Steve Reeves Exercise Overview | Constructing The Traditional Physique

21/12/2020

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One of many greatest gripes I’ve with the well being and health business is that the whole lot is overcomplicated.

In your quest to construct muscle, it’s very doubtless you’d’ve encountered:

A slew of advertisements selling ‘important’ muscle-building dietary supplements corresponding to mass gainers, creatine, BCAAs, L-Carnitine and extra.

Recommendation concerning counting macros, carb-cycling and intermittent fasting.

And arguably the worst of all,

A drugged-up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle making an attempt to promote you their six-day-a-week bro cut up programme that can lead you onto a one-stop practice to snap metropolis.

While science and expertise have little question progressed our understanding of the human physique, and this all sounds comparatively spectacular… constructing mass is rather a lot simpler than this business would have you ever consider.

To chop by the noise, we’ll be taking you again to 1940’s and 50’s the place issues weren’t as superior as they’re right this moment.

The place with the intention to get greater and stronger, you needed to put in some ‘actual work’ each inside and out of doors of the fitness center.

One such man who was in a position to do that to nice feats was the late Steve Reeves.

We’ll be having a look at a particular Steve Reeves exercise that won’t solely develop an exquisite v-taper and completely proportioned muscular tissues; but additionally a physique that’s athletic, wholesome and simply achieved.

However first – who was Steve Reeves?

Who’s Steve Reeves?

Steve Reeves was an American skilled bodybuilder who reigned as Mr. America in 1947, Mr. World in 1948, and Mr. Universe in 1950.

Shortly after retiring from competing in bodybuilding, he turned to appearing who famously featured in quite a few sword and sandal movies within the mid-Fifties taking part in the likes of Hercules and Goliath.

For a lot of:

Reeves exuded the physique all males aspired to.

Inch good symmetry, basic strains, a tiny waist and full, well-proportioned muscular tissues.

Steve was the last word quintessence of masculinity and of the basic, pure physique.

Reg Park additionally praised Reeves as having one of the best pure physique of all time:

“When Steve Reeves competed at Mr. Universe, to my thoughts, he was excellent. The person had the whole lot. Seems, physique, pores and skin, hair, and tooth – all good. There was the physique of the century… an exquisite, god-given mixture of grace, energy, measurement, definition.”

Reeves was additionally an outspoken critic of using steroids in modern-day bodybuilding who famously exclaimed:

“In the present day, the whole lot concerning the prime bodybuilding champions is outsized; they’ve misplaced the entire goal of bodybuilding which is to create a harmonious entire, to not exaggerate the event of 1 half or elements, of the physique.

A physique has arms, legs, ft, arms and a head.

If a person’s arms seem greater than his head, his physique is thrown out of proportion…

If a person doesn’t have sufficient male hormones in his system to create, a pleasant laborious, muscular physique, he ought to take up ping pong.”

Like Reg Park, Johnn Grimek, Leroy Colbert et al., Reeves slated the period of cut up coaching strategies led to by extreme steroid use and continued to advocate the effectiveness of full-body coaching in his publications corresponding to Constructing The Traditional Physique The Pure Approach (1995).

We can be overlaying one such routine Reeves carried out as outlined in his e-book that constructed his aesthetically-pleasing physique which gained him a number of trophies (as talked about earlier) utterly drug-free.

Overview

Constructing The Traditional Physique The Pure Approach

Reeves believed bodybuilding ought to be approached as a science and really helpful the next order to train the muscular tissues for optimum outcomes:

• Lats (mid and higher again)

Reeves felt it’s best to begin a coaching session with shoulders and spherical it off with legs to make sure a constant stream of blood all through the physique as this is able to result in probably the most optimum outcomes:

“… It’s higher on your physique to heat up and improve circulation steadily by doing workout routines that don’t put an excessive amount of demand in your system too shortly. By working the smaller muscular tissues first, then working the legs close to the tip of your coaching, you accomplish this.

Roughly 80 % of your blood is situated in your legs and glutes (that are labored whilst you train the opposite physique areas.)

So, if you happen to work your legs first, you’ll be bringing much more blood down into the decrease extremities, thus drawing it away from the smaller muscular tissues in your higher physique.

