Doug Young

[Riverhorse]

One of my early powerlifting hero's, Doug Young, passed away this weekend at age 61. Doug was one of the best built lifters of his day and probably all time. He was known for his bench press records, but also won at least won world title.

[Old Olympic Lifter]

Hi Keith

So sorry to hear about the death of Doug Young,yet another of the true greats of the Iron Game has passed on to that "Hall of Fame" up above.
Doug was both the USA National and the World champion in the 110kg division for three consecutive years,from 1975 to 1977.He became one of the few lifters to bench press over 600 pounds WITHOUT a bench shirt or elbow wraps in official competition,when he hoisted a massive 611lbs in the 125kg class on 3rd April,1978.
I can still vividly remember meeting Young and obtaining his autograph in the audience at the 1980 World Championships in Arlington,Texas - his wide powerful shoulders with trim waist and hips are indelibly etched in my memory.

Regards and best wishes
Ron Mann

[JeffS]

I followed his bench press routine when I was younger and actually made some pretty good gains on it. It was written up, along with a brief bio of Doug Young in either Muscular Development or Powerlifting USA.

The same material was later included in Terry Todd's book, Inside Powerlifting (I think I have the title correct). I used to have all that stuff but have lost most of it in various moves over the years.

The bench routine was three days per week, if my memory serves. Working up to a handful of heavy doubles each day. While Doug Young was a bit of a bench specialist, I believe that his squat and deadlift were both over 700.

His brother, Bob Young was a guard for the St. Louis Cardinals and had a near 800 lb deadlift.

[Old Olympic Lifter]

Hi JeffS
I sympathise with your predicament,I too have 'lost' valuable magazines at various times through the years.

Here is the upper body specialisation routine which Doug Young first used when he increased his bodyweight by 62 pounds (178 to 260) and added 235lbs (305 to 540!!!) to his bench press during an eight month period way back in 1973 (as outlined in Terry Todd's 'Inside Powerlifting'):
Bench Press: 135lbsx12,225x6,325x2,375x2,425x1,465x1,485x1,500x 1,515x1,530x1,540x1(2 sets),490x9,300x14
Williams Front Deltoid Raise: 50lbsx15 (3 sets)
Triceps Press: 175lbsx6 (6 sets)
Stiff-Arm Pulldown(lat machine): 100lbsx6 (6 sets)
Cable Flys: 50lbsx6 (6 sets)
Concentration Curls(one arm): 55lbsx6 (6 sets)
One-arm Row: 110lbsx6 (6 sets)

He did this same workout three times a week,and the above poundages were the heaviest that he used during the eight months.T he only variation was that he would occasionally do doubles instead of singles if he was feeling sore from a previous workout.The only lower body work that he did during this time was four or five singles on the squat every ten days,or six or seven singles on the deadlift every fifteen days.
Even during his peak years when he was winning his World titles,Doug apparently never trained the squat and deadlift more than once every eight days.His alltime training bests were 715x2 on the squat,and a 770x1 deadlift (he once did 805x1 with straps).

BTW,Doug's brother,Bob,was a competitor at the 1979 WSM contest,I'll try and 'hunt out' the Iron Man article where the late David Willoughby lists some bodily measurements that he took at this contest,including some of Doug Young.

Regards and best wishes
Ron Mann

[JeffS]

Ron, thanks for digging this up.

I guess I was thinking about the changing to doubles when sore part when I said the routine consisted of doubles.

Following this routine, I got my alltime best bench of 395 (gym) at a bodyweight of about 225 and age 24. I shudder to think what benching 3x per week would do to my shoulders nowadays.

[Old Olympic Lifter]

Hi again,JeffS

Thanks for your acknowledgement.I agree with your sentiments,I've seen quite a few examples of guys who've incurred serious shoulder injuries through overtraining the bench press.
Jeff,I've since been in touch with an Iron Game colleague in Fort Worth,who's attempting to locate some further details on Doug Young's death for me.He's fairly certain that Doug's brother,Bob,also passed away some years ago.BTW,when I've found that Iron Man article with Doug Young's measurements,I'll post them on this forum.I seem to remember that amongst others,Willoughby also taped Don Reinhoudt and Bill Kazmaier at this particular WSM contest (1979).

Regards and best wishes
Ron Mann

[Old Olympic Lifter]

Hi JeffS

Further to my previous post concerning Doug Young's passing,I finally had a reply from my Iron Game colleague in Fort Worth.The only other details he was able to locate were that Young apparently dropped dead from heart disease (?) while eating dinner with Terry and Jan Todd.Some sources indicated that he was overweight,others who had seen him recently that he wasn't.There's a possibility that some genetic predisposition may have been involved,as his older brother (Robert) also died at a similar age.

I attempted to locate some further info using the Google search engine,but I 'drew a blank' there also.

Regards and best wishes
Ron Mann

[zebulondragonslayer]

Hi Ron,

There is a new website out there that you need to join. It is called ironhistory.com and is run by Joe Roark. There is a forum out there on his site called Lifelines and Doug's passing is discussed along with a lot of info in his lifts.

To enter this site you have to register with your real name and get validated by Joe and you are good to go.

There is a lot of history out there that you would enjoy discussing with others I am sure.

[Old Olympic Lifter]

Hi Zeb

Believe it or not,I actually joined Joe Roark's website back in early September,however I've become so engrossed with posting on Marty's excellent site(which I joined at around the same time),that I just never got around to investigating it any further.Thanks for the 'memory jog'. <G>.

Hi JeffS
Thanks to Zeb,I've now discovered some further information concerning Doug Young's sudden death,including a very comprehensive report written by Terry Todd. As Zeb pointed out,anyone who may be interested in reading this will need to register on Joe Roark's website to do so.

Regards and best wishes
Ron Mann