Big Muscles Forever

This was an article about the potential of Lou Ferrigno. Lou was 6′5 and wrecked everyone at the 1974 Mr. International Contest including Ken Waller, Albert Beccles and Mike Katz. Arnold discussed how Lou Ferrigno would take advice where Sergio Oliva would not. According to Arnold, Sergio was obsessed with size at the exspense of getting cut. As a result Sergio kept getting bigger at the exspense of getting cut thereby losing the Mr. Olympia Title to Arnold. Arnold felt Lou Ferrigno would not make the same mistake.

According to the article, and Arnold, Lou Ferrigno is studying Arnold’s every move just like Arnold did with Sergio Oliva. Arnold saw his advantages as having quality muscle and experience over Lou. Arnold felt that someday he would reluctantly have to hand over his title of Mr. Olympia. He liked Lou enough that he wouldn’t mind having to hand it over to Lou. The article ended with a thank you note from Lou to Ken Waller and his wife for their hospitality during the Mr. International Contest.

Arnold felt that had he not improved in 1973 that he could have lost to either Franco Columbu or Serge Nubret. Arnold also felt that Lou Ferrigno would be his biggest competition in 1974. According to Arnold, he and Lou Ferrigno had similar physiques but at 3 inches taller Lou could carry 15 to 20 more pounds. Lou had great shape and was learning to pose. Arnold said Sergio could pump up back stage and look 15 to 20 pounds heavier but would lose his edge as the pump faded. No one could tell Sergio anything where Lou Ferrigno was an eager student.

Blogger note: Hollywood called and Lou answered the call. He probably would have won the Mr. Olympia Crown but did Okay as the Incredible Hulk.

This article talked about cycles to avoid burnout in training. The best way to design a cycle is to have a one year program which peaks with your most important contest. Between the ages of 20 and 30 six to ten yearly competitions are advisable and necessary for continued improvement. As you approach the age of 35 to 40 you should reduce your competitions to a minimum of four.

The article use six contest in a year as an example stating you should peak the day of the competition. For the bench press you will be benching two times a week. One day will be medium (80-90%) once and heavy (90-100%) once and assistance exercises. Generally work up to each days limit with the 8-5-3-1 method. You should use sets of lower reps on heavy days and slightly more reps on lighter days keeping all sets for all sessions between 8 and 15.

Your choice of assistance exercises is very important. Movements like inclined barbell-pressing, wighted dips and partial bech presses in the rack are good ones. Also you want to vary your hand spacing.

Blogger note: This was a somewhat complicate article that was geared toward powerlifting and not bodybuilding. Consult the issue for a more detailed explanation.

Here was a nice and intense back training article by Franco Columbu, the human with wings for lats. Franco started the article by stating that many guys look very good from the front but not the back. This article addressed back training to get the “full” look of a champion bodybuilder. Franco said that he had photos taken every three weeks of his back to judge his training progress.

Franco stated, “My idea of a great back is one where the lats start from their lower attachments near the hips and curve up in a wide sweep to the shoulder girdle like a manta ray’s wings. There should be ridges of muscle that start from the spine and bulge outward in a thick mass across the total expanse of the back. One of the greatest examples of this type of complete back development was Marvin Eder. He had great lats that were long, wide and thick, with fabulous muscle density and power.”

This routine is Franco’s upper back routine. The lower back routine is in an upcomming issue (and this blog). Here is the routine

1). Wide Grip Chins: Do six sets of 10-15 reps, resting no more than 45 seconds between sets.

2). Heavy V-Bar Rowing: Stand on a four inch block and do four sets of ten reps.

3). Seated Cable Rowing: Pile on the poundage’s and do four sets of ten reps.

4). One Arm Dumbbell rowing: Three sets of ten reps super-setted with the next exercise.

5). Close grip chins super-setted with one arm dumbbell rowing for three sets of ten reps.

Franco also mentioned that you should work the back first in the workout and work the back three times per week while working other body parts two times per week. Take no more than 30 to 45 seconds of rest between sets. Take the photos like Franco does to judge your progress and stay with this routine for at least two months.

Here are the results from both contests.

1974 Mr. Western America Contest

Short Class: Ed Guiliani

Medium Class 1. Roger Callard 2. John Isaacs 3. Bob Smith

Tall Class: 1. Dr. Bill Howard Sulewski 2.Dan Howard 3. Jerry Branium

Ed Guiliani was the overall winner, most muscular and best poser.

1974 Mr. International Results

Short Class: 1. Ed Corney 2. Jose Rivera 3.Pat Lopantrak

Medium Class: 1. Bill Grant 2. Bob Birdsong 3. Kent Kuehn

Tall class: 1. Lou Ferrigno 2. Mike Katz

The overall winner was Lou Ferrigno. Bill Grant won the most muscular and Ed Corney the best poser. Serge Nubret, Frank Zane, Franco Columbu and Arnold Schwarzenegger guest posed. Franco Columbu also put on a powerlifting exhibition.

According to the article Dick Tyler came out of retirement to write on the Mr. International Contest. Dick had taken a few years of for his medical studies.

The article starts with a half page photo of some bodybuilding stars. I recognize Bill Pettis, Dan Howard, Johnny Isaacs, Ken Waller and one of the Smith’s. Sorry Smith the article is 34 years old and I can’t recall your first name. Serge Nubret and Joe Weider were in a smaller photo below.

Bill Pearl and George Eiferman were judges. The event opened with the Mr. Western America contest. Ed Guiliani won the overall and most muscular titles.

The Mr. International contest had a lot of competitors that looked 4 to 6 weeks away from being in top shape. Ed Corney was the winner of the short class albeit in smooth condition. Bill Grant and Bob Birdsong competed in the medium class with the nod going to Bob Birdsong. The tall class went to a smooth looking Lou Ferrigno. As often happens Ferrigno and Birdsong were tied and Lou wound up with the title. The big man wins again.