All of this makes for an pointless and undesirable demand in your system (forcing the physique to pump massive quantities of blood towards gravity) when you begin making the physique deliver the blood again to the higher physique while you start working the smaller muscular tissues.

The underside line is that this: If you’d like one of the best outcomes out of your exercises, begin with the smaller muscular tissues of your higher physique and work all the way down to your legs.“

Have you ever ever finished a heavy set of barbell squats and adopted it up with standing navy presses?

You’ll discover out all too quickly how vital your legs are in quite a few different workout routines which can undoubtedly have an effect on your focus and efficiency if they’re fatigued proper off the bat.

Your legs are the muse wherein your physique sits, so if these are completely blasted, the remainder of your exercise session can be extraordinarily powerful.

Thus, the coaching of legs is reserved in the direction of the tip of the exercise.

Additionally:

Reeves completely used free weights in his exercises (barbells and dumbbells) with little to no use of machines.

That is in all probability as a result of period which he was coaching in as gyms and health amenities weren’t as refined within the 1940’s and 50’s as they’re right this moment.

Nonetheless,

He felt that using free weights would enable one to actually deal with kind and gradual actions which he deemed was key in constructing muscle successfully.

The Steve Reeves ‘Traditional Physique’ Exercise

Train	Units	Reps
Dumbbell Swings	1	20
Upright Row	3	8 – 12
Behind The Neck Press	3	8 – 12
Bent Over Lateral Increase	3	8 – 12
Barbell Bench Press	3	8 – 12
Dumbbell Incline Press	3	8 – 12
Flying Movement (Dumbbell Flyes)	3	8 – 12
Behind The Neck Pull Up/Behind The Neck Lat Pulldown	3	8 – 12
Low Pulley Lat Pull (Seated Cable Row)	3	8 – 12
One Arm Dumbbell Row	3	8 – 12
Standing Barbell Curl	3	8 – 12
Incline Dumbbell Curl	3	8 – 12
Excessive Pulley Curl	3	8 – 12
Dumbbell French Press Behind The Neck	3	8 – 12
Tricep Extension Bench Press	3	8 – 12
One Arm Crossover/Dumbbell Cross Faces	3	8 – 12
Half Squat	3	8 – 12
Hack Squat	3	8 – 12
Entrance Squat	3	8 – 12
Leg Curls	3	8 – 12
Calf Raises	1	20
Accomplice Assisted Neck Flexion	1 or 2 per aspect	15

Examination

This programme would require you to finish 3 workout routines per physique half for 3 units (9 units in whole).

Total, if you happen to handle to get by this plan, you’d’ve accomplished 60 (sure, 60) units of workout routines together with the nice and cozy up.

Now, you’re in all probability considering:

“Fuck me! With that quantity, I’ll have to show my music down simply to style my intra-workout”.

While this exercise is unquestionably not for rookies, it does require you to have a couple of years lifting expertise underneath your belt.

Nevertheless,

These mammoth classes had been quite common again within the day, and had been the selection of many bodybuilders of the pre-steroid period, notably for Steve Reeves, who carried out this precise routine with ferocious depth main as much as his Mr Universe Title in 1950.

You’ll discover that the above plan features a neck train too.

Reeves felt one also needs to strengthen the neck with the intention to develop the whole bundle, as too little neck improvement will diminish your physique and an excessive amount of will draw undesirable consideration.

Reeves was all about steadiness and symmetry and believed the coaching of the neck shouldn’t be uncared for.

Notes

Heat Up

Reeves would carry out 1 set of 20 dumbbell swings to heat up the entire main muscle teams, joints and ligaments earlier than most of his full physique exercises.

This might make sure that the entire muscular tissues, joints and ligaments are absolutely limber while elevating the guts price.

Cycle

Like most full-body routines, the ‘Traditional Physique’ exercise ought to be carried out 3 times per week, permitting ample time for relaxation and recuperation.

Reeves suggested that trainees ought to take a day and a half off in between every coaching session with the intention to maximise restoration.

