Amalgamate is defined as “merging into a single body.” The Purposefully Primitive training amalgamation is not a merging of all methods into a single body, rather our amalgamation is the steady rotation of Master methods. Instead of throwing all the Iron Methods of all the Iron Masters into the equivalent of a philosophic blender to create a single diluted hybrid, our amalgamation is of a different flavor. We respect each approach and each method as if it were an amazing ethnic dish served at a gourmet restaurant.
We amalgamate by alternating methods or by slight modification. Each Method of each Master offers a splendid tactical template for use at different times during your resistance training career. One Purposefully Primitive tenet is that all systems eventually cease delivering results. When stagnation eventually and inevitably occurs we need to be ready with another equally effective resistance training regimen that contrasts dramatically to the approach being used.
When constructing a resistance training regimen, so much depends on the amount of training time you have available. Too often the individual feels that only having a few days a week to train is not enough to trigger progress. That is factually inaccurate. If you train hard enough, two or three days per week will work. In fact several of the Iron Masters purposefully limit training to two days a week.
I have devised five distinctive training templates, each based on available time. The templates range from 2 days per week to 6 days per week. In my studied opinion all five templates should be used at some point, regardless your level of proficiency. Each template uses a Master’s Method as its architectural base structure. I have retained the essential essence gleaned from the Masters and made a few modifications. For example, Chaillet and Cassidy each used a two day per week training template. Feel free to use the Master’s exact template as specified in the Iron Master’s section. I have constructed a studied amalgamation. Use the exact method or use my modest modification.
The wonderful thing about resistance training is that poundage can be adjusted; a beginner can perform the exact routine used by Dorian Yates or Bob Bednarski, albeit with 1/10 the poundage. Regardless the workout choice, follow the rules: start light and build technique as this will keep you safe. 90% of weight training injuries are attributable to two causes; too much poundage or straying outside the technical boundaries of the lift. Use realistic poundage for the rep range that you select.
Sync up the resistance training method with the goal. Are you seeking to add muscle? Use an intensity-biased method. Are you seeking to reduce body fat? Use a volume-biased approach. Place the goal into a periodized training template. Start off light and easy as this allows acclimatization to the workload while perfecting techniques and creating critical momentum. The biggest mistake rookies make is to start the periodization cycle off too heavy. Start the process off below capacity and end above capacity. A periodized approach requires you commit for 6-12 weeks. The sole goal of progressive resistance training is to build and strengthen muscle. Reverse engineer a training program that fits the realities of your life. Answer three key questions and you can construct a customized training regimen.
1. What are your realistic goals? Add muscle? Reduce body fat?
2. How many days do you have to dedicate to training?
3. What length periodization timeframe can you commit to?
Once you have decided on a goal and determined the number of training days you have available, select an appropriate training template. Determine a timeframe and break the long term goal down into weekly benchmarks. Systematically achieve the weekly goals and arrive at the predetermined final destination. For example; if you want to add muscle and have three days per week to train, you might decide to use my amalgamated 3-day training template. You might decide to commit for 10 weeks. Perhaps your goal is to add 10 pounds of muscle in ten weeks. Each week you push your bodyweight up one pound; each week you grow slightly bigger and stronger. The mass building periodized template starts off with higher reps and lighter weight. Each successive week, poundage is increased. The “lean-out” procedure is the mirror-image reverse. The 10-week mass building periodization plan stair-steps ever upward until you arrive at a series of predetermined final goals. Each week you improve poundage used and this steady increase in strength gains converts into steady increases in muscle mass.
To recap: determine if you want to add muscle or lean out. Pick one. Determine how many days you have to train. Select a weight training template that syncs up with your available days. Devise a 6 to 12 week periodization plan. Start with the desired end goal and work backwards to the start date, establishing small weekly benchmarks for each lift and for bodyweight. Lifting performance needs to be nudged upward weekly, in some manner or fashion. We synchronize nutrition and cardiovascular exercise with resistance training to accelerate progress. Regardless the selected direction (add muscle, lose fat) rest assured that if you abide by the precepts and principles, if you generate the requisite training intensity, the body has no choice, but to accede to your self-imposed biologic imperatives.
Now that you have been introduced to the ten Iron Masters and their individualistic training systems, a recap could be beneficial: do any of the various approaches appeal to you? People have likes and dislikes and often being exposed to a new way in which to train infuses the individual’s efforts with wild enthusiasm.
Progressive resistance training taught at local health clubs and YMCAs is uniformly boring, standardized and ineffectual. Round pegs (clients) are routinely jammed into square holes using cookie-cutter resistance programs that just don’t work. The typical health club or YMCA offers pabulum resistance training programs that are a complete waste of time. Know-nothing “trainers” instruct wide-eyed clients how to perform meaningless exercises that produce zero results. There is no point in having trainees perform sub-maximal sets, particularly using inferior exercise machines. The intensity generated is insufficient to trip the hypertrophy trigger. The reason we lift weights is to grow muscle and become stronger—Period! There is no other physiological reason or rationale.
To compound the inanity of using sub-maximal training routines, personal trainers never change the blasé exercise menu. They don’t know any other way to train. This is analogous to being forced to eat a diet of one bland meal comprised of the same insipid food every day. We offer a gourmet resistance training menu representing different disciplines, regions and cultures. There are three types of advanced weight training: bodybuilding, powerlifting and Olympic lifting. Let us open our eyes and hearts to the broad world of resistance possibilities. Regardless the system selected, you need to train with requisite intensity. To trigger hypertrophy, gut-busting physical effort is required. Accept and embrace the inconvenient necessity of progressive resistance.
