Bruce Page of Toronto, Canada is an example of the fact that a small-boned individual can acquire an impressive physique through body-building. He is an active member of Bavington's gym in Toronto.
Dear Bob,
I was one of the many unfortunate fellows to be born with light bones and consequently as a kid I was quite thin. After a very serious illness when only eight years of age, I was left in a sickly thin state and with no knowledge of what to do about it.
At the age of 13 I began to do a little boxing and until almost 18 that was my main sport. It started me on the muscular road and kept me feeling good and healthy.
A friend of mine at that time then introduced me to weights a I began my body building career. When I began to train I weighed about 125 and today I weight about 160 pounds.
I have done a straight-arm pullover with 145 pounds while weighing 140 pounds. Can chin with one hand and have supine pressed 210 pounds.
CHEST SIZE
Big Pecs Are Only Half the Story
by Bruce Page (1989)
For many years now, bodybuilders have been cheating themselves out of considerable chest growth. The reason for this is the lack of thought given to the entire chest area.
The pectoral muscles are given almost all of the attention, with little or no thought given to the expansion of the thorax itself. The ribcage of today's bodybuilder remains essentially unchanged in size as pectoral muscles are built up. These slabs of muscle dictate chest size, but there is actually much more to complete chest development.
Years ago when bodybuilding was just becoming popular, the trainee would perform various breathing exercises to force the rib cage to expand fully. Even with very little emphasis on pectoral development, they eventually obtained great chest size and shape. If today's bodybuilders included this form of chest exercise along with their existing chest routine, they would be pleasantly surprised at the results they could obtain.
Squats have always been the main movement for increasing the size of the quadriceps, but squats can do much more than build large thighs. This key exercise can be instrumental in enhancing weight gain and, believe it or not, even increase the chest size when performed in the breathing style. [and there are many ways to perform squats in the breathing style]. This has been shown to be true through the years as a number of weight men enlarged their all-around chizette size just by performing this one movement alone. Some made even greater gains when they included bench presses or heavy bent-arm pullovers immediately following each set of squats.
The breathing squat takes considerable effort and determination to execute and complete sufficient reps to ensure results. It is performed like this:
First, take a weight that you consider heavy. I might mention here that some may have to start with a more moderate poundage until they become accustomed to this movement, and then they can add weight as they gain confidence.
Note: One method of breaking into it is to do 2 sets of 15 reps, using at first a weight that doesn't overwhelm the required breathing and your ability to do it appropriately. For reps 1 to 5 take 2 huge breaths; reps 6 to 10 take 3 breaths; reps 10 to 15 take four breaths, totaling 45 breaths. If you're not used to heavy breathing squats and dive straight into the deep end the cycle will not last long before you stale out on it. There's all manner of ways to approach the breathing squat, this article shares [Thank You, John] one of them. It's a fine way to become accustomed to the deal, thing, method at first or when returning to the breathing squat. Also, the possibility of working up first to a heavy 5 or 3, then lessening the weight and doing the breathing squats in order to "perceive" the 20-rep weight as "lighter" is also something worth experimenting with. "I save ALL my energy for the 20-rep set!" Fine and dandy. Don't experiment with this, but please keep your maw sealed shut while others do. In my experience cats enjoy being skinned in many ways. At least I think that's "joy" they're expressing those last few seconds.
Take the weight on the shoulders in the regular position, take three greater-than-huge breaths and then perform a full squat. When you return to the start position, again take three more-than-enormous breaths before performing the next squat rep. Then, once again, when you come up out of the squat, take another three deep breaths and so on. This should continue for 20 reps.
This type of breathing will blow out the rib cage, forcing expansion of the ribs and the intercostal muscles between them. The entire thorax area will be greatly expanded. At this point you enter into phase two of the chest expansion movement: The Rader Chest Pull.
In 1952, I was looking for an exercise that I could apply to increase my overall chest size. Being a small-framed person with a more or less narrow rib cage, I needed something other than bench presses, flyes, etc. At this time Peary Rader published an article he called "The Rader Chest Pull."
Note: Paul Kelso's article on chest expansion is worth a look:
I read about his experiences with this movement and felt that I might derive some significant benefit from its use.
Peary Rader
I followed the instructions given in the article and was pleasantly surprised when, in a short time, I had made a considerable increase in my all-around chest size. At that time, I did not use it in conjunction with breathing squats, but I'm certain that had I done so, I would have made even greater gains.
The Rader Chest Pull is designed to lift and stretch the rib cage, especially the cartilage and muscles in the area of the sternum. But it must be noted at this point that in order to gain good results from this movement, you must work at it as with any worthwhile exercise. Halfhearted attempts will end in failure to produce the desired result.
