POWER RACK TRAINING FOR PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT — PART TWO

Power Rack Training for Physical Development
 Part Two:
The Ultimate Mass-Gaining, Bulk-Building Power Rack Training Program
 (Inspired by Joseph Curtis “J.C.” Hise and the writings of Peary Rader)

J.C. Hise, the inspiration for this article, in a picture from the 1930s.

About two weeks ago, I released Part One of (what I expect to be) a semi-regular, but perhaps sporadic series on training in the power rack.  As I mentioned in that first part, the rack is so much more than a good training area to do partials—which, unfortunately, I think that is about the only thing it’s used for these days.  I recommend that you read Part One first, though it’s not necessary but it would be helpful, since I don’t plan on rehashing all of the goodies the power rack has to offer.  In Part One, I created a “new” program, but one heavily influenced by Charles A. Smith, who in turn was quite influenced by J.C. Hise, and Hise’s mentor Mark Berry.  It’s a basic, full-body, 3-days-per-week program that will definitely add muscle mass, but the primary result you can expect (if you try the first program) is gains in strength and power with plenty of muscle gained that is—and I almost hate to use the word—functional muscle mass.  Personally, and I know I’m partial since I wrote the damn thing, but I think it’s an awesome program for powerlifters in the off season, martial artists, or anyone who wants to build muscle mass that is as strong as it looks.

This program, however, is different.  This program is only for lifters who want to gain as much muscle as humanly possible in the shortest period of time.  This is a bulk-building, mass-gaining program that is highly similar to Randall Strossen’s “Super Squats” program (from his book of the same name), which was in turn inspired by—yep, you guessed it—the likes of Charles A. Smith, J.C. Hise, and Mark Berry.  This program is also good after you have done the first program for a couple of months, and you have either plateaued or you’re just in need of a change of pace.  On that, I must caution one word of note: if you are doing this program after the program from Part One, then take off training for a week, or just have a couple of “de-load” weeks before you commence with this one.  Trust me, that will be better since you need to be well-rested before starting any 20-rep squat program, or any program as hard and tough as this one.

If you are an athlete, then you shouldn’t use this program except in the “off-season”, as you need to devote all of your recuperative abilities to this regimen.  When not training, you need to be able to eat a heck-of-a lot of food, and be able to relax.  And you simply can’t do that if you have a lot of other activities on your plate.  You need to be able to rest and recuperate as much as possible so that your body’s resources are only working toward hypertrophy, and nothing else!

As mentioned briefly, the crux of this program is the almighty squat, of both the 20-rep variety, and with more “conventional” set/rep ranges of the “deep knee bend” (as it was originally called—hard to believe it took a couple of decades before the “deep knee bend” was replaced with the much simpler “squat,” but that was the case).  In the 1940s, the squat—especially the 20-rep variety, but also other set/rep ranges—was popularized the most by Peary Rader, the founding publisher of Iron Man magazine.  He was inspired by the aforementioned Hise, who in turn was inspired and coached by Mark Berry.  But it was Rader who really brought the knowledge of how physically transformative the squat could be to the general public.

In a 1940 Iron Man article, Rader wrote that he had discovered the 20-rep squat’s transformative potential when he himself had read a ‘32 article in Strong Man magazine that included the purported claims of a young man who had made seemingly unheard of mass and bulk gains.  Here is what Rader wrote at that time:

His gains on the squat and milk drinking were so great as to seem absolutely impossible. However the simple and compelling style of his letter proved to me that he was really telling the truth and had made the marvelous gains he claimed. I was very much impressed because I myself had for years labored unceasingly in my efforts to gain much needed body weight. At once I decided to go on this program which was sketched in his letter and I too received the same results though not quite so startling, yet sure and certain nevertheless. 

To be honest, I had read all of Berry's instructions in regard to the squat as a weight gaining medium, but never seemed to get the true meaning until I read of the efforts of this man. Well, I went on with my squat program and milk drinking and continued to gain until I had made a gain of 75 pounds in bodyweight. 