Because of this, your exercise schedule ought to seem like the next:

• Monday – Prepare (Morning)

• Wednesday – Prepare (Night)

• Saturday – Prepare (Morning)

When questioned about his method as to why one ought to practice 3 times every week compared to bodybuilding champions who spend as much as six days every week on the fitness center, Reeves answered:

“Don’t neglect many of the ‘champions’ you examine right this moment are stuffed with anabolic steroids and different such growth-enhancing medication which make their coaching packages ineffective to the pure bodybuilder – which is the one kind of bodybuilding I care about.

And to this finish, when folks go to the fitness center, they need to attempt to maximize their time. In the event that they’re going to place in two hours, then they need to get two hours value of progress stimulation.

Now, progress stimulation and progress manufacturing are two completely separate animals.

Once you stimulate progress within the fitness center, that’s solely half of the equation.

The second half entails restoration and progress – and that solely occurs while you’re at relaxation. Because of this you – clearly – can’t be coaching on daily basis.

You want relaxation in between, in any other case your nerves will get shattered and also you lose your enthusiasm. So it’s essential discover the utmost exercise you may take, with the perfect quantity of recuperation time in between exercises.“

Reeves would later evolve this routine over time, so it was unclear how typically he would constantly carry out this particular programme.

Nevertheless,

Most elderly-school bodybuilding routines like this had been typically carried out for months on finish.

Thus, this ought to be carried out for no less than 3 months for optimum outcomes.

Relaxation

Reeves prescribed 45 – 60 second relaxation durations between every set and a pair of minute breaks in between every train.

This was to permit his physique to construct muscle and burn fats concurrently, while permitting for further restoration between workout routines to keep away from fatigue and preserve depth.

Period

For the ‘Traditional Physique’ routine, it wasn’t unusual for Reeves to finish this exercise in 2 to 4 hours.

It was famously famous that Reeves had no regard to time however labored till he had accomplished his routine.

In fact:

The sheer quantity of quantity requires you to take no less than 2 minutes break in between every train which actually provides up throughout 20+ workout routines.

Due to this fact,

Make sure you do give your self sufficient time to finish this exercise because it does require dedication from you.

Focus

Reeves’ work ethic within the fitness center was extremely revered by these round him.

While coaching for the 1950 Mr Universe Contest, John Grimek, an in depth pal of Reeves and a bodybuilding legend in his personal proper, mirrored in Muscular Development Magazine (1964) that:

“Every exercise he (Reeves) took he put the whole lot into it, and continued to perform a little extra every week, in order that after a couple of weeks he confirmed wonderful enchancment.

He seldom sat round speaking and killing time. As an alternative he went from one train to a different.”

Steve believed it’s best to exercise with deep focus and never socialise between every set.

Guarantee you’re additionally making use of this similar focus to your exercise and preserving your psychological and bodily vitality to organize on your subsequent set, while saving the fitness center banter till after your session.

Tempo

Reeves was a stickler for coaching with right kind.

Bouncing, jerking and going by the motions of an train isn’t how Reeves would practice as he believed such actions had been merely simply losing your vitality.

As an alternative:

Reeves used a repetition tempo of two seconds on the concentric (optimistic) a part of the raise and three seconds on the eccentric (unfavourable), while emphasising the latter as greatest as doable.

This tempo would stop any bouncing or jerking and maintain the weights shifting in a constant style.

As an example, when performing incline dumbbell curls, John Grimek famous in Muscular Development Magazine (1964) that:

“He (Reeves) would repeat every train till he couldn’t do one other rep, and on a number of events whereas he was doing his incline curls I noticed him kick up the burden together with his knees after which strongly resist as he lowered the burden.

He put lots of focus into each motion and after he was completed coaching he achieved a terrific congested situation and appeared twice as large!”

Due to this fact:

Make sure you drop your ego and raise with sufficient poundage that can can help you carry out 8 – 12 reps of every train with right kind.

Performing every train in a gradual, managed manor will even make the pump insufferable.

Weight loss program and Dietary supplements

Reeves strongly believed that the physique ought to be fuelled with entire, unprocessed meals and averted white sugar and white flour.

Nevertheless,

He additionally did take supplements to boost his efficiency and maximise muscle restoration.

