Golden Age Advice for Hardgainers!

(Above photo: Golden Age Mag - Muscle Builder Magazine, July 54 issue)

Are you a beginner interested in gaining muscular weight? Have you been training for a few months and yet have seen no results? Well, you are not alone. Many in the Golden Age (the 1940s and 50s) experienced the same thing. Here is some classic advice from the Questions and Answers column of Joe Weider's Muscle Builder Magazine (July 1954 issue):

Question: Dear Sir, I've been exercising for 3 1/2 months now and have made good progress, so far as strength and muscularity are concerned. But I've not gained weight. I maintain a good protein diet and still no results. Please advise me on what to do. D.L. Brooklyn. N.Y.

Answer: Donald, you are an example of what the Weider Research Clinic has always taught...Each man is a law unto himself where bodybuilding is concerned. One man will make great gains in bodyweight, but little in strength, during his beginner's peroid in weight training. Another man will get powerful and muscular in his first training months, but make little gains in weight. But these physical qualities gradually reach the point of balance with each other. Progress in power...bulk...muscularity, is made in a series of steps...a little gain, then maybe a slight drop or a leveling off, then a slight gain once more. You appear to have gained first in strength and delineation. I am not too concerned with your failure to gain weight at this present stage of training since you have only been bodybuilding for 3 1/2 months. If you had been weight training for a year without any great bodyweight gains, then I'd say you had something to worry about. My advice to you is this. Cut down slightly on your upper body work such as the various curls, presses and rowing motions. Shorten your routine to the bench press, barbell curl, squat and breathing pullover. Use as heavy a poundage as possible in the squat and alternate each set of squats with a set of breathing pullovers. Rest up completely on your non training days. Get at least eight hours sleep each night and at least 10 hours in bed! Don't hurry. Don't worry...and buy the Weider Gaining Food Supplement.

CPB Commentary: So there you have it - a classic, abbreviated routine to kick start some muscular weight gaining. In a nutshell, here is the routine again:

1. Bench Press
2. Barbell Curls
3. Squats - superset with
4. Breathing Pullovers

Use as much poundage as possible (so that you can barely squeeze out the last rep). Keep pushing the weight up as you get stronger. It wasn't specifed, but fewer sets (e.g., 2-3 sets per exercise) and low reps (e.g., 6-7 reps) were usually recommended for such routines.

Note how important a lot of sleep and rest are as well as not worrying & hurrying. The Weight Gaining Food Supplement that was recommended was really a vitamin B complex supplement that acted as an appetite stimulant.

So if you are having trouble gaining weight, you can give this classic routine from the Golden Age a try! It's worked before and may well work for you! - CPB

Classic Physique Mass Building Principles

Take a look at Jack Delinger (Mr Western America 1948, Mr America 1949, Mr Universe 1956) above. He was a champion of the pre-steroid Golden Age of Classic Physique Building. He (and the other champions you see here at CPB) is a shining example that it is possible to build classic mass without resorting to health-destroying drugs. In fact, during the height of the Golden Age (between 1950-59), the principles of building mass naturally were defined. These principles worked then and still work now! We will discuss them in this and other upcoming posts.

To understand some of these principles, let's take a look at Joe Weider's classic "Power and Bulk Routine" from 1954. Here are the exercises:

1. Shoulder Bridge (it was like a decline bench press)

2. Cheating Barbell Curl

3. Deadlift Off Boxes

4. Cheating Standing Lateral Raise

5. Bench Squat

6. Cheating Standing Triceps Barbell Curl

7. Cheating Bent Over Rows

8. Power Prone Press (this is basically a bench press lock-out)

Each exercise was to be performed for 2 sets of 6 reps only. The emphasis was on using heavy weights such that you could barely complete the 6th rep of the 1st set. Then after resting for 2 minutes, you might be able to complete 4-5 reps on the second set (going to failure). After a workout or two, once you could complete the 6th rep of the 2nd set, then you would increase the weight at the next workout. This process would continue as you strive to keep pushing up the weight used as you get stronger. This workout was to be done 3 days a week (e.g., M, W, and F) and all other sports activity was to be avoided. Also, getting more rest, more sleep, and eating a high protein diet was recommended. This program was to be followed for 3 months.

So what are the principles we see in this program? We can't discuss them all in this post, but here is a partial list:

1) full body workout - doing a full body workout, which includes testosterone-releasing exercises like squats and deadlifts, has a global anabolic

2) low volume, high intensity - using only a few sets (low volume), yet training to failure (high intensity) allows maximum muscle stimulation without overtraining

3) training heavy - training for power/strength stimulates a greater number of muscle fibers which results in greater muscle growth

4) cheating exercises - using a cheating style allows heavier poundages for greater muscle stimulation

5) lock-out exercises - doing a "lock-up" (just doing the last few inches of an exercise) allow much heavier poundages to be used which results in greater muscle stimulation

6) no cardio - avoids unnecessary drain on body's recuperative powers, thus more resources are channeled into muscle growth

7) compound exercises - stimulate more muscles than isolation exercises and allow for heavier poundages to be used

8) no abdominal work - diet is the key to great abdominals, not exercise

9) longer rest between sets - allows more muscle recovery which allows heavier weights to be used

10) progressive resistance (overload) - increasing the weights as muscles get stronger is key in stimulating continued muscle growth.

Compare this program to the one you are using! Are you performing a lot of reps with lighter weights? Are you following a split program and are in the gym everyday? Do you do a lot of isolation exercises and tend to use the same poundages each workout? Do you simply stop at a set number of repetitions or do you train to failure (or almost failure)? Does your exercise program consist of more than 8 exercises? Have you been doing more and more sets, but not gaining any mass? If so, then study the principles above and apply them to your routine if you want to gain mass.

In the Golden Age of Classic Physique Building, they really knew, from their own experience, what was needed to build mass! And they could do it without drugs and even without all the high-tech nutritional supplements we have today. What supplements did they have? Try this: protein powder and multivitamins! That was about it! Yet, they perfected the art of building powerful, heroic, classic physiques by discovering the principles that really work - naturally!

This should give us a lot of encouragement! You can build all the mass you need for a classic physique. The champions of the Golden Age have already laid out the path for us. All we have to do is re-discover that path and follow it! - CPB