1. The elite use free weights to near exclusion
From Anderson to Yates, all the Iron Masters make barbells and dumbbells their weapon of choice because they are superior tools. The very rawness of hoisting barbells and dumbbells is what makes them so effective for muscle and strength building. Smooth and efficient is not nearly as good as crude and difficult when the name of the game is triggering hypertrophy. Free weights trump mimicking machines every single time and in every single instance.
2. Sessions are centered on core compound multi-joint exercises
The Iron Elite start off every training session with one of the core compound multi-joint exercises. These exercises force groups of muscles to work together in synchronous fashion to complete the assigned muscular task. The synchronized interaction between contiguous muscles actually amplifies muscular results by allowing muscle overload. Large, sweeping exercises allow individual muscles to exceed individual capacity: their neighbors pitch in to help. Perform isolation exercises after the lead multi-joint exercise. Performing an isolation movement prior to performing the compound multi-joint exercise sabotages strength available for the multi-joint movement. Avoid pre-fatigue.
3. Sessions are intense
Master resistance trainers know that in order for muscle growth to occur, and muscle strength to increase, the targeted muscle must be stressed in some manner or fashion. Unless some element of stress is present, the adaptive response will not be triggered. Muscle fiber does not thicken and strengthen in response to sub-maximal effort. However, stress sufficient enough to trigger the adaptive response can take many forms: multiple “top sets,” one top set, high reps, low reps…ad infinitum.
4. Sessions are short
If the resistance trainer is working hard enough to trip the adaptive response, muscles are traumatized and fatigued. While more experienced elite resistance trainers are able to go longer and harder than people new to weight training, even the elite recognize that after an hour or so of intense training, a point of diminishing returns sets in and further training is not only fruitless, but counterproductive. Pearl is the exception: he uses extended training that could be called a version of 3rd Way cardio training. By purposefully extending workouts he amps-up the cumulative stress effect.
5. Shocked and traumatized muscles need to be rested before training them again
When a muscle is trained properly, using effective resistance procedures, the muscles are traumatized, decimated, torn down. To subject that muscle to intense stress before it has recovered from the initial pounding is counterproductive and disruptive to the recuperation/adaptation/growth cycle. Rest is critical. Avoid genuine overtraining.
6. Technical proficiency is sought in all exercises
There are beneficial and detrimental techniques connected with every progressive resistance exercise. Different motor-pathways elicit different muscular results. Rep speed, length of stroke and attention to technical execution need to be factored in and mulled over prior to and during each and every set. Exercise techniques need to be refined and honed over time. Eventually signature techniques unique to the body structure of the trainee are developed.
Let us be clear on what a sensible progressive resistance program will and will not do: a sensible weight training program builds and strengthens the 600-plus muscles of the human body. Weight training alone will not make you leaner, nor will it melt off stored body fat. The caloric cost of weight training is insignificant when compared to sustained cardiovascular exercise. A torrid weight training session lasting 45 minutes might burn off 200 to 300 calories, depending upon the size of the trainee. Resistance training, with its rest periods and uneven exertions, is not a particularly effective calorie oxidizer. Even cardiovascular exercise is too often overestimated as a calorie burner. Tooling along at a heart-pounding, 15 calorie per minute pace, even after 30 minutes the trainee has only burned 450 calories; the exact caloric content of a medium size order of McDonald’s French fries.
The profound purpose of proper resistance training is two-fold: trigger muscle growth and increase strength levels. Nothing else should be sought or expected.
A nice metabolic bump does occur after an intense weight training session. Intensely trained muscles will generate a thermogenic effect that lasts for hours after the cessation of the session. The body’s thermostat is effectively turned up; additional calories are required to feed the metabolically activated muscles. In this post-workout state, the body burns calories at an accelerated rate as energy demands are ratcheted upward. The famished body demands fuel: so feed it after training. If preconditions are right, the body will burn fat as fuel.
The purpose of resistance training is to trigger hypertrophy, build muscle and increase muscular strength. When a person new to resistance training begins using a sensible weight training program, when they follow the correct procedures, triggering hypertrophy is relatively easy. Lyle McDonald stated in The Ketogenic Diet that every new pound of muscle requires 30 to 40 additional calories per day to survive. Ten pounds of new muscle will burn off 400 additional calories per day, the caloric equivalent of a 40 minute cardio session. From Scientific American Magazine,
“Skeletal muscle is the most abundant tissue on the human body and also one of the most adaptable. Vigorous training with weights can double or triple a muscle’s size…a muscle can become more massive only when its individual fibers become thicker.”
By subjecting muscle fiber to external stress, systematically and repeatedly, the fibers thicken in order to cope with the imposed stress. The end result, over time, is that the stressed muscle becomes thicker, larger—and stronger. Experience has shown that certain resistance training procedures are incredibly effective at causing muscle fiber to thicken and strengthen. The Iron Master section illuminates the methodology of the World’s greatest resistance trainers. Each attacked their respective situation using widely divergent strategies and procedures; yet when we step back and search for commonalities, we find many among our Iron Masters; the reason being that each respective method is rooted in science and biology.
Here is another Purposefully Primitive tenet: Certain exercises done in certain ways using certain tools and exerting certain intensities invariably produce certain results. There are key core exercises that have been proven to be superbly effective at building and strengthening muscles. You can find these key core exercises (or subtle variations) in all the training templates of all the Iron Masters. This is profound and a signal that you too should include these exercises in your resistance training template. Certain exercises done in certain ways can be used by regular individuals to elicit extraordinary results. The Masters have identified these effective exercises and training tactics.
Building muscle and strength has been made overly complex by a fitness industry dedicated to selling exercise equipment. Truth be known, there are nine basic free weight exercises that can and will deliver all the results a serious individual can expect from a progressive resistance routine. There are a half dozen or so additional auxiliary free weight exercises that are legitimate variations on the nine core exercises.
