Gain 50 Pounds of Muscle
by Gene Mozee
Three of Bodybuilding’s All-time Greats Reveal Their Techniques for
Maximum Development
Gaining muscular weight and size is by far the most important goal of almost every
bodybuilder. It’s estimated that there are 50 million people in this country who are
over-weight and about 100 million who are underweight. Approximately 99 percent
of all bodybuilders start out underweight.
To increase muscle size you must gain weight—solid, muscular weight—and to
gain weight you must exercise the muscles progressively by constantly imposing
greater demands on them. The muscles will respond when they’re pushed and
properly nourished. More muscle mass is nature’s way of accepting these demands.
If your goal is to gain muscular weight in the major muscle groups, the following
workouts from three bodybuilding legends will help you reach your goal of new size
and strength.
Advice From Arnold
I would like to clear up any confusion you
may have about anabolic steroids. Every
serious bodybuilder should know the truth
about steroids. It is my opinion that you can
gain all the weight you want without them.
Steroids are a very radical departure from
physical culture. Far too much emphasis is
placed on their value in the quest for an
improved physique. Personally, I think the
usefulness of steroids is overrated and,
needless to say, overdone. Superstars of the
past, such as Reg Park, John Grimek, Steve
Reeves, Clancy Ross, Jack Delinger and Bill Pearl, reached the ultimate in massive
muscularity without them. So can you with proper training and diet.
Some advanced bodybuilders can train three hours a day and show amazing
gains, while others cannot make any kind of improvement if they train much more
than one hour or so. When I was trying to get more massive in my early years of
training, I followed a routine I called the Golden Six. I made tremendous gains on
this program and so did hundreds of others who trained at my gym in Munich,
Germany. All agreed that this simple system of training produced excellent gains in
muscle size and bodyweight. Here are the Golden Six:
1) Barbell squats. This exercise not only develops the thighs, but it strengthens
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© 2002 All Content. IRONMAN Magazine eBOOK 1092 • www.ironmanmagazine.com
Gain 50 Pounds of Muscle
by Gene Mozee
the heart and lungs while improving the general circulation as well. Use a weight that
will permit you to perform four sets of 10 reps. Always lower yourself until your upper
thighs are parallel to the floor, and keep your back flat. To ensure better balance and
to put more stress on your quadriceps, place a one-inch board under your heels with
your feet about 15 to 18 inches apart. Inhale deeply as you squat down and exhale
as you come up. Do 10 reps, rest two minutes and repeat.
2) Barbell bench presses. This is my favorite
upper-body exercise, and almost every training
program that I’ve used includes it. Take a fairly wide
grip—your hands about 32 inches apart. Inhale as
you lower the bar to your nipples and exhale as you
push the weight back to arm’s length. Don’t bounce
the weight off your chest. Perform three sets of 10
reps. Pause about two minutes between sets.
3) Chins or lat machine pulldowns. If you have
photo by Mike Neveux
limited training experience, you may find chins
difficult at first. If you have a lat machine, you can perform pulldowns until you’ve
developed sufficient strength to do chins. Use a wide grip on the chins and try to
bring your chin over the bar. Do as many reps as you can for three sets.
4) Behind-the-neck presses. This exercise reigns supreme for widening and
thickening the shoulders. I prefer to do it seated. Use a wide grip—your thumbs
about six inches wider than your delts on each side. From this position push the bar
upward to arm’s length while exhaling. Lower the weight slowly while inhaling, and
don’t pause at the bottom. Repeat for 10 reps. Do four sets with about two minutes
of rest between sets.
5) Barbell curls. This is the great mass builder for the biceps. The triceps have
already been thoroughly exercised during the bench press and the behind-the-neck
press. Use a shoulder-width grip and a weight you can curl without any body
movement. Exhale as you curl the weight up until the biceps are fully flexed. Don’t
let your elbows move away from the sides of your body. Inhale as you lower the bar
in a slow, controlled manner back to your thighs. Make sure you straighten your
arms completely before doing the next rep. Do three sets’ of 10 reps, and rest about
90 seconds between sets.
6) Bent-knee sit-ups. It’s only sensible to keep your midsection firm and toned
when gaining muscular weight. Sit-ups help improve digestion and elimination as
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© 2002 All Content. IRONMAN Magazine eBOOK 1092 • www.ironmanmagazine.com
Gain 50 Pounds of Muscle
by Gene Mozee
well. I prefer to do this exercise with my hands behind my head, but if you are just
starting out, you may find it more beneficial and easier if you hold your arms straight
out in front and touch your toes. The knees are kept in a bent position throughout
the exercise. This helps focus the stress more on the abdominals, not the hip flexors
or the lower back. Don’t pause between reps but continue for 20 or as many reps as
you can do without stopping. Exhale as you sit up; inhale as you lower your torso.
Do three or four sets, resting one minute between sets.
I feel sure that if you use these basic exercises for a minimum of three months
without missing any workouts, doing them three times a week on alternate days, you
can gain many pounds of new, impressive muscle size. Paul Grant, former Mr.
