The High-Protein, High-Set Program

 

A.K.A. - How to Gain 40 Pounds of Bulk in 8 Weeks

John McCallum’s High-Frequency, High-Volume Routine for Rapid Mass Gains

     In the 1960s, John McCallum wrote arguably the greatest monthly column the bodybuilding world has ever known.  It was called “The Keys to Progress” and appeared in what was probably also the greatest muscle magazine of all time, Strength and Health.  His column is still fantastic to this day.  To be honest, it’s probably better today because of all the nonsense that you see, hear, or read about in the ultra-saturated world we all know and love called the internet.  I wonder what the hell McCallum would think about training and nutrition information these days?  I have a feeling he wouldn’t think highly of it at all.

     I thought about McCallum this morning when I was “thumbing” through my new digital copy of “The Complete Keys to Progress.”  I have an older, slightly tattered paperback copy of the same book, but I haven’t been able to find it, stuffed away as it is somewhere in my attic.  So I ordered one on my Kindle, that way it can be in my library at my fingertips.  It’s odd.  I never thought I would like reading e-books when they first came on the scene 20-or-so years ago, but now I find that it’s almost the exclusive manner in which I read.  It’s nice having your favorite books ready-to-read at a moment’s notice. But, heck, I bet McCallum would hate an e-book.  He was, if you’ve never read him, curmudgeonly in the best of ways.

     Anyway, I write all that because, as I was looking through his book, I remembered how good it was.  And still is (as mentioned above).  And I remembered a couple of the programs that really enamored me when I first read the book.  It must be noted that, much to my embarrassment, I never actually read McCallum until a little over 20 years ago.  Oh, I knew about him.  I worked for IronMan magazine and MuscleMag International, writing articles for those mags for most of the ‘90s, and old-school lifters/writers that I admired—Bradley Steiner, Bill Starr, John Grimek, and the like—would mention McCallum here and there, but for some damn reason, I never actually read him myself.  But then I did read him, and my first thought was, why in the hell did it take me so long to read this guy?  He was a legend for a reason.  Okay, back to those routines that so enamored me when I finally did get around to reading his classic series of columns.  One of them was called the “high-protein, high-set program.”  It intrigued me then.  It intrigues me now.  Even more so now, to be honest.  Because now I know that it’s actually capable of producing the results that McCallum promised.  When I first read McCallum’s classic, I was a little unsure about some of his programs.  At that time, I was just beginning to experiment with high-frequency programs that also used either a lot of volume or a lot of intensity, but I wasn’t completely sold on them.  But after spending some time with various forms of “Russian” powerlifting programs, it didn’t take long for me to buy into their effectiveness completely.  I’ve been praising the results they provide for the serious lifter ever since.

     Here, I want to present a sort of modified version of the program, but not modified enough that it’s not McCallum’s program, mind you.  For the most part, we’ll stay true to McCallum’s workout with only very small suggested changes by me.  If you want to use it exactly as McCallum recommended, then please do so.  But more on that in just a little bit.  First, let me explain who should and who should not use this program.

     In the book “The Complete Keys to Progress,” the high-set, high-rep program is the 23rd chapter of the book.  The chapters in the book are arranged in the order McCallum wrote them for the magazine, which means that he really didn’t expect his readers to do this program until they had been training for almost two years on his less “intense” regimens.  However, in the book, he also discusses some of the lifters at his gym who used the program to a degree of success, and they hadn’t necessarily been following McCallum’s other programs at that point.  All that is to say that you need at the very least 6 months of training under your lifting belt.  12 to 18 would be even better.

     This program is ideal for you if you have been following a 3-days-per-week, full-body routine or a 2-way split, training 4 days a week but your gains have stopped, and you need a stimulus you haven’t tried before.  Do not follow this program if you haven’t been doing something similar to that.  Also, don’t follow it if you are currently pounding away at a high-volume program.  If you’re on another high-volume program and you aren’t getting the results you want, and you decide you want to try this one, then “downshift” to a lower volume routine for a month or two.  At that point, if you want to give this program a go, then do so.

     With that out of the way, let’s get to it.

