Believe it or not, there used to be at least a half dozen dudes in World Gym Tucson just in the evening crew who could Behind the Neck Press 315lbs.
Walking into a gym used to be a humbling experience. Benny Podda-esque behavior was commonplace- you might not see a half-naked wild man covered in blood rip a water fountain out of the wall and toss it across the room, but there was enough wild-eyed screaming and ECA-fueled rampages throughout the gym that as a newcomer, you trod lightly. But as you became inculcated in that community, you became more savage, more feral, more muscular, and far stronger. There was no other option- kill or be kill, eat or be eaten. If you were a tourist, you were treated as such, shunned, and reviled by the locals as beneath contempt.
Now, onto more programs that have made people brutally strong and jacked.
Danny “The Giant Killer” Padilla
At his heaviest, the 5’2″ Giant Killer was 190lbs. Although I realize a shredded 190 lb. near-midget will still bring about screams of “Manlet” from Cheetos-dust-filled basements around the country, Padilla outlifted just about everyone you know. He trained six days a week with massive volume and extremely short rests and has been caught on video squatting 405 for sets of twelve weighing under 190, and benched 450 when he was closer to 180 lbs.
Shoulders and Arms
Seated Military Press-5×12 (supersetted with cable laterals)
Cable Laterals- 5×12
Not a fan of the ultra-high rep stuff that was in vogue when Gaspari competed, he preferred to train like a goddamned maniac with ultra-heavy weights, low reps (even precontest), twice a day, 6 days a week. His approach was simple- lift weights until his eyes bled with less craps given than John Wayne Gacy at a children’s birthday party, low calorie diet and everyone else be damned. The man tore through weights like the Killdozer through a Palestinian tenement, and his physique reflected that. Grainier than a block of granite and harder than a diamond in an ice storm, Gaspari was a beast. Here’s how he did it. [SPOILER ALERT: He didn’t have a coach, a team, a program, conjugate periodization, prehab, Rumble Rollers, or any of the other unnecessary crap everyone seems to think is indispensable these days, because all that stuff is extraneous nonsense that only slack-jawed wusses need, and their reliance on such things is a virtual guarantee they will never achieve greatness.]
Day One
AM Workout
Calves
Donkey Calf Raises- 5×15 (with two people on his back and a dip belt. He’d do a drop set where he’d have one guy jump off, then the second, then drop the dip belt)
Seated Calf Raise- 5×15 (last set was a triple drop set)
Chest (last sets all done to failure)
Incline Dumbbell Press- 5×8-12
Incline Flyes- 4×8-12
Barbell Bench Press- 4×6-10 (drop set on the last set)
Dumbbell Flyes / Pec Deck- 4×10-12
Weighted Dips- 3×10
Cable Crossovers — 3 10-12
Abdominals
Lying Crunches- 4×50
Hanging Leg Raises- 4×50
Twisting Cable Crunches 3×50
Cardio (followed by posing practice)
Day One
PM Workout
Arms (Superset Triceps and Biceps)
Pushdowns supersetted with Incline Dumbbell Curls- 4×10-12
Skullcrushers supersetted with Seated EZ Preacher Curls- 4×10-12
Seated French Curls supersetted with Rope Pushdowns- 4×10-12
Kickbacks supersetted with Dumbbell Concentration Curls- 3×10-12
One hour of posing
Day Two
AM Workout
Back (from his ’88 season, with his training weights)
Front Pulldowns- 3×10-12 reps, 250 lbs. max weight
Reverse-Grip Pulldowns- 3×10-12 reps, 220 lbs. max weight
Seated Cable Rows- 3×10-12 reps, 300 lbs. max weight
One-Arm Dumbbell Rows- 3×10-12 reps, 200 lbs. max weight
Barbell Rows- 4×10-12 reps, 365 lbs. max weight
Deadlifts- 3×10-12 reps, 495 lbs. max weight
Back Extensions- 3×12-15 reps, 45 lbs. max weight
Abdominals– Same as day one
Cardio
Day Two
PM Workout
Shoulders
Arnold Presses- 5×6-10 (drop set on last set)
Seated or Standing Side Laterals- 5×10-12 (drop set on last set)
Standing Upright Rows supersetted with Two-Arm Cable Side Laterals- 3×12
Standing Front Dumbbell Laterals- 3×10
Bent Over Dumbbell Laterals- 4×10-12
Behind the Neck Shrugs- 5×10-12
One hour of posing
Day 3
AM Workout
Legs
Leg Extensions- 5×12-15 (have partner push down to make the negative phase more difficult)
45-Degree Leg Press- 5×15
Hack Squats supersetted with Sissy Squats- 5×15
Walking Lunges / Reverse Lunges on a Smith Machine- 5×15
Lying Leg Curls — 5×12-15
Stiff-Legged Deadlifts — 4-5×15
No cardio or posing after leg training
Day 3
PM Workout
Calf Training same as Day One
Abdominal Training same as Day One
So, there you have it- a veritable roadmap for getting strong and, and it likely in no way resembles the techniques of the modern trainee. As I know that there is an oncoming rush of whining out Redditors about gatekeeping, cuckolds, betas, and whatever other nonsensical and bizarrely misunderstood terms are in vogue to spew online these days, consider the following from an interview with the incredibly, strong, jacked, and mentally unstable 1980s bodybuilder Mike Quinn:
“TO SUM IT UP, BODYBUILDING IN THE EIGHTIES WAS AWESOME AND THE [MODERN ERA WAS] A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. IN THE EIGHTIES, YOUR TRAINING WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, THEN CAME DIET, AND THE DRUGS WERE A DISTANT THIRD. THAT HIERARCHY SEEMS TO HAVE REVERSED ITSELF SINCE THEN. NOW KIDS WILL COME UP TO ME AND THEIR FIRST QUESTION IS USUALLY HOW MUCH I BENCH. RIGHT AFTER THAT THEY WANT TO KNOW WHAT STEROIDS I USE. IT’S SO PATHETIC.”
Clearly, it’s not just me who thinks that the modern trainee is bitch-made. Ditch your program. Dump your coach. Forget about whatever Pubmed crap is in vogue these days. If you want to know what works, you simply must look at the pre-internet era, when people relied on their balls and their brains to get jacked as hell, rather than nameless online idiots with less knowledge about training than your average housewife, but a hell of a lot of opinions about it. What matters is your mentality- the execution will follow.
Just get out there and make it happen.
Sources:
Danny Padilla Workout. Musclenet. Web. 23 Dec 2017. http://www.musclenet.com/danny-padilla-workout.html
Mielke, Myron. Rich Gaspari The Dragon Slayer. I’m A Bodybuilder.
Web. 22 Feb 2015. http://www.imabodybuilder.com/gaspari.html
Merritt, Gerg. Hardcore Contender – Rich Gaspari. Flex Online. Web.
22 Feb 2015.
http://www.flexonline.com/training/hardcore-contender-rich-gaspari#sthash.2hgmkyR9.dpuf
Merritt, Greg. Rated hardcore. Flex Online. Web. 22 Feb 2015. http://www.flexonline.com/training/rated-hardcore
T Nation. The black sheep of bodybuilding: an interview with Mike Quinn. T Nation. 26 Mar 2004. Web. 23 Dec 2017. https://www.t-nation.com/pharma/black-sheep-of-bodybuilding