Clyde Emrich’s Training - Harry B. Paschall

Clyde Emrich’s Training
by Harry B. Paschall (1957)


Clyde Emrich is one of the half-dozen strongest men in the world. Any follower of the Iron Sport can prove this to himself quickly on the fingers of one hand. Quickly now, check off a list of the men who have CLEANED 400 pounds . . . start from the top and work back . . . Anderson, Davis, Schemansky . . . oops, you’re starting to run out of names, aren’t you! But Clyde has not done this ONCE, he has done it a dozen or more times, and outside of Andy and Skee, he has done it easier than anyone else.

Recently Clyde jerked 403 in training, and cleaned 415! At of a bodyweight of 197 pounds he is the lightest man to clean 400. Clyde has also pressed 310 and snatched 290. This puts him in the very select 1,000 total category, where very few athletes have found themselves in all the annals of strength. Only Vorobyev and Sheppard have made such a total in the 198-pound division.


Emrich’s Training Methods

Lifters are always interested in the training programs of those more experienced and successful, and we try to outline these routines in order that others coming up might profit from these lessons. A typical week of heavy training for Emrich goes like this:

Monday
A brief warmup and then,
Pressing – 205x6/225x5/250x3, then perhaps a series of 6 sets of 265x2. He then goes on, pressing 275 or 280x2, and may do 6 singles with 290. His top press is currently 310 pounds. He does a total of about 35 presses and now warms up for

Snatching – 135x5/185x5/205x2, then singles with 240, 250, 260, 270, and on up through 280 and 290 if he feels strong on that day. Having finished the two lifts he has concentrated on for the day, he now does some

Squatting – Emrich does a lot of squats, ‘warming up’ with 300x15, then 330x10/350x5/400x5/425x5/450x4/475x3, and perhaps singles with 500-520 pounds. These are Olympic squats, done all the way down. He varies the program a bit by doing some of these as front squats.

This winds up Monday’s workout, which may last from 1½ to 2 hours, but with plenty of rest between efforts.


Tuesday – Rest.


Wednesday
He again goes through the same Press routine as on Monday, then goes into

Cleaning – 205x2/250x2/300x2/320x2/340x1/360x1/370x1, and then, depending on energy, may work up t 390. After the regular cleaning he does some

Power Cleaning – without foot action or dips – 225x5/250x5/270x5/280x2/290x2/300x2/310x2, and singles up to possibly 340. Clyde is very strong on Power Cleans, and cleans for his presses of over 300 pounds are done do easily they look effortless.


Thursday – Rest.


Friday
This is his heavy day, and he will start with

Pressing – lifting about the same as Monday, except that he will try and hit his top press of 310 before going down to his rep presses. Again he will do at least 30 presses before going on to

Snatching – working up to a top snatch, and doing reps along the way, then

Clean & Jerking –working right up to his top, and trying to do some repetition jerking from the shoulders with lighter weights. On this day Clyde will usually go on to clean 400 pounds. On one Friday session he did a solid 415 in practice. He usually finishes off the Friday workout with

Squatting – working up from 300 to 500 pounds, and getting in a total of about 50 reps over the various weights.


Saturday
Since this is the day off from his job, Clyde is apt to drop into the gym for a casual workout, pressing a few weights and doing some power cleans and a few more squats, both Olympic and Front. This is not a heavy workout in any way.


Sunday – Rest.


You may notice that Clyde does not put in a five-day training week, nor does he do as much pressing as some champions. This schedule seems to work for him, however. He also varies his training movements slightly from day to day – sometimes throwing in some Seated Presses with a pair of 100-lb dumbbells, doing Pushes from the Rack, and, like all other trainees, he may try some lift that somebody else happens to be doing. He is not a bench presser, but seems to have derived most of his power from quite extensive squatting routines. And PURE POWER is what Clyde Emrich has most of . . . if he had the technique of a George of a Schemansky he could break every record ever made in his class!

And it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.