Spotted in the audience were Zabo Kosewski, Chet Yorton and Earl Maynard along with Dave Draper.

Frank Zane, Franco Columbu, Serge Nubret and Ken Waller guest posed. Franco Columbu challenged Sergio Olivo to a power-lifting contest but Sergio did not show. Dave Dupree accepted the challenge but franco ended up dead-lifting 675 pounds for three reps. A mention was made by Dick of underrated bodybuilder AJohnny Maldonado.

That’s it folks. Go to ebay and by this issue if you can find and afford it.

This was an article written by Arnold about a bodybuilder who was built along the lines of Bruce Lee but with larger more chiseled muscles. Pierre was born in 1934 and this article appeared in the 1975 issue of Muscle Builder/Power putting Pierre in his 40’s. Pierre was a small superman along the lines of Franco Columbu, even lighter at 150 pounds.

The article explains how Pierre at a bodyweight of 165 pounds  did a 520 pound squat and a bench press at close to 400. Squating three times your bodyweight isn’t too bad although I think Japanese power-lifting legend Inaba did four times his weight. Pierre also did a standing press of 250 pounds while weighing 150 pounds. The photo in the article shows Pierre with a 17 inch arm at a body weight of 140 pounds. In 1969 Pierre won the IFBB title in Belgium for his height class. He was edged out for the main title by the great Frank Zane.

Pierre Came to California in 1973 to train with Arnold and the Gold’s gang. He was solid muscle, Arnold and Ken Waller kept their shirts on around this guy. Pierre normally trained for forty sets so when Arnold wanted to stop at 20 to 25 sets Arnold could see why Pierre was so cut and defined.

Also mentioned in the article was the fact that Pierre was an engineer and owned a gym. He was a tireless worker for the IFBB and was an overall very nice guy who Arnold was impressed with.

A nice article by Armand Tanny. For more on Armand and a photo check my blog from June 6th, 2009. Armand discusses cheating in order to bypass the weak links in a movement. Armand list most of the Weider Muscle Building Principles in the article which include: The Cheating Principle, Super Sets, Tri-Sets, Forced Reps, Peak Contraction, Quality Training, Mass-Density concept, Power Principle, Split Routine, Inter-Set Relaxation, Super Speed Principle, Reverse-Lift Anti-Gravity Principle, Mental Awareness Principle, Stop-And-Start Principle, Concentration, Single Exercise, Full flexibility, Sustained Peak Contraction, Warm Up, and Tapering Off.

Armand sums up the article with the following, “Cheating allows you to handle heavy weights to make your muscles work harder without let-up. Weak links in exercise motions are bypassed. heavy loads are quickly shifted to major muscles more able to do the work.”

This was a heavy leg routine by successful newcomer Bob Birdsong. He switched to a double split routine where he would do the following routine three times a week in the afternoon. Here is Bob’s routine. Start off with 2 sets of leg extensions with 50 pounds for 15-20 reps. Then do a third set with 75 pounds for fifteen reps. This is then followed by 100 pounds X 15 and then 150 pounds X 12-15 for a total of five sets.

The  second exercise is the squat starting out with 2 sets of 10 reps with 225 pounds. Next you do 1 set with 275 pounds for 10 reps. The 4th set is done with 325 pounds for 8-10 reps. Set 5 is performed with 375 pounds for 8-10 reps. Five sets total for the squat.

Next up is the leg press. The first set is performed with 250 pounds for 15 reps. Then perform the 2nd set with 300 pounds for 15 reps. The 3rd set is 350X15 and 450X15 for the fourth set. The fifth and final set is done with between 550-650 pounds for 12-15 reps.

The final exercise is the leg curl. do 5 sets of 15 reps with the following poundage; 50 ,50, 75, 95, 95.

Twenty sets of intense exercise with the basics make for a champion routine.

Part of the problem with my blog’s format is that a series like this one will be out of order or incomplete. All you really need to know is that Joe Weider did not approve of Nautilus Machines. He felt that some wrong information was being put out there and that not even one champion was the result of Nautilus training.

Joe Weider stated that Arthur Jones had too much of a my way or the highway attitude when discussing exercise. Arthur Jones on the other side, through his writings, thought that unless something was controlled by Weider he wasn’t going to get a good recommendation.

For more information on Joe Weider stay tuned to this blog. For more information on Arthur Jones visit the following website:http://arthurjonesexercise.com. I like Arthur Jones but his reading is not for the faint of heart .

This is another hot edition with Arnold Schwarzenegger on the cover. The issue starts out with an interesting article by Joe Weider explaining why the publishing of Muscle Builder/Power has been sporadic. If you are an old time Weider fan this might be interesting, if not you might want to compare the information written in 1975 with the current state of affairs in print publishing.

Joe Weider starts the article by stating Muscle Builder has come out faithfully since 1975 while famous magazines like Life, Look, Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post have gone out of business. An energy crisis (remember that, I do) lead to a paper shortage. Then to top that off Weider and Company moved to California. To top things off key people such as Bill Starr and Ricky Wayne got opportunities they could not refuse elsewhere. But Weider retooled.

Joe Weider’s retooling led to the hiring of George Kaye, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbu, Frank Zane and Ken Waller. Not a bad crew! All this meant that in the next 24 months we were going to get 24 editions of Muscle Builder/Power, according to Joe Weider. This did not happen. However………

Things did better. The rest of 1975 showed a total of 7 issues, which was an improvement. 1976 was better yet and it got better from there. I don’t know about you but part of the excitement in those days was finally getting the darn magazine in the mail like a long lost friend or seeing it for a moment on the news stand.