Super Forearms and Grip, Part One - Ian "Mac" Batchelor (1947)

 

Norbert Schemansky

Note: First of all, I would like to thank Juan (Golden Era Bookworm) for offering some of the very early issues of Iron Man and other books and mags in digital format at a very affordable and reasonable price. Love what you're doing, Sir! Have a look over there, dig around for a while and enjoy . . . 

https://www.goldenerabookworm.com/search?q=iron+man 

Check out the YouTube channel as well . . . 

https://www.youtube.com/goldenerabookworm 

In the following article Mr. Batchelor, who is acknowledged to have perhaps the strongest hands and forearms in the world today, tells you how you too can develop an amazing grip in a novel and interesting way. Advanced exercises will be featured in part two of this article. 

The article starts here: 

I understand the forearms are composed of twenty-two different muscles and are the second hardest group of muscles in the entire body to develop with the majority of bodybuilders. 

If a muscle is kept more or less saturated with blood it is bound to grow in size and shape, due to the continual breaking down and replacing of new tissue. This reasoning led me by experimenting to discover what consider a boon to those who experience a stubborn forearm condition. 

It is a fairly well known fact that professional boxers have used a rubber ball to condition the hands; and not so well known fact that as a byproduct, they received a good increase in forearm size and strength. However, it was largely done in a haphazard fashion without any thought to concentration on the parts involved, or the acquiring of favorable positions of the hand and forearm which would bring about a more powerful contraction and therefore greater gain in muscular girth in that area, with exceptional endurance to back it up. 

The continual exertion of the forearm has a tendency to increase the upper arm in conjunction, due to the better-nourished condition and greater blood supply to the arm in general. 

Steve Stanko

One will develop the ability to be outstanding in the feats of hand strength such as card and telephone tearing, bending spikes, etc., as well as the proud possessor of a forearm that will be shapely, strong and enduring. The fingers and wrist will thicken and the hand becomes more powerful and compact in general. 

Let me advise against an excessive practice of hand contractions at the start, as you will find the hand and grip tiring to a degree where even a light weight slips from one's grasp. Better to increase the practice I am about to describe over a period of time gradually adding to contractions as a strength increase takes place. 

Be sure to exercise both hands equally; and alternately follow through the positions as described. The continual changing of positions also allows for more rapid progress in development due to the different angles and the forearm will tire less quickly allowing a thorough workout. With an exercise of this type you know you are getting results as they are felt in the part under cultivation, and the forthcoming development will bear me out on this. 

In relation to the grip, the hand will develop power through the full scope from an almost full extension of the fingers to complete contraction. This is an advantage as no matter the size of the object to gripped in feats of hand strength you can exert more power over a wider range than a man who specializes on gripping a certain-sized solid object over a period of time. 

And now for the exercises themselves. I have found it best to do them in the order shown as in this case they increase in intensity as the forearms warm up to fuller contractions. 

First clenching the ball (one half a ball) in closed fist as in illustration number 2, rotate the hand only in circular motion, keeping the arm stationary. This effects every muscle in the forearm and prepares you for the following: 

Figure number 1 shows the starting position, the rounded side of the one half a ball cupped well in the hand. Slowly contract the hand until a full contraction as in Figure 2 is reached, hold a second, release and repeat until the forearm begins to ache slightly. 

This exercise has a general building effect on the forearm and hand. Don't think of repetition in these exercises but, more of powerful contraction. In other words, FORGET REPS AND CONCENTRATE ON WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

Now, before starting on the next exercise, repeat the foregoing Figure 1 and 2 with the left hand, assuming you just finished with the right. 

Continue to alternate hands in this manner throughout the complete series. 

Figure number 3 exercise is chiefly for the muscles controlling the thumb, and with steady practice will insure terrific pinching and holding ability. I feel I owe much of my ability at card tearing (one deck into 8ths) and the fact that I bent 500 beer caps in 20 minutes between thumb and forefinger, to conscientious training of the hands. 

Keeping the fingers stationary, place the inner edge (not the front) of the thumb against the one half a ball as illustrated in Figure 3. Roll the thumb inward, without bending it, to meet the fingers as in Figure number 4. After a few repetitions a pronounced ache will make itself evident in the muscles located at the base of the thumb, marked X in the illustration. Study the illustration closely and you will soon grasp the proper procedure, with gratifying results from time spent on what appears to be a very simple exercise. 

