Category: Biographies

Resources by Conor HeffernanAug 17, 201810:15 am

Guest Post: The Concise History of Extreme Sports

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What exactly is an extreme sport? It’s a notion that is hard to define and you will find a lot of adrenaline junkies who will offer different parameters of the definition. Still, if we are to look for something that is common to all types of activities pegged as “extreme” sports, that factor is almost definitely the risk factor. Physical excretion and the threat of injury (or worse) are the hallmarks of extreme sports. So, let’s take a look at the concise history of these thrilling activities.

The First Mr. Olympia

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It all began in April 1965 in a Joe Weider magazine…

Sick and tired of conversations about who was the greatest bodybuilder, Weider had decided to create a competition pitting champions from around the World against each other. In the same year that the iconic Gold’s Gym opened, Weider’s ‘Mr. Olympia’ would see A Mr. Universe, Mr. World and Mr. America pose, flex and tense in front of thousands of fans to determine the best that Bodybuilding had to offer.

Why create a new tournament?

Resources by Conor HeffernanAug 13, 201812:49 pm

Andreas Munzer – The Ideal Way to Massive Legs (1995)

Forced Rep, Negatives, Free Weights & Machines – People have called me mad. They say no sane man would inflict my degree of discipline on himself. Perhaps they’re right, but I feel that extremism in the quest of your best is no vice.

If I seem to be in be in the iron grip of Spartan self-denial, it’s only because I’m convinced that’s what it takes for me to compete with the greatest bodybuilders i the world. The monsters out there today strain the very definitions as to what constitutes a human being, so I simply have to lift myself that much further beyond mortal effort just to stay with them, not only in training but in diet and lifestyle. If I can discipline myself more than the next guy, I will someday beat him.

Resources by Conor HeffernanJul 25, 20183:03 pm

Strength! Featuring Saxon Brown (1930)

Born in England in the early 1900s, Saxon Brown (real name Henry Brown) was briefly lauded during the 1930s as ‘Britain’s strongest youth‘ & ‘the world’s strongest young man’. Though his time in the physical […]

Resources by Conor HeffernanJul 18, 20181:06 pm

Leroy Colbert’s Health Store

A health shop is admittedly, an odd thing to write about. In today’s world of GNC’s and stores with fanciful names like ‘Vitality’ or ‘Mr. Pump’, modern gym goers are blessed with a wealth of pill peddlers to call upon. This, shockingly, was not always the case. While health stores did exist in some guise in the early and mid-twentieth century, they were even more obscure and alternative than they are today. While some weightlifters such as Jack Lalanne embraced the health store culture as early as the 1930s, it took decades for the mainstream fitness industry to catch on.

What’s my point here? Well that bodybuilding stores in the 1960s were a rare thing. So without further adieu, we’re going to spend some time examining Leroy Colbert’s New York health food store. Colbert, incidentally was noted for his amazing bicep development, which measured over 21 inches. Today’s post seeks to examine the man himself and spend some time highlighting the importance of his store for the general weight lifting community.

Training by Conor HeffernanJul 17, 201810:01 am

Guest Post: How Has Fitness Evolved Over The Years?

Ever since the creation of the earth man and woman have both relied on athletic prowess. In fact, it used to be necessary to trap, capture, and kill for food. And, this is not to even mention the gathering and foraging that took place. You have probably heard the saying “survival of the fittest.” Well, this statement could not have been truer back in prehistoric times. It is true that men and women no longer have to go to a physical extreme to sustain life, but fitness without a doubt has an impact on health and well being. That being said, it is hard to deny that fitness and fitness routines have changed over the years, but how have they changed?

Training by Conor HeffernanJul 13, 201810:41 am

Marvin Eder and the Four Hundred Pound Dip

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Few bodybuilders and weight trainers are unfamiliar with the dip exercise. A favourite of Vince Gironda, albeit with some modifications, the exercise is a prime builder for the chest and tricep muscles. Done correctly, the exercise is for my money, up there with the bench press. Done incorrectly, you’re just flopping up and down.

While records on the Dip exercise are few and far between, I wanted to write a short post about Marvin Eder’s incredible feat in the early 1970s, which saw him parallel dip over four hundred pounds!

Biographies by Conor HeffernanJul 5, 201812:44 pm

Tracing the Mass Monster in Bodybuilding

Are bodybuilders becoming too large?

It’s a simple question but one loaded with controversy. Today most Internet forums are filled with heated arguments about whether the ‘mass monsters’ of today are helping or hurting the sport.

Rather than continue the common narrative that the 1990s and the Dorian Yates era was the dawn of the ‘Mass Monsters’, today’s post argues that bodybuilders and their forerunners have always taken their physiques to the extremes of their time. In other words, bodybuilders regardless of the decade, have always displayed bodies well beyond the reach of the common man.The bodybuilders of today who stand tall and wide are rather than damaging the sport, continuing the tradition of freakish bodily appearances.

After all, Bodybuilding has always judged physiques based on the best combination of size, shape, symmetry and conditioning. With this framework in mind, let’s examine the freaks of bodybuilding past.

Sandow, the Original Mass Monster

Resources by Conor HeffernanJul 2, 20181:59 pm

Old School Leg Training with Tom Platz

The following video was brought to my attention by the good folks at Reddit Bodybuilding. Featuring a re-invented Tom Platz training the German bodybuilder David Hoffmann, the video is a fantastic example of Platz’s old […]

Resources by Conor HeffernanJun 22, 20187:40 am

Rare Bob Hoffman Interview

For American weightlifters of the mid-twentieth century, Bob Hoffman was the guru of the Iron Game. Owner of York Barbell, Hoffman’s ambitious career saw him produce some of the first protein supplements, work with giants […]