages every workout. Sometimes he even worked out every day. Again he used basically the same four exercises mentioned earlier with a few variations. He did limit dumbbell presses twice a day, at home and in the gym. He clean and jerked and snatched every workout. It was at this time that he made a PR clean and jerk of 400 without a hook and snatched 310 also without a hook. He pressed 365 in strict style and squatted 585 in the same manner. He could easily handle 140’s in the seated dumbbell press at a 45 degree angle. Probably the most motivating factor behind his training was his obsession with defeating Randy Matson in the forthcoming season. He had worked with his conscience and inner self and decided to take the final step to where very few have ever been.

All the months of training were to be thrust behind the shot on January 22, 1971. Al later said that when he walked out to the oval that night, that it felt as though every muscle in his body was ready to explode. He stated that that evening was the high point of his career. It was not just a matter of wanting to do it, it was a matter of having to do it. As I stated earlier when Al walked in he spoke to no one, he saved all his energy for the ring. On his second put he let everything go forward – frustration, anger, obsessions and years of training. The ball exploded to 68’11 ½” , he had broken the world record and defeated Matson on the same night.

Al finished out a successful indoor season, and in between interviews and luncheons began to train for the upcoming outdoor season and a trip to Europe. However his training seemed to be going stale and once again he decided that he needed a change in regimen. This time with the persuasion of Rich Marks he decided that he should move to San Jose and train with the other track and weightlifting notables. Perhaps this is just what his training needed as the Olympics were coming up the following summer. It would be a chance not only to train with other top athletes, but also the facility in San Jose is one of the best equipped and one of the most competitive gyms around.

After taking a summer tour of Europe and participating in the Pan Am Games, Al moved to San Jose and rented a house with Bob Kemper, Rich Marks and Lanchen Samsam. Needless to say the situation was ideal for training in the early stages as training was talked about almost 24 hours per day.

That fall again brough on one of Al’s hardest training programs. With the aid of Marks on the weights and Samsam on the shot his training really began to move. Marks and Samsam were also benefitting from the grueling schedule as their levels moved up considerably. When I use the term grueling I by no means mean the workouts were long, in fact they were short and heavy which is characteristic of Al’s methods. As his fame spread, Al become somewhat of an attraction at the gym. He was continually being swamped with questions on training and philosophies. He never refused to help anyone, but he was always careful never to spread himself too thin. He never let the questions and answers interfere with his own training. He had a goal in mind, and this was foremost in his mind. His concentration was on the shot-put this particular fall, as the Olympics were coming up and perhaps the fulfilling of a lifetime dream. Again his indoor season went well and his outdoor workouts were almost unbelievable. Durin the week of the San Jose Invitational he had hit 70’ plus nine times in one workout. Throwing 69’ had become easy, so Al felt safe to predict that he would break the world outdoor record that weekend. As usually happens when someone predicts a record, the pressure is even greater, and that is what happened to Al on this day – he just created too much pressure for himself. Physically he was ready, but the record was not to be broken on this day. Al seemed to have pressure coming from all sides. He had potentially dangerous rivals rising fast and there was even some pressure in his house. Living with your competitors can be quite mind-blowing. Al’s training seemed to be coming right along, however he seemed to be lacking that certain edge that it was going to take. He had by no means mellowed, but he had changed.

Hundreds of people expected Al to win the gold medal in Munich. When he finished 5^th the first reaction from the home front was that he had choked. I do no believe this to be necessarily true. One must have observed Al the few months prior to the Games to maybe find the answer. Yes, he had been training as always, but the workouts were not what they had been in the past. Again the reason for this may have been that living with three other guys, he was not getting the relaxation that he needed. Sometimes he would close all the doors to his room and sit there and play his guitar. Also it seemed that Al was always on the go. Where before it seemed that the others were always gone, now it was Al who never was around. It looked like he had fallen into the trap of spreading himself too thin. One could write all day on the why of what happened, but only Al can answer the question for sure.

I suppose everyone expected Al to be super-depressed or super-defensive when he came home. If he was either he never showed it. When he came back some changes were again made in his life. For one, the house split up, only he and Samsam remained. He once again become more involved with himself, his workouts were also becoming more intense. This year he decided to peak a little later than usual. It would mean sacrificing the indoor season maybe, but he was going to gear for the outdoor record. Nobody had to beg or plead with Al to come back, coming back was the only thing on his mind. As it turned out, his indoor season went very well even though he was training through almost every meet. Al makes it a point to throw in every contest he can and he feels the competition of high level sports will develop a better mental attitude. He was training on the weights harder than ever and the results were beginning to show. He power cleaned 390 with a hook and snatched 335 and clean and jerked 420, he cleaned 430 and just missed an attempt with 440. It was this kind of training that allowed him to do 325-407 in the Golden Gate Open in Belmont only several hours after he had broken the world shot-put record. Later he was to lift in the Seniors as a superheavy (243), and Al again, being no stranger to high level competition came through with official pr’s of 336-418 and second place. So, one can see that Al had a solid base for his assault on the world record.

One exercise had been added to his training during the early part of the year – bench presses – and his best is right around 390. He was also doing some inclines and has a best of 370 on a 45 degree angle. I may add also that all of Al’s movements are done in the strictest of styles.

