Plague of Strength

What do you guys think? I’m saying that either of these bros could trash any and all comers, up to and potentially including John Haack, without specifically training to do so.

Their training weights were outrageous, and one thing I failed to mention about Marvin Eder’s bench press workout is that Marvin Eder and Norb Schemanski trained together at York Barbell, where their benches didn’t have uprights.

That meant to do a set of bench presses, Eder had to do one of the following:
1 ) deadlift the weight, sit and lay back with it, roll it up his chest and press it from the bottom
2) use two free-standing squat stands uprights (which were a really wobbly way to set up a rack
3) he had to have two people hand it to him.

Moreover, the bench press was done with a two second pause on the second in early powerlifting and odd lifting contests, and the benches were not built for those poundages, so they often collapsed in the middle of competitions (Pt Casey brought his own heavy-duty bench to meets for this reason).

Eder’s Bench Workout- 3x/wk

At least 5 sets of each exercise. 1st set a 3RM, then drop 20lbs and rep out, drop another 20 and rep out, etc, for a minimum of 5 sets
– Wide Grip Bench
– Weighted Dips
– Floor Press
– Partial Bench Press (done very carefully using the uprights)

Eder’s Squat workout was just 8x3x500 (as heavy as he could go) when he was training for Olympic weightlifting, 3x15x300 early on in his career, and 5x10x350-475 long after his competitive career had ended.

Platz’s Bench Workout- 2x/wk

Incline DB Bench- 4-5 x 6-12
Low Incline Flies 3-4 x 10-12
Weighted Dips- 2-4 x 10-15
Cable Crossovers- 3-4 x 10-15

Platz’s Squat Workout-1x/wk

Squat- 8-10 x 5-20 (he would pyramid down where Eder pyramided up)
Machine Hack Squat- 5 x 10-15
Leg Extension- 5-8 x 10-15
Leg Curl- 6-10 x 10-15

You’ve gotta do the work if you want to get the results, and doing the work means full range of motion squats and deadlifts rather than the partials with which many of us have contented ourselves over the years. I wish someone useful had told me this years ago, but at least I’m here telling you now.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GO DO SOME FUCKING WORK.

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