You need only a barbell, dumbbells, a sturdy exercise bench that inclines and a primitive set of squat racks. A safety power rack is needed by intermediate and advanced trainees that train alone. Effective muscle and strength building is a raw, brutal undertaking and anyone who tells you different either doesn’t know what they are talking about or are trying to sell you a product.
The Iron Masters know that the diligent use of a basic free weight program, done consistently, will deliver more results than any other muscle building/strength-infusing system known to man. Further, there are certain key exercises that rise to the top of all advanced trainers’ regimens: key lifts, or close variations, repeatedly appear and these lifts should form the structural backbone of every effective resistance program.
In our Purposefully Primitive approach, the nine key exercises are sub-divided into three tiers: on the top tier are the three most important free weight exercises: the squat, bench press and deadlift. The 2nd tier is occupied by the overhead press, curl and triceps press. The 3rd tier contains the Romanian deadlift, single leg calf raise and abdominal exercise. These nine exercise and their related variations will provide an infinite number of training possibilities and a lifetime of study.
I have new trainees work up to 50 free weight squats without poundage before I allow them to transition to plate squats. After all, if you can’t do a proper weightless squat, how will you be able to do a correct one holding a heavy plate, much less a barbell perched precariously on your back? Assume a shoulder width stance, inhale, break the knees, push the butt rearward; knees out as you descend and ascend. Maintain a bolt upright torso. Knees are not allowed to travel forward out over toes. Descend with tension and precision, squat deep then arise explosively.
The plate squat is an interim step. The trainee clutches a plate to their chest as they squat. (Photo 1) Observe all the free weight squat rules: sit back—not down! (Photo 2) Spread the knees and keep knees pinioned out throughout. The knees are not allowed to travel forward out over the toes. Keep the knees over the ankles. Inhale mightily on the way down; exhale while arising.
After mastering free weight and plate squats, graduate to the barbell. Never allow the hips to rise up to get a squat moving upward: the butt must stay under the torso as you push upward. Stay upright, head back. Do not let the torso bend forward as you rise up. This technical flaw, leaning forward as you arise, turns the great thigh exercise into a potentially injurious exercise. Stance width makes a huge difference in the muscular effect. A wide stance with an upright torso isolates the quads. A legal depth narrow stance squat requires great hip flexibility and cause thighs, glutes and hamstrings to share the workload.
Shallow squats are worthless squats. For maximum effectiveness try pause squats. Pause squats are terrific for ingraining proper technique: use less poundage, squat down, stay upright, pause at the bottom position for 1-5 seconds. Push up on the heels, not the toes. Pauses work great on any stance width.
Some beginners cannot do a single bench press with the lightest dumbbells. Find a sturdy support 3-4 feet off the ground. Stand three feet away, extend the arms and keep the body straight. Lower to the support. (Photo 2) Push back up while keeping the body rigid. The lower down the push-surface the more difficult the upward push. Three sets of however many reps you can do, three times a week. Lower the surface when you can perform 3 sets of 12 reps. On alternate days shift grip width between wide and narrow.
(not shown) Dumbbell bench pressing forces each arm to carry its fair share. Sit upright on an exercise bench, pull two dumbbells, thumb up, close to the torso, lay back and rotate the arms outward. Allow the bells to settle and stretch downward. Push them up while exhaling. Lock the elbows completely. Inhale on the descent and allow the bells to stretch the shoulder girdle downward at the bottom. Lower with control, push explosively, pause every rep Fantano style. The path of the dumbbells arcs slightly rearward, ending over top of the eyes.
Lower the bar to just below the pectoral muscles. The wider the grip the more pectoral used. (Photos 1 thru 3) A medium width grip causes the muscular stress to be distributed among pecs, front delts and triceps. The narrow grip (Photos 4 thru 6) stresses front delts and most particularly, the triceps. Pause poundage on the chest, regardless the chest exercise, before firing the weight to lockout. Pausing bench press reps forces far more muscle fiber to fire than bouncing a barbell off the chest to create momentum; momentum means muscle fiber gets a free ride. Take the momentum out of the bench press; pause barbell bench presses using all the different width grips. Synchronize a gigantic inhalation with the lowering of the bar. Pause and on a full breath use compensatory acceleration to explode the barbell upward.
The easiest deadlift to learn is the sumo deadlift. Think of the Sumo deadlift as a reverse squat. Use the same stance that you use in your wide stance squats. Never bend over to pick up a deadlift, squat down to grasp to bar.
Note Chuck’s takeoff position: he freezes in this position, generates muscle tension and breaks the bar from the floor by pushing downward with the legs. He maintains his upright torso throughout, no matter what! This is the key technical point to the Sumo. Those with good flexibility can start with an empty bar or pair of light dumbbells. A kettlebell can make an ideal sumo deadlift implement. Keep the knees over the ankles when pushing upward and when lowering the barbell. Keep the hips under the shoulders at all times! Lower with tension, precision and control. No bouncing off the floor between reps. At the top of each rep exhale. Inhale mightily on the descent. Done properly, the thighs are stressed, not the lower back.
If the back hurts after a session you are bending over, not squatting down. Bad technique!
Stand over top of a loaded barbell. Look down; you should be able to see your toes under the bar. Set feet 8 to 15 inches between heels. Every muscle on the back is tensed. The spine is kept rigid as you squat back and down.
Squat down until you can grasp the barbell with a shoulder width grip. The eyes look up. Using leg power alone, break the weight from the floor. The bar travels up the vertical shins, staying in continual contact with the shins and thighs before achieving lock-out. The pull commences when the shoulders are directly over the bar in the lowest position. Pull upward in a straight line to completion. Lower the bar without losing any muscular tension. Quietly touch the weights on the floor before instantly reversing direction to begin the next rep.
