Peary Rader's One-Day Program Of Specialization Revisited

In The Rader Master Bodybuilding and Weight Gaining System, Peary told us about a program he developed that could add up to 3/4 of an inch to a trainees arms in one day.

The program goes like this - pick a day when you can do nothing but train, eat and rest. You use just two exercises, one for triceps and one for biceps, and you do a set of each every hour for 12 hours. Use a weight lighter than your usual poundage and do not work to failure. Eating some protein every hour, massaging the muscles after each workout and resting as much as possible, were also recommended.

This program has worked for many and we could continue to use it exactly the same way to get a quick increase in arm size, but Peary gave us a hint of the full usefulness of this method. He stated, "Most men use it on their arms since no one ever seems to have as large of arms as he would like. However it will work on any muscle. We hope that some day when we have a greater understanding of muscle growth and the controlling factors, a similar method can be applied to men and women in a specialized session of perhaps a month and give them a physique that today takes years to acquire." So we can see that Peary had a lot of hope for this method.

I believe I have a program that would be useful for advanced hard gainers who would like a quick increase in size all over their body. It would go something like this: you pick six exercises that cover the entire body.

For about 4 weeks you workout twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday. This is to get used to these exercises and avoid extreme soreness when you begin specialization. Do 2 work sets for each exercise, then on week five on Wednesday you do your regular workout but on Saturday you take the first exercise (squats) and do one set an hour for 12 hours, use about half of your usual poundage. The idea as Peary said, "Working on the principle of flushing the muscles with blood and keeping them flushed all day long, the muscles will grow unbelievably for a short time." So we aren't trying to push to maximum on these sets.

Keep the Wednesday workouts the same as the first 4 weeks, but every Saturday take the next exercise in your program and hit it for 12 sets in 12 hours.

This program is still admittedly experimental, but all signs seem to show that it would bring about a big gain over the 10 weeks it takes to complete. The most important thing is that you don't get overtrained. Do only two workouts a week, and give the most amount of rest after the specialization day, hence the Wednesday and Saturday schedule. The other thing is to do the hardest exercises like squats early in the cycle when you recovery ability is strongest.

As the cycle progresses work your way down, and at the end of the cycle you are doing the least taxing exercises like curls. The volume per exercise is high one day a week but the overall volume is kept at about 12 sets a workout, which is still not too bad for a hard gainer.

If you are a beginner, or intermediate stick to the basics like 20 rep squats, heavy deadlifts, presses, etc., and you will grow plenty fast if you work hard, and eat and rest sufficiently. But, if you are getting close to your potential and would like to get a quick burst of size, try this routine and see how it works for you.