6 Workout Tips From Bill Pearl - Legendary Bodybuilder From Golden Era

Bill Pearl (1930-2022) was a bodybuilder, strongman, trainer, mentor to famous bodybuilders like Chris Dickerson, and a seasoned writer on workout training and nutrition. His famous book “Keys to the Inner Universe” is a composition of bodybuilding knowledge and weight training exercises.

Pearl was one of the most popular bodybuilders when the first Olympia was introduced in 1965, but he never competed in the IFBB. Instead, he was much more inclined towards other bodybuilding competitions.

In 1953, a 23-year-old Pearl won the Mr Universe and Mr America. He also won the Pro Mr Universe in 1961, 1967, and 1971. At the age of 41, Pearl competed and won against three-time Mr Olympia Sergio Oliva and bodybuilder Frank Zane.

Nearly seven decades after Pearl won the Mr Universe, there's much to learn about the legendary bodybuilder from the golden era in terms of working out to develop massive muscles.

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Workout Tips from Bill Pearl’s Training

Here're six such tips:

1) Do 8 reps for Best Muscle Growth

According to Pearl, when he was training in the 60s, most of his exercise sets were of eighr reps.

He believed eight reps were low enough to use heavy weights but high enough to target the muscles and not simply move the weights. Pearl used to do higher reps for his legs (15 reps per set), particularly for calves and very high reps for abs, which went to 100 per set.

Otherwise, for the best muscle growth, reps between 5-10 are the best, but for Pearl, it was eight.

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2) Do Incline Dumbbell Curls for Biceps

When it comes to Pearl’s most loved biceps curls, he preferred incline dumbbell curls with two dumbbells, which he performed seated on an incline bench.

According to him, this position gives a full contraction and stretch to the biceps. He performed biceps curls face-up or down and worked on both arms at the same time or alternately.

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3) Don't Ignore Basic Presses

Bill Pearl loved the press behind the neck and the military press with a barbell. He did both in the same exercise while standing or sitting.

Although there are other exercises to train the shoulder muscles, such as the side lateral exercises, he suggested that exercisers should not stray too far from basic presses and overhead lifts. These are classic and basic workouts that work the best.

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4) Do Dips and Pull-ups

In the 50s, when there was no fancy gym equipment, bodybuilders relied solely on dumbbells and barbells. However, Bill Pearl made improvisations. Along with doing basic weightlifting exercises, he learned bodyweight workouts and loved dips and pull-ups.

These exercises were important for his chest, triceps and back growth. He performed a lot of pull-ups with different grips, shoulder-width, wide and narrow, and also did them with weights attached to a belt.

Sometimes he performed all three for four sets of eight reps each and used to superset them with other exercises, such as military presses, lateral raises and rear laterals for shoulders, one set of side laterals and pull-ups with no rest, and back and forth for all the supersets.

For dips, Pearl used to lean forward to target his chest and then went straight up to work on his triceps. He did bench dips as well for his triceps.

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5) Superset Exercises for Different Muscles

Over the years, Bill Pearl did a lot of superset exercises – biceps with triceps, back with chest, and so on.

According to him, the key is to focus on the targeted muscles, which is what supersets did for him. He also did a superset pull-up with shoulder exercises to pump his delts and lats together.

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6) Change Your Routine

Bill Pearl used to change his training program every 7-8 weeks to keep his session beneficial and interesting.

He used to believe that if you train your muscles with the same exercises, reps and sets, month after month, muscle growth stops altogether. Therefore, it's important to keep changing your workout strategy with different reps and sets to shock your body into a new growth range.

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Takeaway

These were a few beneficial workout strategies the legendary Bill Pearl used to follow throughout his career. As a fitness enthusiast or regular exerciser, you too can follow these tips to get outstanding results from your workout session.