"Whenever I enter in a weight-lifting meet, it seems I always end up with a back muscle injury, mainly to the lower back and sometimes to the upper back around the shoulders. I am okay in training where I don't have to handle limit poundages. Can it be possible there is some fault in my training. A prominent coach says my strength as a whole isn't sufficient . . ."
". . . and in view of the above, would like to know what you consider the more important: training for Olympic lifting from the start, or laying the foundations by training first for strength and then perfecting my lifting style?"
The two letters quoted in part above, to my mind typify all that is wrong with the training of the beginner in competition lifting. So many of our youngsters start off straight into Olympic lifting without laying any strong FOUNDATIONS OF POWER.
The young untrained muscles are subjected to all sorts of unusual stresses and strains, and sometimes injuries are incurred that remain with the athlete until the end of his competition days and sometimes beyond.
I cannot too strongly point out that it is the height of folly to engage in any task, or aim for any goal without careful preparation.
So many of us regard the business of weight training as merely a hobby, a pastime for idle hours. There are, of course, others who take body building and lifting all too seriously and chatter long and loud of pecs, lats, traps and other abbreviations that do nothing but indicate how little they know and how much they have to learn.
It isn't a bit unusual that I received two letters containing within them questions requiring the same answer . . . POWER! We have the newcomer to lifting, bemoaning the fate of sore muscles, wondering why, and doing nothing about it. We have the enquiring novice, obviously intelligent, seeking truth, and refusing to take a step without knowing where he is going.
There is but one solution to the two problems confronting these men. The lifter should forget all about competition and embark AT ONCE on program of dead lifts and squats. The WOULD BE Olympic man must do the same.
Squats and dead lifts, despite the heap of abuse thrown at them from certain quarters, are the exercises that lay the foundations, the basic power. These are the lifts, the exercises, that pack the thighs and entire back with STRENGTH. It is useless for a would-be lifter to think of entering Olympic lifting unless he already HAS power of back and thigh.
And it is just as foolish for experienced men to exclude these squats and dead lifts from their training.
Both men, if they persist in neglecting these basic power-building exercises will be poorer lifters because of that neglect.
NO MAN CAN HOPE TO APPROACH HIS ULTIMATE UNLESS HE HAS A STRONG FOUNDATION ON WHICH TO BUILD.
The rise of American lifting can be traced and tied directly to the popularization of the Deep Knee Bend and actual POWER equipment that was the outcome of that popularization. There are plenty of authorities who are not inclined to agree with this statement but its truth cannot be denied, for the more bodybuilders who used it, the greater the number who suddenly realized their hidden powers, strength that was brought to the surface by the DKB.
Countless millions throughout the world will never know the debt of gratitude they owe to Mark H. Berry and Joseph Curtis Hise. These men pushed the deep knee bend. The squat, a lowly exercise, previously neglected and used only as another way of testing one's strength, became the God of Lifting with Hise and Berry as its prophets.
Henry Steinborn introduced the squat to America and "rocked" the weight across the shoulders and into position himself.
However, not every guy was as super a strongman as Henry and poundages were limited to what you could clean or "rock" across the shoulders.
Mark Berry . . .
. . . started to use two new developments . . . children of his fertile brain . . . the DEEP KNEE BEND STANDS and the BOUNCING SQUAT . . . and so was born the first of two POWER APPLIANCES . . . yet it remained for Joe Hise to put the basic principles of lifting into a formula that, applied by the strength athlete saw a vast and steady improvement in every branch of weight training! SPEED plus STYLE plus STRENGTH equal SUCCESSFUL LIFTING.
First build up your leg and back power and then get used to moving quickly with heavy weights.
Hise used the "bouncing" or "rebounding" deep knee bench, taking the weight off squat racks and employing a pause of three to six breaths between each squat. This enabled him to handle more weight and grind out more reps with a resulting increase in POWER. But the thighs and lower back were the main groups benefitting. The pulling muscles, the latissimus dorsi, the trapezius and the lower sections of the deltoids did not come in for much work.
Hise "invented" the Hopper . . .
. . . His research was thorough; his line of reasoning complete. Not only did he devise an apparatus that was of immense benefit, but he eliminated practically every drawback attached to "back exercise."