Feeling the way he did, Al felt safe to assume the potential for a world record was within his capacity. After a whirlwind tour to the Midwest relay circuit, Al hit a 71’ 11 ½ “ warmup toss (with no foul) at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on April 28 of this year. The following week was the San Jose Invitational so Al began to mentally prepare for the meet. That week he cut back on his lifting and tried to relax and he made no predictions as he had the year before. The day of the meet was clear and warm, a good day for records. Bob Kemper and I watched from the sidelines as they set up for the shot-put. On his first official throw Al hit around 71’, on his second he hit a world record of 71’7”. At long last he had the record. Al Feuerbach had overcome many obstacles on his way to the top. Mainly his size, 6’1” or a shade under, is considered too short to really throw far. I don’t believe that Al has ever weighed over the 255 mark, usually around 250. This is not at all heavy by comparison with other shot-putters. The simple fact is that he has got some of his best throws weighing under the 242 mark. So one can easily tell that Al relies on speed, power and technique, not just his size. It was stated earlier that when he broke the record it was a changing from the old order to the new. I believe that Al has helped pioneer that change. He projects the image of a champion yet by no means is he aloof, and I don’t believe he eats apple pie. Al will talk to anyone, anytime and on any level. He has evolved as one of America’s top athletes mainly because he is open with the public. In the gym he trains right along with everyone else, and he does not consider himself above criticism, he accepts the good with the bad. Right after he threw his record 71’7”, hundreds of people were trying to shake his hand and he tried to accommodate all, athletes and non-athletes alike. This did not just happen – he has come up through the ranks, and he appreciates the public. In turn the public respects someone who has had a struggle. Bob Kemper later stated that when he saw Al throw the record, he saw him split into many people. “I saw Al Feuerbach, the people’s champion.”

Thoughts on Workout Frequency - James Marceau (1978)

 

Note from Peary Rader:  

In Iron Man over the past 40 years we have presented ideas on nearly every known method of training for muscle development and all of them worked well for someone. We have had the one-exercise programs, the one-repetition programs, the once-a-week programs and the every-day programs, among others. 

Here is a program that worked well for one man who had trained on most of the others without the desired results. Perhaps it will be what you're looking for. Increasingly  the trend is towards shorter but more intensive workouts and in many instances less frequent workouts. It will be very interesting to observe and experience further refinement of training procedures which will make bodybuilding quicker and more productive. 

The article begins . . . 

A very good friend of mine has spent many years battling barbells. And, while he has a fairly strong, muscular build, his bodybuilding rewards have been short of what he had in mind when he took up weight training. 

Over the years, this friend -- we'll call him Jim -- has practiced just about all the regularly recommended workout schemes. The basic three-day-a-week plan, the split workout four-day-a-week plan, the grueling five-day-a-week number, the every-other-day trip, the two day a week hard-gainer squat like there's no tomorrow scheme, and of course, the lengthy layoff let's forget about hyphens and training plan. 

And, while all these workout frequencies did something for our hero, they never quite did enough as far as big gains in size and strength. 

Note: The recent John Little book on Mike Mentzer is proving to be great fun to read. Sections on the Weider/Arnold etc. sliminess are illuminating in an ugly way. Some folks sure do love that money/control deal!

You've heard of somebody being a "man's man," or a "football player's football player," right? Well, Jim turned out to be the "hard gainer's hard gainer." 

A thought, published by Arthur Jones, rung a bell that changed all that. Jones pointed out that the 3-a-week training schedule, with two days rest on the weekend was a terrific method of causing muscular growth. 

Why? 

Because the body gets used to a certain rhythm. It gets accustomed to regularly applied workout procedures, and adapts to their frequency. So, when you work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, your body is ready to work out again on Sunday. But hold 'er Newt, she's goin' for the tulips . . . you don't. You wait till Monday, thereby NOT letting your system get into a rut, but rather catching it off guard, and stimulating it into even greater gains.

This train of thought got Jim to thinking. And, coupling this idea with the notion that hard gainers need few and intense and compact training sessions, he came up with a new course of action for himself. Instead of working out three days per week, with one rest day, and then two rest days on the weekend, he would ADD one rest day to each period between sessions. He would train, then rest for two days, train again, and rest for two more days, train again and then lay off for three days before hitting the weights again. 

After one month of such a spaced out training schedule, my good friend's muscular measurements were greater than in all the years of wrestling with iron that had gone before! This is after at least a year of no gains whatsoever.

Since that time, Jim has changed his training frequency slightly. He now works up a barbell-dumbbell induced sweat every third or fourth day, depending on his energy and other commitments. And at the time of this writing, his gains are better than ever. 

He finds it very gratifying to receive actual growth, and with less time spent with the weights. His training bouts are short and intense, using about eight very basic exercises for the whole body. (SDL, DL, Squat, Calf Raise, Bench, Row, Press, Curl, and ABS. Usually one set. Sometimes two. Never more nevermore. Each set is worked VERY hard. 

Perhaps you can benefit from my, er, Jim's experience If your gains ain't anything to grin about, try changing your workout frequency. Proper recuperation between workouts allows substantial new tissue growth. 

Not the most exciting ender line ever written, but point made and taken. 

Enjoy Your Lifting!