. is approach ties in with what was explained towards the end of the seg-
ment Little Gems, earlier in this chapter. Poundage progression on a weekly
or monthly basis cannot continue indefinitely. Once a drug-free trainee
reaches very advanced status, poundage progression slows down dramati-
cally, though it does not have to cease for quite a long while. Now is the time
to consider intentionally using a fixed poundage for the working sets of each
exercise.. To clarify, the use of fixed poundages for relatively long periods by the old
timers came after they had already become very strong. Prior to that stage,
and over a period of many years, they had focused on making small but
regular increases in strength. Once at the very advanced stage, however,
they would only rarely increase the poundages in their regular training. For
months at a time they would continue to knock out their usual three or so
work sets of however many reps they chose for a given exercise. e pound-
ages would tax them but never push them to the limit.. A few times a year though, when they felt good, and perhaps motivated by
competition (formal or informal), they would pull out the stops and try for
new personal bests with limit weights. en they would increase their regu-
lar working weights a little for the next stretch of their training lives. ey
would still keep the poundages less than their limit weights for the reps they
were doing, but hold them until they started to feel not-quite-so-taxing.
en another record day would be lined up, and, if records were made, some
new working poundages (just a few pounds heavier than before) would be
used for the next few months, or longer.. e use of constant working poundages for long periods, even for a super-
advanced trainee, would not apply to a new exercise, or to a movement that
was being reintroduced after a long period away from it. In these cases, even
the super-advanced trainee would start comfortably. Time would be needed
to learn/review form, and build up the poundages in the regular bit-by-bit
manner. Only once very near the hilt of the individual’s potential in that new
exercise would it be an option to move to constant working poundages.. Here are some of McKean’s comments on this approach:
If one of the old timers was a local, national or world record holder, he knew
that one more year’s uninterrupted, constant-poundage training might yield a
mere -pound gain. Not much, but a new record, and all that could be reason-
ably expected for such a super-advanced trainee. Many of my present very-