Earlier this year I had the great fortune to visit the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports in Texas. Founded by Jan and Terry Todd, the Stark Center is a playground for anoraks like me. Containing the collections of Bernarr MacFadden, Professor Atilla, Bob Hoffman and several other Iron Game legends, Stark… Continue reading Sig Klein’s Beginner Workout
As a Weider student you should be interested to know that the Weider System is the most popular and successful bodybuilding course in the world. Because of my 50 years of involvement in the sport, the Weider System is the basis of all modern bodybuilding and weight-training techniques. Literally everything in bodybuilding has sprung from… Continue reading Joe Weider, ‘How it All Began’, Joe Weider Bodybuilding System (Weider Health & Fitness, 1988), 5-7.
Conor Note Stuart McRobert's Hardgainer magazine is, and was, one of my favorite training magazines bar none. Similar to Peary Rader's Ironman magazine, it seemed to buck the trend of bodybuilding magazines which sold flashy programmes and, at times, ridiculous training systems. The magazine's ethos was simple. Not everyone is genetically gifted but, through hard… Continue reading John Christy, ‘Evening the Genetic Score,’ Hardgainer, 38, September/October 1995
If this present volume serves no other purposes, I want it to satisfy every reader in seeking the solution of one problem. And that is to be able to offer a means of arriving at satisfactory understanding on the matter of correct physical proportions for men of all types. So many ideal tables have been… Continue reading Mark Berry, ‘Determining Proper Proportions’, Physical Training Simplified (c. 1930s)
Earlier this year I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with Marcus Kment, who runs the highly popular Barbell Films account on Instagram. While I'm not on Instagram (I know... I know), I have been aware of the account for some time because of friends and family members who excitedly show me his latest posts.… Continue reading The World’s First Bodybuilding Competition Documentary
Yes. This is an entire article about the history and development of the side bend. No I am not running out of content but yes I am procrastinating my book on the history of women's Olympic weightlifting. At the very least, I can say that my procrastination is productive right? And, in my defense, a… Continue reading The Rise and Fall of the Side Bend
Take it from the pros, splitting is the way go. Full-body training, provided that the intensity is high and the routine is good, can produce some amazing results, but splitting lets you get more from less: more results from a shorter period of time spent in the gym. If you had to train all your… Continue reading ‘Basic Split Training’, Animal Owner’s Manual (New Jersey, 2010), 14
Carbohydrates... those omnipresent fruits, yams, grains and vegetables, are older than mankind. In recorded history, it appears that the Egyptian culture was the first to 'mill' their high-energy grain, removing fiber, as well as much of the nutrition. Bingo—mankind had its first refined carbohydrates. Sugar was first introduced into Europe around 700 AD when Arabian… Continue reading Jay Jacobsen, ‘Carbohydrates Are Not The Devil! All Aboard The Carbohydrate-Glycemic Train’, Planet Muscle (March – April 2003)
Though few exercise programmes maintain a venerated status for long in the Iron Game, the mystique surrounding 20 Rep Squat programmes has endured. As hinted by the name, such programmes require lifters to back squat twenty times before unloading the bar, and in my own experience, lying on the ground questioning your decision-making. Primarily touted… Continue reading The History of 20 Rep Squats
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… Continue reading Leroy Colbert’s Health Store