     Our alternative title—How to Gain 40 Pounds of Bulk in 8 Weeks—comes from the results of one of the bodybuilders who followed this program under McCallum’s guidance.  The young man went from 183 pounds to 222 in just 2 months.  His exercise poundages on all his lifts went up approximately 21%, and all of his bodyparts grew around 2 inches, including arms and calves.  Those kinds of results might be slightly out-of-the-ordinary, but McCallum didn’t think so.  He seemed to believe most lifters could gain something similar, assuming they didn’t skimp on any of his advice.

     This program, quite obviously, has two parts.  You have to consume more protein than usual.  And you have to do more training than usual.  Doing it as he prescribed, McCallum said that it works this way: “You pump to the absolute maximum.  You keep your muscles saturated with blood.  You keep your blood full of protein.  Your muscles grow.”

     For the high-protein half of the program, when McCallum said high-protein, he meant it.  For this to work, you need to consume 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight each and every day that you are on this routine.  If you don’t do this 7 days-per-week, come hell or high water, he said it wouldn’t work.

     I think McCallum’s advice here is sound.  Now, I don’t think that 2 grams per pound of bodyweight should become your regular protein intake.  I think it works the same way the incredibly high-volume of training works: as a complete change-of-pace from your ordinary way of eating and lifting.  I think, throughout the training year, lifters should cycle the amount of protein they consume daily.  For the most part, you should consume around 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight on a daily basis.  Or, at least, it should average that daily throughout a week.  In other words, if you weigh 150 pounds, and some days you get 120 grams of protein, and other days you get 180, that’s perfectly fine.  Conversely, there are probably times when you should cut down your protein to around .5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight daily.  This gives your body a break from so much protein and it actually makes the higher protein intake that much more efficacious for muscle growth when you return to it.  And then, yes, you should spend some training months—when you are absolutely killing it in the gym by using a routine such as this one—consuming 2 grams per bodyweight, or even more, every day.

     Bottom line: get 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight daily while following this routine.  After that, you can go back to your “regular” bodybuilding diet.  McCallum understood that it would be hard for most lifters to eat this much protein each day, so he also recommended something called his “get big drink.”  It consisted of whole milk, raw eggs, peanut butter, a couple scoops of Hoffman’s protein powder, half a brick of chocolate ice cream, a banana, some malted milk powder, and some corn syrup—that’s right, corn syrup—for extra calories.  The whole thing came out to around 200 grams of protein.  I think the syrup isn’t necessary, as you definitely need plenty of calories on this program, but not necessarily junk calories.  Honey or real maple syrup would probably be better additions.  They’d without a doubt be healthier.  I’m not sure how much protein—or other nutrients—was in Hoffman’s protein powder.  Strength and Health was owned by Hoffman, so McCallum may have just been hawking it on Hoffman’s behalf.  But it apparently was a relatively inexpensive protein powder compared to others at the time.

     You don’t even have to buy a commercial protein powder if you want.  Here’s a similar drink created by Randall Strossen (the owner of Iron Mind Enterprises, and current publisher of “The Complete Keys to Progress,” by the way).  Make the following first thing in the morning, and sip on it in between meals or with your meals.

Randal Strossen’s Basic Super Squat Protein Drink

4 cups milk

2 cups powdered milk

¼ cup brewer’s yeast

1 banana

2 tablespoons lecithin

1 tablespoon wheat germ oil

1 large scoop vanilla ice cream

This makes one all-day serving containing:

Calories: 1,890

Protein: 121 grams

Carbs: 209 grams

Fat: 76 grams

     For your meals, eat plenty of red meat, chicken, pork, sausage, cheese, and eggs.  Just make sure that you’re getting those 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight daily!

     Now, for the high-set program.

     As I outline the program, I’ll explain how to use it per McCallum, and also give my own two-cents for any adjustments that might need to be made.  This is a 6-days-per-week program.  3 days are devoted to shoulders, chest, and arms.  The other 3 days for legs, back, and neck.

Monday - Wednesday - Friday:

Sit-ups: 1 set of 25 reps.  McCallum recommended you start with this exercise in order “to keep your gut in line while you’re getting big and bulky.”  I’m not sure how much this will actually do what McCallum entails, but you still need to work your abs in order to keep them strong and aesthetically pleasing the same as any muscles.