World, used almost this exact same program and gained 65 pounds of muscle in
less than a year. All he did was increase the sets on the first five exercises to four
after three months, and after six months he went to six sets. Always strive to
continually add more weight to each exercise when you can do two or three more
reps over the recommended amount.
Larry Scott’s Mass-building Techniques
Gaining muscular weight is a problem
faced by nearly everyone at one time or
another during his or her bodybuilding
career. I was no exception, weighing in at
only 120 pounds as a beginner. The first few
years of my training were primarily devoted
to gaining additional muscular weight and
size. Through scientific training and proper
nutrition I reached a bodyweight of 215
pounds, a total gain of 95 pounds of muscle.
When it comes to gaining weight, the real
secret is diet. Only by supplying your body
with the proper nutritional elements that it requires will you be able to build maximum
size and strength. It is my opinion that 75 percent of the battle to build a
championship physique is proper nutrition. Exercise and proper rest and sleep are
also of major importance, but diet builds muscle tissue when the exercise stimulates
the body to grow.
One of the best mass-training routines that I used was to select one exercise for
each major muscle group and do six sets of eight reps on each. The following
workout is intended for the intermediate bodybuilder who is not a total beginner and
wants to pack on a lot more bodyweight and muscle mass:
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© 2002 All Content. IRONMAN Magazine eBOOK 1092 • www.ironmanmagazine.com
Gain 50 Pounds of Muscle
by Gene Mozee
Bench presses to the neck 6 x 6-8
Barbell squats 6 x 8
Machine calf raises 6 x 15-20
Behind-the-neck presses 6 x 6-8
Front pulldowns 6 x 8-10
Lying barbell triceps extensions
6x8
Preacher bench curls 6 x 8
Bent-knee leg raises 1 x 100-150
This is a rugged routine. You might wish to begin with just three sets of each
exercise and add one additional set every 30 days until you work up to six. Do this
program three days a week.
Think big and train with all the enthusiasm you’re capable of. You can go as far as
you want when it comes to getting more massive if you train intelligently, eat
properly and get enough growth-inducing sleep and rest.
Bill Pearl’s Advanced Mass Training
A lot of time has passed since I first began training
seriously. At first I employed a basic all-round training
program for conditioning. Then I began to work on my weak
spots, which at the time included just about everything. I
weighed about 165 pounds at 5’11". I wasn’t skinny. I just
had an average athletic build. When I competed and won
the Mr. Universe, however, I weighed 241 pounds in my
final competition.
My plan when gaining muscular weight was to eat five
meals a day so that the digestive system was not
overtaxed. Often when a person is using all-out effort to
gain bodyweight, the average individual eats to the point of
force-feeding and in doing so stretches the stomach. When
you eat smaller meals more often, not only is the food more
easily digested and utilized to build muscle and produce
energy, it also helps keep the waistline under control.
Generally speaking, when trying to reach a maximum
bodyweight, I con-sume mostly fresh vegetables, fruits, baked potatoes, cheese,
meat and fish (at least I did before converting to a vegetarian diet in later years). All
foods are either baked or broiled for easier digestion.
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© 2002 All Content. IRONMAN Magazine eBOOK 1092 • www.ironmanmagazine.com
Gain 50 Pounds of Muscle
by Gene Mozee
Here is the mass program that helped me win the Mr. Universe. I trained down to
190 and then slowly massed up to 241 pounds.
Mon. -Wed. -Fri.
Incline flyes 5 x 6
Bent-arm flat-bench flyes 5 x 6
Decline flyes 5 x 6
Behind-the-neck presses 5 x 6
Military barbell presses 5 x 6
Dumbbell lateral raises 5 x 8
Lying triceps extensions 5 x 6
Lying dumbbell triceps extensions
5x8
Triceps pushdowns 5 x 8
Barbell curls 5 x 6
Incline dumbbell curls 5x6
Concentration curls 5x6
Sit-ups 100-200
Alternate leg raises 100-200
Dumbbell side bends 50
Tues. Thurs. Sat.
Sit-ups 100-200
Alternate leg raises 100-200
Dumbbell side bends 50
Wide-grip chins 5 x 10
Close-grip chins 5 x 10
Shrugs 5x10
Stiff-legged deadlifts 5 x 8
Partner-assisted neck work
Wrist curls 5 x 20
Reverse curls 5 x 20
Squats 5 x 8
Hack squats 5 x 10
Leg curls 5 x 12
Standing calf raises 6 x 10
Donkey calf rasies 6 x 10
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© 2002 All Content. IRONMAN Magazine eBOOK 1092 • www.ironmanmagazine.com
Gain 50 Pounds of Muscle
by Gene Mozee
There you have it. Advice and routines from three legends of bodybuilding. They
each gained more than 5O pounds of muscle, and you can too. If you put in plenty
of effort on a mass-building routine, along with lots of good food and enough rest,
you’ll pack on loads of new size and strength. IM
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© 2002 All Content. IRONMAN Magazine eBOOK 1092 • www.ironmanmagazine.com