Golden Six.pdf

Three of Bodybuilding’s All-time Greats Reveal Their Techniques forMaximum Development

Gaining muscular weight and size is by far the most important goal of almost everybodybuilder. It’s estimated that there are 50 million people in this country who areover-weight and about 100 million who are underweight. Approximately 99 percentof all bodybuilders start out underweight.

To increase muscle size you must gain weight—solid, muscular weight—and togain weight you must exercise the muscles progressively by constantly imposinggreater demands on them. The muscles will respond when they’re pushed andproperly nourished. More muscle mass is nature’s way of accepting these demands.

If your goal is to gain muscular weight in the major muscle groups, the followingworkouts from three bodybuilding legends will help you reach your goal of new sizeand strength.

Advice From Arnold

I would like to clear up any confusion youmay have about anabolic steroids. Everyserious bodybuilder should know the truthabout steroids. It is my opinion that you cangain all the weight you want without them.Steroids are a very radical departure fromphysical culture. Far too much emphasis isplaced on their value in the quest for animproved physique. Personally, I think theusefulness of steroids is overrated and,needless to say, overdone. Superstars of thepast, such as Reg Park, John Grimek, SteveReeves, Clancy Ross, Jack Delinger and Bill Pearl, reached the ultimate in massivemuscularity without them. So can you with proper training and diet.

Some advanced bodybuilders can train three hours a day and show amazinggains, while others cannot make any kind of improvement if they train much morethan one hour or so. When I was trying to get more massive in my early years oftraining, I followed a routine I called the Golden Six. I made tremendous gains onthis program and so did hundreds of others who trained at my gym in Munich,Germany. All agreed that this simple system of training produced excellent gains inmuscle size and bodyweight. Here are the Golden Six:

1) Barbell squats. This exercise not only develops the thighs, but it strengthens

Gain 50 Pounds of Muscleby Gene Mozee

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the heart and lungs while improving the general circulation as well. Use a weight thatwill permit you to perform four sets of 10 reps. Always lower yourself until your upperthighs are parallel to the floor, and keep your back flat. To ensure better balance andto put more stress on your quadriceps, place a one-inch board under your heels withyour feet about 15 to 18 inches apart. Inhale deeply as you squat down and exhaleas you come up. Do 10 reps, rest two minutes and repeat.

2) Barbell bench presses. This is my favoriteupper-body exercise, and almost every trainingprogram that I’ve used includes it. Take a fairly widegrip—your hands about 32 inches apart. Inhale asyou lower the bar to your nipples and exhale as youpush the weight back to arm’s length. Don’t bouncethe weight off your chest. Perform three sets of 10reps. Pause about two minutes between sets.

3) Chins or lat machine pulldowns. If you havelimited training experience, you may find chinsdifficult at first. If you have a lat machine, you can perform pulldowns until you’vedeveloped sufficient strength to do chins. Use a wide grip on the chins and try tobring your chin over the bar. Do as many reps as you can for three sets.

4) Behind-the-neck presses. This exercise reigns supreme for widening andthickening the shoulders. I prefer to do it seated. Use a wide grip—your thumbsabout six inches wider than your delts on each side. From this position push the barupward to arm’s length while exhaling. Lower the weight slowly while inhaling, anddon’t pause at the bottom. Repeat for 10 reps. Do four sets with about two minutesof rest between sets.

5) Barbell curls. This is the great mass builder for the biceps. The triceps havealready been thoroughly exercised during the bench press and the behind-the-neckpress. Use a shoulder-width grip and a weight you can curl without any bodymovement. Exhale as you curl the weight up until the biceps are fully flexed. Don’tlet your elbows move away from the sides of your body. Inhale as you lower the barin a slow, controlled manner back to your thighs. Make sure you straighten yourarms completely before doing the next rep. Do three sets’ of 10 reps, and rest about90 seconds between sets.

6) Bent-knee sit-ups. It’s only sensible to keep your midsection firm and tonedwhen gaining muscular weight. Sit-ups help improve digestion and elimination as



photo by Mike Neveux



well. I prefer to do this exercise with my hands behind my head, but if you are juststarting out, you may find it more beneficial and easier if you hold your arms straightout in front and touch your toes. The knees are kept in a bent position throughoutthe exercise. This helps focus the stress more on the abdominals, not the hip flexorsor the lower back. Don’t pause between reps but continue for 20 or as many reps asyou can do without stopping. Exhale as you sit up; inhale as you lower your torso.Do three or four sets, resting one minute between sets.