Tension ensures precision and control. The spine and the muscles of the back stay arched, tight and upright at all times. Never, ever allow the butt to rise up as you start a rep. The butt is kept under the torso. Keep the shoulders over the bar throughout the pull.
There are three distinct overhead press variations. Each one can be done standing or seated: the barbell press, the dumbbell press and the press behind the neck (PBN). In the standing overhead barbell and dumbbell press, power clean a weight to the shoulders, lean back ever so slightly, lock the legs and freeze the back. Now push upward as close to the face as possible. Use a shoulder width grip. In the PBN, set the loaded bar in the squat rack, shoulder it and step back. Use a wide grip, same as the wide grip bench press. Press the weight overhead. Be careful to not bonk the back of your skull. Lower to the hairline or ear lobes before pushing upward. Use standing and seated versions for variety. Always lock the elbows fully and completely. Hold the top position for a full second. Lower slowly and with great control. Push explosively!
Keep the elbows back regardless of what curl variation you select. Don’t turn curls, a terrific biceps exercise, into half-ass deltoid front raises. Most trainees allow the elbows to move forward as they curl. This makes the curl easier; the biceps calls on its neighbor, the deltoid, to help lift the poundage. Isolate the biceps by keeping the elbows back. Alternately, uses pads or braces that immobilize the upper arm: preacher bench, spider curl bench, any of the various curl machines.
Utilize different arc paths using barbell and dumbbell curls. Try curls done close to the body, curls angled out from the body. The trainee will be able to isolate the inner or outer biceps head by honing isolative curl techniques. This is not a compound multi-joint exercise! Feel the biceps contracting as you are performing the curl; avoid using the front deltoids to lift the weight. Curls have a nearly limitless number of variations. The name of the game is making the mind/muscle connection with the target muscle. “Feel” the biceps work as the rep is happening. Muscle contraction is only achieved with fierce concentration.
Triceps extensions are an isolation exercise and can be done standing, seated or lying. They can be done with one or two dumbbells, or a single barbell. Using a very narrow 4-6 inch overhand grip, palms facing up, push a light barbell, dumbbell or pair of dumbbells overhead. Stabilize the upper arms. Once the upper arms are immobilized and frozen, lower the poundage until the triceps is stretched. (See photo)
Allow the poundage to stretch downward, behind the head. When the lowered weight has bottomed out, push upward, and do not allow the lower arms to shift or sway or try and find some better push position. Freeze the lower arms and use triceps power alone to push the poundage from the stretched position to complete lock out. You will feel the triceps contract intensely as the upward push is occurring. Smoothly lower and raise the lower arm. The smooth upward push culminates in a full and complete elbow lock. Tense the triceps hard in the completed position before lowering. Looking at the lift from afar, only the forearms move.
The Romanian deadlift is traditionally done while holding a barbell and is a spinal erector exercise. Our version is done holding a single barbell plate and is a hamstring isolation exercise without peer. This is the most intense and effective of all hamstring exercises and is difficult to describe. Done with improper technique, this exercise disintegrates into a worthless, sub-maximal erector exercise.
Assume a Sumo deadlift stance and stand erect holding a plate. (Not shown) Break forward at the hip joint while maintaining a tight arched back. Lean forward, (photo 1&2) descending slowly. Allow the poundage to pull the torso downward. The hip joint is the fulcrum. At the lowest point, exhale all remaining air. This allows the poundage to pull the torso downward another 3-6 inches. Rise up slowly, very slowly. Use the HAMSTRING POWER ALONE to come erect. Feel the hamstring struggle to ratchet the torso into final lockout position. Slow-motion is the key to the effectiveness of this exercise. You will feel a stretch in the hamstrings lowering to the bottom position. You feel an intense hamstring contraction while arising.
Seated or standing, there are a couple tricks of the trade worth sharing. First, periodically alter toe positions: heels flared out and toes pointed inward, rise up onto the outer portion of the foot. Toes pointed straight ahead rise up onto the middle of the foot. Heels close and toes are turned out, rise up onto the inside ball of the foot. Always commence each rep from a totally stretched position. At the top of each rep hold the completed position, high on the toes, for several seconds.
High reps work best for both calves and forearms. Sets of fifteen to fifty reps are used to attack the dense tissue of the calf. Our selected ultra-basic calf raise is the single-leg calf raise done on a step holding a dumbbell.
There are a million abdominal exercises and lots of people have favorites. Essentially you have upper abs, lower abs and external oblique, side muscles. We like the decline sit-up and per usual have some trade tricks: note Chuck’s toes are barely held in place by a thin rail. This way he is unable to push upward with thigh flexion and take stress off the frontal abs. The exaggerated ROM with the head-below-shoulders start position makes the first 1/3rd of this exercise the most difficult. We hold our arms overhead to make the difficult more difficult. Initially do these with arms crossed on the chest. These can also be done holding a barbell plate.
Sit back all the way, until the back of the head touches the bench pad, that’s you signal to come erect—but slowly—roll up one vertebra at a time. This is another continuous tension isolation exercise. Start each rep from a dramatically twisted position and blast the external oblique muscle. Lower slowly to the other side, twisted that direction. Touch the shoulder and while maintaining the twist, power erect. The slo-mo decline sit-up is excruciatingly effective.
This is a fabulous exercise; next to back squats, the second best leg exercise known to man. Load a barbell on the squat rack, step under the poundage using front squat hand position. (Photo 1) Break the bar from the squat rack, step backwards and set the feet in a back squat stance. Now take a huge breath and squat down. Upon breaking the knees, push the butt rearward while maintaining an upright torso. (Photos 2&3) The stance is wide enough to allow you to squat deep. Squat flat-footed and maintain balance. The thigh stimulation is incredible, even using light poundage. The movement is very similar to the front squat holding a plate.