In order to perform the exercise, you will require either a pipe or a pole that extends from floor to ceiling or any type of cross bar, such as that which is a part of one of the machines in the gym [power rack works wonderfully]. It must be solid enough for you to pull on without its moving.
To perform the exercise, stand facing the object you have chosen to use and grasp it with both hands at about the height of your forehead. Stand back until your arms are straight or just ever so slightly bent, and you are standing straight with your feet neither forward or back of your body.
Now pull down and toward you, and at the same time, breathe in as deeply as you can. You must pull as strongly as possible; that's why the object you are pulling against must be immovable.
Hold the expanded position for just a couple of seconds, then relax and continue on in this manner.
Excellent results have been obtained from a 20-rep set each time the exercise is performed. You may find that this number of reps is a bit much in the beginning, so it might be wise to start lower and work the reps up as you gradually increase [see above, or come up with your own break-in layout].
You will know if the exercise is working if you experience a slight stretching as you breathe in and pull down strongly.
If you have difficulty in finding an appropriate piece of equipment to perform this exercise on, you can use a slightly wider than shoulder width grip. The difference here is that the lats will become involved to a certain extent and will detract somewhat from the chest training.
This combination of exercises will help increase the overall size of the chest [and do other schtuff as well . . . boost metabolism, build lung capacity, etc.].
The best routine would include 20 breathing squats as heavy as you can handle. While still breathing hard from the squats, immediately begin a set of chest pulls.
First Two Weeks:
Squats - 20
Chest Pull - 1 set, maximum 20.
If you feel you can do two sets, then give it a try, but that should be the limit. If you feel that you can do more then you are simply not using enough weight in the squat nor are you breathing deeply enough, and you're probably not working hard enough on the chest pull. As you proceed with the routine, workout after workout, you will be able to increase the number of sets performed plus the weight used in the squats.
As with any other exercise or movement or combination of exercises, you can only expect to get out of them what you put in; so, the results you obtain are up to you. The exercises work; that has been proven time and time again.
There is more to chest development than big pecs, so why not try this combination . . . you'll be glad you did.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
Bruce Page's 35 pounds gain of lean muscle mass is outstanding. One arm chins are rare and exceptional strength. 1.3 times bodyweight bench press is impressive for a light boned lifter in 1947 (and now). Bob Hoffman's various courses of diversified and progessive training were (and remain) a productive way to train, without spending all one's spare time in the gym.
ReplyDeletePeary Rader's Master Bodybuilding and Weight Gaining System might just be the single best book ever compiled on sensible training.
I agree with that last line fully. Helluvan info-packed book!
DeleteMaybe Jan will confirm?
DeleteI have thought that when Bob Hoffman bought the Milo Barbell Company, the York Courses were essentially the same as the Mark Berry courses that John Grimek started on when he began his training?
Relatedly, I thought Bob Hoffman wrote his own books and articles until the latter part of his life when his mind started to slip and someone else filled in for him, albeit the articles still carried his name as author. I seem to remember this from a thread on Dave Draper's IOL forum, but I may be wrong.
Here is Jan's reply: Historically, the York courses (like the Good Bros. courses, for example,) stemmed off the forerunner courses of Berry and Calvert/Milo. The latter's courses trace back to the instruction of German Theordore Seibert and Sandow. Point of technically...while Grimek posed for the Berry courses, and Berry did much to bring John to the public's attention, Grimek was a product of Calvert's Milo courses. Prior to JCG taking up lifting, his brother George bought a Milo barbell, along with either the book "Super Strength" or the Milo courses. These were at John's disposal when he started lifting.
DeleteAs we have discussed before, I have seen Bob's original copy (early1930s era) for his "How To be Strong, Healthy & Happy" book, and it was wretched!!!! WOM was that Rosetta Hoffman edited, rewrote, "made readable" his book and S&H copy. Then, I got the impression that in the late 1930s, Gord Venable, who appeared to be well-read and well educated, "repaired" Bob's stuff. Venturing into the realm of speculation, my guess is that sometime in the 1950s, the job of cleaning up Bob's copy went to associate editors like Jim Murray or later Bob Hasse. Few people ever knew (much less know now) that Hasse was on the staff of S&H. This trend of "let the new guy handle it" carried into when I was hired. My chief job was to FIX all BoHo copy...I really wasn't required to do anything else. The job was so despised by the rest of the editorial staff. BTW, there is no truth to the rumor (which I started) that the original title of Bob's "first big book" as he liked to phrase it, was "How to be Strong, Health, Happy and Horny!"
