(Photo Above: Maurice Jones)
Perhaps one of the most unknown, old-time, classic physique builders is Maurice Jones. Although he was not a physique contest competitor, he was regularly featured as an example of a well-rounded weight trainer in John McCallum’s writings. (John was a well-known gym owner, trainer, journalist who wrote for Strength and Health magazine in the 1960s and is known for his “Keys to Progress” column and book. John was an advocate of the lifting big, eating big, and getting big approach).
Maurice stood 5´9 and weighed 200 pounds in his prime (all natural, no drugs). He started weight training in the 1930´s at the age of 17. In an interview in 1997, he stated “As a kid I was sickly. I can remember the awful colds I used to have. I wasn’t that healthy, so that’s what made me embark on some kind of training regimen, and one thing led to another.”
He was an advanced trainer, who used more abbreviated routines and strict exercise style. The following is one of his typical training routines:
Warmup: Calisthenics, bending, arm waving, and pushups on the steep board.
Workout: Military Press - 3 sets, superset with
Curls 3 sets (rest a minute between supersets)
Rowing - 3 sets, alternate with
Bench Press – 3 sets
Squat 1 set 12 reps (he would use 400 pounds).
In between Sets : He would rest a minute. He would not sit down.
He also did hiking on the weekends and would have an additional 30 or 40 pounds in his Rucksack. So he got plenty of leg work. Sometimes he reduced the weight on the squat and increased the reps. Maurice always used a strict style while training.
Maurice used to do presses behind the neck with 200 pounds for 12 reps and dumbell curls 70 lbs. x 12 well before World War II – a figure what that’s worth in today’s terms, and it would just take your breath away. He also was able to squat with over 500 pounds.
Asked about his diet, Maurice said it “was just very plain. I’m afraid that I just qualify as a meat and potatoes man.”
He included running a couple of times a week. Maurice attributes his high level of muscular and cardiovascular endurance to a combination of his weight training, running and his mountain hiking.
When the interview was done in1997, Maury was 85 years old. He still did some weight training with 50 pound dumbbells (curls, presses) and still did hiking at that time.
Asked what he’d say if a young kid came up to him and said, “Mr. Jones, do you think I should take drugs to get bigger muscles or to get stronger?”: “I would say, don’t become a fanatic, although I must have appeared that way to a lot of people. If you get fanatical about something, it spoils it. You have to recognize the line – that’s the trouble.”
Maurice stood 5´9 and weighed 200 pounds in his prime (all natural, no drugs). He started weight training in the 1930´s at the age of 17. In an interview in 1997, he stated “As a kid I was sickly. I can remember the awful colds I used to have. I wasn’t that healthy, so that’s what made me embark on some kind of training regimen, and one thing led to another.”
He was an advanced trainer, who used more abbreviated routines and strict exercise style. The following is one of his typical training routines:
Warmup: Calisthenics, bending, arm waving, and pushups on the steep board.
Workout: Military Press - 3 sets, superset with
Curls 3 sets (rest a minute between supersets)
Rowing - 3 sets, alternate with
Bench Press – 3 sets
Squat 1 set 12 reps (he would use 400 pounds).
In between Sets : He would rest a minute. He would not sit down.
He also did hiking on the weekends and would have an additional 30 or 40 pounds in his Rucksack. So he got plenty of leg work. Sometimes he reduced the weight on the squat and increased the reps. Maurice always used a strict style while training.
Maurice used to do presses behind the neck with 200 pounds for 12 reps and dumbell curls 70 lbs. x 12 well before World War II – a figure what that’s worth in today’s terms, and it would just take your breath away. He also was able to squat with over 500 pounds.
Asked about his diet, Maurice said it “was just very plain. I’m afraid that I just qualify as a meat and potatoes man.”
He included running a couple of times a week. Maurice attributes his high level of muscular and cardiovascular endurance to a combination of his weight training, running and his mountain hiking.
When the interview was done in1997, Maury was 85 years old. He still did some weight training with 50 pound dumbbells (curls, presses) and still did hiking at that time.
Asked what he’d say if a young kid came up to him and said, “Mr. Jones, do you think I should take drugs to get bigger muscles or to get stronger?”: “I would say, don’t become a fanatic, although I must have appeared that way to a lot of people. If you get fanatical about something, it spoils it. You have to recognize the line – that’s the trouble.”
Ibrahim,
CPB Blog Contributor
Posts
5 comments:
Ibrahim,
Good post!
Simple and VERY strong workout,two HUGE supersets!! Then HUGE squats!!
This combined with simple food; probably plenty of it, with no "junk".
From that photo it worked!
I had never heard of this man.
Enjoying C P B. Hope you are too.
Brendon
Thanks, he was a very interesting man. I mean he was definitely not the average bodybuilder. I´m enjoying the site, too. Where else you can talk about non steroid training and about training with an positive attitude and ideal.
The mainstream bodybuilding, only want to sell their stuff and they are thinking they "invented the wheel". But when you do a lil bit research you will find and read intersting stuff and notice that the most stuff is not new.
Thanks to CPB, for giving me the opportunity to write an article and thanks for their help.
I hope everyone liked the article.
It's good to see Maurice Jones remembered. Most trainees today, even though they probably think they know better, could learn a lot from him.
Hi Casey,
Welcome to CPB Blog! Yes...we agree! Fortunately, CPB Readers are eager to learn from the Golden Age champs like Maury (you don't have to be a physique title winner to be a Golden Age champ in our book)!
His style of abbreviated training was obviously very effective! We will do future posts and articles on "abbreviated routines." Feel free to chime in whenever you like!
All the best,
CPB (Anthony)
A fine article, with one very small, trivial correction. While verifying if this routine was authentic, I came across an interview with Maurice Jones. He re-iterated almost this exact routine, stating:
"I’d do a bit of a warmup at the beginning, before I’d start: calisthenics, bending, arm waving, that sort of thing. I’d always start with situps on the steep board. Then I’d do my presses: Press, curl, press, curl. Rest a minute and then do another press and another curl. Three sets altogether. That was the military press. I didn’t do those leaning back presses. They called them military presses at that time. Then I’d do three sets of rowing motions; I’d do my bench presses in between (row, bench press, row, bench press, row, bench press). Three sets of bench presses.
“Now the squat. One set of heavy squats up around 400 pounds – about a dozen repetitions. At that time I was still doing hiking on weekends so I got plenty of legwork there, and I’d have 30 or 40 pounds on my back in my rucksack. 400 pounds sometimes and if I’d drop the weight, I’d increase the reps."
***
Warm up was sit-ups not pushups.
Again, all but insignificant, but for those suffering from OCD, there ya go.
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