The trick is to squat deep while maintaining flat-footed balance. Inhale as you descend and exhale as you come erect. When your set is done, simply return the bar to the squat rack. Wrist ache will pass, the wrists loosen up eventually.
This is a good hamstring stimulator made better by using a few Old School technical tricks. Our variation is the excruciating “slow start leg curl with full pull-though.” Sounds like a dish at a gourmet restaurant. Leverage is extremely good for the first 4-6 inches of a leg curl rep. The trainee can generate an explosion at the start of a leg curl and fling the poundage upward to completion. By using a violent start you can create and ride the momentum to completion. We purposefully use a slow start that eliminates momentum. Suddenly the payload seems four times heavier—which is exactly what we want. Another tip: push the hips into the bench pad as you pull on the weight. The natural inclination is to let the hips rise up during the pull. This makes the leg curl easier—which is exactly what we don’t want. We want harder! Slash poundage, use the slow start; push the hips downward into the bench.
We could rename the incline dumbbell press, The Irish Pat Casey Press or the Italiano Fantano press. Both men could push 200 pound dumbbells for a half dozen paused reps.
We expropriate Ken’s incline technique: make sure the lower back adheres to the 45 degree bench pad at all times. Please do not turn inclines into flat benches by bridging upward when the rep gets rough, thereby turning an incline into a flat bench. Pause the weight on the chest on every rep and hold an ultra-flexed lockout for 1-2 seconds before lowering for the next rep. Ken demanded the bells be touched together at the conclusion of each rep. (Photo 3)
Push on an upward motor pathway using a barely discernable rearward arc. At the start of the push, the elbows are under the payload. Explode the poundage upward, using compensatory acceleration, i.e., push as fast as possible through ever inch of the concentric phase. Push up, slightly back and inward. Bump the bells at the top. Feel the upper pecs contract when pushing to completion.
Many dip variations: one can be done between two benches. (photo 1) The between-bench dip is the easiest because you are dipping with less than your full bodyweight. Dip deep, slump forward, relax and stretch in the bottom. Then power upwards to complete elbow lock-out. Hold lock-out for two full seconds, flex the triceps to the point of cramping. A partner can set a plate on your lap to increase resistance. Standard dips use fixed bars. For triceps, dips can be lowered until the upper arms are parallel to the floor. Free weight dips done deep work pecs while weighted dips are the Mac Daddy. Master bench dips before progressing to “regular” and finally, weighted dips.
Don’t let dumbbell flyes morph into some weird combination of flye and dumbbell bench press. A proper flye is done with pristine technique and (relatively) light weight. Poundage needs to be light thus allowing the arms and especially the hands to be held wide as possible while the weight is raised and lowered.
Arnold called himself “A master of flyes” and described the correctly performed flye, “You should feel as if you were hugging a giant tree.” Raise the arms upward slowly keeping the hands flung wide. Lift the bells using pec power alone. Continual tension flyes allows complete pec isolation. The bottom stretch is critical: allow the bells to pull the arms downward: lift with pecs alone!
Technically tricky, this is an outstanding overall back developer. The power clean is the second best of all back exercises, next to the deadlift. The PC blasts traps, spinal erectors, teres, lats and rhomboids.
Use a shoulder width stance and shoulder width grip. Squat down in a conventional deadlift start position. Now pull a light barbell upward in one fluid motion. (Photo 1) The barbell is pulled straight up. Use a weight that you can pull to shoulder height for 10 reps easily. At the pulls peak, snap the wrists under, catching the barbell on the shoulders. (Photo 2) Stand erect cradling the bar. (Photo 3) This is one rep. Flip the bar off the shoulders and replace it on the floor. Begin the second rep immediately using a tight, flexed, flat, arched back. The bar travels upward in a straight line, always and forever the shortest distance between two points. The optimal starting pull position, be it power clean, high pull or deadlift, commences with shins as near vertical as possible. The barbell is never jerked at the start; apply power slowly at the takeoff and accelerate as the bar moves upward. Go up on the toes to add height. Elite lifters jump down and under and splay the feet outward, catching the barbell in a splendid iron ballet worthy of emulation. Lower the bar to the platform using great restraint and control.
A poor lifter bounces and crashes his reps off the floor while the elite lifter’s plates touch in near silence. This is a technique lift so please work on precision, speed and position using modest poundage.
This is a terrific lat builder, but alas, performed improperly (no lat isolation) rows are worthless. In Photo 1, Chuck’s barbell is actually being held an inch off the ground; he has “frozen” his torso position. He will pull the bar to the chest maintaining this position throughout the set. Rows can be “arm pulled” instead of “back pulled.” From the dead hang, pull the bar upward and touch the stomach. The torso stays parallel to the floor throughout. Do not dip and heave from the hip joint to get the bar moving—that makes the lift easier and we want to make the lift harder. With a torso frozen and immobile, pull the bar to the chest using the back instead of the arms.
Another key technical point: pull back and up with the elbows, not the biceps. This causes the target muscles, the upper and lower latissimus dorsi to activate. Try to hold the bar on the chest for a split second before lowering: this creates further contractions. Heaving upward from the waist to start each rep turns a great lat exercise into a so-so erector exercise. Grip widths can be altered to create different muscular effects: try a wide 32 inch grip and lighter poundage. Alter under-grip width.
Weight training twice a week is the bare minimum. Even in the primordial world of the Purposeful Primitive, twice a week is the least amount of training required for a serious effort.
