BEWARE OF

Are you flirting with Stretch Marks, Snapped Tendons, Ruptured Muscles by

using Stupor-System Torture Movements?

A WORD TO THE WISE

By JOHN C. GRIMEK

Unnatural

Exercises!

INNATURAL EXERCISES. What are unnatural barbell exercises? Is there such a thing?

I'm well aware the above statement will shock many readers when they first see it, but let me explain that any exercise that feels awkward or strains the muscles or joints (and there are many that do just that) can be considered unnatural!

Barbell men think all barbell exercises are natural, and any signs of strain is often mistaken as "working the muscles hard" and is acceptable instead of associating it with eventual injury. But check yourself and answer yourself truthfully, when was the last time you recall nursing a sore shoulder, painful elbow, an aching back or bad knees? Chances are, if you've been following some of the Stupor System exercises that have been advocated in recent years, you could have found them difficult to do or suffered some slight pain reaction. Nothing serious perhaps, so you let the matter slip by because you've come to accept a "few sore spots" now and then, especially if you trained hard with heavier weights or performed extra repetitions. However, there may be a morning when you wake to find stiffness or pain in certain parts of your body. Naturally you'll rub it to stimulate circulation in the region, thinking a numbness developed while you slept in an awkward position and, feel quite certain the pain will leave after you move about. Instead the pain intensifies as you move the limb. You try desperately to recall if anything you did in your last workout caused these annoying symptoms. Nothing you recall has any direct bearing on the incident, nor explains the reason for the pain. Once more you console yourself that all will be well as the day progresses.

You may be right to some extent. Your duties occupy you and you forget the painful incident. As your working day draws to a close, your thoughts stray to training. You move the limb a few times to check any improvement, and while it feels better some pain still re-

mains. You conclude that a good workout will fix it up and, at the appointed hour, you go to the gym and ready yourself for action. You feel fine and ready for a terrific workout, but when you begin, you are sadly disappointed. With your very first movement the limb shoots out a painful warning in rebellion. It hurts! You find is difficult, downright impossible, to handle your regular weights because of the aching limb that throbs with. Somehow it doesn't figure. On your every movement. last training day, before this painful condition occurred, you felt fit and unusually strong. You took a hard workout and felt like a million afterwards; no pain, not even a sore spot. Yet two days later you find yourself almost incapacitated and without a clue to the cause . . . where have you erred?

STRENGTH AND HEALTH

The injury, while not serious, may linger for days, sometimes weeks, making it increasingly difficult to train ... so you rest a good bit. Certainly you've had sore shoulders or painful joints before, but a couple days of rest usually made it well enough for you to continue training lightly. That's just it ... if you train it must be very light, and such training may prove conducive to a quick recovery. However, if any degree of pain is associated with any of the movements, don't force it, thinking you can work it out... you won't, but you might succeed in aggravating it. Forcing the muscle to work against resistance that promotes pain will only delay the healing processes, but light exercises to stimulate blood circulation into the inflamed region will help. Applying heat will also allay the stinging sensation, and a good rubbing compound, such as Hoffman's Rub, could be applied which helps to retain warmth and circulation for longer periods and hastens recovery. But all this doesn't explain how the condition happened or what caused the pain to start, nor what could be done to prevent it from happening again.

Up until recently little attention was paid to the matter, since numerous letters are always received for advice pertaining to various types of physical injuries, but of late an increasing number seem to center around elbows, a condition rarely mentioned in previous years. Now, however, it's not unusual to find several such complaints in the mail everyday. . . why?

This article was prompted by just such a letter which was received from a young man who visited us some months back and trained here. It was while training one afternoon that everyone turned to see where the grinding noise came from and saw our visitor indulging in an unusual exercise that looked more like he was trying to tear his shoulders and elbows instead of develop(Continued on page 61)

DECEMBER,

1956

UNNATURAL EXERCISES. (at top) The French Press. (Just above) Bentover lateral raise to cramp triceps. (Below) Pull-down curl with pulley on bench. (At right) Hack lift.