One factor that units his weight-reduction plan aside from the fashionable bodybuilders of right this moment is that Reeves would solely eat at most 3 meals a day and wouldn’t observe his energy.

If Reeves wanted to get much more leaner and outlined, he would merely eat the identical meals however in smaller parts.

In the present day, it’s not unusual for lifters to eat as much as 6 meals a day which reveals that this quantity of meals is pointless offered you’re approaching your vitamin in a easy, but clever method.

Beneath was Reeves typical each day meals consumption that allowed him to develop his sturdy, aesthetic physique:

8:00am – Breakfast:

Reeves would begin the day together with his well-known ‘Energy Drink’ which was ready in a blender. This consisted of:

• 14 ounces (400ml) of freshly squeezed orange juice

• 1 tablespoon of knox gelatin

• 2 tablespoons of home made excessive protein powder

Reeves home made protein powder was made up of powdered egg whites, powdered skim milk and powdered soy protein.

Upon inspection, this combination gives an entire BCAA profile (along with the knox gelatin) permitting your physique to usefully restore any broken muscle tissue as effectively as doable.

Reeves would then exercise between 9am – 11am.

Throughout his exercises, Reeves would additionally take the under intra-workout which he referred to as the Steve Reeves Electrolyte Exercise System:

He would then add this combination to half a gallon of water which he drank all through his exercise, taking two or three sips after every set.

“By having the lemon juice and honey, I used to be in a position to preserve my physique’s acid steadiness, and I had extra vitality and was in a position to get rather more work out of my muscular tissues with out tiring them prematurely.

In different phrases, my muscular tissues would tire out resulting from real muscle fatigue versus some biochemical imbalance.”

As soon as Reeves had accomplished his exercise, he would comply with up with some lunch and spherical of his day with dinner within the early night.

12:00pm – Lunch:

• Cottage cheese (with a handful of nuts and raisins)

• Two items of contemporary fruit (in season)

Early night – Dinner:

• One swordfish steak (or turkey, tuna or lean floor beef)

Total, Revees saved his vitamin comparatively easy and was in a position to maintain this over an extended time period.

He usually adopted a weight-reduction plan that consisted of 60% carbohydrates, 20% protein and 20% fats.

While such a weight-reduction plan can be frowned upon in right this moment’s societal focus of reaching soul destroying ketosis to burn physique fats, one may hardly argue together with his outcomes.

Steve didn’t consider in fad diets that had been unsustainable and would eat for total well being and vitality which might additionally result in muscle progress.

Restoration

Restoration is a vital side of coaching that’s generally neglected which Reeves was a giant proponent of.

Sadly, all of the supplements on the planet gained’t make up for poor sleep and insufficient relaxation.

Thus, make sure you’re getting no less than 8 hours of undisturbed each single evening for optimum restoration.

Powerwalking

Reeves was thought to be the pioneer of powerwalking who found this idea by taking his horses for walks on his ranch in California and revealed a best-selling e-book on it in 1982.

While the apply of strolling for cardio health has been round for hundreds of years, Steve took a special method and designed the ‘progressive resistance’ precept which added a brand new aspect and complexity to strolling.

His methodology concerned six primary components: size of stride, rhythmic respiratory, pace, distance travelled, diploma of incline, and the quantity of weights carried (with the weights reserved for the superior powerwalker).

Steve would connect weights round his ankles and waist and carry mild dumbbells in every hand and powerwalk for 20 minutes every day to take care of his health stage.

He would typically do that 4 occasions every week (on his relaxation days) which might have the additional benefit of decreasing the construct up of lactic acid and muscle soreness.

He additionally advised that if a person needed to drop some pounds, they need to powerwalk for 45 minutes every day, and to be in nice form, one ought to be capable of carry 20% of their body weight utilizing weights.

As an example, if you happen to at present weigh 80kg (176lbs), it’s best to powerwalk with 16kg (35lbs) value of resistance.

Steve felt anybody may benefit from powerwalking with weights, which to today, remains to be a really efficient type of cardio and energy conditioning:

“Powerwalking is a perfect supplemental train for the bodybuilder.

