At 16 years old, Reg Park didn’t resemble a future Mr. Universe.
His scrawny frame carried just 160lbs on a 6 foot tall frame.
But eventually, Reg Park carried 250lbs of solid muscle with true 18 inch arms. (Some stats put his arms as big as 20 inches).
Plus, he was one of the strongest men of his time. Not only did he play Herculeas on the big screen, many of his lifts were absolutely herculean as well.
Take a look for yourself:
Way back in 1950’s, Reg Park hoisted:
A 605 pound squat for two reps
He was the first bodybuilder to bench press over 500lbs.
A 700 pound deadlift and a 315 lb behind-the-neck press.
While much of his strength was built using basic exercises and basic workout routines, his pre-contest bodybuilding training is legendary for the amount of volume he’d cram into a single workout.
Not only would he use extremely heavy weights (3 sets of 20 rep squats with 315lbs) but each workout consisted of over 100 sets.
How could any man handle such a brutal workout?
Perhaps the secret was Reg Park’s home-made workout drink.
Here’s the recipe:
2 Pints of diluted orange juice concentrate + honey.
Just as you’d expect from Reg Park, it’s a simple and basic drink.
But if you run the numbers, you can see why it’s so effective:
The drink contains a boatload of concentrated energy. Nearly 600 calories and 142 grams of fast-acting carbohydrates.
Not to mention nearly 2,000 mg of potassium. Why is this important?
Potassium is crucial for muscle contractions and nerve transmission. And when you sweat, you lose potassium.
So replacing the potassium that your body loses through sweat is essential for maximum performance.
If you find yourself struggling to get through your training sessions because of low energy levels, you might want to give Reg Parks homemade workout drink a try.
And if you’re struggling to gain weight and build muscle, why not follow in Reg Park’s massive footsteps and follow the same training program
that transformed him from a 160lb weakling to a 250lb Herculeus?
Here’s a variation of one of Reg Park’s many basic, brutal and effective training programs:
Barbell Curl: 4 sets of 6-8 reps.
Barbell Shoulder Press: 4 sets of 6-8 reps.
Bench Press: 5 sets of 5 reps.
Barbell Row: 4 sets of 6-8 reps.
Barbell Squat: 5 sets of 5 reps.
Deadlift: 1 heavy set of 5 reps.
Instructions: This training program should be done 3x a week. (Mon-Wed-Fri). Monday is a your “heavy” day.
This means you use the most weight you can while still completing the recommended number of sets and reps.
If you able to complete all sets and reps as written, increase the weight 5lbs during the next week.
If your unable to complete all sets and reps of any given exercise, keep the weight the same next week.
Wednesday is your light day. You do the same exercises, sets and reps but you use 80% of the weight that you used on your heavy day.
So if you used 100lbs on the barbell curl on monday, you’d use 80lbs on Wednesday.
This workout allows your body to recover from Monday’s training without any risk of de-training.
Friday is a medium load day. Again, same exercises, reps and sets from Monday but with 90% of the weight.
For maximum gains, you must sleep a minimum of 8 hours a night and eat plenty of wholesome foods.
Reg himself ate lots of steak, whole milk, whole eggs, orange juice, salads and supplemented his diet with handfuls of liver tablets.
If you want to build herculean strength and size, then give this workout a shot.
And if you want to see why many old time bodybuilders (including Reg Park) took liver tablets by the handful, check out this report.
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Very good article but with liver tablets I would be careful.Most of man absorb iron very quickly from food and if you eat too much liver you can overeat.
@ Bartosz:
When people talk about getting too much iron it’s almost always Non-Heme Iron that causes the discussion. Heme-Iron is naturally-occurring, essential for hard-training athletes and safer for your body (since it’s wrapped in hemoglobin).
Check out the section titled “Good Iron and Bad Iron” in the report below:
http://www.basicsarebest.com
Over-eating liver could hypothetically cause problems but considering I’ve never heard of anyone who eats too much liver (cake? Yes. Chips? Yes. Pizza? Yes. Liver? Never), it’s not a huge cause for concern.
Matt
When did Reg drink his special drink? If Post workout, I can see the logic with the insulin spike and carbs. That is a lot of energy to burn prior to your training. I was thinking of incorporating an amino drink with Physillium post training as opposed to just before going to bed. Do you have any recommendations on an effective Amino/Creatine drink for post training, maybe even during? The OJ gives me heartburn, too acidic for me.
@Mel:
The workout drink was consumed during the workout.
If OJ gives you heartburn, you can try grape juice.
I have no recommendations on creatine as I haven’t used the stuff in years.
What exactly is diluted OJ? or how much are you suppose to dilute it with? definately want to try with orange and grape juice
Remember, we’re talking about a workout drink used nearly 60-70 years ago. So we don’t know the exact details.
I don’t know exactly how much honey he used. To dillute OJ means to add water, but we don’t know how much water was added.
However, these details don’t make a great deal of difference. As long as you’re following the basic format of the drink you should get good results.
So im taking the OJ is cordial and not Pure OJ, I find it a bit strange that cordial OJ is good for you at all.. I think i will try with Pure OJ, Will that work ok?
I don’t know what cordial orange juice is.
Guys, don’t over think this. Juice + honey = simple sugars. Simple sugars = energy for workouts.
It’s not going to make a whole lot of difference if you use, orange juice, grape juice or even gatorade. The point of this article is that you do NOT have to spend $5 - $10 on some fancy specially-packaged “workout energy drink” because Reg Park got it done with nothing more than juice and honey.
I think for the record, it is pure OJ that has been watered down. I would highly doubt that it was cordial.
Besides, it like what Matt said, it’s not really that important.
P.S I tried it with watered down OJ and Honey and it was fine.
Well gents,
First let me say to matt, its nice to see ya back up and runnin this deal again. 2nd, I have read about this before. Use regular OJ. Matt hit it on the head with this one! Its great
Great stuff, will give it a try.
thanks Matt.
Matt,
I actually tried this drink on a hot and humid day at work. I’m a UPS driver. I didn’t dilude the OJ ( excuse the spelling) but I did notice a very good natural energy kick not too long after drinking it. It was very helpful. Thanx for the tip.
I agree with two points here. 1) If you dilute something that had been concentrated, you have just returned it to it’s original state. It wasn’t diluted OJ. It was ‘diluted OJ concentrate’. Diluted OJ concentrate is just OJ. 2) It doesn’t really matter if it’s fresh squeezed, reconstituted (diluted concentrate) or just OJ poured out of a paper carton. What matters is that it is OJ and honey. Simple carbs and potassium in a liquid form. That’s it. Glad you are back, Matt.
Thanks Dan.
I also want to bring up one more point about this drink:
Many old-time bodybuilders liked honey because they felt it helped them digest protein better. Basically, they used honey as a digestive aid.
And while there wasn’t much protein in this workout drink, you can bet Reg ate tons of protein after his workout. So perhaps having the honey already in his stomach helped with the digestion of the post-workout feedings.
Food for thought.