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It was the middle to late 90s was when I came to my senses and totally changed the way I trained.
A whole new armoury of exercises entered my routine. Movements I had to master, equipment I had to become a craftsman in using to gain the up-most benefit. I have never looked back. Hopefully the reader may be able to pick up a tip or two to aid in there own quest for strength size and health.

This is how I came about many of my ideas, reading, studying experimenting. They are in-fact not my ideas, but an accumulation of years of reading articles and books by many authors from McRoberts to Kubick to Sipes. My book collection has to be seen to be believed, some of them are double my age, but the information is priceless. Some of the ideas and equipment may already in your arsenal, if not, give the strategies a try. They have worked for me and many of my clients in the gym; they may do the same for you.

Some of the movements I will explain will have been mentioned many times in Hard Gainer. But I believe that we all need reminding of the basic laws of weight training. All the writers in this publication are on the same wave-length, although some theories may differ slightly, the basics are there, i.e. progression and recovery. I have used these techniques in a properly conducted program, so as always use common sense and don’t use them all at the same time.

POWERING FORWARD WITH THE RACK.
The power rack has done more for my strength and development than anything else. As mentioned in one of my previous articles I believed in the benefits of the rack that much I put three in the gym. I also equipped out my garage at home for very early morning sessions. I bought a bar, 700lbs in weight, a bench and guess what, a power rack.

TOP POSITION HOLD.
This movement I picked up from Chuck Sipes in old Iron Man articles. Chuck was one of the most massively developed bodybuilders in the late 50s early 60s. Not only was he big he was also very strong able to bench press close to 570lbs.

One of the techniques he used to amass great strength was the top position power hold. I truly believe this increased my strength in the bench press beyond what I ever thought possible. Position the bar on the pins so that when you lie down on a bench inside the rack you can press it only through the top two to three inches to lockout. You simply press the bar out to lockout and hold for a slow count of ten and lower slowly back to the pins. This movement, as you will find, you can use an awesome amount of weight on in the top position hold. This will work those stabilizer muscles, as well as overloading the chest shoulders and triceps. You need to be able to stabilize big weights in order for you to bench big weights. Without a doubt this does carry over to regular bench press, also psychologically regular press feels light by comparison. One more tip on this note, when holding the weight above you keep perfect alignment, chest high everything solid muscles tensed. I have found one to two sets of ten seconds works well.

CLOSE GRIP PRESS.
This has been my favourite for years now for triceps mass. Set a bar in the rack on the pins. Allow the bar to be four inches off your chest when laid down on a bench. In this movement I believe that the bar does not have to travel all the way down to the chest, if it did there would be more chest involvement. This height allows more than enough elbow flexion for me; you may need the bar slightly higher.

Take a grip on the bar (I always use a thick bar on these) to where your thumbs are in line with your nipples. I have found the most effective way of doing these is with the elbows back under the bar, as if your forearms are running along the bar. But try to find a grip and elbow position that suits your frame, one that allows you to feel the movement but joint safe. Press out to lock out and then lower to a dead stop, set yourself and press out the next rep. Work them hard and under control, keep your body solid as if you are the bench itself. Another tip is to tense your back and rear Deltoids into the bench below you. This gives you a solid base from which to press the bar.

OVERHEAD LOCKOUTS.
This I picked up from Hard Gainer volume two issue three an article entitled, More From Rich Abbott- Deltoids. In this article Mr Abbott explained this movement in great detail and how it works so many upper body muscles pectoral, deltoid, triceps, upper back, also lower back and all those support muscles in the trunk. I have been using this for a while now and I can attest to its fantastic affect on the above musculature. This and seated rack press for the shoulders with a thick bar for full range have been my only shoulder movements for a long time. Set the bar on the pins so that when you stand with your arms locked above you, you have a five to six inch range. The pins are at that height for starting and finishing in safety, not to press off. Place yourself under the bar, with a shoulder width stance. Squat down a few inches and lock out your arms. Tense your whole body and with arms locked squat the weight up so you are supporting the weight overhead. From this position, with yourself as solid as you can be, supporting the weight. You must have a solid base to press from. Now lower the bar around three inches, not to the pins I might add, they are there for safety. Then press back to full lockout, pushing hard on the bar tensing all muscles of the shoulders and upper back. In the old issue of Hard Gainer,

Richard Abbott did this movement by sliding the bar up and down the facing uprights of his power-rack. I prefer to do them free of the uprights but in the rack for safety and confidence. I have tried a few different rep ranges and I feel I get more from this movement doing 15-20 reps.

Experiment yourself, think and feel the movement. For more information on this exercise look up that back issue or check out your copy of Brawn.

SQUATS IN THE RACK.
Squats in the rack are tough, very tough. Picture this in your minds eye. Squeezing under a loaded bar set in the rack on the pins so that when underneath, your thighs are parallel. You set yourself up- feet placed correctly, back flat, head up, butt under the bar. From here you drive the bar off the pins to standing position. Hold briefly then lower back down under control back to the pins. When the bar touches the pins there should be a light click, not a crash as the weight is dropped. You must lower under control, as you can well be aware, crashing a heavy weight onto your spine will not help your longevity in this game. So with this in mind, lower under control and let the bar stop dead. Set up again for the next rep, back flat chest high butt under the bar. Drive into the bar to complete your next rep and continue until your goal reps are achieved. This is a very hard way to squat, as you have to start from the bottom, from a dead stop, there is no momentum. It takes real strength to make the rep, but it does reward you with added size and a great transfer of added weight to the regular squat. Again as in other power rack movements different ranges can be worked from strongest to weakest simply by the setting the pins at different heights.

