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Don Howorth Workout
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When Arnold, Frank Zane and Larry Scott where winning bodybuilding titles in the 1960’s and 1970’s there was a competitive bodybuilder called Mr. Delts for a good reason. Don Howorth did not only have massive coconut shaped deltoids but they were widely separated by his very wide back, he had watermelons, his shoulders were huge.
Don Howorth training Routine
Don was born November 9, 1935 in, California Los Angeles, Don was the only child of Donovan and Francis Howorth. Don started doing gymnastics early as a child but he changed when he met Steve Reeves at the American Health Studio in LA, which inspired him to start bodybuilding and get that familiar shoulder-to-waist ratio which was so popular during the 50's and 60’s.
Don got himself badly injured in 1958, working for Western Electric he injured two spinal discs and it took him 5 years to fully recover from that serious injury. But Don was no ordinary athlete and he taught his body to slowly recover and get his power back to eventually start competing.
He won many top titles that started with Mr. California in 1963, then Mr. Western America and Mr. L.A. in the same year. But Don was destined for greatness because he was invited by John Grimek to compete at the Mr. America in 1967, which he won and then went on to win Mr. World in 1968.
The simple reason why Don would win was simply because of that huge spread on his shoulders which were not only very large deltoids but they were genetically very wide apart. Don explains that his shoulder width came from doing barbell press and dumbbell press.
Don says that he would never do shrugs because he said big traps diminish the width of your shoulders, making your shoulders look less-wider than they are. Don would train 2 hours every day with a high intensity resting no more than just 20 seconds between each set, he never did cardio.
After Don Howorth left Pasadena he went on to train at Vince Beach Gironda's gym. In hindsight it sounds incredible that Don added 60 pounds of good quality muscle in only 4yrs years, which got him back into the bodybuilding scene. Like all bodybuilders at the time Don would train using a number of methods leaving nothing to chance.
In Don’s own words he got his best results doing press behind neck with a barbell which he would super-set with bent-over rear D/B raises. But Don was very aware of the importance of changing his routine every 6 weeks, he explained that he would also superset rear delt raises with chin-ups sometimes.
Don would train his shoulders and then his back because it was a mix that he felt worked best for him. He would use the following routine to shock his shoulders and back for two weeks. It needs to be stressed that when Don did this kind of routine he was an advanced bodybuilder that was already very strong.
Behind Neck Press 8 X 6 reps
Superset One Arm D/B Press with Side Incline Raises 4 X 8 reps
D/B Press sitting or standing 4 X 8 reps
Three Way Raise 15 X 5 reps This unique movement starts with D/B in each hand lifting D/B’s from thighs to half-way for 5 reps, then half-way to overhead press for 5 reps, the last set of 5 reps is done by taking the D/B’s from thigh level all the way to overhead for 5 reps, making a total of 15 reps for one set.
Wide-grip chins 5 X failure
Bent-over rowing 5 X 8 reps
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