Ron Lacy

NO. 2 OF A SERIES

1954 Mr. America event in Los Angeles, where Dick DuBois won the title. This stimulated my interest in the weights, and when I came back to Kentucky to work in the Rehabilitation Center at the University, I got together with my friend John Idleman and we formed a group (later to become the Bluegrass A.C.) and began to train with enthusiasm. I entered the Mr. America contests in 1955 and 1956 and placed second, winning a couple of trophies for best back and legs.

The 1957 event was to be my third try, and I resolved to make it as good an effort as I possibly could, and that was the big reason for my finishing training at York. The result at Daytona Beach makes it look like the third time was the charm.

We had a lot of fun during this special training. Vern Weaver, Joe Grantham and 16-year-old Chuck (Man Mountain) Fish were training in the Gym along with other Yorkers and we had a ball trying to outdo each other and lift some of the odd and historic weights around the gym. They have some big globe barbells and dumbells that look like they weigh a ton, and with their thick handles, they feel like it, too.

My training went pretty good the first week, but on Saturday night Bob Hoffman invited me along to a dance, and after galloping and cavorting for five or six straight hours, I had lost more weight than I needed to lose, and didn't recover until the following Wednesday. How Bob does it, I have no idea!

How did I train to become Mr. America? I will try to give you a blow-by-blow account of this in future articles, but let me say right now-I did no superduper sensational muscle-bulging routines such as you have read about under the names of several former Mr. Americas.

I took a good workout four or five days a week while in York, and practiced the regular exercises for every part of the body such as you will see in the illustrations. I did some Olympic lifting, too-just for fun. The best part of my York visit was the companionship of having good training partners and the best advice in the world from the Champions themselves.

Lacy does his exercises always in correct form. At top, left, the regular flat-foot squat. Right, the one-arm rowing exercise for latissimus development. Middle, alternate dumbell curls, right, deltoid lateral raises. Bottom, he keeps his waistline strong and trim with various bending movements, including the side-bend with both dumbell and with barbell on shoulders.

STRENGTH AND HEALTH

Advanced Methods of Weight Training

AST MONTH we gave our advanced readers ten rules of weight training that would put them on the way to success. We start this article with Training Hint Number Eleven ..

11. After a workout take a good shower, then a rub. If possible, lie down for a time. This part of training is very important.

12. It is most beneficial if you perform the movements of your exercises with moderate slowness so that the weight resistance can be felt every inch of the way. Almost as much benefit is obtained in lowering as in raising the weight when it is lowered slowly with constant muscle resistance.

13. Each exercise should be performed over the longest possible range, from the extreme of contraction to the limit of extension.

14. It's important to breathe as much and as deeply as possible. Usually inhalation takes place during the hardest part of the exercise, exhalation as the weight is lowered.

15. You are sure to register satisfactory gains by training progressively with weights as outlined in this book, providing you follow the major rules of health. Obtain sufficient sleep, rest and relaxation, maintain a tranquil mind, eat a variety of good food at regular meal times only and obtain a good share of fresh air and sunshine.

16. The chief benefit derived from weight training is the stimulation of the internal works of the body. Speeded up respiration and circulation assure that the blood will be properly oxygenized so that each cell receives its full share of oxygen and glycogen or blood sugar, and the waste products of combustion are removed. To be sure that the body is obtaining plenty of oxygen walk around between exercises, and breathe deeply. It is the habit of the author to walk around and take 25 to 30 deep breaths between exercises. This walking about and deep breathing has become known around the York Gym as the Hoffman Walk, and should be a regular and important part of your training.

17. We have suggested that you keep yourself warm while exercising where it is cool and there are drafts, but if you are training in a warm room or in the sun on a warm day, you should wear as little as possible. Perspiration is always beneficial; it removes some of the waste from the body and the alchemy of the sun's rays is a great aid in health and muscle building.

18. Although you must constantly strive to handle more and more weight, you should not work on your nerve too often. Except on limit days of training, you should train well within your capabilities, in other (Continued on page 49)

NOVEMBER, 1957

NOTE: This is a continuation of last month's article wherein the author gave you ten important training hints. This information is taken directly from the York Advanced Methods of Training course.

By BOB HOFFMAN

U. S. Olympic WL Coach

Earl Clark, of San Diego, California, has won many physique titles. He trains at Leo Stern's Gym, who supplied this photograph. Note how his deltoids seem to cap his upper arms, always a sign of a superior male physique.