It really works on the progressive resistance precept, is carried out at excessive depth, creates an cardio impact, burns fats and gives the detailed muscular cuts each bodybuilder strives for.

Powerwalking can also be nearly injury-free.

It doesn’t have the up-and-down, injury-causing jolting movement which you encounter whereas jogging.

When Powerwalking, you are taking a easy development of steps with one foot remaining on the bottom always”.

The important thing to powerwalking, is, to over time, improve the depth in any six of the areas talked about.

Think about happening a powerwalk throughout your relaxation days to take care of your total cardio health stage and conditioning.

Try the under video of Steve Reeves speaking about powerwalking in additional element:

Ideas

Steve Reeves’ philosophy for attaining a Traditional Physique instructions your respect regardless of how superior you’re.

With an business infested with on the spot gratification, difficult dietary recommendation and chemically-enhanced halfwits following you round on social media to promote you their newest ‘cutting-edge’ programme, you could be forgiven for not getting the outcomes you want.

In fact,

Constructing muscle has at all times been easy.

Reeves’ coaching rules didn’t relaxation on what was marketable or backed by the newest scientific analysis.

As an alternative, it was primarily based solely on years of laborious work, trial and error.

As talked about beforehand:

While this routine is actually not for the newbie as a result of excessive quantity/depth concerned, performing this programme, nonetheless, will slap on huge quantities of muscle onto your body.

After following this coaching regime for nearly 6 weeks, I can attest that the good points made in that point had been bountiful.

The straightforward truth that you just’ll be coaching every muscle group 3 times every week goes above and past the variety of occasions most trainees will usually practice a muscle in a given week (two occasions at most).

If that wasn’t sufficient:

Since you’ll be getting ample relaxation in between every session, your physique can have sufficient time to restore harm finished to the muscular tissues, permitting you to get again within the fitness center with continued enthusiasm.

In addition to crucifying you bodily, this routine additionally takes a ridiculous psychological toll.

For me:

Performing Steve Reeves’ exercise was more difficult mentally than it was bodily.

As an example,

I often like to begin my exercises with the largest compound actions first (e.g. squats and deadlifts) as that’s when I’ve probably the most vitality.

Performing this routine within the prescribed order was utterly overseas to me.

By the point I’d accomplished the entire higher physique work it was very laborious to summon the motivation to finish the opposite workout routines.

The sight of one other barbell felt like I used to be sack tapped by Eddie Corridor. 361lbs of brute power directed at my nuts.

Not cool.

Because the outdated saying goes: the thoughts at all times quits earlier than the physique.

However, if you happen to’re in a position to work previous the psychological blocks that can come up, the rewards can be properly value it.

By way of productiveness,

The Traditional Physique routine blows most conventional exercises out of the water, delivering outcomes that are far superior to the standard bodybuilding splits you’ll discover in most health journal.

Nevertheless:

As a result of the quantity is so brutal, it’s fairly straightforward to burn out, so I’d suggest this programme as an occasional ‘shock to the system’.

You must use it to modify up your exercise every so often – however I’d keep away from following this exercise for longer than vital.

As such, it’s a good suggestion to comply with up this routine with a classic 5×5 routine to maintain your physique guessing.

Selection is the spice of life in spite of everything.

Abstract

The Steve Reeves ‘Traditional Physique’ exercise is a standard full-body routine that can produce unprecedented outcomes.

It goes with out saying:

This can be a colossal exercise born from an period the place males had been ‘true’ bodybuilders and earned their physiques by sweat and laborious graft, not by happening infinite cycles of PEDs and posting semi-naked images on Instagram for clout.

In addition to creating sensible energy, muscle and measurement, this old-school method to coaching can also be centered on bettering your well being and vitality with easy vitamin, vital relaxation and the odd powerwalk too.

All-in-all,

This routine is a verifiable blueprint in boosting one’s bodily and psychological wellbeing from one of many best bodybuilders of all time.

Not solely will you get sculpted like a Greek mythological determine, however such a routine will even foster in you a Herculean outlook in the direction of well being and health.

What do you suppose?

Trying to give the ‘Traditional Physique’ exercise a go?

What do you consider this old-school coaching routine?

As ever, drop a remark under along with your ideas!