From time to time more appeared about this man, whose name I had not yet found, showing that he was still making the same fast gains and surely becoming the world's strongest man on the squat and deadlift. At last I got hold of this man's name. It was J.C. Hise of Homer, Ill. I at once wrote him telling him of my own experiments since reading his letter. He wrote back at once a very long letter full of very helpful advice and details that were very valuable to me in my training. Since that time we have corresponded regularly and several years ago he visited me at my home here in Alliance for 10 days, and I came to know him very well.

Rader was a sort of no-nonsense publisher who did not make wild claims.  (The same cannot be said of his contemporary, Joe Weider, and there was a clear difference in Rader's Iron Man, and all of the publications that Weider owned and ran.)  Anyway, I point this out so that you will realize that Rader wasn’t prone to sensationalized claims.  He knew that there were far too many of these in the iron game, and he did his best to write sincere articles that were truly representative of the gains he believed his readers could expect.

This next excerpt from the same article is a bit extensive, however, I also think that I couldn’t have said it any better myself and it would be really nice if modern lifters and bodybuilders knew more about Rader (and his many contributions to the iron game).  What I haven’t included here is some of the earlier parts of the article where Rader discussed Hise’s difficulties in gaining weight, until he discovered the power of the high-rep squat and the “GOMAD” diet.  We begin here with that discovery Hise made:

Then he went at it in earnest (C.S.'s note: “it” is the squat) and began drinking one gallon of milk per day in addition to his regular meals. He also ate considerable meat, and especially salt pork as he said this increased his thirst and caused him to drink more and thereby aided his weight gaining. He also cut out all abdominal exercises and concentrated on the deep knee bend with his only other exercise being the press behind the neck for 10 or 15 reps. In one month on this program he gained 29 pounds of bodyweight! His measurements gained as follows:

Weight 200/229

Chest 43.5/46.5

Arms 15.25/16.25

Thighs 25.5/28

Calves 14.5/15.5

Forearms 12-3/8 to 12-7/8

Waist 36/41.

He started out using 240 pounds in the squat and increased to 320. He first used this poundage and did 8 counts (reps), then rested and did 8 more, then rested and removed 100 pounds and did 20 more. He then progressed to 365 pounds in the squat in the next two weeks and weighed 231. At this time he lost his balance and strained a small muscle in the calf and had to lay off for two weeks and gained to 237 pounds bodyweight, and now had a 47 inch chest. He was 26 years of age at this time.

After this, he used 20 reps straight in the squat and found that he gained best on this number. He also did plenty of deep breathing between each squat, taking 3 to 6 deep breaths between every repetition.

He continued his experiments along this line and always continued to gain. He finally reached a bodyweight of 298 pounds, and had an arm of 19 inches and a chest of 56 with a thigh of over 33. His waist never measured over 44 normal.

One day he came to do his workout on the squat to find that his bar had been bent by someone using it for a crowbar while working on a Ford. Mr. Hise just had to do his squats and so used his bar bent. Much to his surprise he found his squats went easier than ever before. The bent bar actually helped. It did not roll up and down his neck as before and the weights had a perfect hang for squatting in his style which was the round back style. That is he would come up from the squat position with the back rounded. Since that time Mr. Hise has made the bent or cambered bar very popular for squatting. All the boys have been putting a camber in their exercise bars. For as Joseph said, "A man can't exercise right with a straight bar and can't lift with an exercise bar and exercise right."

Later on he decided to try his hand at the deadlift knowing that it went hand in hand with the squat in developing power. He worked on it in regular style for a while then stiff legged but this caused back trouble when performed in the regular way. However Joe did not give up. His inventive mind turned to ways to remember the trouble as he knew that the stiff legged deadlift was the key exercise for great power if it could be used in some manner that would not cause back trouble. It wasn't long before the exercise world was hearing of J.C. Hise and his "Hopper" system of doing the stiff legged deadlifts.

Joe had discovered that if he bounced the weight from hardwood planks which were raised at each end about 2 inches it relieved the strain from the back at the danger point and allowed him to handle the weight where it did the most good. He was soon doing the stiff legged deadlift with 550 pounds five times.

His regular deadlift reached a figure of 675 pounds. This was nowhere near his best mark for his training was never regular as he had to train outdoors and often the weather would not permit his workouts. However this was more than any other man in the world had done. He did repetition squats with over 500 pounds.