Back pedaling a bit, during the Starr-Suggs era, when Venable was working for Weider and not working for York, my best guess is that Ray Degenhardt, who was the company art director, edited Bob's manuscripts. I do know for a fact that Ray edited those crappy pulp books of the time period..."Is Your Water Fit to Drink?" And a "Protein, the Building Blocks of Life" and a couple of other wastes of paper. After that, there were the Tom Holbrook years at S&H. Tom edited BoHo's copy, editorials, and lifting contest reports. HEAVILY edited them. ANYTHING original BoHo sent in, which wasn't much at this point, except contest reports from IWF, Sr. National and other scattered thoughts from major lifting contests. Yes, they were redundant and barely coherent. Nothing gets better with age, I'm afraid to say. There was an art to redoing a BoHo contest feature, which Holbrook apparently developed, and the skill got passed on to me when I got there. Basically, you create a fairly lengthy contest report off the contest scoring sheet, which usually lists the poundages made and missed by the various lifters. Also aiding the "cause" was the fact that John Terpak almost always accompanied BoHo to these major lifting contests, and could supply a few tidbits of sidebar tidbits not readily available on the official score sheet. Note, that Terpak was an international referee and administrative official, which means that he viewed the goings-on at any lifting contest differently than the competitors or the audience. Hence, he had any scoop from the post-event administrative meetings, when all the honchos gathered. Concluding with the Dellinger era of Boho literary babysitting, at first I trudged through his original copy, then got slightly smarter and started basically recycling published Hoffie articles from the magazines. Then when no one said anything to me about that move, I got really bold and just concocted articles of my own ideas, but published under BoHo's byline. Anyone who was coherent who read BoHo's stuff from the '30s-'80s, had to realize this was not from the mind of BoHo. Only one person wrote in and noted this occurrence; otherwise, no one noticed.
And a bit more here: Yes, a lot of the modern "scribes" of lifting/strength training/bodybuilding just cannot mentally comprehend the concept of single sets from the pre-WW2 days. From what I have seen, even the advice for rank beginners online almost always recommends 3 sets per movement. And a split routine of some sort. Mustering the physical juice to execute three full-body workouts in a week is apparently beyond the capacities of the average teenager. Of course, if you are going to do multiple exercises per body part on a traditional schedule, and multiple sets of each exercise, you'd better pack a lunch because you will be hard at it for a while. And then come back in two days. But one set routines is where beginners started in Grimek's formative lifting years. Actually, if you look at many of his bodybuilding routines he suggested for neophytes, they were mostly 1-2 sets per movement, and not all that many movements. Curse him, he had to be holding back the Holy Grail secrets of beginner bodybuilding!!!! IMO there is a short list of vintage "golden" weightlifting books and courses. Berry's certainly qualifies. As does Calvert's "Super Strength" book, and maybe his one where he relays the tricks of the second rate touring strongmen in their effort to keep up with the truly first-rate guys of his day. BTW, have you seem Jarett's compilation of W.A. Pullum's "History of the Iron Game." It is a voluminous work which relates so much history, accomplishments and personal interviews with many of the great names in strength and what was bodybuilding in the early 1900s. Most, if not all of this hefty book were reprinted articles Pullum unveiled in "Health & Strength magazine. It is fabulous.
DeleteOk, I'll admit this to you, but will deny it if anyone ever asks me.....I sort of hold the Weider Bodybuilding courses from the 1950s-early '60s in some regard. I am also somewhat infatuated with the Good Bros. courses, too.
We appreciate Jan giving us a glimpse of how the proverbial sausage is made!
DeleteThanks so very much for clearing up my misunderstanding and setting the record straight on S&H.
ReplyDeleteWeider Bodybuilding courses from the 1950s-early '60s? They must have been written by the venerable Charles A Smith who apparently was working for Weider Publications from 1950 until 1956.
John, it would seem reasonable to assume that Charles Smith had a lot to do with published Weider courses in the 1950s, because he worked for Weider until at least 1959, or so I was told. BTW, Smith really desired to get away from Weider and come to work for York, according to John Terpak. However, BoHo viewed Smith as a Weider spy and stopped that dead in its tracks. Also, note that Smith's responsibilities regarding Weider encompassed more than the bodybuilding mags and possible courses. In fact, throughout the 1950s, Joe had a variety of other publications, a boxing-wrestling magazine, for example, had a two-year run. Smith also wrote articles for that publication among others under the Weider banner.
ReplyDeleteI am having one helluva time trying to find this book on the blog. This is one that Smith stated in his letters that he did up in a day or two and was never given mention or credit of writing it. It's hard to say what of his is under the Weider name via ghost-writing. Anyone able to find this material on the site?https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/weider-olympic-course-weider-system-4678322947
DeleteHere's a quote from Charles Smith's letters: "What did I do when I was Joe Weider’s editor in the 1950s? EVERYTHING! As well as writing two or three articles each day for his muscle magazines, I also worked on all fourteen of the other magazines he had at the time. I worked on the proofing, the paste ups and getting the magazines ready for the printers. I, at one time, wrote every article in the magazine under different names."
Delete