Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Die Kette(The Chain)

Now we come to one fo my favorite workouts of old.Die Kette or The Chain.

You can use dumbbells or Kettlebells .This was a regular workout of old time strongman Hermann Goerner.
In the book Goerner the Mighty it he would take a total of nineteen kettlebells the first one weighing 28.5 pounds and the last one 115.75 pounds,and pair them off,except the last and heaviest one,giving a gradual increase of approximately 5 to 10 pounds per pair..

The kettleweights were placed in a row on the floor of the gymnasium,and working "Die Kette'(or The Chain) meant that Herman would start out taking the first kettleweight in the right hand and swinging it to arm's length overhead,after swinging it,the weight would be lowered to the shoulder and then pressed up again over head,relowered to the shoulder and from there to the "hang" and then curled to the shoulder,the pressed overhead again and finally lowered again and replaced on the floor.

He would then repeat this with the next kettleweight,using this time the left hand.The whole length of The Chain would be worked through in this manner-in Hermann's case he would lift all the bells in this fashion with the exception that he did not curl the final and last weight of 115.74 pounds-but he could curl both the 110.25 kettle weights!

I hope you have found this interesting and will give The Chain a try sometime.

How much weight to start with when training and did the Old Timers train to failture

Ok I will address this in two parts in this post,as these are vital to success in physical culture.

Most people now adays believe in training with weights so heavy that there is a tendency to  go stale on a regular basis,and personally I feel this is unhealthy and counter intuitive to training and nature,so i will address the concept of did the old timers train to failure.

No they did not and I will draw upon their own words to prove that;

George A Jowett from his Progtessive Barbell training course: page 4:

Never exercise each muscle group to the point of exhaustion.You should finish your entire daily training feeling just comfortably tired.The last repetition oin each exercise should be one of greater effort then the first,but do not otherwise allow it to be a forced effort that taxes the muscles to the point when breathng in the prescribed manner becomes difficult.A repetition that causes too much effort prevents the exerciser from performing the exercise correctly.

George Hackenschmidt  from The Way to Live 52

Never on any account contine the exercises until exhaustion sets in.

page 97
Do not preform any exercises to excess,so as to tire yourself out.If you feel tired and exhausted,give yourself the necessary rest,and as in everything else,use moderation and common sense.

page 98

REMEMBER that excessive and rapid exercising is harmful.Overwork,like laziness ,spells disease.


page 99

To go ahead gently.Increase your weight and exercises gradually and slowly.

W.A.Pulum from How to use a barbell.

page 34

Learn to distinguish between that degree of work which merely insists that you strenuously exert yourself and that which really taxes you to perform it. The former is the limit beyond which it is never beneficial to proceed.


Now regarding how much weighta  trainiee should use:

George Hackenscmidt in The Way to Live
 page 79 suggested:

HOW CAN ONE GAUGE THE MOST SUITABLE WEIGHTS FOR EXERCISE? and went on to say:

This is quite easy.When in an unfatigued condition try an exercise say ten times.If you can accomplish this by using all of your strength you have found the proper weight with which to begin your exercises five times in succession.
( I now ou are now grinning and rubbing your hands together saying AHHH HAA he just contridicted Mr.Pulam..And i say not so,if you use all you strenght for ten reps in good form you'll be using for less weight then if u used bad form and tossed the weight around)

Henry Higgins from his Strngth and muscle course:
page 4

By lifting well within himself in practice,a man will do much better in training.

page 23
It is always safe to lift less then your full stength will permit.
Wise pupils,no matter how strong they maybe,will not be in a hurry to try their strength in any sence to it's utmost until they have been in training at least a year.

The Mark Berry Barbell courses:
Course 1
page 7

in reccomending a starting poundage we always try to be on the safe side,by suggesting a weight that we feel is boudn to be light enough for oen who is unaccustomed to this type of exercise.

page 8

Another reason for starting the pupil on a fairly easy poundage is that the exercises must be performed int he correct way.


course 2

page 2

You must use your own judgement to soem extent.It is always safe to use weighst well within your strenngth limit.


I feel that if we follow these tips we willl be training ina  safer,sanerr yer more productive manner.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

How many times did they train a week in Old Time Physical Culture?

I have asked just that question many times and I know many  others have  echoed it as well.

I now some of today athuorities who I respect will say they trained  two days a week back in the old days,some will say they trains  three times a week  some will say  six days a week,every other day etc etc on how many times a week the Old Timers of Physical Culture trained..I believe these are honest men who are promoting a part of the training methods that worked for them,but at the same time they are promoting only part  of the picture on how many days people  trained back in the Olden Days of Iron Yore.

Taken from THE SAXON TRIO: What they ate & how they trained.:They insisted on plenty of light while exercising and trained 6 days a week, and at least four hours at every training session. During some training periods they would lose as much as seven pounds.


Fron The Henry Higgins Stength and Muscle Course(1915)
page1

Dail;y Practice in lifting dumbells and weights is all that is necessary in order to become a very great strong man..

page 5

The secret of great strength,then,is seen to be a matter of daily traing with heavy weights and dumbells.The man who practices with care and judgement and keeps it up for a number of years,he can become a lifter of the first rank.


page 18

The best pupils i ever had worked some part of every day,some of them including Sundays and holidays.In regard to Sunday,however,I have always felt a rest and lay off was good for every body.