Let us now study Figure number 5. It is all too evident in feats of hand and gripping strength how much weaker the little finger and the adjoining one generally are in comparison to the index and middle finger, and also the flat undeveloped state in most cases of the muscles located on the outer edge of the hand extending from wrist to little finger. Believe it or not, this neglected area can be developed to a maximum, with increase in hand thickness, in fact the shape of the hand can be greatly altered to one's satisfaction and increased strength. 

Bend the hand on the wrist sidewise (not forward) and keep in this position until repetitions are completed, grasping the half a ball in the little finger and the adjacent one, the rounded side facing the palm, clench the fingers tightly; relax and repeat until an ache prevails in the outer hand muscles with a general tiring in the two fingers involved. Now change to the left hand and continue. 

Continued in Part Two

Enjoy Your Lifting! 

The Amazing Mac Batchelor - Willis Read (1948)

 

More on Mac Batchelor here: 

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2020/10/of-forearms-wrists-and-mighty-grip-mac.html   

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2018/04/ian-mac-batchelor-charles-smith-1952.html   

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2010/10/epitaph-for-strongman-mac-batchelor-by.html  

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2008/08/mac-batchelor-john-grimek.html     

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2008/09/curling-heavy-weights-mac-batchelor.html 

  https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2012/02/unique-ways-to-build-arm-wrestiling.html

Note from Peary Rader: 

You have read of the prowess of Ian "Mac" Batchelor in the past but now you are about to get some of the inside stories from Willis Read, one of Mac's closest friends who probably knows as much about his as anyone. These two fellows are always together at all the big shows on the West coast. Mac presides at the bar at the Ivy House which is just a short distance from Reed's studio. It is also just across the street from R.K.O. studios in Hollywood. 

In wrist wrestling between 1931 and 1956, Mac pulled and beat an estimated 4,000 different opponents without suffering a single loss. 

Here is a letter he wrote to George Jowett: 

My first meeting with Mac Batchelor was in the year 1937 at Vans Cocktail Lounge where he was employed as a  bartender in downtown Los Angeles.

Vans was a place where everyone of any importance, doctors, lawyers, policemen and all persons regardless of vocation went to have a drink and talk to Mac. He was always the center of attraction because of his magnetic personality. People liked to talk to him about sports, and he was only too happy to converse with them on their favorite one, he being a versatile athlete himself, he could relate some of his experiences at athletics while in school and out. 

He had an assortment of odd weights behind his bar at this particular time. There were heavy block weights which he did holdouts with and would rotate the wrists at the same time, which incidentally will stump a lot of athletes. Also, he had an assortment of big, tall bottles. The bottles were large at the bottom and tapered all the way to the top. Now, the trick was to grasp the bottle at the top and gradually work the fingers down the bottle without the use of the other hand. To make a long story short, he was the only one who could perform the trick because of his unusual finger and hand strength.    

Many persons tried, but none could get any further than halfway down the bottle. Mac has successfully performed this trick with a bottle filled with lead. These bottles are two and one half feet high.

Several years later he took over another cocktail lounge in West L.A. which went by the name of "Nine Old Men. So the place got the name "Mac's Nine Old Men." as he was manager of it at this time. It seems wherever he went the crowd was sure to follow. Every night there were so many people that they were practically walking on top of one another. 

Athletes galore, weightlifters, bodybuilders, football players, boxers, wrestlers, and any other type of athlete you could mention. Imagine this crowd, and if Mac arm wrestled one, he must have arm wrestled 25 fellows a night. I know for a fact that he arm wrestled every man on the Los Angeles Bulldog professional football team and beat them. The toughest being a lefthanded fellow by the name of Jack Summers. 

These fellows were all  big guys who weighed from 225 to 275 and up, and they had large measurements to go with their weight. 

Still later, Mac went to work at the Melrose Cavern where he has been ever since. Here athletes [and other drinkers] from all over the country visit him. He entertains them with his great finger and hand strength by bending beer caps the hard way, between the thumb and index finger. One day a fellow tried to play a trick on Mac. He asked him to bend a beer cap. This fellow produced his own beer cap and after a long struggle Mac finally managed to bend it. After careful observation of the beer cap, Mac noticed that a dime had been inserted between the cork and metal of the cap. But after this little incident Mac was very happy because it was the first dime he had ever bent. 

