[DanielML]

Once muscle-enhancing drugs, both legal and illegal, became readily available to the average bodybuilder he no longer had to be as concerned with training diligently or systematically, or bother with moving heavy weights. Any routine worked better just as long as he took enough of the right stuff or combinations of the right stuff. That mindset would allow a 250-pound man to use only 225 pounds on his basic exercises and still pack on muscle. So what if he was really weaker than some of the female lightweights at the gym? He looked huge and that was all that seemed to matter.

I’m often asked if I believe that people can develop a better physique without doing any heavy strength work. I do, but I don’t believe they will develop true quality by using strictly machines, lifting light weights or doing a program that revolves mainly around drug cycles without including some heavy, hard training. If all you seek are some muscles so you look better at the beach, then my message has no meaning for you. I’ve always believed, however, that if people possess a muscular physique, they should be able to back it up. To me, having muscles without strength is like having a magnificent-looking car that’s loaded with chrome and tops out at 60 mph.

It should be noted that you don’t have to do strength training year-round in order to achieve the benefits. Those top bodybuilders I mentioned earlier didn’t do heavy weight work for 12 months. They cycled it into their training year. After three or four months of pure strength work they switched to a totally different routine that featured higher reps, faster sets and lighter weights in order to refine and define the muscle produced during the strength phase.

Most beginners don’t fully understand that unless they do some form of strength work, they aren’t going to form the foundation from which they can eventually build the arms, chest and legs they desire. It’s just not possible to do on just machines using light weights. I wish it were. It’s much easier to sit down on a machine and knock out some reps than it is to struggle and sweat through a heavy squat workout, but the simple truth is THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS. You get out of training only what you put into it. In other words, if you want strong legs, you have to squat and sweat. Period.

The same idea holds for developing a thick, awesome back. A bodybuilder recently approached me and asked what exercises he could do for his back. He needed something bad, for he was as flat as an old woman. “What are you doing now?” I asked. “I’m doing lat pulls on the machine, bentover rows with a dumbbell and pulls on that machine where you lie on your belly and pull the bar to your chest,” he said.
“My female athletes do a harder program than that,” I replied, laughing. “If you’re really interested in getting some quality muscle on your back start doing heavy high pulls off the floor, deadlifts, bentover rows with a barbell and some shrugs. Then, if you have any energy left, and you shouldn’t, you can do extra things on the machines and pulleys. Those exercises are useful, but only as auxiliary exercises. To build powerful back muscles you have to hammer them with heavy weights. Strong muscles look good!”

I never saw him again.

That, I think, is really the bottom line. Most people who train are basically lazy. Deep down they understand the reasoning behind doing heavy weight work but they find a million and one excuses for not doing it. At the same time, most don’t mind doing four or five heavy movements for their upper bodies. They’ll gladly do bench presses, inclines and then countless sets of flyes, declines and seated presses, all in the same session. Ask them to do a similar routine for their legs or back and they cringe. Why? Upper-body exercises are easier to do than heavy leg and back work. The problem is, most people who have overdeveloped their upper body and allowed their legs to suffer are not admired or considered strong, except by their training mates who follow the same stupid routine. Then again, some people don’t mine being laughingstocks, as long as someone notices them.

Often, when I suggest to people that they should include some strength work in their routine, they counter that the exercises I suggest are dangerous. That notion came about due to the influence of our old friends, gym owners and personal trainers. The truth of the matter is that deadlifts, full squats, good mornings, high pulls, snatches, cleans, shrugs, overhead presses, jerks, etc., etc., are perfectly safe if they’re learned correctly. And there’s the rub.

The irony is that the most potentially dangerous exercise of all is the bench press, but no on – and I mean no one – eliminates that movement from his or her program. In the 10 years I’ve been at Hopkins only one athlete out of the 200 I train each year hurt himself squatting, and that was due to pure stupidity on his part. During the same period I’ve had dozens of athletes hurt their shoulders or pecs doing benches – always due to some bad habit they picked up in high school. Bad habits are hard to break. My point is that any exercise can be dangerous if you use faulty form, but if you do it properly, it’s safe – and that includes all the large-muscle movements like deadlifts and squats.

It’s important that everyone who uses any form of resistance training include some strength exercises in his or her routine. Strength is an underlying factor in all physical activities. Before infants can take their first step they must have the necessary strength. Before you can dream of putting 200 pounds over your head, you must first learn how to handle 100 pounds. Strength is, rather obviously, the cornerstone of any athletic activity, but it’s also the basis for gaining muscle size. You’ll never climb higher in any physical endeavor than your strength foundation lets you.

Some people like to specialize on strength work for several months out of the year while others find it more agreeable to do it throughout the year, using perhaps one heavy movement for a certain bodypart for a time, then switching to another for the sake of variety. It’s been my experience that once people do some strength work they really enjoy it. That’s because they can feel and see the results of their efforts in the gym – and they also know that when they look as if they lift weights, they can back up the image with pure strength.