Mr. Hise was perhaps the first man in America to jerk 300 behind his neck which he did during his early training with the squat and hardly thought it worth mentioning. He also pressed 190 behind his neck.

He never practiced the [Olympic] lifts because he had only exercise bars and had to train either in a cold garage or in the open outdoors. However, with his power he could have cleaned 400 as he could pull that much or more almost nipple high. It was just a matter of proper training in form and style. He was fully confident that with proper training he could have cleaned and jerked 450 with a press and snatch of proportionate poundage.

It is his belief that all present records are far below their possible top. He believes that if lifters would work intensively on their back and legs with the squat and stiff legged deadlift, they would greatly increase their lifting poundages.

During Mr. Hise's experiments he found that if a man would take about bodyweight and squat approximately 20 times, and take from 3 to 6 breaths between each squat he would make remarkable gains in chest development. He has applied this system to many of his pupils whom he helps by mail and has proof that it really works. Many gain as much as 3 inches in one month in chest size.

Joe also believes in plenty of good food and he himself eats plenty. However many stories told about him are slightly exaggerated in regard to his eating habits. While staying with me he did eat a lot but I also noticed that he ate rather slowly and he drank huge quantities of water with his meals. Finally my mother sat a quart of water by Joe's plate for each meal and often this would require a second filling.

He also believes in plenty of rest and sleep. In justice to Joe, I will say that he is not lazy as some seem to think. With him it is a philosophy. Something he believes in and knows he must do if he is to gain in his aims. When necessity arises he can do a terrific amount of work. When he left my home here he weighed 270 pounds. From here he went to California where he worked in lumber camps and such was his labors that his bodyweight went down to 208 pounds. From there he went to Careta, WV, where he worked in the mines and his weight still remained the same as he was working very long hours at the very heaviest work. Now he is back in Homer, Ill. and at present weighs around 250 pounds in pretty hard condition. He has an unusual ability to weigh whatever he wants to at any certain time providing he can train as he wishes.

The 20-Rep Rack Program

With that out of the way (I hope you enjoyed reading the writings from one of bodybuilding’s pioneers from over 80 years ago), I want to present a program that I believe includes everything that made Hise’s (and Rader’s) programs “work,” but with minor changes that can be made by the 21st century lifter, including utilizing the rack.

This is a two-days-per-week program.  I will give you some advice at the end of the program if you want to take your training to 3-days-per-week, but at first 2 days will be plenty.  It doesn’t matter which days you train, but after the first workout, take off 2 days, and after the second workout, take off 3.  Most lifters like to train Monday and Thursday.  When I competed in powerlifting, and would occasionally use minimalistic programs such as this one, I liked to train on Sunday and Wednesdays.  Training on Sunday helped to kind of “prep” me for the coming week, and Wednesday was perfect for a “middle-of-the-work-week” training session.

Day One

Bottom-Position Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps.   Perform a couple of warm-up sets, then perform 5 straight sets of 5 reps.  (“Straight sets” means that they are all done with the same weight.)  Of course, your goal will be to get 5 reps on all 5 sets, but it’s common for lifters to, at first, only get a couple of sets of 5, followed by a couple of sets of 4, then a set of 3 (or something similar).  Just stick with the same weight until you can do 5x5, then add weight at the next session.

Light Dumbbell Pullovers: 5 sets of 10 reps.  In between each set of BP squats, perform a set of light dumbbell pullovers for 10 reps.  Take a deep breath on every rep.  The keys here are to get a deep stretch and to take a deep breath on every repetition, but these should almost be “recuperative” where your squats feel easier rather than harder.

Squats: 1 set of 20 reps.  The general “consensus” when using the traditional 20-rep program is to pick a weight that you would typically use for a set of 10 reps.  Now do 20!  Here is what Randall Strossen wrote in his classic Super Squats: “The first approach to 20 reps squats is simple.  First, load the bar with what you normally use for 10 reps.  Now, do 20 reps—no kidding.  Second, every single workout, add 5 pounds to the bar.  These two elements are what separates the men from the boys and produce results, by simultaneously embracing the two cardinal principles in weight training: overload and progressive resistance.”