I feel sure that if you use these basic exercises for a minimum of three monthswithout missing any workouts, doing them three times a week on alternate days, youcan gain many pounds of new, impressive muscle size. Paul Grant, former Mr.World, used almost this exact same program and gained 65 pounds of muscle inless than a year. All he did was increase the sets on the first five exercises to fourafter three months, and after six months he went to six sets. Always strive tocontinually add more weight to each exercise when you can do two or three morereps over the recommended amount.

Larry Scott’s Mass-building Techniques

Gaining muscular weight is a problemfaced by nearly everyone at one time oranother during his or her bodybuildingcareer. I was no exception, weighing in atonly 120 pounds as a beginner. The first fewyears of my training were primarily devotedto gaining additional muscular weight andsize. Through scientific training and propernutrition I reached a bodyweight of 215pounds, a total gain of 95 pounds of muscle.

When it comes to gaining weight, the realsecret is diet. Only by supplying your bodywith the proper nutritional elements that it requires will you be able to build maximumsize and strength. It is my opinion that 75 percent of the battle to build achampionship physique is proper nutrition. Exercise and proper rest and sleep arealso of major importance, but diet builds muscle tissue when the exercise stimulatesthe body to grow.

One of the best mass-training routines that I used was to select one exercise foreach major muscle group and do six sets of eight reps on each. The followingworkout is intended for the intermediate bodybuilder who is not a total beginner andwants to pack on a lot more bodyweight and muscle mass:





Bench presses to the neck 6 x 6-8Barbell squats 6 x 8Machine calf raises 6 x 15-20Behind-the-neck presses 6 x 6-8Front pulldowns 6 x 8-10Lying barbell triceps extensions 6 x 8Preacher bench curls 6 x 8Bent-knee leg raises 1 x 100-150

This is a rugged routine. You might wish to begin with just three sets of eachexercise and add one additional set every 30 days until you work up to six. Do thisprogram three days a week.

Think big and train with all the enthusiasm you’re capable of. You can go as far asyou want when it comes to getting more massive if you train intelligently, eatproperly and get enough growth-inducing sleep and rest.

Bill Pearl’s Advanced Mass Training

A lot of time has passed since I first began trainingseriously. At first I employed a basic all-round trainingprogram for conditioning. Then I began to work on my weakspots, which at the time included just about everything. Iweighed about 165 pounds at 5’11". I wasn’t skinny. I justhad an average athletic build. When I competed and wonthe Mr. Universe, however, I weighed 241 pounds in myfinal competition.

My plan when gaining muscular weight was to eat fivemeals a day so that the digestive system was notovertaxed. Often when a person is using all-out effort togain bodyweight, the average individual eats to the point offorce-feeding and in doing so stretches the stomach. Whenyou eat smaller meals more often, not only is the food moreeasily digested and utilized to build muscle and produceenergy, it also helps keep the waistline under control.Generally speaking, when trying to reach a maximumbodyweight, I con-sume mostly fresh vegetables, fruits, baked potatoes, cheese,meat and fish (at least I did before converting to a vegetarian diet in later years). Allfoods are either baked or broiled for easier digestion.





Here is the mass program that helped me win the Mr. Universe. I trained down to190 and then slowly massed up to 241 pounds.

Mon. -Wed. -Fri.

Incline flyes 5 x 6Bent-arm flat-bench flyes 5 x 6Decline flyes 5 x 6Behind-the-neck presses 5 x 6Military barbell presses 5 x 6Dumbbell lateral raises 5 x 8Lying triceps extensions 5 x 6Lying dumbbell triceps extensions5 x 8Triceps pushdowns 5 x 8Barbell curls 5 x 6Incline dumbbell curls 5x6Concentration curls 5x6Sit-ups 100-200Alternate leg raises 100-200Dumbbell side bends 50

Tues. Thurs. Sat.

Sit-ups 100-200Alternate leg raises 100-200Dumbbell side bends 50Wide-grip chins 5 x 10Close-grip chins 5 x 10Shrugs 5x10Stiff-legged deadlifts 5 x 8Partner-assisted neck workWrist curls 5 x 20Reverse curls 5 x 20Squats 5 x 8Hack squats 5 x 10Leg curls 5 x 12Standing calf raises 6 x 10Donkey calf rasies 6 x 10




There you have it. Advice and routines from three legends of bodybuilding. Theyeach gained more than 5O pounds of muscle, and you can too. If you put in plentyof effort on a mass-building routine, along with lots of good food and enough rest,you’ll pack on loads of new size and strength. IM




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Golden Six.pdf