Here’s a page from Bill’s training log in Jan., 1971, 8-months before the contest:
CHEST, DELTS, ARMS, ABS:
(20 leg raises between each set)
Incline laterals, 3 sets x 75,80,85 pounds, 10 reps
Bent-arm laterals, 1 x 75
Decline laterals, 1 x 75
Feet elevated pushups, 1 x 25 reps
Standing laterals, 3 x 30,35,40
Smith machine press, 4 x 70,75,80,85
Incline rear delt raise, 3 x 25,30,35
Press behind neck, 5 x 50,55,60,70,75
Incline curls, 3 x 45,50,55
High pulley curls, 3 x 9, 9½,10
Incline inner curls, 3 x 40,45,50
Machine curls, 3 x 70,75,80
One-hand French press, 2 x 40,45
High pulley triceps extension, 3 x 90, 90½,100
Machine triceps extension, 3 x 70,75,80
Dips, 1 x 20 reps
BACK, LEGS:
12-10-8-6 rep super sets
Lat pulldown, 4 x 150,160,170,180
Long-bar rows, 5 x 75,85,95,100,105
Machine pullover, 4 x 100,175,200,225
High lat pull-in, 3 x 60,70,75
DB shrug, 5 x 70,75,80,85,90, 5-8 reps
Standing calf raise, 6 x 150,185,190,195,200,205, 10-15 reps
Universal calf raise, 6 x 300,310,320,330,340,350, 10-15 reps
Free-hand squat, 3 x 30 reps
Squats, 6-4-2-1 reps with 20# jumps
3 x 250,265,280
3 x 255,270,285
3 x 260,275,290
Leg extension, 3 x 150, 20 reps
This is just a snapshot of what he was doing that particular January. The body adapts to stress very quickly and as soon as your body “learns” a routine it stops responding, so Bill changes his exercises and routine every 4-5 weeks. This is one of his keys to success. To work his muscles hard without getting injured, he starts each exercise “light” and adds a little weight each set. He never trains to failure. “You can’t build success from failure.” This is how he has always trained and still trains to this day.
During his year of preparation for the contest, another hostile “competitor” showed up and started harassing Bill—the infamous Arthur Jones, inventor of the Nautilus line of exercise machines. Bill had had extensive contact with Jones over the years and had even made helpful suggestions as Jones designed his new machines. But along with the machines Jones promoted a rigid training philosophy of one exercise per muscle group, one set to failure, three times a week. Jones saw Bill’s traditional and proven training style as a threat to his radical new system, so he hired Sergio Oliva to train exclusively in the Nautilus style for a year and enter the Universe in order to “prove” the Nautilus system (never mind that Sergio was already “The Myth” before Nautilus ever came along). He would periodically send photos of Oliva to Bill in an attempt to psych him out. Bill sarcastically but gently pushed back and just carried on.
Joe Weider heard what kind of shape Bill was getting in and probably decided not to risk a loss, so he instructed Arnold not to show up (if the decision had been left to Arnold, he probably would have been there).
At age 41, Bill came in more muscular and bigger than he had ever been before. He won the Mr. Universe title for the fourth time at the Victoria Palace in London. He beat Sergio, Reg Park, Chris Dickerson, Tony Emmott, Kassem Yazbek, Roy Duval, Frank Zane, and about 120 others.
The contest was not a pleasant process for Bill. His posing routine was classic and spectacular, but he hated the prejudging where he had to stand at attention for over an hour and act like a trained pony while his calves cramped up painfully. Reg Park and Sergio Oliva continuously razzed each other like grade schoolers. Chris Dickerson seemed to be the only one acting in a sportsmanlike manner. Of course Bill had known all this was coming. “When am I ever going to learn?” He vowed that this would be his last contest, and it was.
“My competitive bodybuilding career had gone full circle from being elated at winning the 1953 AAU Mr. America contest to wanting to forget the 1971 NABBA Mr. Universe contest. Competitive bodybuilding had changed into a sport that I no longer wanted to be a part of.”
Even so, Bill Pearl has continued to be involved in bodybuilding as a judge, writer, teacher, and example for us all. He’s just the best. I’m preaching to the choir, I know (Tom McCormack).