You will observe from the illustration that the weight is rested on two large pieces of timber and the back is at an angle of 90-degrees or greater. The weight is dead lifted first in the orthodox manner and then the remainder of the reps are performed stiff legged. The weight is dropped dropped forward and bounced off the timbers and the body brought to upright position again. The muscles of the entire back and shoulder girdle were immensely affected and weight trainers found themselves cleaning and snatching poundages that were previously beyond them.
Not only were the effects physical, but there were, in my opinion, definite psychological advantages. Limit cleans and snatches felt as wispy as a feather after handling 400-500 pounds in bouncing dead lifts continually, day after training day, and the weight trainer developed a contempt for snatching and cleaning poundages that were previously beyond him. No longer was there a mental block when it came to a question of a limit attempt or a snatch 10 or 15 pounds beyond his previous record. The barbell felt lighter than it ever than it had ever and the fact that poundages two to three times heavier had been handled with relative ease . . . in a different lift it is true . . . gave him great confidence.
The increased pulling power and strength of the lower back and upper thighs that came from the use of the hopper, combined with the thigh power developed from the deep knee bend, made all quick lift records soar as the years went by, and more and more bodybuilders entered the competitive lifting field.
It is of course true that lifting was bound to improve somewhat due to increased competition, yet this competition was the DIRECT outcome of the INCREASE in numbers of MUCH MORE POWERFUL weight trainers.
Yet the hopper still did not exploit the full possibilities of Power Apparatus. Altho it deeply affected the back and shoulder girdle . . . built up pulling power . . .
. . . in positions where weights were held overhead. In other words, the apparatus wasn't a comprehensive one in that it could NOT be used in ALL types of power movements.
Another important advance was made with the advent of the HARVEY MAXIME BAR. In this power apparatus, two bars stand upright, joined by another running between them.
This bar can move up and down the upright ones on whose base barbell plates are fitted. Thus all types of squats could be used, from the deep knee bend (a.k.a. full squat) to half- and quarter-squats, as well as the type in which the weight is held across the front of the shoulders (front squat).
All types of deadlifts could also be used from the regular position where the weight was required to be lifted just off the ground, because of the position of the lifter approaching a near upright stance.
It could also be used in overhead work.
Few people realized the enormous potential is contained . . . they are simply immense and I personally regard the Harvey Maxime Bar as one of the greatest advances ever made in weight training. The terrific scope of this apparatus will one day be marked as historic. It is a great pity that the originator never was given the acclaim that was justly and rightfully his.
There is an objection the the Harvey Maxime Bar . . . COST! At the moment the bar is a little too expensive. In the illustration below, and the one up top . . .
I give a "cheap" version of the Harvey Bar. You will see that all you need are two lengths of chain, each length equal to the height of the exerciser with arms stretched straight overhead, four collars, and four chain shackles. Ah hell, here's a couple more illustrations . . . I used a similar simple setup so I could lift overhead in a place with a low-ish ceiling. Be the first bright-boy on your block to mention that the plates will, yes, move about somewhat while hanging from the chains. Duh, yep. You is oh so smart!
The shackle should be big enough to pass through the link of chain and then allow the bar to be passed through the shackle itself. The shackle is then put on the bar and kept in place by the collars. Another shackle is clamped onto the end link of the chain AFTER it has been threaded through what plates are required for the exercise.
The height of the bar from the ground can be regulated by unscrewing the shackle and taking it so many links of the chain down. This apparatus, simple and crude it is true, has all the values of the Harvey Bar and none of its monetary disadvantages.
The uses to which such an apparatus can be put are practically without limit. It can be used for squats, holding heavy poundages overhead at arms' length, all types of dead lifts, power presses - both standing and supine varieties - jerk exercises, second pull developers and a host of other power movements. No gymnasium should be without it. It is cheap, easy to construct and the manifold weightlifting blessings it can confer on the owner are worth a million times the cost of it and other kindred expensive equipment.
I venture to say that once this equipment is installed in any gymnasium and used, the totals of EVERY lifter in the place will jump 15-40 pounds in the first three months.
Next month I will start a basic power series. This will be short, informative and will embrace the hopper and the basic power bar as described.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
One of the other huge facts about Hise was early on he figured out that putting a bow in the barbell made the squatting experience a thousand times more user friendly. Not only is it easier on the shoulders but the bar is far less likely to roll down your back.
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