Larry’s bodybuilding career began some ten years ago in his native St. Thomas. It would seem only natural for a healthy young man being raised in the beautiful climate there to be interested in developing his physique and Larry was.
When some of his friends suggested they all get together to set up a small gym, Larry joined in and began to train. “We didn’t really know too much about training. We pretty much followed the course that came with the barbell set.
Generally, we trained about three times a week and kept trying to see who could lift the most.”
In spite of this somewhat haphazard training, Larry made good gains in both size and strength.
Larry came to New York in 1970 and continued to train irregularly in various basement gyms in the city.
“I was married and had a two-year-old daughter. My wife, Iris, was expecting and I decided that I had better devote my attention to getting a job with a good future so that I could provide properly for my family.
Fortunately, I began to work in one of the major hospitals and they offered me the opportunity to become a laboratory technician. I trained a little during this time but it was more of a maintenance kind of training.
“By 1972 we were living in a nice apartment and things were really going well for me at the hospital. It was then that I decided that I could really devote myself to training seriously. I had heard about Tom Minichiello’s Mid-City Health Club which was conveniently located in midtown Manhattan but I just hadn’t gotten over there.
Finally, one afternoon as I was leaving work, I thought that this would be a good day to look the place over. It took only a few minutes of conversation with Tom to assure myself that this was the place for me to train.
The gym was fully equipped with every piece of equipment imaginable, but it was Tom’s friendliness and sincerity that immediately made me feel that this was “home.” I was back the next day for my first workout there.”
It was at Mid-City that Larry had his first real opportunity to see some of the top physiques in the country. “Until I joined Mid-City, all of my training had been directed to the lifting of heavier and heavier weights.
While I had gotten quite strong and was able to benchpress over 400 pounds and squat with over 500 pounds, I had never trained for the kind of shape and muscularity that some of the guys at the gym had. I watched the best guys as they trained and from my observations, I started to put together a new routine for myself. I talked over my ideas with Tom and he was very helpful in making suggestions that I also incorporated into my program.
having Tom Minichiello to discuss training problems with is one of the very important benefits to be obtained from training at Mid-City. Tom has had every top physique in the world train at this club and I don’t believe there is anyone who knows more about training then he does.”
It is one thing to write out a training program but it is something entirely different to put that routine into practice. How well Larry carried out his new schedule can be shown in the most concrete way – the titles and trophies he has won in the last years. He has
won the titles of Mr. Gotham, Mr. Hercules, Mr. Atlantic States, Mr. Apollo, Mr. Eastern USA, and Mr. North America. He won the most muscular trophies in many of these events and also often made a clean sweep of all the body part awards.
Larry won second place in his height class in the 1974 Mr. World contest and won the Best Arms trophy.
To watch Larry when he is training is to see perpetual motion in action. Larry is the exemplification of non-stop training. As Larry said, “I love to train but I don’t have the whole day in which to do it. I have a meaningful career, a fabulous wife, and the most fantastic children in the world. All of these require a good deal of my time so when I get on the gym floor, I don’t have time to fool around. Besides I don’t believe you can make gains unless you train seriously and that includes very little rest between sets.”
To make his workouts even more intense, Larry supersets every body part.
he further departs from the usual training regimen of many bodybuilders by incorporating high repetitions into his routine. “When I work with heavy weights, I have to keep all of my attention on moving the weight. by using a weight that allows me to get out from twelve to twenty repetitions, I can concentrate on the muscle I am working. I can get the kind of full feeling that tells me the blood is bringing the necessary nutrients to the area I am training and that means muscle growth.”
Larry usually trains four days a week so that each part is worked twice weekly. However, about eight weeks before a contest, he will train on a six-day a week schedule and will work each part three times weekly. Larry trains very strictly. “To cheat on an exercise is to cheat your muscles. You can’t work a muscle properly with a weight that forces you to cheat. Too many bodybuilders are trying to impress the other guys in the gym by struggling with a weight that they can’t use correctly.
They don’t accomplish very much in the way of development and often wind up with an injury.”
Here is Larry’s training schedule:
| Exercises | Sets, Weight |
| Chest | |
| Benchpress supersetted with: | 6, 285lb |
| Dumbbell Flyes | 6, 40lb |
| Incline Barbell Press supersetted with: | 6, 225lb |
| Straight Arm Pullover | 6, 75lb |
| Decline Dumbbell Press supersetted with: | 6, 85lb |
| Decline Dumbbell Flyes | 6, 35lb |
| Back | |
| Leverage Rows supersetted with: | 6, 180lb |
| Pulldowns | 6, 160lb |
| Chins Behind the Neck supersetted with: | 6 sets |
| Straight Arm Pulldown | 6, 125lb |
| Seated Cable Rowing supersetted with: | 6, 190lb |
| Front Pulldowns | 6, 150lb |
| Shoulders | |
| Press Behind the Neck supersetted with: | 6, 175lb |
| Side Laterals | 6, 25lb dumbbells |
| Dumbbell Press | 6, 75lb dumbbells |
| Front Raises | 6, 25lb dumbbells |
| Front Press supersetted with: | 6, 175lb |
| Upright Rowing | 6, 125lb |
| Exercises | Sets, Weight |
| Biceps-Triceps (This is the only are where Larry supersets opposing parts) | |
| Strict Barbell Curl | 6, 125lb |
| Triceps Extensions (seated) | 6, 110lb |
| Alternate Curls supersetted with: | 6, 45lb |
| Dumbbell Kickback | 6, 30lb |
| Scott Curl | 6, 135lb |
| Triceps Pushdown | 6, 100lb |
| Dumbbell Concentration Curl supersetted with | 6, 45lb |
| Lying Triceps Extensions | 6, 100lb |
| Forearms | |
| Reverse Curl | 6, 180kb |
| Thighs | |
| Hack Machine supersetted with: | 6, 180lb |
| Leg Presses | 6, 350lb |
| Thigh Extensions | 6, 150lb |
| Thigh Curl | 6, 100lb |
| Calves (Larry usually uses a higher repetition range for calves – about 20 to 30) | |
| Calf Machine supersetted with: | 8, 350lb |
| Seated Calf Machine | 8, 200lb |
| Abdominals: (Larry usually works his abdominals regularly only for a contest) | |
| Roman Chair Situps supersetted with: | 4 sets of 35-50 repetitions |
| Incline Leg Raises | 4 of 35-50 repetitions |
Larry’s nutritional program consists basically of eating three or four high protein meals a day consisting primarily of chicken, fish, steak and eggs.
When he is not preparing for a contest, he will consume fairly generous portions of fresh fruit and often has some shortly before a workout.
Larry’s contest diet is basically the same except that most of the fruit is eliminated. However, Larry differs from many physique contestants by not eliminating all carbohydrates.
“I tried that just once and after a few days I found I didn’t have enough energy to do anything. When I prepare for a contest now, I take my fresh fruit in the morning so that I have something to burn up in training.
That way I can keep my size and still get more defined.”
Larry uses high amounts of vitamins C and E during the year. He adds about sixty liver tablets daily when in contest training.