One of my favourites is the quarter squats, this is were you work the top position of the movement, the strongest range. You can move some real heavy iron in this and work your legs into pulp. This has also in time helped me get over that fear factor of heavy squats. As you can lift more than twice, in some cases the weight you would lift in a regular squat, after a time of doing the quarter, regulars feel light in comparison. This does help that mind set, at the start of a set of squats.

THOSE LITTLE BIG MOVEMENTS.
Thick bar curls have been my main biceps movement for a few years now. What makes it so productive? I don’t know. I have my own ideas, which I will share with you here. But let it be known they are the greatest exercise I have ever done for biceps.

We have three thick bars at Future Bodies and I have one at home in the garage gym. The one at home is the largest, about 3 inch in diameter, this one and two of the others I have at the gym are made by Iron Mind Enterprises. I purchased these from a good friend. The one I use the most for biceps is a 90lb tractor axel with turned down ends to fit Olympic plates. The bars are so widely used in my gym, that you would not believe it. I always rave about how good they are for biceps and when a client or member asks, why, here is how I explain the thick bar curl as I see it...

The biceps, as we know not only curl, flexion of the elbow, but supinate the forearm. To prove this hold your right arm at your side and bend it as if you are going to shake hands. Place your left hand on your right biceps; now twist your right forearm clockwise as far as it will go. Can you feel how much your biceps contract from this action. When you grip a thick bar the hand is twisted as far as it can possibly go. With a normal bar there is a slight margin for not having the hand fully supinated. This I believe makes a big difference; the contraction is so much harder. Staying with the hand, the bar practically fills the hand. Compare the hand holding a normal inch bar to how it looks holding a two and half inch or even a 3 inch. The weight of the bar is pushed back over the thumb altering the mechanics totally of the curl. I looked into this a little more I placed a normal Olympic bar on the pins in the rack waist high. This so when I stood up to the bar I could hold it as if I was midway through a curl, arm at 90 degrees. I held the bar with my left hand and with a steel tape measured the distance from the crook of the elbow, just under my biceps to where the bar was in my hand. I took the measurement to the centre of the bar, the distance twelve inches. I the replaced that bar for a thick bar and repeated the procedure, the distance to the bar centre was ten inches. This must alter the leverage, making the curl different. By rights the shorter the distance from axis to the weight should allow me to be stronger in the movement. I am not as strong as I am with a normal bar, but maybe I am stronger with the thick bar than I would be with longer forearm length. I don’t know the science but I do know there is an alteration of the mechanics. This makes the movement harder and very productive. Two more areas, you have to grip the bar like your life depends on it, this again increases the contraction in the biceps. Also with the thick bar you cannot swing and cheat, it will just come right on out of those hands. You have to perform them strict you have no choice.

I cannot recommend thick bars enough not just for curls, but also for many other upper body movements, although, we do have members that squat with them. Close grip press and rack bench press, as mentioned earlier are made much more difficult, in a strict, must exercise under control sort of way, not dangerous. You have to constantly fight to keep the movement honest and in the correct groove, thus making it more productive.

Thick bars are also fantastic forearm developers, due to the grip being so heavily involved. Whatever you do, don’t you dare use wrist straps, these are a real pet hate of mine. A strong grip is key to big forearms and to all the body. This leads me nicely on to.

GRIP WORK.
Talking of chunky forearms, I have found there is nothing better than grip work to increase their size. What I mean by grip work is exactly that working and strengthening the grip. Increase the grip strength and larger forearms will follow suit. If you don’t believe me look around at the masses of people that use wrist straps in the gym. Even though they may do forearm work, just look closely, you will need to, at the size of their lower arms. Most do not have enough mass there to hold up a shirt- sleeve. Now I have your attention let me give you a couple of my favourite grip exercises.

PINCH GRIP.
These I do with a block of wood around three inch thick. There is a hole drilled through with rope threaded through on this weight can be added. All I do is take hold of the wood with fingers flat pinching the wood between them and the thumb. Lift the weight from the floor using the grip only. You can use both hands, or one at a time, lift for reps or timed holds. Whatever you do just work it hard; grip the wood like your life depends on it.

HOLDING DUMBBELLS.
As the name implies, this is holding dumbbells for as long as possible, again one arm at a time or both. Hold them over a bench for safety and so that you can challenge yourself to hold onto them till they fall from your fingers. Do not let the dumbbell rest on the thighs thereby allowing some of the weight to be unloaded. Another I do is the farmer’s walk with dumbbells; I wrap towels around them through the area that I would normally hold. I then take hold of the towel ends and walk the gym length. The towel length makes the exercise safer as the weights are closer to the floor, but griping the towels is much harder on your grip. So there you have it, a few ideas that I hope you may benefit from remember to keep in those guidelines of a properly conducted program.
Take care Ian Duckett.