From The Truth about weightlifting:(1911)

page 117( about an unnamed individual)

Three or four times a week he would practice the standard lifts abd the bentpress and after a year or two of this kind of work he developed a wondeful figure and tremendous strength



page 141

The average weightlifter trains from 15 to 30 minutes everyday.

page 156

Many professional weightlifters train only a short time every day.some lifters only train three or four times a wee.atotal of two hours a week is enough to keep a man in the highest possible condition,and it is enough to develop a novice from a totally undeveloped condition into a perfect Hercules.


The Milo barbell course(1924)



you would train on these days monday,wednesday,friday,sunday,tuesday,thursday,saturday,starting back over at monday.

Progressive barbell training by George F.Jowett(date un known)

same traing schedule as the milo course.


How to use a barbell(1925)

Relative to the question of how often a man should practice,there is no hard and fast rule,some finding a regular daily programme produces the best results,,others discovering they do better by missing a practice now and then.And later,as work becomes more exacting,it may pay to observe this rest interval even more frequently.


and last but most certainly not least

The Way to Live(1908)

page 46

I reccomend my reader to map out a certian plan,according to which they exercise all the muscle groups twice on three or four days every week,or on six days,if time allows.

page 51

I would suggest at least 15 minutes be daily devoted to the system of exercises adopted.


page 97

It might be said that no one can continue to perform these exercises every day without "Knocking oneself up"(his way of saying go stale).To these  would reply,try it,and you will probably decide diffrently afterwards.

page 105

Yet the doctor was always well,active and vigorous in mind and body ,and ascribed his perpetual fitness solely to his  daily physical exercise.

(The Doctor mentioned here is non other then DR. von Krajewski The Father of Athletics)

 I hope in my own humble way I have cleared up the views of the old timers on how many days one can  train.

Next Post will detail information on why they where able to train  the way they did and not burn out as much as followers of modern systems do.

What is Physical Culture?

The term "Physical Culture" is a difficult concept to relate to in this day and age when technology has removed much of our need to rely upon our physical bodies to accomplish everyday tasks.
Physical Culture is the promotion of muscular  strength,growth and health combined with longivity,vitality and vigor through various physical exercise programs like resistance training with and without weights,stretching,posture correction techniques,and sports.Eugen Sandow,George Hackenschmdit,Artur Saxon,Benarr MacFadden,Bob Hoffman,George F.Jowett,Apollon,Otto Arco,Edward Aston,Joe Bonomo,Ottley R.Coulter,Hermann Goerner,Thomas Inch,Maxick,Monte Saldo,and Lionel Strongfort where among its earliest popularisers.Unlike today where drugs are seen as the way to gain in muscle and strength Classic Physical Culture stands in opposition to the win at all costs attitude ,drug,prohormone and suppliment use and seek to replace that with the old wisdom of health first.
A century ago,there was a remarkable group of men and women who knew how to build muscle,burn fat and live a healthy,balanced life without popping pills ,peppering their butts with needlemarks,or obssessing over their micro and macro nurtient ratios.It is true that sometimes their advice did seem contradictory,when in fact no contradictions existed.A very lively and healthy debate was carried on by these devotees of Physical Culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries---from the debate over vegetarianism versus meat eating to which was better training with or without apparatus(weights).
Unlike modern tarining systems Classic Physical Culture systems did not advocate training to failure or "training on the nerve" as they used to call it,which explains why alot of the classic systems advocated the seven days in two weeks training system(meaning you trained every other day),or that you train six days a week.

The single most important concept for you to understand is that strength is a skill and you need to treat it as such.You are training your nervous system to be more efficent.And that is why the great old time strongmen like Eugen Sandow,George Hackenschmidt,Arthur Saxon,etc called their workouts "practice" ,inshort lifting to them was their sport so they understood unlike modern bodybuilders that you cannot continue practicing in a fatigued state or you engrain bad habits into your nerve/motor systems.

Old Time Physical Culture Association

The Old Time Physical Culture Association is dedicated to the presevation of the Physical Culture training methods,and philosophy that developed and was practiced from the 1890's to the end of 1939 before bodybuilding evolved from physical culture.

 We view  Physical Culture as,the health and strength training methods and philosopies that originated in and where promoted from the 1890's to 1939,we reconize the old time Strong Man's training methodology as a part of old Time Physical Culture.This includes  feats of strength such as the bent press,supporting large amounts of weight overhead at arms length,steel bending,chain snapping,,picking up anvils,etc.These are feats in which large amounts of  wrist, hand, and  sinew strnrength anlong with over all bodily strength.
 Training  in the spirit of the old time Physical Culturalist/strongman involves building overall strength in the gym, or your home and training with various apparatus or even free exercises if that is the method you prefer..

Physical Culture to us is the promotion of muscular strength,growth and health combined with longivity,vitality and vigor through various physical exercise programs like resistance training with and without weights,stretching,posture correction techniques,and sports.not just of the individual,but the community ,the nation and th human race as a whole..Eugen Sandow,George Hackenschmdit,Artur Saxon,Benarr MacFadden,Bob Hoffman,George F.Jowett,Apollon,Otto Arco,Edward Aston,Joe Bonomo,Ottley R.Coulter,Hermann Goerner,Thomas Inch,Maxick,Monte Saldo,and Lionel Strongfort where among its earliest popularisers.