Here at the Melrose Cavern again he has met all comers in arm wrestling and today is still the champion. 

I well remember one day he arm wrestled a big Russian fellow whom he beat of course. This person resented being beat and tried to cause Mac trouble first by challenging him in fighting. Mac, being the nice person that he is, tried to reason with this fellow by saying to him that his job at the Melrose Cavern was that of a bartender. But, he did add that if he wished to put the gloves on with him the time and place could be arranged. The fellow was still not content so he again challenged Mac, this time on finger wrestling or finger twisting. By this time Mac's patience was exhausted. The bout began. The result was that the Russian fellow got a broken finger out of it, broken in two places. He fainted automatically and passed out of the picture. 

I mentioned earlier that Mac was a very versatile athlete. At the age of 12 he swam a mile through choppy waters. Later he was life guard at Monterey bay for two seasons. He never has been defeated as an oarsman in racing rowboats. When outboard motors made their first appearance in the early 1920's, he beat the single cylinder model over a two mile course while at the oars of a 15-foot flat bottom rowboat. 

He competed in all track and field events while in school with the exception of the pole vault. Mac said good naturedly that he guessed the pole was too light to support his weight.

Mac was in constant competition in the 100 yard dash. His time was 10 seconds flat, in the 220 it was 22 seconds, and in the 440, 51 seconds. He also ran cross county relays. Tom Baer, a close friend of Mac and his roommate while in school, told me he used to be in competition with him. He said that Mac was unusually fast. 

Tom told me a story about himself and Mac which to me is very funny. He said while in grammar school their teacher offered to give them a pie if they won the relay against the opposing team. It seems that Mac had the last position and Tom had the second to last. Mac couldn't wait for him to finish his part of the race. He ran over the line and caught hold of Tom's hand and ran him all the way up to his position. Tom told me that it was all he could do to keep his feet on the ground because of Mac's terrific speed. It seems that the opposing team was awfully mad, but I understand that Mac and Tom got their pie anyway. 

Tom Baer, by the way, was a fighter. He fought Freddie Steele for the World's Middleweight title a number of years back. Tom used weights in his conditioning for fights along with road work and sparring sessions. 

Mac is still a very fast man despite his bodyweight of 325 pounds. He has made an offer to race any man in the world over 250 pounds and up. The race is to be 100, 220, or 440 yards. 

He is the only man I know that can do handstand press-ups at his tremendous bodyweight. He also played on a point-a-minute pro basketball team as a center for a season while up in San Francisco a number of years ago. He was champion wrestler three years in succession for the Olympic Club in San Francisco. His teacher was the famed Ad Santell who was one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.     

Mac's curl of 220 pounds on a barbell, 500 lb. squat, 400 supine press, 275 military press (heels together), and a 700 deadlift rank him as one of the great strongmen of all time. I think he is Cry, Swoboda and Apollon all wrapped into one. He has their gigantic strength and size, but he is more fleet of foot, if I may stick my neck out. 

His measurements are , with fluctuations: 

Bicep, 20-21 inches

Forearm, 16-16.5

Wrist, 8.5-9

Chest normal, 54

Waist, 44

Thighs, 31

Calves, 20

Neck, 21.  

Other than measuring himself his hobbies are woodcarving, and spading or digging the ground. 

Mac can be seen shortly in an RKO Pathe motion picture titled, Mr. Young From Africa, in which he plays the part of a strongman. 

Enjoy Your Lifting! 

Milk: The Master Body Builder - Peary Rader (1948)

Sound nutrition is essential 

to the true He-Man! 

Too often readers of Iron Man write in asking how they might gain weight and too often the advice or at least one very important part of it is not followed. 

Whenever anyone asks me how they can gain weight, I always say do the deep knee bend or squat at 20 repetitions with heavy weight and drink at least two quarts of milk per day. The first part of the advice is usually followed but the last part is often omitted with the result being that I receive a letter saying that while they are getting good results, they are not doing as good as others who have followed a squat program. 

