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Old-Time Strength: John Grimek

(This is part of a series looking at old time strongmen and bodybuilders and the training methods and programs they followed. Note: The set, reps and weight used will be left out so you can tailor the program to fit your needs and strength levels.)

What can you say that hasn’t already been said about John Grimek.

He is a legend, without a doubt the greatest bodybuilder of them all. He did without drugs people. Grimek is the ideal. He was muscular and powerful, the total package.

John Carroll Grimek (1910-1988) always enjoyed exercise. All exercise. He loved variety, always explaining he trained in “1001 ways” and recommended frequent changes in schedules, sets and reps and indeed exercise, just so long as one stuck to basics. Most of all John loved squats, an exercise many most certainly dislike, and many actually hate, or at least try to avoid, seeking easier variations of legwork.

Even when he did not feel like training he would squat. He squatted all his life, right from the early days of the old Milo Barbell Company, and Mark Berry and Physical Training Illustrated books in which Grimek was featured in fine exercise pictures. Through the years of Hoffman’s Strength and Health, his own Muscular Development magazine into “retirement,” still squatting heavy even in his late 70s (years of age).

Grimek is the only man ever to win the AAU Mr. America title more than once. His wins in 1940 and 1941 were so overwhelming that contest organizers from then on implemented the single-victory rule.

He represented the United States as a weightlifter at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, proving he had strength and well as muscle. In 1948, at 38 years of age, Grimek beat the young sensation Steve Reeves at the NABBA Mr. Universe in London.

A year later, in his last contest, the AAU Mr. USA, he beat Reeves again – as well as Clarence Ross, George Eiferman and Armand Tanny – and retired from bodybuilding competition undefeated.

Grimek performed a 400-pound deadlift cold with no warmups, 600 pounds after warming up. His max squat was 700 pounds, bent press 300 pounds, overhead press 364 pounds and bench press 480 pounds.

Grimek alternated routines regularly. Here is one of them:

Overhead Press
Chins
Squats
Bench Press
Deadlifts
Bent Press
Rows
Leg Raises

Notes: Train consistently 2-3 days per week and add weight to the bar whenever possible and get lots of rest, eat good food and drink plenty of water.

Understand that to be successful in any weight training program – hard work is a must! Half-hearted effort does nothing for you. If you’re new to weight training or grossly out of shape, consult a physician first. End of disclaimer.

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