John McCallum Keys to Progress

People who are new or unfamiliar with weight training often assume that the only way to get big is to get on the roids. What they don’t realize is that there were big units around before anyone even knew what steroids were. That is the reason I got myself a copy of the Complete Keys to Progress.

Keys to Progress Articles

Keys to Progress were a series of articles printed in the Strength and Health magazine in the US from 1965 to 1972. The aim of the articles is simple – getting big and strong.

How to Get Big!

So how do you get big and strong without taking drugs? Well it is not rocket science – train hard and eat heaps of good food and supplements. John is a huge fan of squats and his breathing squat routine is still used today to pack on mass.

The breathing squat routine basically involves using a weight that you can just get out 10 reps with on squats. Somehow you have to use this weight and get out 20 reps. To do this you take 3 big breaths between each rep. John also touches on self hypnosis and auto suggestion to keep increasing the poundage.

Even though some of these articles are over 40 years old it is amazing how little has changed in that time. Despite all the latest breakthroughs and developments these programs and diets are still effective.

What I most liked about these articles is John’s writing style. He makes reading about weight training entertaining. My favourite quote is what he says about compound exercises and how they are the best for building bulk and power – “If you gotta play tiddly-winks, play it with man hole covers”

John McCallum Keys To Progress – Basic Equipment Only

John McCallum Keys to Progress is also great if you have a home gym. Since these articles were written so long ago a lot of the specialized pieces of gym equipment had not even been invented. So if you have a power rack and a set of dumbbells you can pretty much do everything.

So if you are looking at getting big and strong naturally I would definitely recommend this book. There are heaps of different weight training programs and diets and they are tailored for different weight training goals like adding bulk and power, specializing body parts or getting definition.

Here is an excerpt from the book on Power Training – Keys to Progress Power Training