the complete keys to progress john mcCallum

Keys to Progress was a long running series of articles on bodybuilding (!) that ran in Strength and Health magazine about a thousand years ago. While I would normally run a mile from anything to do with bodybuilding, being that tango coloured, steroid infested nancy boys flouncing around in g-strings is not my idea of sport, this book is actually as I would have said when I was eleven, "Skill". The main reason being that it basically has bugger all to do with the modern "sport" of bodybuilding and is more about getting really big and strong that marinating yourself in fake tan. In fact in 265 pages of extremely small print McCallum talks a lot about squats and never mentions dying the skin orange once.

The format of the book is simple. It consists of a series of stories as told by McCallum that contain heaps of advice on how to build yourself up. He advocates 20 rep breathing squat programs and various similar methods for bulk, talks about nutrition a hell of a lot, trimming down to ripped condition, running, a series of different specialisation programs for everything from neck, chest to grip and forearms and bags of other stuff besides.

There is no talk of machines, or steroids, or posing (god forbid), it’s all good stuff about basic exercises, heavy weights and eating so much food your grocery bill will look like a ransom note. There is no tale of a young man seeking a perfect peak on his bicep either. Big chest, yes. Big arms, yes. Wearing speedos and spending long hours admiring yourself in the mirror, no.

Also it’s funny. I laughed out loud several times. It made me want to live in Vancouver in the fifties, lift weights, drink the Get Big Drink, have a bodybuilding, womanising old uncle and tolerate the genetically advantaged only because it’s against the law to poison them.

This is book aimed at the average trainee with no great genetic gifts, no chemical enhancements and no membership at David Lloyd. It kind of assumes you know what certain exercises are and how you do them so a book on technique would be a nice supplement for beginners to the weightroom, but this was written when if you said "Snatch" people would think of Olympic Lifting and the pec deck had not even been invented, oh happy days.

Get big, get strong, stay skin coloured.

Review by SFUK June 2003

263 pages + indexes
Softcover
Published 1993 by Ironmind
97! articles in smallprint
No photos
Keys to Progress is an omnibus of articles taken from Health & Strength magazine from 1965-1972

*Bodybuilding Warning*

Dom, in his review above, said it best. Yes McCallum's book is basically bodybuilding, and yes he has chapters on big biceps and big pecs BUT most of all the book is about how to get bigger by getting stronger. A lot stronger. We're talking 500lb squats here, 300lb overhead presses...can you do that? If you can, you can probably throw your opponents all over the ring. How about gaining weight? How much do you want to gain? 20lbs, 30lbs, 40lbs, 50...yep, you can do this too, all drug free, and yes it works. If that sounds good then this book is for you.

Is a book written in the late 60's relevant for me today?

That's a question that most would-be readers will ask. Surely the information is dated in an age of 'scientific' training, plyometrics, space-age machines, nandralone, HGH and blood doping? - Well drugs aside, (which McCallum doesn't cover), then hell, yes it's relevant. In fact it's spooky how many modern authors avocate routines very similar to McCallums. Or maybe not - what works - works doesn't it?

Here's a few McCallum - influenced writers off the top of my head -

Randell Strossen - Super Squats is basically a scaled down version Keys to Progress
Paul Kelso - His superb Powerlifting Book is totally influenced by McCallum
Stuart McRobert - see the simularities between Brawn's routines & McCallum's.
Brooks Kubik - his Dinosaur Training book and particularly his Dino Files pay tribute to 'Keys' both in content and style
Mike Thompson - His Hardgainer magazine articles are 'McCallumisms"
Sean Toohey - writer for Naturalstrength.com, The Dinosaur Files, Hardgainer & a Squats + Milk evangelist
Dr Ellington Darden - yep, even this ex-Nautilus guru and pop-bodybuilding author of books like "Big" uses McCallum-like routines (Full body, 3 days a week, squat + pullover based routines combined with a heavy calorie diet).

"If anyone tells you that things have changed 180 degrees since John's articles first appeared,...they are probably after your money" - Randall Strossen PhD, author of Super Squats

A reviewer at Amazon summed it up best..."John McCallum knew about all there was to know about weight lifting and body building back in his day. Most of what came after him was more pharmacology than physiology..."

So don't think of the information as old, more as time-tested. This stuff works, it's worked over and over again, it worked then, it works now.

Even the diet advice is spookily modern. McCallum talks about the Atkin's diet, also known as the diet that turned buxom Ginger Spice, Gerri Halliwell into an emaciated yoga-goddess - and the diet that gave Mrs Brad Pitt Jennifer Aniston her hubby's sixpack (and erm, chin).

Topics Covered

With 97 articles there's too much to list them all! Here's a cut-down list:

Squats (loads on this)
the Get Big Drink - save your Myoplex money
Size & Strength
Power Training
How to construct a home gym
Neck specialization
Grip development
Hard work
Cardio & running
Hip Belt Squats
Vitamins
and a bunch of bodybuilding guff like big arms & big chest specialization.

Basically, McCallum tells you how to get big. And how to get big. And how to get big.

How's this done? Work hard, get strong, force-feed yourself like a a fois gras goose and make the squat your new religion. You're a skinny-arsed teenager and want to gain 20lbs in a few months? No problem! It goes something like this:

"We can sum up the essentials very quickly. Squats and milk. That's the gist of it....Gains of 20-30lbs in a month are not uncommon. If you don't gain at least 10lbs a month you're doing something wrong"

Overhead Press 3 x 12
Squats 1 x 20
Pullovers 1 x 20
Bench Press 3 x 12
Rows 3 x 15
Stiff Legged Deadlift 1 x 15
Pullovers 1 x 20
Do this three days a week - (note many trainees, particularly older ones, get better results from twice a week workouts)
Plus a gallon, yes a gallon of milk a day - supped slowly throughout the day.
Another note - MMAers may need to cut back on cardio work whilst on a weight-gain binge.

"The biggest fallacy in weight training today is the foisted notion that you can build big powerful muscles without hard work on heavy weights. You can't do it brothers, and you're wasting your time trying....(then on squats) You've gotta force the poundage. 150% of your bodyweight for 20 reps is rock bottom minimum..."

If you're wondering if his claims of gaining 10lbs a month are a bit fanciful, well they are not. Who needs 'roids huh?

What's Cool

Hey, it's the grand daddy of get-bigger-stronger books, so if you've enjoyed books by any of the authors above then it's worth having this too.
It's funny. Just brilliantly written.
It's inspiring - makes you want to go squat and down a litre of Get Big Drink
Loads to read, loads of content. You'll keep going back and discover something new.
Enough routines to last you years and years
It's strength orientated. Strength first.
The best anti-smoking article ever

Whats' not?

Loads to read. If you want a "low-fat" version then get Kelso's Powerlifting book instead.
If you're after quick-access info, then you may find wading through stories a little frustrating and you have no sense of humour then skip this and go straight to Beyond Brawn.
Still has some bodybuilding crap like lateral raises

Conclusion

If this is going to be your first weight lifting book then you may be better served elsewhere (eg by McRobert). If you're an iron-head, and want the original, seminal weight training book then get this.