cerutty's weight programs

It was a Cerutty lifting program. Literally. Herb Elliot had to go on his training runs in the sand carrying Old Percival in his arms or on his shoulders while Cerutty would rant and rave at the top of his lungs about six-meter stride length and the evils of co-mingling with females.

something like that.

Cerutty advocated what he called the "intensive" method of weight-training -- heavy weights with very few repetitions per set (not more than five), and not more than two or three sets per exercise. During the "conditioning" (base-building) phase of training, he recommended three weight sessions per week. The number of sessions per week would taper off as the training cycle moved toward the peak phase, where weight-training would stop entirely.

Cerutty had five "basic lifts" -- cheat curls, bench press, dead lift, sit-ups on an incline board with added weight held behind the head, and one-arm "arm swings" with heavy dumbbells. The sit-ups and arm swings, which Cerutty didn't consider to be real "weight-lifting" exercises, might involve 20 or 25 reps.

On days when the athlete did not do the five "basic lifts," Cerutty recommended "gymnastics," including chin-ups, rope-climbing, and parallel bars.

Finally, hill-training -- again emphasizing high resistance by using very steep and sandy hills -- was an important part of the overall strength-building program.