"Peary, you lying sonuvabitch. I busted my freakin' keister Leistner-style on a 20-rep breathing squat program for two months and only gained one pound! Also, what is this thing you call 'food?'"

Usually it is found to be because they are not using a properly nourishing diet. More strictly speaking, they are not including enough milk in the diet as they were told. The truth of the matter is that the drinking of milk is as important if not more important than squatting. You know you cannot build a building until you have plenty of the right kind of materials. The food you eat is the material from which you build your body with exercise. Exercise is the tool with which you do the building. You have to have plenty of good food and the better balanced it is in the necessary elements required for body growth and the quicker it can be digested and absorbed, the faster you will be able to grow. 

Milk is the one most nearly perfect food we have. It has nearly all the elements in the right proportion for the growth and well being of the human body. It is not a creation of man but of nature. God [ba dum ssss] made it for man and beast to use as the perfect food. It is one food that can always be used in its natural state without any special preparation. It is very easily digested. Though milk has wonderful curative values for many diseases and ailments, we do not have room to go into that phase of milk in this article as we are now primarily interested in it as a body builder. 

Nothing short of miracles have been noted when milk was used as a body builder and weight builder. Pure milk diets are often used alone without the aid of exercise to build bodyweight in underweight individuals. It is nearly always successful in these cases and when used in conjunction with exercise, it is the one sure weight builder. 

Right here let me say that you will find some prejudiced individuals who, for some reason, do not like milk and who give you all kinds of arguments against milk as a food. They will recite all kinds of dire consequences which result when adults use milk as a food. They will tell you that it is food only for babies. My friend, if milk is good enough for the delicate health of a baby to thrive and grow on, it most certainly can do nothing but benefit an adult. Many a man and woman who has been given up to die at an early age have lived for 40 and 50 years longer than the doctor had given them, just by living on nothing but milk. 

Milk is an indispensable food to the bodybuilder who wishes to gain weight. Many a man can trace most of his gains back to the liberal use of milk. Often exercise is given credit for gains made by milk. In my own case, I doubt very much if I could have gained half what I did on the squat without the use of milk. I realize that many people do not like milk. However, you will find it well worthwhile to learn to like it for your health's sake. You know it is possible to learn to like some foods or eat shit with a smile. Of course, there are rare occasions where milk cannot be taken, but I think this is often due to the wrong combinations of food taken with the milk. 

Many bodybuilders do not get full benefit from the milk they use because they do not take it correctly. I have always found that it was best and most beneficial when I took milk between meals only. I never tried to drink a whole quart at a time as some do. You will find it best to drink but one glass at a time. Eat your regular meals, but take the drink in addition and between meals. Of course it will not hurt you any to take some with your meals if you like it then, but take the bulk of it between meals.

Take a glass at a time. You will also find it best to drink it slowly. In other words, chew your milk well before swallowing. I made my best gains while drinking three quarts of milk between meals. I tried four, but found it filled me too much and I could not do justice to my meals. I gained fine on two quarts per day. I have often had cases of men gaining 10-12 pounds in a week on this milk drinking with squatting. 

You see, the trouble with drinking the milk at meal times is that if you drink a quart of milk you will not be able to eat much solid food. And if you do not eat some solid food too (plenty in fact), you will not gain, because to gain on milk alone, a lifter would have to drink at least seven quarts per day. You see the milk is just an additional easily digested and assimilated food needed for the additional gain in bodyweight. I realize that for some men it will be impossible to drink the milk between meals but most of them can arrange to have the milk at work with they can drink drink it if they are really serious. I do know that most of them are able to get a drink of water when they want it, then why not milk? 

We all know that 80% of the weight or bulk of the body is made up of liquid. Therefore we can see the need for including much liquid in our diet if we wish to gain weight. Without it we could not gain. Milk supplies this needed liquid in copious quantities and in the form of easily absorbed food. Hence its great value as a weight gaining medium. 

There is a theory, supposedly proven by some experts that the use of milk by adults will cause one to have colds, catarrh and other mucus diseases. They tell you that milk is very mucus-forming. We will not argue with them. This may be the case with some people. We feel however that in many of these cases the cause of the difficulty is overeating without sufficient exercise rather than the addition of milk to their diet. Most certainly the apparent health of the individuals who use large quantities of milk in their diet is usually superior to that of the people who denounce this God-given food. They say, "Yes, God gave it to babies and here he goes into some religious hoodoo I'll omit. 

