Classic Bodybuilding: John Farbotnik’s No Frills Mass Blast

 

Old-School Mass Building for New-Age Muscle Gains

John Farbotnik as he appeared on Strength & Health magazine

     At times, when I need inspiration for an article or just for my personal training, I scour my attic and the boxes upon boxes (upon boxes) of all the old muscle magazines that I own.  I don’t think I’ve thrown out an issue of a single bodybuilding rag I ever purchased.  Anyway, this morning I stumbled upon an article by Gene Mozee, published in the April ’92 issue of IronMan magazine, that I had completely forgotten about, but, once my memory was properly jogged, I remembered using, and had pretty good results.  Perhaps I had forgotten about this article because it was so similar to other programs Mozee wrote, which I used more than this particular one.

     The article in question is titled “No Frills Mass.”  It details the mass-building program that Mozee received from the old-school bodybuilder John Farbotnik.  I didn’t know much about Farbotnik then—I don’t think I had ever read anything about him before the article—and still couldn’t tell you much about him now.  Mozee would mention him occasionally in other articles he wrote for IronMan.  George Turner may have mentioned him, too, in one of his “Real Bodybuilding” columns, but I can’t ever recall seeing an article on him specifically.  When I started working on this article, I expected to be able to find more on Farbotnik on the internet, but there really isn’t much.  As with many of Mozee’s articles, there are primarily just references to him scattered throughout different writings.

     What I can tell you is that Farbotnik was well-known in the ‘40s and ‘50s.  He owned a gym in Glendale, California, which is where and how Mozee met him.  Here’s what Mozee had to say about him in the IronMan article: Farbotnik was a remarkable bodybuilder and one of the most knowledgeable experts on training that I have ever met. He was originally from Philadelphia and had won a few bodybuilding titles on the East Coast before moving to California. Struggling to get established out West, he took a manual labor job. He decided to enter the Mr. America 30 days before the contest, even though his bodyweight was down to 170 pounds. He proceeded to add a pound of muscle a day, gaining 27 pounds, to compete at 197 and win the title as well as the Best Chest and Best Back awards.

     In order to gain that astounding amount of muscle in such a short period of time—it must be noted, as well, that Mozee claimed Farbotnik was natural—he followed a program similar to the one I’m going to present you with here.

     Mozee had great results with the program.  Here is how he described his gains from it: Many years ago I was faced with the problem of adding more muscle size and bodyweight even though I had already gained 30 pounds of muscle. After this initial gain, I hit a wall and couldn’t add another pound no matter how hard I worked out or what I ate. I trained steadily for more than a year with little or no progress, and I was ready to throw in the towel. Fortunately, I was introduced to the No Frills Mass Blast, and in less than three months gained 30 more pounds and added five inches to my chest, 2½ inches to my arms and thighs, and 1½ inches to my calves. In addition, my bench press jumped from 190x6 to 305x6.

     I joined Farbotnik’s Gym in Glendale, California, and after I described my present workout to him he immediately perceived that I was overtrained—too many exercises, too many sets and reps, too many days per week. He explained that I was depleting my body’s energy level. In a sense, I was training like a marathon runner— lots of endurance but little muscle size and power. Farbotnik said, “If you want to see results faster and gain muscle size quickly, select a favorite exercise for each part of your body and concentrate on these specific exercises until you smash the progress barrier.”

     This was not what I had expected to hear. I had always assumed that the more you trained the more progress you made. “Not necessarily so,” Farbotnik pointed out. “Look back to when you made your greatest improvement after your initial gains. It was when you trained with a simple program that encouraged muscle growth without overworking.”

     Later on, Mozee used this program for lifters at his own gym.  He said: When I owned the Pasadena Gym years ago, I prescribed Farbotnik’s basic principles for hundreds of trainees with outstanding results. One individual, Brent Clark, gained 33 pounds in 30 days. A few others gained 20 or more in 30 days. Many athletes, primarily football players from nearby high schools and colleges, added lots of muscle mass and power using the No Frills program.  This training technique works well for hardgainers. It is simple to follow, but the results are strictly big-time. I recommend it for those who have done at least a year of steady training on a basic all-around program. If you have been working out for longer than that and have hit a roadblock but still wish to add another 10 or 20 pounds, the following program can help you.

     Okay, at this point, you’re probably ready to see what the program actually looks like.  Below is the program.  I will explain the details of it using Mozee’s (and Farbotnik’s) advice, along with my personal recommendations.  Don’t discount how “simple” it appears to be, and make sure you understand the instructions for how to properly implement it before rushing off to the gym.

     On 3 days a week—Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for example—do the following:

Concentration Curls – 4 x 10,8,6,15.
Squats – 5 x 10,8,6-8,5-6,15.
Bench Press – 5 x 10,8,6-8,5-6,15.
Dumbbell Rows – 4 x 10,8,6,15.
Behind-the-Neck Presses – 4 x 10,8,6,15.
Two-arm Dumbbell Extensions – 4 x 10,8,6,15.
Machine Calf Raises – 4 x 15-20.
Crunches – 1 x 30-50.

