The Other Unparalleled Exercise by Jan Dellinger | The Partial Deadlift

by Jan Dellinger

Bob Peoples

The example of alternating squat-only with deadlift-only training cycles has its practitioners as far back as the 1940s, in the person of Bob Peoples. While he was an all-round strength athlete of accomplishment, in addition to being a stupendous deadlifter, there's precious little about him in magazines of his time.

Thanks to a friend, my exploration for details on Peoples yielded the most expansive profile of this mighty resident of Johnson City, Tennessee, in the April/May, 1952 edition of IRON MAN. One of the more successful training strategies outlined in this account, in Peoples' opinion, centered on working the squat and deadlift independently for stretches of time.

Bob Peoples

Of course, he mixed other extraordinary tacts with this style of alternation. For one thing, on this routine he preferred to do single lifts, starting light and working up to a limit, or nearly so, single for the day. Okay, hard gainers, brace yourself for this one: As much as his farming duties allowed, he preferred to work the "lift of the cycle" like this every day. He did this until he started to go stagnant on the lift, at which point he'd switch over to the other major lift which he had not been working.

Then he'd pursue that on a daily, heavy-singles basis until going stale on it. Peoples found variety and renewed progress in bouncing back and forth between the squat and deadlift, contending that this approach gave him very good results. In the interests of full disclosure, though, Peoples did state that he used other productive systems aside from this one.

Digressing for a moment, obviously Peoples was very much a "specimen" as evidenced by his clean-grip deadlift of 725 lbs, and 530 lbs full squat, at a bodyweight somewhere in the low 180s, done back in the 1940s. Also, there's the matter of being able to prosper from daily ultra-heavy training.

And also bear in mind that he trained alone in barns or cellars with no moral support from others, and did his great lifting feats in exhibitions devoid of competitive stimulus from others, and registered terrific physical achievements despite making a living working the land. Imagine how the physical drain and long hours required by his occupation interrupted his ability to train with consistency.

Perhaps they had Bob Peoples in mind when the Superman character was brought to life... On To Part XI >>

Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V - Part VI - Part VII - Part VIII - Part IX - Part X - Part XI - Part XII

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The Other Unparalleled Exercise (cont.)

by Jan Dellinger