Classic Bodybuilding: How to Gain 50 Pounds of Muscle! PART 3

 

How to Gain 50 Pounds of Muscle!
Part 3:
Bill Pearl’s Advanced Mass-Training

     This is the 3rd part of my Classic Bodybuilding series based on an article that the great Gene Mozee wrote for IronMan magazine in 1992.  The first part covered the “Golden 6” training program of Arnold Schwarzenegger.  If you’re a beginner, or if you need to get “back-to-the-basics,” then I would start there.  The second part that I posted a few days ago was another full-body program based on Larry Scott’s Gironda-inspired mass-building techniques.  I would advise reading those pieces first.  And definitely don’t just leap into the training program presented here without a couple years at the minimum of (mostly) full-body workouts.

     Bill Pearl has long been one of my favorite bodybuilders.  In another piece I wrote last year, I mentioned that I believe Pearl to be one of the 5 greatest bodybuilders of all time.  I won’t get into as much detail about Pearl here.  If you’re interested in knowing more about him, then please read that article.  I am surprised, however, that there isn’t more interest in Bill Pearl, especially considering what a great bodybuilder he was, and especially considering his training methods.  If you want to read about heavy, fairly low-rep, moderate to high volume, high frequency training, then Pearl is most decidedly your bodybuilder.  Having said that, let’s get right into this advanced program, where we’ll take a look at just what I’m talking about regarding his mass-building techniques.  I will offer (what I hope to be) some insights into ways you might make this style of training work for you, or at least ways to incorporate elements of it into your programs.

     As with Part 1 & 2, all italicized quotes are the words of Pearl (as recorded by Mozee).  The non-italicized remainder are my thoughts, for what they’re worth.

     “A lot of time has passed since I first began training seriously.  At first I employed a basic, all-around program for conditioning.  Then I began to work on my weak spots, which at the time included just about everything.  I weighed about 165 lbs at 5’11”.  I wasn’t skinny.  I just had an average athletic build.  When I competed and won the Mr. Universe, however, I weighed 241 pounds in my final competition.”

     Pearl actually won five Mr. Universe competitions.  He was the champion in ‘56, ‘61, ‘67, and ‘71.  The ‘71 win—which is the one he mentions as his final competition—was even more impressive when you consider the fact that he was 41 years old, and he bested Frank Zane, Reg Park, Dave Draper, and Sergio Oliva!

     “My plan when gaining muscular weight was to eat five meals a day so that the digestive system was not overtaxed.  Often when a person is using all-out effort to gain bodyweight, the average individual eats to the point of force-feeding and in doing so stretches the stomach.  When you eat smaller meals more often, not only is the food more easily digested and utilized to build muscle and produce energy, it also helps to keep the waistline under control.  Generally speaking, when trying to reach a maximum bodyweight, I consume mostly fresh vegetables, fruits, baked potatoes, cheeses, meat and fish (at least I did before converting to a vegetarian diet later in years).  All foods are either baked or broiled for easier digestion.”

     Although I don’t find it odd now, when I was a kid in the ‘80s I remember reading about Pearl’s vegetarianism and wondering how in the world he managed to build muscle without meat!  You just didn’t read about too many vegetarian bodybuilders at that time.  What I find fascinating even now, however, is the fact that Pearl became a vegetarian when he was 39, two years before the previously mentioned Mr. Universe win.  That’s mighty impressive in my book.

     His dietary advice of 5 smaller meals-per-day—I think 6 would be even better if you’re really trying to pack on the mass—should still be followed by bodybuilders who wish to succeed at their goals.  What I do find a little bit different—and actually quite insightful in a way—was the reasoning behind the multi-meals-per-day approach.  In the ‘80s and ‘90s (those were the years when I actually trained as a bodybuilder before switching over to powerlifting), the reasoning for multiple meals throughout the day was primarily in order to ensure that the bodybuilder was always in an anabolic state.  I think nowadays we have the data to show that this isn’t necessarily needed in order to promote “anabolism.”  If you need 3,000 calories daily and 200 grams of protein to build muscle (probably what the average 200 pound bodybuilder would need, for instance), and you can get that in 3 meals because you have a big enough of an appetite, then that’s just as good as dividing it up into 5 or 6 meals.  Heck, I think if you can intermittently fast for 16 hours and then manage to get all of those 3K calories and 200 grams of protein within just a few hour window, you’d be fine.  I think Pearl knew this too.  Which makes his reasoning even more sensible.  Even if “anabolically” the effects are the same from either 3 meals daily or 6, the 3 meals could theoretically stretch your stomach too much, taking away from a more aesthetic midsection.  And even if you want mass above all else, as a bodybuilder you need to ensure that your waist stays as small as possible.

