Big Muscles Forever

That’s all for this issue folks. Another great issue. Hope my writing and reviews did it justice! See you next issue.

Like in the blog prior to this one, Arnold answers questions like Franco Columbu did in the last post.

Arnold was asked how he built the striations ion his lower back. He explained he did 100 reps of hyper extensions.

Arnold was asked how often you should train to gain mass. Two times per week per muscle group.

Arnold was asked what type of physique he preferred, one like Sergio Oliva or one like Frank Zane. Arnold said he liked them both as long as they were in shape. And the column ended by Arnold stating that he was going to promote the 1977 Mr. Olympia which this blogger was lucky enough to attend.

This was a one page column where Franco Columbu answered training questions.

Franco’ first question was regarding how often to train calves. Franco advised four times a week with a maximum of 20 sets.

Franco’s second question was about his contest diet. Franco stated he ate good year round but maintained his contest shape by training fast and hard.

Franco was also asked wwhen

 
 For more information on the book go to www.musclebuilderpower.com.
 
This was a write in to Frank Zane help column. The first letter dealt with keeping trim while gaining weight. The person that wrote the letter was having good results with Frank Zane’s training courses but was losing size on a high protein-low carbohydrate diet. Zane counseled the trainee to determine if the size loss was due to fat loss which would have been okay. If not here is what Frank recommended.
Eat your carbs early in the day. 10 to 20 grams for breakfast, a little for lunch and then a protein drink one hour before training. Very little carbs should be eaten following training although a small salad would be okay. Your meals should get smaller from breakfast to  to dinner. For your carb source use vegetables.
Work your waist daily for 200 reps. Increase the weight on each set for all other exercises. Decrease your reps as you increase the weight. Do 3 exercises for each body part. Do 12 sets per body part.

The second letter was from a guy who was 6 feet tall and weighed 185 pounds. He had a forty one inch chest, fifteen and a half inch arms and a thirty three inch waist. This student was worried about losing size if he worked his waist but his waist was now looking bad. According to Frank both exercise and eating a low carbohydrate diet was a must for a championship waist.

Frank suggested doing 200-300 reps of waist work at the end of a workout. He said to choose one exercise for the lowwer abs and one for the upper abs. Frank suggeste Roman chair situps for the upper abs for 100 reps. He recommended 100 reps in the incline leg raise to work the lower abs. If you need oblique work the do 100 reps in a twisting movement.

This review was from a feature by Jack Neary on the goings on in the muscle world.
Stars in Your Eyes talked about the upcoming blockbuster movie Pumping Iron. If you are into bodybuilding it’s a blockbuster or it was in 1977. If featured Ken Waller, Ed Corney, Ed Giuliani and Arnold among others. It also featured the Mr. Olympia from South Africa when Arnold retired.

On the Road featured a picture of Reg Park from 1950 and explained that Reg moved up the road when he switched to the Weider Organization.

Mr. Magazine was about all the major magazines Arnold was beginning to show up in: Time, Playboy, Rolling Stone and on and on.1

More Championships had Franco Columbu promoting the American Bodybuilding Championships in lieu of the Mr. America contest.

Take a Bow to Ben Weider for doing a great job promoting the last Mr. Universe Contest in Montreal.

Lou is Here to murder everyone in the 1977 Mr. Olympia (which he didn’t compete in)!

Arty Robby reported that Robby was going to go to architect school.

Weight versus Height, height classes were out and weight classes were in.

STP was about a guy who wanted to meet Joe Weider and got oiled up in the process as a practical joke.

Ken and Ken was about Ken Waller meeting in shape boxer Ken Norton. Ken Norton looked bigger in the photo.

Check the Czech was about Czech phenom Peter Stach who the article felt was just about to dominate the world scene.

Erudite Zane reported that Frank Zane was about to take his seminar show on the road.

Barbadian Biggie was about Darcy Beccles getting rejuvenated to train and compete by Robby Robinson.

Remember When talked about former writer Dick Tyler being a successful chiropractor and competing in the Highland Games in Scotland.

Quickies, Robby Robinson made Sergio look like a butterball at the recent Gold’s Classic. Joe Weider predicted Loe Ferrigno will be as chiseled as Makkawy at the 1977 Mr. Olympia.

Canadian TV crew was filming at the Weider headquarters in Woodland Hills California.

Europe, Robby was about to take his first European tour and Franco Columbu was teaching Robby the languages.

Dan the Man Padilla was on his way back to California to train. He was giving himself nine full months to train for the American Championships.

That’s all she wrote, well in this case that’s all Jack Neary wrote.

This was article by Jack Neary the associate editor. The article started off by explaining Lou Ferrigno’s adventures and short stint in the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts. Lou was playing at a weight of 300 pounds and had two to three football practices per day. Lou had an achilles heal injury and only ended up playing one game for the Argos. He then chose to leave football and go to California to train for the 1977 Mr. Olympia.

The article had some pictures of Lou doing seated cable rows, one arm rows and lat pulldowns but did not go into detail on the sets and reps involved. Lou said he was going to enter the Olympia at a cut 270 pounds and view Robby Robinson as his competition. Lou was 26 years old at this time and with arms that measured 22 inches he was now gunning for the Mr. Olympia title.