You will find that nearly every well built man of the present day uses or has used milk in his diet in large quantities. Some have used 4-6 quarts in addition to their regular diet. Many of them use 3 quarts per day when trying to gain added muscular bodyweight. You will have to determine your own capacity. Some fellows loose their appetite when using more than two quarts and some can't take more than one quart per day tho they are exceptions. The majority of you will have access to nothing but cows' milk and will feel that the price if rather high on it, yet you will find it one of the cheapest foods considering its food value. 

Goats' milk is very good for those who can stand it for it is very rich and then too it is quite expensive. It will in many cases give considerably faster gains than cows milk. It is much more quickly digested, taking but one half hour as compared to around two hours for cows' milk. Goats' milk has amazing therapeutic values and is used a great deal in hospitals.   

You will find that certain countries where milk and dairy products are staple articles of food possess very rigorous and long-lived people. Many people have lived long and useful lives on nothing but milk. 

Quite often if you have difficulty in drinking cows' milk you will be able to drink goats' milk without trouble. In other cases it is often permissible to take your milk in the form of malted milk or chocolate or some other similar method of altering the taste and other characteristics of the milk. 

Some fellows who have found it particularly hard to gain have hastened the process by adding cream to their milk, also honey and certain other elements. We do not usually recommend such procedures but in some cases they are justified and produce the desired results. If we told you the content of some of the concoctions that we have known some bodybuilders to use you would wonder how they could get it down and make it stay there, so rich are they.  

 

Rest: A Gaining Secret - Bruce Page (1962)

In order to realize their most-important goals and dreams

all he-men need their sleep. 

Whatever it taykes, Bro! 

This article fits nicely with the last one by Bruce Page that is here:  

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2025/05/a-program-to-increase-muscle-size-bruce.html   

How often have you heard it said, or have you yourself been the one to mention to a training partner: 

"Man, that was some workout I just had; every muscle really aches."

And if you do feel this aching sensation following a workout, do you feel that you have added greatly to your chances of increasing your muscular girths. 

But have you?

Oh-oh. Is this working to exhaustion the way to reach your ultimate goal? I have a few theories on this subject which might interest the reader. 

In the first place, exercise should not be painful. It should be pleasant, leaving the trainee feeling refreshed and better for the experience, not worse. 

Some of the old guard and certainly many of the beginners are of the impression that if they are scheduled to perform a certain number of reps of an exercise on a particular day then they must follow this through or suffer the consequences; these being the possible loss of muscle size. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

The accepted theory among baby bodybuilders today appears to be that in order to be effective, the reps or contractions of an exercise must be in succession with no pause allowed between them, until the last, almost impossible rep has been made. These last contractions are supposed to be the real size producers. However, for the exerciser to fight the weight is, in fact, only to fight himself. 

To illustrate a point let's look at the rate of blood pumped by the heart. In normal activity the heart pumps between 3 and 4.5 quarts per minute [QPM's, a term used frequently in beer-drinking games], but during strenuous activities such as weight training, as much as 35 quarts per minute are pumped. Your heart has to work pretty hard and fast in order to pump this much blood in such a short time. Do you feel that it should be forced to work like this without a rest? 

The trainee must not feel that he is under compulsion to exercise hard, heavily and continuously over great periods of time. If he feels this way then he is indeed in error. He should employ his weights as a means of progressive resistance, providing easy, gradual resistance to his muscles. The handling of excessive poundages should not be the main consideration of his training, although adequate weight should be used, but rather he should regard the controlled, constant conditions of breathing, form, alternate periods of work and rest as primary factors. 

The bodybuilder must at all times remember that he is engaged in a special, exceedingly arduous type of exercise [they just love to exaggerate how demanding lifting is and I hope you don't. We could go back to the wee baby jokes here but won't. For fuck's sake, it's something you choose to do for a few hours a week.] Such exercise, for best results, must be performed under optimal controlled conditions or in a shed out back in the middle of the night when you have free time. Persistence at this type of training, under ideal working conditions will produce favorable results, but only if they work efficiently and intelligently. There are no "secrets" to obtaining the end result, just common sense, so that by dividing the task at hand into smaller units of work, better attention can be directed at perfection of form; to those little fine points that can mean so much faster progress. 