Bill Pearl’s Advanced Mass-Building Regimen

     “Here is the mass program that helped me win the Mr. Universe.  I trained down to 190 and then slowly massed up to 241 pounds.”

Mon - Wed - Fri

Incline Flyes: 5 sets of 6 reps

Bent-Arm Flat-Bench Flyes: 5 sets of 6 reps

Decline Flyes: 5 sets of 6 reps

Behind-the-Neck Presses: 5 sets of 6 reps

Barbell Military Presses: 5 sets of 6 reps

Dumbbell Lateral Raises: 5 sets of 8 reps

Lying Triceps Extensions: 5 sets of 6 reps

Lying Dumbbell Extensions: 5 sets of 8 reps

Triceps Pushdowns: 5 sets of 8 reps

Barbell Curls: 5 sets of 6 reps

Incline Dumbbell Curls: 5 sets of 6 reps

Concentration Curls: 5 sets of 6 reps

Situps: 100 to 200 reps

Alternate Leg Raises: 100 to 200 reps

Dumbbell Side Bends: 50 reps

Tues - Thurs - Sat

Situps: 100 to 200 reps

Alternate Leg Raises: 100 to 200 reps

Dumbbell Side Bends: 50 reps

Wide Grip Chins: 5 sets of 10 reps

Close Grip Chins: 5 sets of 10 reps

Shrugs: 5 sets of 10 reps

Stiff-Legged Deadlifts: 5 sets of 8 reps

Wrist Curls: 5 sets of 20 reps

Reverse Curls: 5 sets of 20 reps

Squats: 5 sets of 8 reps

Hack Squats: 5 sets of 10 reps

Leg Curls: 5 sets of 12 reps

Standing Calf Raises: 6 sets of 10 reps

Donkey Calf Raises: 6 sets of 10 reps

     Before we get into some of the nuances of the program, let’s go back to that last sentence before the program where Pearl wrote that he trained down to 190 before slowly massing up to 241 pounds.  This might seem a little odd to the modern bodybuilder, but this would have been a common enough practice up until (probably) the early ‘80s.  Believe it or not, before anabolic steroid use became so prevalent even in the off season, bodybuilders would actually not use steroids during the off season, and would get smaller at that point.  They would then get on a steroid cycle before the competition, at which point they would often get leaner and bigger as the competition approached.

     Now let’s take a look at some of the details of the program itself, and my advice if you decide to actually do it, along with some advice for incorporating elements of it into your program without adopting it outright.

     I remember reading this program when I was younger—and other programs of Pearl’s in other articles—and thinking that his repetitions were too low.  At the time, most bodybuilders used slightly higher reps than Pearl recommended (some of his arm programs didn’t even use more than 5 reps per set), and so that’s exactly what I did simply because I didn’t know my body any better.  It wasn’t until I started powerlifting and discovered that low reps actually built muscle, and not just strength, that I understood Pearl’s wisdom.  Let me be clear: I don’t think this is true for everyone.  I think there are plenty of bodybuilders who do thrive (at least from a hypertrophy standpoint) on reps in the 10-12 range (on average) or even higher in some cases.  But there are other bodybuilders—and you might be one of them—who would actually gain more muscle by dropping their repetitions in half and increasing their sets slightly.  With lower reps, you can do more sets without it cutting into your recovery ability since the total workload will be less on each set even if the weight is heavier.  At the very least, my advice would be to periodically do more sets with lower reps (6 reps at the maximum) on occasion in addition to your higher rep training.  If you typically perform 3 exercises per muscle group for 3 to 4 sets of 10-12 reps each, try doing 4 to 5 exercises for 4 or 5 sets of 5 reps.  Alternating back and forth between the different set/rep ranges will, if nothing else, give you a needed break from your conventional training and might even “shock” your muscles into new growth.