Our amalgamated template for twice-a-week training is super simplistic: perform the three 1st Tier core lifts or their close variations twice a week. A beginner would perform three sets of each. Advanced trainees might want to add “back-off sets.” This routine is the barest of the bare and must be executed with sufficient intensity. This routine can be extremely productive. It is a result-producing legitimate strength approach that is the absolute best entry-level program for a beginner.
It can be amped-up for advanced trainees by adding the Hugh Cassidy “Hallmark Backoff Sets.” Then barebones basic becomes brutal. To incorporate back-off sets, work up to the top set then slash the poundage by 25% and perform three static sets. If you are a serious trainer experiencing burnout, twice-a-week training is a great way to rejuvenate. Often, advanced men train so often their training loses its effectiveness. Twice a week squat/bench/deadlift only training is a great way to cut back yet stay serious. Cassidy’s expanded version turns barebones into an Iron Inferno. Minimalist routines are wonderfully remedial for chronic burnout.
For a beginner, performing the three lifts exclusively twice a week is ideal. Total homage is paid to learning, really learning proper technique in the three most important exercises in all of resistance training: squat, bench press, deadlift.
This is iron immersion: you repeatedly practice at tugging and pushing on ever increasing poundage and become exceedingly proficient at the squat, bench press and deadlift. What a fabulous base, what a terrific progressive resistance foundation on which to construct all future efforts. This routine is ideal for someone with limited time and each session can be completed in 30 minutes (or less) by a beginner. The truly strong might need an hour. If you have a crazy work schedule or hectic life situation, this is for you.
Mark Chaillet squatted and bench pressed on Monday and deadlifted on Thursday, working up to a single rep in each lift. That was it! He used this approach to deadlift 880 and squat 1,000. Beginners should perform three sets of 10 repetitions in the squat, bench press and deadlift twice weekly. A good rule of thumb is on the first set, use 50% of the final poundage. If you intend to work up to 100 pounds for 10 repetitions on the third and final squat set, the poundage menu would break out as follows…set #1, 50 pounds for 10 repetitions; Set #2, 75 pounds for 10 repetitions; Set #3, 100 pounds for 10 repetitions. Use the 50% 75% 100% poundage approach for all three lifts.
Advanced men can add back-off sets: if you were to bench 405x5 on the top set, the backoff sets would be 345x8 (85% of 405) for the three static sets. Advanced trainees need more sets. A 650 deadlifter might go 135/255/345/455/545 before 585x5 on the top set of the day. Peck and I used four 4-week cycles: 8 rep top set, then 5, then 3 with back-off sets of 10, 8 and 5 for 3 sets.
The three day a week Purposefully Primitive amalgamated training template is the last of the routines wherein the entire body is blasted, head to toe, in the same session. I used this template successfully for the first five years of my own lifting career. This approach is classic: I got it from the Mac McCallum and Bill Starr in ancient Strength & Health Magazines.
A three day a week routine always works well for athletes involved with competitive sports as it allows plenty of time for other athletic activities. The stronger you get, the longer it will take to get through this “Big Man” Routine. You will need a couple days to recover. Then you hit it again. In the three day a week training regimen, add Tier II exercises: standing overhead press, barbell curl and triceps press/extension, to the existing menu of Tier I Exercises. Periodize the squats, bench presses, deadlifts and overhead pressing. No need to cycle arms. This approach works phenomenally well for intermediate lifters, athletes involved in other sports, and serious fitness devotees. If you don’t feel blasted, you’re not exerting enough. You need to sustain the effort from the beginning until the end of the workout.
Anybody can kick ass on the 1st exercise of a routine, but whose ass is being kicked on the third set of the 5th exercise? This routine is a lot of work; beginners should complete it in 45 minutes or less. Advanced men—who are stronger and who need more time to get up to that all-out top set—might need 60-75 minutes. This is at the outer limits of muscular endurance. Always do arms last! We begin using core exercise variations.
Beginners: 3 sets of 8 reps progressive: 1st set, 50%, 2nd set, 75%, 3rd set 100%
Advanced Trainees: Note that we incorporate our exercise variations and options. Instead of regular squats three times a week, perform squats, pause squats and front squats. Dumbbell bench presses make for a terrific bench variation. Switch from sumo deadlifts to Romanian to conventional deadlifts. Use seated dumbbell press, incline curls and overhead dumbbell triceps presses. Dips are a fabulous triceps exercise.
A word about periodizing for advanced trainees: in a classical 12 week periodization cycle, the cycle is broken down into three 4 week cycles. Week 1-4 try working up to an allout set of 8, in week 5-8 work up to all-out set of 5 reps and in week 9-12 hit triples. If you are reverse periodizing, looking to lean out, try starting off with 6 rep sets, jump to 8s and end with 12s. Again, this is a tough routine and young aggressive testosterone-laden men will make excellent gains. It is important to smart bomb with a protein/carb shake after training to replenish the traumatized body. By using basic exercises and their close variations this template hits muscles from slightly different angles and eliminates boredom.
If you engage in serious progressive resistance training long enough you become stronger. Biological fact: if you train the way we tell you, you will make size and strength gains.
Basically, when your strength reaches a certain point, whole body routines take too long. The exercises at the end of the elongated whole body routine invariably suffer. What good is it to handle 150x6 in an exercise at the ass-end of a whole body session when you can handle 150x10 when fresh? Session stamina and pure fatigue comes into play more and more as you become stronger.
Recovery is another issue that becomes more intrusive as you become stronger: it takes a muscle a lot longer to recover from 455x5 than it does to recover from 155x5. It takes a hell of a lot longer to recover from 655x5 than it does to recover from 155x5.
If a man can get to the gym for 60 minutes four times a week, incredible gains can be realized.