Take plenty of time. Use goof, er, good form and be certain to breathe deeply. When resting, breathe deeply again, from 3 to 10 times, if necessary. Work rhythmically, slowly and sensibly. 

Remember, success is eventually measured by how well we have rested not by how hard we have worked. Give the body a chance and it will respond. Feeling tired is definitely a symptom of faulty exercise, of abuse of the organism [the organism? Oh, I see. He means me. My body. How sadly distant sounding, the organism, the experiment, the test tube. It's no wonder some guys get so sick in the head about themselves, i.e. their bodies.] You should always feel exhilarated, full of pep and energy, piss and vinegar, hard and hairy. Never be fatigued. 

Rest between your sets  -- even between your reps, gives the blood a chance to do its good work. It is the blood which removes the products of fatigue and rebuilds our tissues as we sleep. It is the blood, containing oxygen, blood sugar, proteins, bringing them to the muscles that restores their strength, increases their bulk, cell by cell. Filling the muscles gently allows a steady washing away of waste products and the blues and blahs, and the bathing of the cells with fresh blood filled with constructive material for the next contraction. It is the blood. 

To see to what extent we can pack the muscles with blood is not logical since the deposition of body building material in the muscles takes place most favorably under the steady, unhurried flow of blood, glorious blood. 

In time, because of the accumulation of fatigue products, the ambitious bodybuilder who originally began his training so enthusiastically finds himself unaccountably drained of strength, and his interest is depleted. He has reached the limit of his reserve force and has finally arrived at that stale old stumbling block, the stinkin' sticking point. However, had he exercises wisely and used poundages within his capacity, he would never have encountered it. Overworked muscles simply cannot work properly nor are they capable of responding as they should. They are simply drugged with fatigue. 

As as example of proper rest periods during a workout, let us assume that you are working on a system of training whereby there is a sequence of exercises to be followed one after the other; say 3 for biceps and 3 for triceps. Now this is a very strenuous way to train and if care is not taken your muscles will become overworked and saturated with fatigue products, which, as explained earlier, only retards progress rather than assisting it. Therefore, between each set of this type of routine it is necessary to take a brief rest. Simply stand relaxed and take between 6-10 deep breaths in both lungs or 12-20 in one before continuing on to the next exercise. This will be sufficient time to relieve the muscle group which you are working of a great deal of fatigue products and allow the muscles to function normally again. Of course, during heavy squats it will be necessary to take more time between sets due to the tremendous increase in effort put forth as compared with, say, biceps curls. 

You have often seen it written, "Train, don't strain," and this is very good logic. Muscles respond to a greater degree when their contractions are slow and deliberate, so why rush your training and speed up fatigue? 

Train sensibly and conscientiously and you will attain the success you desire.

Now get out there and demolish those adrenal glands. 

Not much in this one, a possible reminder of some things perhaps forgotten. 

Enjoy Your Lifting! 

A Program to Increase Muscle Size - Bruce Page (2525)

 

How is it that some bodybuilders surge ahead in their training and it appears that they improve with every workout? On the other hand there are just as many or even more fellows working just as hard, it appears, and not really making much headway. This can be very demoralizing to the person who is putting forth a great deal of effort and spending much time in the gym in a vain effort to emulate his favorite muscle man or at least to obtain some substantial gains in muscle size. 

In some cases the persons themselves may not be at fault because they attempt to follow the same program that one of the top bodybuilders is following and in their particular case, it just doesn't work. The trainee fails to realize that he may not possess the same potential for building muscle that the physique star does, hence all the work in the world is not going to bring about the results he desires. One must find what works best for himself and then work hard in order to succeed. Larry Scott does not follow Robby Robinson's routine and Robby does not train like Casey Viator and so on. Each of the notables in bodybuilding worked out a plan of training that best suited their particular type of body structure and physical potential. 

In many cases trainees will work too hard and too long for their particular recuperative powers to accept. In this way there may not be enough resting time during workouts to allow the muscle to partially recoup during workouts and possibly not enough time between workouts. 

