William Boone's 1937 Training Program by Brooks Kubik William Boone, training in his back yard with nothing nothing more than a rusty weight set
William Boone was a tremendously powerful lifter in the 30's and 40's. He first achieved fame when reports were published of his astonishing gains on a program of heavy, highrep s!uats, which he was inspired to follow after reading about what a similar schedule did for his Herculean Herculean contemporary, "oseph #urtis Hise. $f memory serves correctly, Boone gained something li%e &000 pounds on the s!uat program. Boone eventually built up to a bentpress of close to 300
pounds ... a deadlift of (00 or so ... a partial dead lift of )00 pounds ... and a *er% from the rac% of 4+0 pounds, which certainly ran%s him as one of the strongest men in the history of the world. $ believe that he made these lifts in the midtolate 40's, or the
very early 0's. -hese achievements are all the more remar%able because Boone wor%ed wor%ed a very hard, hot, heavy *ob digging water wells in ouisiana and -e/as. ccording to Boone, one *ob digging wells on a ranch in -e/as was so hot that the men had to drin% 4 gallons of water per day *ust to %eep from overheating under the scorching southwestern sun1 ...nd yet, Boone often would wor% all day and -H2 do his training1 Where did Boone train $n his bac%yard1 He didn't even have a garage or basement in which to train. He lifted huge weights standing on the grass or on a dirt surface. 5o don't let anyone tell you that you need to !uit your *ob and lay around all day in order to ma%e good gains ...and don't let anyone tell you that you need to train at some sort of superduper training center *ammed with all of the latest miracle machines. Boone's training was very uni!ue. He always followed what $ refer to as 6abbreviate 6 abbreviated d training programs.6 )3( issue of 7ar% Berry's little maga8ine, 69hysical -raining otes,6 contains a letter from Boone to Berry with the following update on Boone's training.
-he following information is from a period when Boone was building up to the really big lifts mentioned above:
"I have been doing only three ...exercises, ...exercises, namely namely the Two Arm Press, Two Arm url, and the !ee #nee Bend..." "$ere is my last workout. I work only once a week on ressing and twice a week week on s%uatting s%uatting.. &onday &onday and 'riday 'riday (( !.#.B.) !.#.B.)s s *i.e *i.e., ., s%uats s%uats+ + Wedn Wednes esda day y (( res ressin sing. g. &y worko workout uts s aver averag age e about an hour in length ..."
"Wednesday "Wednesday-- ress (( /0 1ive times /0 seven times 20 1our times times 30 three three times times 40 twice twice 42 once once then then reduce reduce the weig weight ht to /0 /0 1or 1or 1our 1our ree reeti titi tion ons s and and agai again n with with two two more more resses 5 ounds six times and then 1our times 56 six and then 1our times. Then reverse curl twelve twelve times with 573 ounds and and regu regular lar curl curl 530 530 ten ten ree reeti titio tions ns and and then then agai again n twic twice. e." " "&y arms measure measure better than 56 inches now and I have hoes o1 res ressi sing ng 20 oun ounds ds ten ten tim times and and 700 oun ounds ds on once ce.." "$ere "$ere is my last workout workout on the s%uat, s%uat, which is also also my bestonce each with /02, /72, and /40 three times times with 252 short rest sixteen times with /00 short rest eight times with /00. 8n 8cto 8c tobe ber r 5st 5st I did did my best best,, or rath rather er high highest est,, !.#. !.#.B. B. (( 22 22 ounds."
