Subj: John Grimek’s Workout Routine for Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Strength, and Lean Gains.
John Grimek was born in New Jersey back in 1910. As a young boy he’d train with his brother’s weight set every chance he got. He wanted to to get big and strong like his big bro.
Fast forward a few years and Johnny G was competing in the Olympics as a weightlifter. For a while there he also held the American record for Military Press (a favorite exercise among strongmen at the time).
He got a lot of attention for is chiseled physique and displays of athleticism. So much in fact that for a stretch of time he earned $80/week as a model during the Great Depression. Not a bad gig all things considered.
Grimek was much more than a show pony. He was also cockdiesel strong. He put up impressive numbers on deadlift, squat and bench press. If that wasn’t enough, he would drive nails into a plank with his bare hands. Then bend steel bars in his backyard for fun just because he could.
Not only that, if he was driving to lunch and the parking spot on the street was too tight to parallel park he’d lift the car on end and put it into the parking space. (That’s right, John Grimek was lifting cars off the street before Franco Columbu made it cool.)
Not only was he chiseled and incredibly strong, but Grimek was also an acrobatic who could perform backflips, handstands and full splits with ease. During his bodybuilding days his competition didn’t stand a chance. It was turkey shoot when he was on stage. John Grimek was UNDEFEATED during his bodybuilding career and become known as the “The Glow” for his charisma.
Crowned the ‘Perfectly Built Man’ in 1939, and gained attention was in all the Ironman bodybuilding magazines.
So much so that even the great Steve Reeves described JG as the greatest bodybuilder that ever lived.
We could talk at length about Grimek’s accomplishments and contribution to bodybuilding and physical culture. There’s a lot to this dynamic character – let’s get down to the routine for time’s sake.
John Grimek’s Workout Routine
When asked what he did to develop his world class physique, he responded saying basically ‘I couldn’t tell ya’. He just trained. Grimek didn’t stick to one program for too long or overly complicate things. In fact, he didn’t do much bodybuilding training until later in life.
The core of his training routine was hard and heavy Olympic lifting. Especially in the beginning days.
His workout routine looked like this:
Standing Press
His workout started with Presses. First, a few warm up sets then load 60% of his 1-rep max onto the bar and do 5 reps.
Raise the weight and do 3 reps, then raise the weight again and do 2 reps, finally increase the weight to 95-100% of your 1-rep max max and do 5 (or more) heavy singles. Finally, reduce weight to 75% of your 1RM and burn out with as many reps as possible.
Barbell Snatch
Grimek did Snatches using the same approach sets, weight and reps scheme as the Standing Press.
Deadlifts
Deadlifts where performed rapidly for many reps to work the legs, back, heart and lungs.
High Pulls
For shoulders and trapezius development. These are also known as Upright Rows.
Clean and Jerk
Same set and rep scheme as the other exercises.
Building The Foundation
John Grimek trained for strength and power. That’s what built his dense muscular physique.
Each exercise looked something like this:
(Weight x Reps)
100 x 5-10 warm up
120 x 1
140 x 1
160 x 1
180 x 1
200 x 1
220 x 1
240 x 1
250 x 1
260 x 1
270 x 1
275 x 1 (on days when I felt extra strong)
The focus was more on strength and power so lower reps were performed. Other set/rep schemes like 5/4/3/2/1+ or 5 x 3 or 8 x 2, or a bunch of heavy singles.
Clean and Press is King
If you could only do one exercise for the rest of your life John Grimek recommends doing the Clean and Press. It was the best exercise for building total body power, strength and muscularity.
In fact for a while we only performed Clean and Press and squats. That’s it. That was the whole routine. Clean and Press one day and Squats the next. Rinse and Repeat.
Sample Full-Body Workout Routine for Bodybuilding
Train upped body with 5-10 reps. Lower body with 10-20 reps. 3 sets for both lower and upper body exercises.
Train 3x per week (typically Monday, Wednesday and Friday/Saturday).
Monday Workout for Bulk: Bench Press, Pull Ups, Military Press, Barbell Curl, Squats, Standing Calve Raise.
Wednesday Workout: Incline Press, Dips, Barbell Row, Dumbbell Row, Shrugs, Leg Curls, Single-Arm Preacher Curls, abs 1 set of 50 reps.
Friday Workout: Chin Ups, Military Press, Incline Dumbbell Curls, Front Squat and Stiff-Leg Deadlifts. Ooh yeah.
Rest 45 seconds to 1 minute between sets, and rest 2-3 minutes rest between exercises so you’re focused and fresh.
Perform each exercise with strict form!
John Grimek reportedly trained three days per week: Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Monday was the ‘light’ day, Wednesday was medium weight and Saturday was heavy. Saturday was competition day so he rested for two days leading up to the events.. He trained in the York Barbell club and the guys always competed to hit new records on Saturdays.
John would sometimes do heavy assistance exercises on Thursday if he felt he needed it.
Keep your training simple. Add weight to the bar whenever you can. eat good food. Push for progressive overload. Train smart and squat heavy. Grimek reportedly would Squat over 400 pounds for reps well into his 60’s.
Old School Training Techniques
John Grimek was a fan of old school 20-rep breathing squats. He constantly did squats coupled with pullovers and laying laterals. The combination built a powerhouse physique with strong legs and big chest.
John won lifting and physique contests just by training for strength. No muscle training (bodybuilding), isolation, cardio, pump training or anything like that. Straight up strength training. Build solid, dense muscle.
The guy had GRIT. It’s worth mentioning that he worked until midnight, then walked home and trained until 3AM.
There was no money in bodybuilding then. The biggest purse he won $1000 for winning the 1949 Mr. USA. Good money back then but the bodybuilding profession was feast or famine for sure. Training was a labor of love. His passion and zest for life showed through (He was ‘The Glow’ after all). His energy was contagious and got many people into fitness. His passion landed him in the halls of history were he is eternalized.
John Grimek Training Philosophy
Train for strength and power first. Focus on the basic powerlifting and olympic lifts to build dense muscle from head to toe.
Focus on lower reps with the heaviest weight you can handle.
Incorporate bodybuilding into your routine if you so desire. If you do, here’s the approach:
Compound barbell movements should make up the vast majority of your workout routine.
Upper body exercises: 5 reps work up to 10 reps.
Lower body exercises: 10 rep work up to 20 reps.
Training Frequency: Train constantly 2-3 days per week and add weight o the bar as often as possible.
Have a well rounded total body routine with lots of Squats and Clean and Press. Stay consistent, rest and eat well, and you will make progress.
Speaking of eating well…
John Grimek Diet
Meat, whole cream milk, honey, whole eggs, fresh fruits and nuts.
Eat three big hearty meals a day until you are comfortably full then go live your life.
Got it?
Good.
Go forth and conquer.
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