I have created an amalgamated version of a four day Yates/Karwoski template. Feel free to use either man’s exact routine as outlined in the Master’s Method section. Periodize the lifts. In our four day routine muscles are blasted to smithereens once a week:
I like to use an amalgamated variation of Bob Bednarski’s rolling training split. You could also use the “straight/no chaser” Ed Coan program pulled directly from the Master Method section. The choice is yours. My Bednarski-inspired rolling progression concentrates on a single body part or lift per day for five straight days in a row. I love this approach; you focus totally and completely on a single body part or lift each day. Ed’s routine is pure power perfection.
Beginners: This is not a beginner routine!
Advanced Trainees: Cycle the squat, bench, progressive pulls and overhead presses. Sessions should be concentrated. This routine works for both power/strength and for leaning out. It can also be used by those pressed for time. A beginner or intermediate trainee can blast the hell out of one exercise in 20 minutes—I mean blast to the point of complete exhaustion. I usually hit 7 to 10 sets on a single exercise. On day V hit the “minor” exercises. You must not rush and you must not let technique disintegrate. This approach is pure simplistic genius as long as you obey the rules. Do not skimp on range-of-motion. Use spotters for safety.
Some people love to weight train. They have the time, they have the situation, they have the energy and they have the inclination to train and train often. Some people are psychologically adapted to do more, but to not do it as hard.
At one polar opposite of the bodybuilding world stands Dorian Yates, the mover of mountains, the power and bulk monster. The Diesel has more in common, from a training approach and workout prospective, with the likes of Kirk Karwoski or Ed Coan (or Kaz) than he does with Bill Pearl or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Dorian trains like a powerlifter that uses forced reps on the last set of each exercise.
At the other extreme of the bodybuilding world stands Bill Pearl. Bill trains each muscle two or three times a week. Dorian trains a muscle once a week and uses much heavier weight. Bill uses a blistering workout pace and gets an intense cardio bump during his weight workout. Bill Pearl is a volume trainer. Dorian is an intensity trainer. Bill, like Arnold and Sergio and Franco and all the other volume training greats of the early 70s, routinely performed 16-20 sets for a single body part. Pearl works through his entire body over a three day period: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. He immediately begins the sequence anew taking three days to train the entire body again on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. He rests on Sunday. His routines use different exercises in the second three day blitz of the same week.
This approach does not lend itself to strength training; it is a volume approach that emphasizes more exercises, more angles and quicker pace.
Pearl emphasizes feel over poundage. To Bill, poundage is secondary to muscular contraction. He uses a barrage of exercises in order to exhaust the muscle completely. He wears the muscle down whereas Dorian knocks the muscle out. Because Bill doesn’t use bar bending poundage, he is ready to hit that same muscle once again two or three days later. He never uses forced reps or other intensity-amping tactics, as that would cut into his energy reserve and not allow him to recover in time for the second weekly entire body session.
Dorian Yates expends so much energy and uses such incredible poundage, amplified further by forced reps and drop sets, that he needs a full seven days for his shattered muscles to recover. I find the six day a week, pure bodybuilding approach, works best for times when the goal is to lose as much body fat as possible. For use during a maximum lean-out phase, the volume approach cannot be beat: lots of exercises, lots of sets, high reps, fast pace.
Beginners: This is not a beginner routine!
Advanced Trainees: This routine will take 60 to 80 minutes to complete and works best if used in conjunction with a ‘lean out’ phase.
The snapshot on the next page is from my training log for the week of August 13, 2007. It lists what I did on each day. I was using the Warrior Diet eating regimen and was in the midst of a summer “lean out” phase. My Triad was biased towards aerobic activity and I was using a Bednarski-inspired “rolling split.” I would concentrate on one body part per session. I used this approach five days running: legs, chest, back, shoulders and arms. I used two bi/tri exercises per session.
Stair-Stepping Progress Upward
Via Creeping Incrementalism
Periodization is a tactical template used by elite athletes to morph from out-of-shape into best shape ever.
After a competition athletes let themselves detune and soften up a bit. Attempting to hold 100% of peak condition year round is physiologically impossible and psychologically a ticket to the mental ward.
Understand that peak condition is a ebb and flow proposition, and the logical question becomes, how can we maneuver the body from out-of-shape, coming off a competition, into best-shape-ever, leading up to the next competition?
Periodization is not so much a method as it is a template into which a method is placed. Periodization is precision preplanning for peaking every aspect of physical condition in a methodical and systematic fashion. Once the goals are established for the next competition, small sequential steps are reverse-engineered into a periodization timeline.
Elite athletes typically take 12 weeks to prepare for a competition and incrementally increase training demands each succeeding week. The entire process is called a macrocycle and subdivided into monthly mesocycles and weekly microcycles. Each week slightly more is demanded of the body.
Let’s construct a hypothetical example for clarification purposes: a shot-putter is peaking strength for the National Championships. He has cycled his resistance lifts and his body-weight to peak on the competition date. Here are his logged results: this is what actually happened in his training during the last four weeks leading up to the competition. In our example, all projected training and body weight goals were met.
So what’s going on here? He is systematically creeping incrementally upward in four key lifts while simultaneously creeping his bodyweight upward. The plan was constructed ahead of time. Our shot-putter has rolled into the final month leading up the National Championships in excellent physical condition. He uses the final month leading up the competition to peak pure size and strength.
In previous shot-put competitions he has weighed 263 pounds with a best toss of 60 feet 9 inches. His previous best lifts weighing 263 were: power clean 275x1, 550x1 in the full squat, 295x1 in the jerk and 320x1 in the incline press. He has had a terrific 12 weeks leading up to the last month and has nearly duplicated his highest bodyweight, 263 and matched his best training lifts four weeks out. He had thrown 61 feet in practice.
