More from Roger Eells, clickable:
Did it ever occur to you that an injured muscle
could be a blessing in disguise?
Most people look on illness as a major catastrophe but in my case I have found that in every instance of illness or injury I have come out, not the loser, but the winner.
I have learned something from each experience that can be acquired in no other way.
You can read books dealing with the experience of others but the warmth, the satisfaction, the knowledge of an existing infinite something that can be controlled by you is never known until you have really approached death and returned. It is . . .
The guy got hacked up by an airplane prop. Read the article linked
"I was given three lifetimes to live" or something along those lines up there.
You know the drill with inspiration from someone who came back from a horrific injury, I'm sure you know it already. Let's get to the training end of it . . .
But first
Sever facial trauma from a run-in with an aircraft propellor blade.
Odd how that tongue looks sexy, ain't it.
Well, ain't it just!
Actually, it's the face of a 21-year old fellow
who gave himself 100 I.U. of growth every day for a few months.
His physique is incredible.
Until a few weeks ago I felt that dumbbells were auxiliary instruments to be incorporated in barbell training. Their merits were manifold in my opinion when used in conjunction with a regular barbell routine, but I was shortly to learn, he writes a lot like S. McRobert, that they are entitled to a much better rating than that.
They have a place in the sun for themselves, and I am going to break down now and say that I have gotten results from the use of dumbbells the last few weeks that barbells have not given me over a period of years.
If you have not been using the dumbbells get them out now, and lay yourself out an arm and shoulder specialization routine (hence the article?). If you don't have them, beg, borrow, beseech, plead, grovel, grab, steal, pinch, pilfer or bloody well just buy a set immediately. The important thing is: don't get your leg sawn half off by an airplane, er, the important thing is don't put it off, get started now . . . today!
It was an injured muscle that called the true value of dumbbells to my attention. Paschall and I had been training quite regularly all summer in the back yard and we were in fairly good condition, but as is the way with all bone and muscle under too great a strain, they will let go occasionally (let go?). And that is what happened to my right deltoid while performing a two-hand snatch.
A rest of two weeks found it just as sore and stiff as the day it was injured. The following two weeks I trained with barbells in an attempt to work out the injury. My press, which had been 205 pounds, had dropped to 150. At the end of two weeks it was back to 170 but at a standstill. The shoulder was slightly stronger but every bit as sore.
To begin with I couldn't muscle out a 30-pound dumbbell with my right hand. It was necessary for several days to just press a dumbbell overhead and then let it ride down with no attempt being made to stop it at the shoulder height. Within the week I was doing 10 reps in the lateral movement for the deltoid. The other position had not bothered me so much.
Harry (Paschall), who has the finest deltoid of any man in the country and has been in that deplorable condition for the past twenty-five years, had a sprain in the anterior deltoid to work out. The soreness is not yet completely gone but it is much improved.
To begin we had a pair of 30, 40 and 50 pound dumbbells. As we gained in strength we have added a pair of 65, 85 and 100 pound bells; the 85's and 100's have 1-3/8" handles which gives the gripping muscles of the hand and forearm a good workout every time that are cleaned to the shoulders.
The 100-pound bells are quite a pull-in to the shoulders and if you don't think so make yourself up a pair and try it some time. Manger, the German Olympic champion, failed to clean a pair of them at Klein's Gym, when the German team were in the U.S. Not once, but five times. He cleaned them on the sixth attempt and then pressed them easily for six repetitions.
Johnny Terpak cleaned them the first attempt and pressed them twice while waving a small American flag tied on to his right foot. Manger pressed six repetitions a weight that was 119 pounds, less than his record in an overhead press. Terpak pressed twice a weight that was but 50 pounds less than his best in an overhead press with a barbell.
Reduce the total weight of the dumbbells and Klein could have closed up the gym, returned the next morning and Johnny would have still been going strong. Kidding aside, Johnny would surely have no trouble pressing such light weights (65 pounds in either hand . . . a comparable weight to Manger's 100-pounders) at least 20 to 25 times.
