Just about every training course written in the early 20th century promoted high-rep exercises using light weight dumbbells or other similarly “light” equipment (if they included any equipment at all — most did not.)
… but anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that you can’t build the strength to lift heavy weights only by waving around 2-3 pound wooden dumbbells.
The Henry Higgins Strength and Muscle Course, however, was written somewhere around 1915 and is one of the earliest — if not THE earliest — training course to promote the lifting of heavy weights for the purpose of building great strength.
Henry Higgins, a famous gym owner in the New England area, is said to have met and discussed training methods with such famous oldtime strongmen as Eugen Sandow, Louis Cyr, Franz “Cyclops” Bienkowski, Samson, and Walter Kennedy (among others.)
Today, a hundred years later, everybody — and I do mean EVERYBODY — wants to know how they trained…
Thankfully, Higgins took plenty of notes during his talks with all these famous strongmen and built a fair share of his own strength throughout his many years in the gym business and he put it all together in his own extremely effective training course.
In fact, using the training methods outlined in this course, the author is said to have once “put up” 254 lbs. with one hand. Higgins also trained a 20 year old Harvard medical student to do a one-hand dumbbell lift of 211 lbs. (at a bodyweight of only 145 lbs.) Another medical student who trained with Higgins succeeded with a 225 lb. lift. With nothing more than a set of gradual, adjustable dumbbells, the author guarantees that his training methods will enable the average trainee to clean and press a 140 lb. dumbbell in less than a year’s time!
Here’s a look at some of the things that The Henry Higgins Course will teach you:
The special tactic — which few people know about that — allows for the development of great strength and how to start using it in your training program immediately
Want to know the single most important factor in building the greatest possible strength? The Author will teach you how he acquired it
Henry Higgins reveals the title of his favorite training book from the 19th century and why it should be ready by everyone with an interest in developing great strength
The unusual reason why some men become far stronger than others
The secret of strength that all the great strongmen understand and why it needs to be a part of your approach
Out of all the famous strongmen that Higgins met over the years, which one had the most intelligent training ideas?
The method by which even the weakest of men can be transformed into a splendid athlete
Why it is all but impossible to become very strong with only light dumbbells
The REAL secret of the Strongman’s strength — what it is and why it works
The expected time-frame for becoming truly strong
When to advance to the heavier ‘bells
10 exercises using a 25 lb. dumbbell and how often to perform each of them
11 exercises that you can do with a 50 lb. dumbbell, how often to do them and in what proper order
8 lessons for the use of heavy dumbbells
How to develop equal strength in both the right
and left hands
How the great Eugen Sandow was able to develop more “nerve” force than many professional athletes
The methods that beginners should use to control their breathing while training
The original edition of this course was uncovered among a huge collection of strength memorabilia which once belonging to the world famous Oldtime weightlifter, bodybuilder, and gym owner Sig Klein… which should tell you a lot right there.
This course provides a fascinating look into the past and provides the actual training methods used by a turn of the century gym owner and genuine strongman. Putting the methods in this course into action will also show you that what made people stronger a hundred years ago still works every bit as well today… More importantly, the Higgins Course can and will teach you the incredible power of progressive training methods.
The modern reprint edition of the Henry Higgins Strength and Muscle Course is 24 pages in length, 8-1/2 inches x 11 inches in size, is printed on heavy stock paper with a glossy cover. There are no pictures but the exercises are straightforward and simple to understand. The Henry Higgins Course belongs in the training library of every serious strength student!
The Henry Higgins Strength and Muscle Course:___________$16.99 plus s/h