He commences the final month feeling great and looks forward to pushing his bodyweight upward three pounds a week for four consecutive weeks. Each succeeding week he becomes larger and more powerful. At the competition he achieved a lifetime best throw of 62’9”.
All Purposefully Primitive resistance trainers use periodization, pre-planning, in order to morph from current physical condition into vastly improved physical condition. The use of a timeline allows us to convert small weekly gains into huge cumulative gains. Monthly mesocycles are broken into weekly microcycles.
Empirical experience has shown that four weeks to six weeks is about the right amount of time to work a particular progress vein. Less than four weeks and the individual could be accused of not giving the selected mode or method enough time to bear fruit. Staying with a non-productive mode for longer than 4-6 weeks is counter-productive and betrays an unhealthy allegiance to a system gone dry.
We construct a periodization cycle that further illustrates our method. Periodization principles are perfect for resistance training; cardiovascular training and nutrition can also be periodized. The Purposeful Primitive always has a plan. “Cast a Cycle”, create a game plan, establish weekly goals in the interrelated elements. For example, weight training, cardio, bodyweight and nutrition can be cycled. The first order of business is to establish realistic goals. Reverse engineer the process, move backwards from the goal to the beginning and create weekly mini-goals. Hit the micro goals and the meso goal takes care of itself.
Let us construct another periodized game plan, this one for an average person of average capacities and capabilities. We will layer on a half dozen progress benchmarks and use an 8 week cycle. In this case we will assume the person would like to lose 10 pounds and add a few pounds of muscle during the process. Experience has shown that a stone beginner (less than six months training) can lose fat while simultaneously growing stronger. Those new to the progressive resistance experience will find that new muscle is easily built, even in the face of consistent weekly body weight loss.
The hypothetical individual is male: he stands 5’10”, weighs 200 with 20% body fat and would like to shed 10 pounds in eight weeks: a realistic goal. Because his is a total beginner, with limited time to weight train, we select a Cassidy-inspired twice a week training regimen that concentrates on doing the three powerlifts to exclusion. The three lifts are performed in two 30 minute weekly sessions. We project and track five inter-related categories: bodyweight, bench, squat, deadlift and cardio.
Beginners should warm up with 50% of the day’s top poundage on the 1st warm-up set. 75% on the second warm-up set. The third set is the 100% top set weight. Log sessions and track results. The cardio column lists the length of each cardio session and the frequency; how many aerobic sessions are performed each week. For the first four weeks the trainee is expected to lose two pounds of bodyweight per week. For the final four weeks, a 1 pound weight loss per week will suffice. Beginners find it quite easy to lose weight during the 1st month of a new training regimen. We take advantage of that phenomenon. The 8 week periodization cycle is designed to create physiological and psychological momentum.
At the end of this hypothetical 8-week periodization period, the individual will be 10 pounds lighter, in markedly better shape, stronger with much better cardio conditioning. Muscle has been added. Squat poundage increases by a whopping 57%. Legs are much more muscular. Bench press poundage has improved by a staggering 67%! Chest, arms and shoulders are considerably stronger and more muscular. The deadlift is up by 40%. The muscles of the back and hips are significantly shapelier. The scale weight loss of 10 pounds is factually inaccurate. Our beginner has also added 5 pounds of muscle during the 8 week period.
There is no way the person could realize these across the board strength increases without concurrent muscle gain. This fellow actually lost 15 pounds of fat while adding 5 pounds of muscle. This muscle “add back” resulted in a 10 pound bathroom scale loss. Cardio exercise is critical for elevating the metabolism. By incrementally increasing both the duration and frequency of cardio, body fat loss is accelerated. Nutrition is critical for providing the requisite nutrients for speeding up recovery and muscle growth. The entire training effort could be undermined by improper nutrition. Not eating enough, or eating too much of the wrong kind of food, could easily derail the process. This example is an actual person, a student of mine, a person that realized this degree of progress in the timeframe outlined. This is not atypical for trainees new to our approach.
Almost without exception elite athletes log training results and do so in real time, as the workout is actually occurring. Immediately after finishing a set, you’ll see the elite pick up their little spiral notebooks and with hands still shaking from exertion, jot down what just happened.
Why do they go to the trouble?
The athletic elite review results every week to detect trends, mull over what has occurred and plot the next step. Based on the data, they make “in-flight” corrections and institute minute or substantive changes.
Often outsiders will mistake this continual, slavish adherence to written detail as unchecked ego, just another example of Narcissistic tendencies exhibited by people overly concerned with their bodies. In fact virtually every serious competitive athlete has a written game plan that structures workouts and plots training leading up to a competition. The log is the daily report card that identifies how reality is stacking up against projection. Progressive resistance training is particularly suited for logging since the results are numerical.
Again, the elite athletes set the game plan into a timeframe (typically 12 weeks) and project ahead of time where they want to be each successive week. If, by way of example, a shot-putter preparing for the Collegiate National Championships wants to peak his incline barbell press (past experience has shown him that when his incline press improves his shot-put distance improves) he might structure the projected 12 week periodization game plan as follows:
During each workout, results should be logged. So much data is conveyed with so few words. Valuable empirical data needs to be collected. The log book covers what actually happened and offers instant impressions as to what occurred and why.
At the conclusion of each training week, the athlete should take 15 minutes to look back over the previous week’s training. The savvy athlete determines how they are doing in relation to the projected training template: are they on schedule? Has the projected poundage matched the gym reality? Those serious about physical progress establish and maintain a detailed training log in order to keep track of where they are in relation to where they should be.
Logging is the opposite of a runaway ego – it’s a reality check!
