A Question of Reps Article

[Thom Van Vleck]

the First program I was ever placed on was Hepburns. I still have the training booklet that my Uncle Wayne ordered from Hepburn in 1958, autographed and everything. I read that cover to cover like it was some ancient text like the dead sea scrolls. Heck, I thought it was old then, it was 20 years old…now it’s 55 years old!!!!!! Great article, thanks for doing that, Larry!

Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-Rounder

[Al Myers]

I really have enjoyed the last two stories (Daves and Larrys) as well. Both stories reflected a common theme – and that is that weight lifting is more than just “going through the motions” to get stronger. Dave’s had to do with the motivation of pushing yourself to the max, and Larry’s had to do with the “science” behind why different programs work better than others.

I have been lifting hard for close to 30 years now. I have tried so many different training programs through the years, and it seems my training is constantly “evolving”. Most of the time I don’t think of physiologic factors when changing my programs. I just do what I feel like doing and HOPE for the best! I’m sure many other lifters do the same as me. Articles like Larry’s cause me to look at my own training in a “different light”. Al

[Denny Habecker]

When I was young I used to do five sets of 5 reps in almost every lift and assistance exercise. Now I do 5×5 early in a cycle and as I get closer to a meet I will cut down on the reps as the weights get heavier. But with squats I almost always do sets of 10, 9,8, 7,6,and 5. The first 3 set are basically warm up sets that the weights never change, and the last three sets get heavier each week. For deadlifts, I have gotten great results [for me, as I am not a good deadlifter], doing just one set of 20 reps evry week with the weight getting 5 lbs. heavier each week.

[John McKean]

I was always impressed with the workouts of Bill March and Lou Riecke ,who seemed to make the most amazing progress in lifting history -each of them had a WEEKLY training time (actual lifting time) of around 2 MINUTES! Not many REPS in those workouts! March often stated that over 3 reps was bodybuilding, usually just used a single HOLD in the rack on a few lifts, did no bodybuilding, yet still won a Mr. Universe title (held in conjunction with a world weightlifting championship, where Bob Hoffman goaded him into posing!)!

[Al Myers]

I don’t know what to make of that John – must be all due to amazing genetics!! haha Dinoman

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