In many instances, all too often, the method of working the muscle produces only a temporary increase which will slowly diminish unless workouts are repeated every day in order to retain a pumped condition of the muscle. One sure method of obtaining lasting muscle size and a true hypertrophy of muscle fibers consists of exercises of strength, speed and great effort with frequent rest periods. These induce a true hypertrophy of muscle. Hence the adaptation of short bursts of strong action. 

Weight controls growth, so it is imperative that you handle reasonably heavy poundages. Note the type of weights that Larry Scott handles in his biceps training when using the preacher bench. 

Note: I've read things from a few people who, to put it simply, state this about Scott's training: 

His first rep is as tough as my last one. 

Use heavy poundages but for short periods of time so that you do not really tire. There is little point in developing great fatigue, especially when it is not necessary in order to develop muscle and possibly could retard muscle growth. So, that hard-assed sonuvabitch thinks he can screw me over? Fuck that! Get Whitey on the blower and tell 'im to bring the gun. So, that hard work over short periods produces an eventual assured gain. I kinda hope Whitey doesn't pick up the phone, don't you? 

The hypertrophy represents extra storage of nutritive material because of increased need, this additional material being deposited by an abundant blood supply. Extra demand requires extra supplies of food in the working muscle, hence the muscle gains in volume. The muscle then lays away an extra amount of energy in producing material in preparation for the extra demand to which it has become accustomed. Now in order to transport this material to the working muscle and to remove waste products an increased circulation is necessitated and this if brought about through the short rests between sets of exercise. 

Muscular hypertrophy is best produced by increasing the blood supply so greatly that the cells can assimilate large quantities of cell-building material, thus encouraging growth of the cell.

And so in order to stimulate muscle growth there must be movements of speed, of adequate poundages with frequent rests. You will find that your increases in size will be purely muscular since weight gains will not be necessary. 

A sample program follows

this not-word from our nonexistent sponsors

who would pay me to peddle some form of massive 

pump increasing pre-workout drink, these thick-walleted sponsors

if they did in fact exist 

would

create a channel 

and we'd produce spewing content

the likes of which no public toilet 

has ever seen, go where no plumber

has gone before, gain the holy grail of 

over one million subscribers and then 

sail off into the sunset on my yacht 

out there in the desert. A mirage of 

many John Waynes riding sandy seahorses 

would overtake the Minnow on her old starboard bow, 

so down and down and down we'd go through the molten 

gates of hell in its volcanic form, hot-yoga floating till we wound up 

at some silly blog reading some damned article about 

A Program to Increase Muscle Size

Which would be fine by me 

and them Dusty Desert Dukes. 

As an example muscle group, I'll use the biceps. Now remember, the movement must be performed quickly so select a weight that you can curl for 5 or 6 reps, also bearing in mind that good form must be utilized. There is no point, there is no point, there is no point, er, there is no point to choosing a weight so heavy that you must heave it up -- remember the muscle must work if the program is to be successful. 

After 5 or 6 reps you rest for a period of between five and six deep breaths and then commence the next set  of reps. Another rest of five or six deep breaths and then a 3rd set of 5-6 reps and then you take a five minute rest. 

Rested now? 

Okay.

At the end of the five minute break you begin another series, or set, of 3 sets as previously performed. The weight must be heavy enough to make the muscles work.

Although the biceps were used as an example and John Wayne never rode a seahorse (more's the shame), you will find that it can be applied to any muscle group. Also, be aware that proper rest and nutrition are of vast importance. Without careful attention to both the ultimate in gains may not be achieved. The actual growth of muscles takes place during rest so rest will be essential for complete recuperation from such training. The same applies to nutrition. Without proper food intake the muscles can be retarded in growth, thereby matching the minds of some lifters I've known, simply because they will lack the necessary elements to repair the tissue and to increase their growth. 

Another thought in respect to training is that muscles cannot be expected to respond to great increases in weight forced upon them. It would be advisable when increasing poundages to do so with very small increments. By adding too much weight you will find that your performance will suffer hence less actual work will be placed upon the muscles and the result being that you may not make the gains you could have with a smaller increase in resistance and good performance prevailing. 

Perhaps your present training schedule is not producing results for you. If so, why not try this system as it may well be worth your time and efforts. 

Enjoy Your Lifting!