     It seems odd, at first glance, that Farbotnik included concentration curls as the first movement.  But he said this about the exercise’s placement: “It doesn’t take much energy expenditure because it is a small muscle, and it’s fun and beneficial to start out with a good biceps pump. It helps set the mood for a good workout.”

     Mozee added this: Start with a light weight for 10 reps, then switch to the other hand. After a rest of no more than 60 seconds, add weight and do 8 reps for each arm. On the third set use as much weight as you can for 6 reps. Rest 30 seconds, drop the weight and perform a pump set of 15 reps for each arm. For example: 25x10, 30x8, 35x6, 20x15.

     As you can see, the workout uses a “pyramid” format, where you start with higher reps on your first work set, and add weight and drop the reps for subsequent sets; this pyramid sequence is then followed by a lighter set of 15 reps as a means for attaining a pump.  Overall, I think this is a good approach for mass-building, but I would make a couple of minor changes.  First, regarding rest periods between sets, I would use 60 seconds as a suggestion; you don’t have to be strictly beholden to it.  One minute is pretty good advice, and for the majority of you, it’s probably just about right.  But there are trainees who will do well with slightly less rest, and some will do better with slightly more.  I never recommend blanket rest periods for my own programs as I think it’s more individualistic than most lifters realize.  A rest period will work well for a certain bodybuilder or personal trainer, and then he makes the erroneous assumption that it will work just as well for other bodybuilders or for his clients.  My suggestion for building muscle is to rest until just before you recover your oxygen debt.  And this varies from lifter to lifter.  Second, regarding how hard you train, I would stop each set—including the set of 6 reps—a couple reps shy of failure.  I believe that this is the “secret” to frequent, full-body training.  It’s also how most of your old-school followers of full-body programs actually trained!  When you train an exercise—on this program or any 3 day a week, full-body routine—ask yourself if you will be able to repeat the movement in another 48 hours.  If your answer is “yes,” then you are, most likely, using the correct amount of intensity.  If you answer “no,” then perhaps you need to back off a little.  Now, as you progress and become more advanced, there will come a time when you can train with the intensity that Mozee suggests, but that should come to you naturally and should not be forced.

     You don’t have to put concentration curls first in the program, but, if you like the sound of trying something different, then, by all means, give it a go.  You can, of course, place it in its “traditional” slot, before or after the dumbbell extensions.

     For the remainder of the exercises, use my recommendation for the curls.  Use a weight on each lift where you stop a couple reps shy of muscular failure.  And this may not be the prevailing advice (but I still think its true) when in doubt do less and not more.  For the first couple of weeks, especially if you haven’t been utilizing full-body workouts before this one, you may want to select a weight on each set where you could have gotten 3 or even 4 additional reps.  Try that, at the very least, at your first session to gauge how sore you get from the workout.  If you have been following a much less frequent program, then you probably haven’t conditioned yourself to handle training a muscle every 2 days.  But if you start with a little less weight on all of the sets than you would typically handle, you will quickly adapt.

     On the squats, bench presses, and rows, you may want to use longer rest periods than the exercises for your shoulders, arms, calves, and abs.  Once again, however, this is individualistic, but the more compound the movement, the more rest between sets should be taken.

     You don’t have to use the exercises listed, either.  What I find interesting is that Farbotnik said to select a favorite exercise for each part of the body.  Just make sure that you still select exercises that are a true replacement for whatever movement you’re subbing it in for.  Don’t replace barbell squats with leg extensions, for instance.  Compound movements need to be replaced with other, similar compound lifts.  Instead of back squats, you could do front squats, barbell lunges, or bottom-position squats, just as a few examples.

     Here is a list of other exercises that I think would work well as replacements: barbell curls, dumbbell curls (seated or standing), cable curls; incline barbell bench presses, dumbbell benches (flat or incline), weighted wide-grip dips; chins, lat pulldowns, barbell rows; military presses, dumbbell presses (seated or standing), lateral raises, one-arm dumbbell overhead presses; lying barbell extensions (skull crushers), bent-arm barbell pullovers, pushdowns (rope or straight bar); standing barbell calf raises, dumbbell calf raises (seated or standing), donkey calf raises; hanging leg raises, lying knee raises, cable crunches, and sit-ups.

     Stay on the program between 6-8 weeks.  After that, you can follow it again but rotate in some new exercises or you can try a completely different workout routine.

     As far as when to add weight to an exercise, this should come naturally.  Don’t force it.  When a weight feels light, add resistance at the next workout.  This is another “secret” to making frequent, full-body training programs effective.

     On the back-off sets of 15, try adding a rep to each set at each subsequent workout.  Once you can do 20 reps with a weight, increase the weight for this set at the next session.

     Finally, don’t miss a scheduled workout.  In the words of Mozee from the original article: Consistency is the key to continued improvement.

 

     If you found this program interesting and want to read about more mass-building routines, purchase my e-book “Ultimate Mass & Power: A Collection of Training Programs for Getting Massively Big and Incredibly Strong.”

 

 

 

 

Sources

“No Frills Mass,” by Gene Mozee, from the April ’92 issue of IronMan magazine