It is sometimes desirable to specialize on one lift or exercise to the exclusion of all others. The reason for this is that you can direct all your energies and effort in one direction. This will enable you to make much faster progress and reach greater heights of strength and development than if you spread your efforts out over several movements. It is not advisable to make this a permanent habit, as it might result in an uneven development of the body, but it is helpful at times to do this. An example of this is William Boone, who has reached a 420 jerk and a 700 deadlift expecting to do more, as well as a 315 bent press and a 360 jerk press all by this method of specializing in one of these lifts at a time. The same thing can apply to the development of increased size as well. For instance, if your legs are rather small then you could specialize on leg work – perhaps the squat alone for a certain period, If your back is weak you could specialize on the deadlift alone for a length of time. In doing this you would work with heavy weights and many sets. The exact number would have to be determined by the pupil himself. Find out what you can stand and progress best on. Also you will start out with one or two sets and then work up to more. You will also vary the number of repetitions and amount of weight in the different sets. You will find that by specializing in this manner you can work up to a tremendous amount of work for the part in question and forcer the most stubborn muscles to respond.
Of course, if you are working the small muscles, like arm muscles, you would be able to use more exercises. For instance, for the biceps you would use two different types of curls, or for the triceps you could use the supine press and the bent arm pullover or the standing triceps curl. Or you might be able to work both muscles if they were to be specialized on, and use perhaps 4 exercises. However, you should not get too many exercises, as the secret of this method is to limit the exercises and work them to the limit of your ability to stand it.
You will have to be watchful and not overwork, as you can go stale on this program just as you can on any other from overwork.
Pupils often ask what the sign of overwork is and we tell that that when they feel tired all the time and perhaps become nervous and irritable beyond normal they should check to see if they might not be overworking and perhaps under-resting.
THE USE OF SHORT MOVEMENTS FOR POWER & DEVELOPMENT
It is possible by the following methods to develop very great strength and help you pass that sticking point in your lifts. It will also, in many instances, help you to added development when other methods seem to fail.
An example of what we mean by short movements is the half or quarter squat. In this exercise you can work up to tremendous poundages. This will often bring your regular squat up a lot
and in many cases will start you gaining in leg development when you may have been at a standstill. It will also give you great power in such lifts as the jerk etc. It will give you muscle and ligament strength obtainable in no other way. Every bodybuilder and lifter should spend a specialized period on half and quarter squats for the power and development he can obtain from them.
The deadlift can be worked in much the same manner. William Boone, who specialized on this lift, started out by digging a hole in the ground 8 inches deep. He stood in the hole and did his deadlifts. This enabled him to use about 200 pounds more than he normally could do on the ground. He worked up to very high poundages while standing in this hole. Then when he had reached a satisfactory poundage he started filling the hole up and this when he had the hole filled he was doing a great many more pounds in his deadlift than had ever been possible for him before.
The same system can be used in the supine press on floor. You can place blocks under each end of the bar and press from this, or if you wish you can press up a heavier weight than you could normally supine press by the belly toss method, then do your repetitions by allowing the weight to come down only about half the way before pressing it back up. When you reach satisfactory poundage in this you can make the movements a little greater until you are supine pressing far more than you ever have before. Your triceps and pectorals as well as the front of the deltoids will have taken on new size and shape.
In regard to the deadlift above – if you do not train out of doors where you can dig a hole, you can place blocks of wood under the plates as we advise in the paragraph on the supine press. When you first start some of these short movements you may find that you can’t do much more than in the complete movement, but this is because you are no stronger than the poundages you have been using can make you. In other words, you have been cheating your muscles of the full power possible to them because you have limited the poundage to what you could do complete movements with.
We do not give all the exercises that can be used this way but only enough to demonstrate the principle of the thing so that you can apply it to any other exercises you happen to be interested in. We do not advise a man to go on a permanent program of this sort but it is very wise to go on such programs at certain times for specialization periods. You will be amazed at the all-round body strength these movements will give you.
A similar method can be used for developing the jerk. You should take very heavy weights off the standards in hands at shoulders and do quarter squats in this position, coming up fast and trying to heave the weight as high off the shoulders as you can, which won’t be much but it is the effort that does the job. Then in the overhead portion of the lift you should suspend the bar from chains from the ceiling and load it up, then get under the bar, which has been suspended at the height of the top the head, and take the position of the jerk in split position and lift the bar on straight arms until you stand erect in the finishing position of the jerk. While holding it as it thus, lower the weight just a trifle and press it back to arms length again. Do this about three times for each time you get up from the jerk position. If you have no overhead chains you can use high standards but in this case you may have to drop the weight each time, then unload it on the ground, then load it back up on the rack for the next repetition. The practice of this exercise will soon develop great power in the jerk, especially when used in conjunction with the quarter squats with the weight at the shoulders as described above.
You can use the same method for the bent press by supporting weights at various heights. By a little thought you can devise ways of applying this principle to every exercise and lift to its benefit. This is a system that was much used by the old timers but has been neglected in recent years by modern lifters and bodybuilders. It is very valuable and not to be minimized in its importance.