Barbell Overhead Presses: 5 sets of 5 reps.  These can be done in the rack, or freestanding outside of it.  Here, unlike in the first exercise, you are going to do 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.  The last set should be all out.  Increase weight at each workout if you manage 5 reps on the final set.

Barbell Curls: 5 sets of 5 reps.  As with the overheads, work up over 5 progressively heavier sets until you reach a max set of 5 repetitions.

Farmer’s Walks: 1 set for distance.  For this exercise, mix it up by sometimes performing farmer’s walks with both hands, and sometimes by just using one hand, and then switching hands midway through your “set.”  A good distance is about 20 to 30 yards.  Use a weight that makes this one tough!

Day Two

Deficit Sumo Deadlifts: 5 sets of 5 reps.  The first “big” difference in this progam is that, for the second workout of the week, you are going to skip the squats, and use the 2nd exercise that Hise believed in: the deadlift.  However, I want you to do the exercise that I think might be the only one that can rival the squat: the deficit sumo deadlift.  Stand on either a short box, or on a couple of plates stacked on top of one another.  This forces you to squat deep to commence with the pull, and the hand placement will work your traps and mid-back much harder than conventional, or even “hopper”, deadlifts.  If you have never done this exercise before, it will make you feel as if you just did a superset of squats and heavy power cleans.  It's a true total-body exercise.  And I really do believe it’s the 2nd “best” exercise on the planet.  And for some people, due to their body structure, it might be—just might be—#1.

Perform this exercise for 5 straight sets after a couple of warm-ups.

Light Dumbbell Pullovers: 5 sets of 10 reps.  In between each set of deficit sumo deads, perform a set of light dumbbell pullovers for 10 reps, same as on Day One.

Deficit Sumo Deadlifts: 1 set of 20 reps.  If you thought you were getting a break by not doing 20-rep squats on Day Two, think again!  1 set of 20 reps on these might be harder than the squats, but that’s what makes this exercise so result-producing.  Use the same “method” as the 20-rep squats on Day One.

Bottom-Position Flat Bench Presses: 5 sets of 5 reps.  In the rack, set the pins so that you are starting the press with the bar on (or at) chest level.  Work up over 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.

Midrange Flat Bench Press “Partials”: 5 sets of 5 reps.  After you reach your heaviest set of 5 reps on the bottom-position presses, move the pins in the rack so that you will be starting your bench press from the “midrange” position.  Work up to a max set of 5 reps.

Sled Drags: 1 set for distance.  Perform these by walking either backwards or forwards when dragging the sled.  You can mix it up in the middle of your 1 set, or simply change it up at each session.

Some Additional Tips

• At first, as I mentioned, just stick with 2-days-of-training-per-week.  Eventually, you may want to add a 3rd day.  If you do, then train 3 non-consecutive days.  Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday are ideal, I believe.  If you do this, rotate between the two sessions above.  This means that the first week would see you doing Day One on Monday and Friday (assuming M/W/F is your schedule), and you would perform Day Two on Wednesday.  The next week, you would swap it up, and do Day Two on Monday and Friday, and Day One on Wednesday.

• If you DO switch to a 3-days-per-week schedule, then listen to your body.  It may need to be that each “Wednesday” workout is “light”.  This means you would rotate between weeks of heavy squats with weeks of heavy deficit sumo deadlifts.  I believe this strategy is probably the best for MOST lifters.

• If you want to still do abdominal work on this program, then add anywhere between 1 to 3 sets at the end of each training session.  But pick “hard” ab exercises, such as the ab wheel or hanging leg raises, adding weights to your ankles if needed.

• If your stomach can handle all the lactose, then I still think the GOMAD (that’s “gallon-of-milk-a-day” for those unaware) diet is a great way to easily get extra calories, as it’s always easier on your digestive system to drink a lot of your calories when in a caloric surplus rather than just trying to “chew” all your additional calories.  However, it’s not necessary or required.  If you are adverse to dairy, then just try to consume three “solid” meals, and then two or three extra “snacks” per day.  These “snacks” can be non-dairy protein smoothies or shakes, made with such things as frozen fruit, and a non-dairy “milk” (oat and almond are my recommendations—stay away from soy) combined with a good protein powder.