Of course you are interested in what you can get out of this specialization on a dumbbell routine, and I can tell you now that if you are willing to really extend yourself that you are in for just as great a surprise as I was.
A new man began exercising last week under my instructions in my private gym and was anxious to know how little he would have to work out in order to gain about 30 pounds and an inch in height. There is no doubt that he can gain 30 pounds and every chance that his height will increase but he isn't going to get results like that by wishing for them. His one chance is willing that he will reach the goal he has set for himself and then there can be no doubt but he will succeed. His great desire developed through willing his mind and body to cooperate to that end, will result in his interest increasing in scope until he is working with sufficient intensity to realize his goal.
Admittedly or not, this is the secret of success of every really successful body builder and weight lifter in the world today. They have first wished they had the attributes of a weight lifter or the beautiful body of a culturist interested in development. They have consciously or unconsciously fanned a spark of a wish into the flame of desire. Their imagination their day dreaming, or whatever you care to call it, has intensified the desire until they have willed they develop a body and strength that they have formed in their imagination.
When they begin to exercise the scene is already set for success. Each tiny gain in strength, each new swelling muscles acts as a bellows on the flame of desire. There is no satisfying our "future great" now; he begins to visualize success. He knows just what he wants, how much strength he expects to build, how large his muscles, and the deeds he expects to accomplish.
The result?
A Terlazzo, a Deutsch, a Terpak, a Sansone, a Stanko or any number of non-American lifters elsewhere and extraordinaire. Certainly no one who knows Terlazzo, positively the greatest lifter the world has ever seen and on and on here with the usual achieve anything, think positive, work hard deal we've all heard a million times too often.
Let us finally turn to the exercises for building big arms and shoulders, the best apparatus to be used in acquiring strength and development, and the weight and repetitions to be practiced.
The best exercises for developing the deltoids and associated muscular groups are the leverage movements, wherein the elbows are locked throughout the range of movement. There are a number of well known exercises such as to raise a pair of dumbbells from below to a point directly overhead; the lateral raise; the lifting of a pair of dumbbells out to the sides while leaning over in the rowing motion position. These three exercises reach the anterior, lateral and posterior positions of the deltoids.
Then there are the alternate movements of the same exercise that affect the muscles in a different manner, the practice of the pullover, especially when the weight is lifted from the thighs to overhead and back to straight-arm position behind the head, is a capital deltoid movement.
The flying movement while supine on a bench is splendid for the anterior, lateral, and posterior deltoids although it is generally thought of as a pectoral exercise.
The pressing of dumbbells overhead, together and alternately, can be depended upon to rapidly strengthen and develop the deltoids as well as triceps and biceps of the upper arm.
Direct biceps and forearm work can be obtained by practicing the various curls from all positions, and especially
I like the way they used the word "practicing" back then. Seeing yourself as practicing, every rep (including warmups), all sets . . . try it if you like . . . it has a definite impact on your workouts.
especially the Zottman exercise should be practiced two or three times during the workout. Note: this was written before multiple consecutive sets had become the standard way to train. Practice the bent press movement with fairly light weight, even if you are quite strong a 65-pound dumbbell should prove heavy enough if the exercise is performed correctly. The important part of the movement is to be sure that the weight is lowered with the elbow directly to the side and the dumbbell held out from the shoulder, flexing the latissimus strongly each time the weight is lowered.
By following such a program for three days a week, and on two days a week practicing leg work, you can be assured of rapid shoulder and arm growth. It may interest you to know that such a routine has increased the breadth of my shoulders 1-1/2 inches.
No mention as to the number of exercises to be used has been pointed out for the reason that some of you have longer experience than others, some have greater endurance or strength. You follow the advice given on desire, ambition, imagination, suggested earlier in this article and you will neither do too much nor too little.
That's a different way of giving set recommendations, isn't it.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
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