How did golden-era bodybuilders rest only one minute between sets?

[Soloshino]

For me, resting only one minute between sets for the same muscle group cause a massive dropoff in weight or reps. If I take a set to around failure and rest only minute, I can barely perform half the amount of reps I did in the previous set. To keep the rep amount the same, I have to reduce the weight by around 30%. Doing this does give a crazy pump and a ton of metabolic stress on the muscle, but I feel like it sacrifices load (weight) immensely.
Did they actually train with that little rest?

 

[Zbignew]

IMO, there's a certain amount of exaggeration and outright bullshit in what the old magazines claimed top-level bodybuilders did in the gym. And that hasn't really changed today.

That said, training specificity is everything. Like any other part of training, you have to build up to it, and eventually, it will come.

Short rest breaks are great for building stamina and hypertrophy, but not optimal for strength increases.

 

[Deadp007]

DC & Myo-Reps are 2 systems that utilize low rest between sets.
The theory is based on effective reps (vs junk reps).

 

[Soloshino]

DC & Myo-Reps are 2 systems that utilize low rest between sets.
The theory is based on effective reps (vs junk reps).

DC is done with a weight you can perform around 7-10 reps to failure as your working set. That is around 75-83% of your 1RM.
Golden-era bodybuilders stayed in the 6-20 rep range. If you add single minute rests on top of that, their load would have to be very small after a few sets.

 

[jJjburton]

Th

For me, resting only one minute between sets for the same muscle group cause a massive dropoff in weight or reps. If I take a set to around failure and rest only minute, I can barely perform half the amount of reps I did in the previous set. To keep the rep amount the same, I have to reduce the weight by around 30%. Doing this does give a crazy pump and a ton of metabolic stress on the muscle, but I feel like it sacrifices load (weight) immensely.
Did they actually train with that little rest?

For priplens chart 90 second rests for hypertrophy are ideal

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Don't believe a damn thing said about "golden age" bodybuilding.

That being said, we know far more today than then. No real sense in going back EXCEPT to see the work ethic. Those boys worked, as suboptimal as it may have been.

 

[buck]

Golden era BB'ers were known for long sessions. Most rested well over a minute between sets. It was only when getting ready for a contest that they cut their time as they thought it burned more fat.

 

[Soloshino]

Th

For priplens chart 90 second rests for hypertrophy are ideal

Does Prilepin's chart support using straight sets?

 

[Soloshino]

Golden era BB'ers were known for long sessions. Most rested well over a minute between sets. It was only when getting ready for a contest that they cut their time as they thought it burned more fat.

Almost every Silver-Era (Clancy Ross, Leroy Colbert, Steve Reeves, etc.) and Golden-Era bodybuilder (Arnold, Franco, Draper, etc) whose routine I have read (with some exceptions such as Reg Park, Bill Pearl, etc.) advocated about a minute rest between sets.
And these guys were still extremely strong. Colbert would use 75s for incline DB curls and could max out with 95s.

 

[mass gain]

IMO, there's a certain amount of exaggeration and outright bullshit in what the old magazines claimed top-level bodybuilders did in the gym. And that hasn't really changed today.

That said, training specificity is everything. Like any other part of training, you have to build up to it, and eventually, it will come.

Short rest breaks are great for building stamina and hypertrophy, but not optimal for strength increases.

Agree, I've seen this discussion other places and some of the 'experts' on those places actually get strength and hypertrophy confused.

They were recommending 3 to 5 min rest for hypertrophy.

The max I will ever rest is 3 min. For me its mostly 1.5 or 2 min.

I found a pretty cool diagram which helps explain strength vs. hypertrophy IMO. You like?

 

[Soloshino]

Agree, I've seen this discussion other places and some of the 'experts' on those places actually get strength and hypertrophy confused.

They were recommending 3 to 5 min rest for hypertrophy.

The max I will ever rest is 3 min. For me its mostly 1.5 or 2 min.

I found a pretty cool diagram which helps explain strength vs. hypertrophy IMO. You like?

View attachment 258133

How close to failure do you recommend for sets for hypertrophy?

