Return Of The Iron Man

By Ken Coon

MANY bodybuilders and particularly those fairly new to weight training may be somewhat perplexed to find articles in recent issues of Iron Man suggesting that the more commonly used methods of training are perhaps not the best after all. We now read that the multiple-set pumping system, while building outstanding physiques, leaves a great deal to be desired in other ways. Perhaps some comments concerning the trends in training methods of the last two or three decades would help such readers gain a better over-all view of the subject.

Weight training has gone through several phases during the last few years, each phase bringing with it changes in exercise routines and equipment and some changes in results.

Phase One - The Iron Men

During the 1930's and 40's the popularity of weight training grew rapidly here in America. We might term this period the era of the iron men. We were taught in those days that weight trainees were the strongest, healthiest, best developed and most physically fit of all athletes. It was common for a man to be both a competitive lifter and physique contestant. Many such were also outstanding all around athletes and maintained a condition that can only be described as "super health." Many examples of such men come to mind, but the mention of just one should suffice, that being the ultimate example - John Grimek. A member of the American Olympic weightlifting team, a true strongman in every respect, a bodybuilder undefeated in open competition and a man fairly glowing with good health. He was, in fact, nicknamed "The Glow."

Training programs of those years would hardly be recognized by a present day bodybuilder. We often used only one set per exercise, but used many exercises, so that each body part got a pretty good workout. Admittedly we did not have available the many types of training apparatus now used for specializing on particular muscle groups. For this reason most of the training consisted of basic movements such as squats, rowing, deadlifts and military presses. In those days Mark Berry, Peary Rader and others were popularizing the breathing squats for growth. Strength and Health and Iron Man Magazines were both advising the addition of the olympic lifts to the bodybuilding program to promote power, coordination and speed. Even without the knowledge of nutrition we now have, weight trainees grew in strength and development and what is perhaps more important, they also became healthier and more physically fit.

Phase Two - The Era of Specialization

Probably most serious bodybuilders of the past had used more than one set from time to time in training. By the late 1940's three sets per exercise was more or less standard, although the sets were often spaced several minutes apart. Then bodybuilders began to find that using several sets, closely spaced tends to create a pumped or cramped condition in the area being worked due to the congestion of blood. They found that the greater the pump the greater the growth, the muscle being worked tends to blow up in size, although only a part of such growth remains after the pump has subsided.

This, of course, is where the bodybuilding world began to go astray. Bodybuilders reasoned that if a little pump was good, a whole lot would be just that much better, and the many multiple-set, super duper pumping routines were born. With the addition of specialized equipment and exercises it was no longer even necessary to use heavy weights for great muscle size. With the increased knowledge of nutrition bodybuilders were able to grow muscle much faster than in the old days, but they were no longer "iron men" in the true sense of the word. Some very well developed physique contestants are little stronger than many husky laborers who do not train. As Peary has pointed out, it is also true that many bodybuilders in very hard training suffer from colds, flu, headaches and other ailments almost as frequently as the average man.

I did not realize how far this specialization had gone until recently when I joined a professional gym after training at home for the past twenty-four years. One well built bodybuilder confided to me that he was thinking of giving up training altogether because it made him feel so tired and rundown all the time! I explained to him that his use of energy in three hour daily training was much like the businessman who puts every penny of his profits back into his business and does not leave himself enough to live on comfortably.

Many men who have come into weight training these past few years have never really experienced the wonderful feeling of fitness and well-being that heavy weight training can bring. Anyone who has never trained on one of the abbreviated programs built around the twenty rep squats, for example, does not really know what is meant by a feeling of "super health."

Perhaps the most unfortunate part of this whole thing is the difficulty of convincing potential trainees of the value of progressive resistance exercise. The world is full of healthy, husky men who got that way training with weights without using the super-pump methods. Such men don't win physique contests these days, but perhaps they are really the best examples of the value of weight training after all. Unfortunately the weight man, the potential trainee sees and hears about, is the bodybuilding specialists. When the would-be trainee finds that these men train many hours per week and gain little in fitness and health for their efforts, he often decides to forget the idea of training altogether.

Phase Three - Weight Training Comes Of Age

Many instructors, such as Peary Rader, have long recognized the weaknesses in the pump methods, but since this was the best bodybuilding method available, have continued to develop and publicize this system. Now, however, thanks to Bob Gajda, Iron Man Magazine, and others, the new PHA Sequence System is becoming popular. Anyone with even rudimentary knowledge of physiology and exercise should be able to see that this is surely the best possible method yet devised for building a combination of health, strength and fitness. Men like Gajda are also proof that with proper nutrition it is also a wonderful muscle builder.

What this new system means is simply this. . . that bodybuilders can now be true "iron men" once again, rather than just pumped-up imitations. I believe that the PHA Sequence System will allow progressive resistance exercise to finally attain its proper recognition as the finest possible form of physical training.