Behind-the-neck presses: 5 sets of 6 reps, 10 sets of 8 reps.  Do a set of 6 reps with a moderate weight for a warm-up.  Rest a few minutes, add weight to the bar, and do another set of 6.  Rest a few more minutes, and then jump to what you think your “best” weight will be for 3 sets of 6 reps.  On these work sets, McCallum recommended around 3 minutes of rest between each set.  He added: “Force the poundage on these heavy sets.  Most of your eventual success will depend on your ability to lift heavy weights.  You can’t really expect 19” arms if your sister can outlift you.”

     Drop down in weight and do 10 sets of 8 reps.  Once again, here’s McCallum’s advice on how to do these final 10 sets: “Concentrate on getting the best pump you ever had in your life.  Do each rep moderately slow in a very strict style. You should be pumped up like a barrage balloon once you’re finished.  Take just 30 seconds of rest between sets.  No more.  Any longer will destroy the prime pumping effect you’re striving for.  Drop 10 pounds every set if you have to.  Remember, the weight isn’t important for the final 10 sets, but the pump is.”

     Do all of the remaining exercises in the same style.

Bench presses: 5 sets of 6 reps, 10 sets of 8 reps.  McCallum preferred his lifters (and readers) to use a wide grip on all of their bench presses.  He even said if you do wide grip bench presses properly that “you’ll draw more attention than a topless waitress.”  Ha!  But I may have my first bone of contention with McCallum.  I think this is too much bench pressing for 3 days each week.  I would, on the Wednesday session only, either cut out the bench presses, or only do the pump work, and do it lighter than your Monday and Friday workouts.  Your shoulders and arms can handle this amount of weekly work—at least for the 8 weeks you’ll be on the program.  Your pectorals, because of the deep stretch, may need a little less work.

Barbell curls: 5 sets of 6 reps, 10 sets of 8 reps

French presses: 5 sets of 6 reps, 10 sets of 8 reps

Tuesday - Thursday - Saturday:

Leg raises: 1 set of 25 reps

Squats: 5 sets of 6 reps, 10 sets of 8 reps.  Yep, your squats get the same treatment as all of your upper-body exercises.  The only difference is that McCallum also recommended you do a light set of 10 pullovers in between each one of your “pump” sets.  Since he only wanted you to rest 30 seconds between all of the 8-rep squat sets, he recommended that you move immediately from squats to pullovers, then back to squats, and so forth until all sets are complete.

Calf raises: 10 sets of 15 reps.  This is the exercise where all of your sets are going to be “pump” sets.  He didn’t specify whether these are done standing or seated, but I have a good feeling he meant standing barbell calf raises.  As with all other pump work in the program, rest only about 30 seconds between each set.  Drop weight on the barbell however much it’s needed to get all 10 sets.

Shrugs: 10 sets of 8 reps.  McCallum actually recommended “resistance exercise for the neck,” where he simply wanted you to use your hands as resistance while doing neck raises.  I would prefer you stick with another barbell exercise.  Heavy shrugs will work your neck and your traps.  Treat these the same as all other pump sets.

Barbell rows: 5 sets of 6 reps, 10 sets of 8 reps.  As with the bench presses from the first day, I would recommend either cutting this out on your Thursday session or simply do the pump work at a lower weight.  The lats, similar to the pecs, can be overtrained when a deep stretch is involved.  You could also substitute this exercise on Thursdays for chins as another alternative.

     That completes the program.

     If you’re serious about attempting it, then do it exactly as prescribed, with my slight recommendations being the only changes you should make.  Stick with it for 8 weeks, and make sure that you’re getting the required protein daily no matter what.  If for some reason you can’t do a particular exercise, then shoot me an email or leave your question about it in the comments section below, and I’ll provide some individual recommendations.

     To finish things off, I’ll leave you with McCallum’s words from his original article: “Don’t be afraid by the apparent severity of the program.  You’ll note there’s only 5 major exercises in each section.  Consume enough protein and do the workouts properly and you can look forward to startling gains in size, shape, and strength.  You’ll completely revamp your appearance in a very, very short time.”

Source:

“The Complete Keys to Progress,” by John McCallum, published by IronMind Enterprises