 

[mass gain]

How close to failure do you recommend for sets for hypertrophy?

I recommend actually taking it failure and not guessing or thinking you know what your RiR is. The best way IMO is have a spotter but just don't ever compromise your form.

I'm not big on hypertrophy though, I care more about strength.

 

[Soloshino]

I recommend actually failure and not guessing or think you know what it is. The best way IMO is have a spotter but just don't ever compromise your form.

I'm not big on hypertrophy though, I care more about stren

So essentially I would probably have to do down sets every time to stay in the appropriate rep range?

 

[mass gain]

So essentially I would probably have to do down sets every time to stay in the appropriate rep range?

I guess you could word it like that but there are a lot of different opinions out there on what is the appropriate rep range for hypertrophy.

My previous statement was just my opinion and what I would do if shooting for hypertrophy, however I'm not as interested in hypertrophy as I am in strength training.

I sort of do my own thing because I have to limit the type of lifts I can do because of some injuries.

If you have ever heard of the bigger, faster, stronger program, look that up. I do it pretty similar to that where my reps and sets will vary throughout the program for the strength training portion meaning on different weeks, I will increase sets and lower reps or increase reps and lower sets and everything is based on a % of my last max for a lift.

 

[jJjburton]

Does Prilepin's chart support using straight sets?

Yes like x amount of sets for x amount of reps

 

[buck]

Almost every Silver-Era (Clancy Ross, Leroy Colbert, Steve Reeves, etc.) and Golden-Era bodybuilder (Arnold, Franco, Draper, etc) whose routine I have read (with some exceptions such as Reg Park, Bill Pearl, etc.) advocated about a minute rest between sets.
And these guys were still extremely strong. Colbert would use 75s for incline DB curls and could max out with 95s.

And i started reading bodybuilding mags back in the 70's when i frist started lifting weights. And what i have found over the decades is that what they claim and what they did are not the same. And most all articles were based on getting ready for a show and not about their bulking phase. How often do BBer's claim what they do on a cycle these days and most say they are lying and are taking more. And back in the day they never wrote their own articles they almost always were just written by a staff writer.

 

[Soloshino]

And i started reading bodybuilding mags back in the 70's when i frist started lifting weights. And what i have found over the decades is that what they claim and what they did are not the same. And most all articles were based on getting ready for a show and not about their bulking phase. How often do BBer's claim what they do on a cycle these days and most say they are lying and are taking more. And back in the day they never wrote their own articles they almost always were just written by a staff writer.

That is a good point. Even today, they still lie. Last year, Jay Cutler "admitted" that his off-season cycle was only 600 mg test-e and 600 mg equipoise. The dude was like 300 lbs off-season at 5'8''. The guy has crazy genetics, but still...

 

[narta]

Everybody lies. That's what I ve learned the past 3 decades. They lie about training, ped usage and supplements.

 

[buck]

That is a good point. Even today, they still lie. Last year, Jay Cutler "admitted" that his off-season cycle was only 600 mg test-e and 600 mg equipoise. The dude was like 300 lbs off-season at 5'8''. The guy has crazy genetics, but still...

True. But for over 10 years people would ask me if i used gear and what i was on and i was still natural. After i started taking PEDS they stopped asking is i was using anything. genetics can play a big role i find. As i am 5'6" these days my genetics were not good for being a pro basketball player. And no one asks those guys how much HGH they did growing up. The last part was mostly for humor!

 

[mass gain]

True. But for over 10 years people would ask me if i used gear and what i was on and i was still natural. After i started taking PEDS they stopped asking is i was using anything. genetics can play a big role i find. As i am 5'6" these days my genetics were not good for being a pro basketball player. And no one asks those guys how much HGH they did growing up. The last part was mostly for humor!

Do you think Dennis Rodman took HGH? He had a major growth spurt I believe well after 18 which is bizarre.

In high school people thought I juiced but all I did was lift and eat and get strong. Its different in a lot of high schools. The extra effort can really separate you. As you move up to college most have put in that extra effort as well.