Lou was training twice a day. He would train his upper body at Vince’s Gym in the morning and train his legs at Gold’s Gym during the evening. Lou was training his arms and shoulders together. As for his arm routine he would train his biceps fiorst starting with preacher curls. He did six sets of ten reps training as heavy as he could for ten reps. He would go up the dumbbell rack from 60 to 90 pounds on this exercise. He was training each bodypart twice a week but would go up to three times a week prior to a contest. Lou stated that he needed to take nine to eleven months to prepare for a contest..

Lou’s triceps were weaker than his biceps but he was working to correct that. He began his tricep training with prone close grip extensions. He did six sets of ten reps to hit all heads of the triceps. He finished off with six sets of triceps pressdowns on the lat machine. Sometimes he would do three extra sets of sitting French presses. Lou will sometimes change his routine every eight weeks.

The article concluded saying that Lou’s shoulders and arms were his most responsive bdoyparts while his legs and back were naturally slim. Lou’s first contest was the AAU Teenage Mr. America when he was 19. He place fourth. His arms were 18 inches at a weight of 220 and at a height of six foot five. At that point he decided he wanted to be the best in bodybuilding.

Report to all National Federations

This was a 32 page report in the center of the magazine. It focused on the politics of the Weider bodbybuilding

This was an article by Arnold Schwarzenegger for his friend Ken Waller. Arnold basically stated that people have to be accurate about how they look. Franco Columbu won the 1976 Mr. Olympia. Arnold thought Frank Zane should have won but the reality was that Franco won. Along those same lines, Ken Waller thought he should have won.

According to Arnold, Ken was the only one who thought he should have won. Arnold went on to explain Ken’s week points. Arnold stated that Ken had great calves but needed more thigh muscle over the knees. He also said his thighs could have used more shape and sweep. His arms also needed more shape. They were big enough but needed more of a bicep’s peak. His chest was good but could have used more mass. His back needed more depth and thickness.

Arnold offered a routine along with some advice to Ken that he should take 11 months to prepare for the 1977 Olympia rather than the three he took for the 1976 Mr. Olympia. Ken finished first in his weight class for the

This was an interesting article by Tom Mannarino regarding the old time strongmen. The word strongman refers to a bygone era. Today’s strongmen (march/1977) were powerlifters like Larry Pacifico, Don Reinhoudt  and Vince Anello along with Olympic weightlifters Vasili Alexeev and Serge Redding. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu were also in this category of modern day strongmen.

The big difference between the strongmen of yesteryear and today is the showmanship exhibited by the old timers. Russian superman Vasili Alexeev might lift a huge weight and put it back down whereas yesteryear’s strongmen would put on a fete of strength. Early on in the history of the strongmen France went to the Berlin circus to match up with the German strongmen. One by one the German’s won. Some of the German strongmen were Wilhlem Kemp, Adolph Gruen and Emil Naucke.

One day Carl Abs wrestled Wilhem on a dare and one. Abs became known as the strongest man alive during this time. Abs toured America and returned home to Germany undefeated. Gottfried Rasso was studying to be a physician when he decided to become a strongman. Some of his acts of strength included pressing a horse with his right hand and carrying it across a circus ring. Rasso would also carry a piano on his back along with the piano player as he played a song. According to the article Rasso became as popular as the Beatles were in 1977.

Another strongman was the Italian strongman Nino. Resting on his arms and legs a steel ferris wheel was placed on his chest while six passengers took their seats. Mirano the Barbarian was another strongman of this era. Mirano was able to press a bicycle with four men on it over his head with one arm. Mirano also had cars drive over his chest with no injury.

Ewald Lewberg and Bernhard Leitner were famous for bursting steel chains. Bernard also used his body as a human seesaw with a horse on each end. The most famous strongman family was the Saxon family. Artur, Herrman and Kurt Saxon were all strongmen. Artur was able to lift 318 pounds overhead with one arm. Artur could also balance a board with 22 people standing on it. The brothers Saxon also had a four hundred pound stuffed sack with a reward for anyone who lifted it. They were the only ones who did. Eugene Sandow even challenged the Saxons on strength with the Saxon’s easily winning.

The article ended by stating that these were exciting times with great showmanship. The article stated we could use this type of showmanship in today’s shows. This blogger agrees!

This was an article. by Frank Zane who’s full title was, “The I.F.B.B. European Bodybuilding Championships. Frank starts out the article describing the shape he is in while he is in Europe. He mentions the Mr. Nordic contest where Ulf Bengston beat Janko Rudman for the overall title. Other than that the results are as follows:

Lightweight

1). Peter Tlapak

2). Nicolas Kemp

3). Adolf Zigner

4). Renato Bertagna

5). Jeffrey Alexander

Middle Weight

1). Janko Rudman

2). Walter Bubenicek

3). Erwin Note

4). Hans Federhofer

5). Jorma Raty

Heavyweight

1). Alois Pek

2). Karl Kainrath

3) Juhani Nyhold

4). Klaus Achatz

5). Harold Gobec

Team result

1). Austria

2). Czechoslovakia

3). Belgium

4). Sweden

5). Finland

Bloggernote: For you old timers, how many do you remember. Pek, Raty and Rudman should come to mind!