     You may find it interesting that Pearl used his lowest rep ranges for his chest, shoulders, and arms, and his highest rep ranges for back (particularly lats) and legs.  Once again, I think this is sound advice.  Even though I personally respond best to lower rep ranges in general, there are exceptions.  When it comes to lats (but not lower back or traps, so not the entirety of the back muscles) and legs, I do respond well to higher reps in addition to lower reps.  I wouldn’t want to do high reps all the time for legs and lats, but on occasion higher reps would really work well for me.  And I mean high reps.  There is a reason that high-rep squatting (and sometimes deadlifting) programs have been the raison d'etre of bulk-building since the ‘30s.  (If you want to know more about this style of training, then please read this post from earlier in the year: “More on 20-Rep Squats and Other High-Rep Breathing Exercises.”  That post also contains links to even more articles that discuss similar concepts.)

     Before we get into the frequency and volume used, I want to discuss another component that some may find interesting.  And that is how he organizes his training for the abdominals and midsection.  He does 3 exercises at the end of his chest, shoulders, and arms days, and then the same 3 exercises at the beginning of the 2nd day of training.  Also, he doesn’t say the number of sets that are used, but simply the total number of repetitions that he recommends.  However, having read his “20 Months to a Championship Physique” that was published monthly in IronMan in the late ‘90s, he recommended 1 or 2 sets of 25-50 reps each for abdominal exercises which means that 100-200 reps could mean anywhere from 2 to 8 sets on each exercise.

     Now onto the “problem” that most modern bodybuilders will have with this program: the high volume and frequency that are utilized.  This is the problem that I had when I first read it in ‘92, believing that there was no way in hell a bodybuilder could handle that type of volume and frequency.  I don’t believe that now.  Having utilized Russian-style powerlifting programs that required (what most people would think) an “insane” amount of volume done quite frequently, and having gotten both stronger and bigger while doing so, this amount of volume and frequency can work.  That doesn’t mean it will work.  First, it’s an “advanced” program for a damn reason.  It takes time to build up to the work capacity to handle this amount of weekly volume, and that’s not something that can just happen overnight for you.  So don’t rush it.  In fact, if you have been training for a couple years on full-body workouts, and now you want to give this program—or something very similar—a try, then I would still advise to cut the sets on each exercise down to 2 or 3 at first, and add a set every two or three weeks until you’ve built up to the full 5 sets per exercise.

     One thing that must be noted is that Pearl never recommended training to failure and he never used any sort of intensity techniques in his programs.  He just didn’t believe in it.  Here are his own words on the subject:

     “My approach to training has always been to push yourself in your workouts, but do NOT train to failure! The last rep should be difficult, but not impossible or unachievable. And I've always been a great believer that you should leave the gym each day feeling like you had a great workout, but you've still got a little bit left in the gas tank, so to speak.

     “So, speaking from experience, I urge you:

     “Train hard, yes, but not to failure.

     “Complete what you start, and that means every single rep.”

     And this is the mistake some bodybuilders make when they take up any old-school high-volume, high-frequency program.  They continue to utilize intensity techniques, or think that each set must be as hard as possible in order to get a “good” workout.  But that will never work as it leaves all three of the training variables—volume, frequency, and intensity—high.  Remember, if two variables are high, the other variable must be low.  In the Russian programs that I mentioned being so successful for me, I never once trained to failure.  Trust me, the volume and frequency will be enough.

Final Thoughts

     I’m probably missing something from Pearl’s training wisdom, and later will wish I included it in this article, but I think this is probably enough information if you decide to utilize this program or something similar.  If I think of something I may have missed, I will add it to the comments section below at a later date.

     I think the best way to end this is with the words of Gene Mozee from his original article.  This will also help to be a good summation of this entire series:

     “There you have it.  Advice and routines from three legends of bodybuilding.  They each gained 50 pounds of muscle, and you can too.  If you put in plenty of effort on a mass-building routine, along with lots of good food and enough rest, you’ll pack on loads of new size and strength.”

Sources

“Gain 50 Pounds of Muscle: Three of Bodybuilding’s All-Time Greats Reveal Their Techniques for Maximum Development” by Gene Mozee; October 1992 issue of IronMan Magazine