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12 years ago
Monday, August 27, 2007
Welcome to Classic Physique Builder!
This blog is dedicated to those who want to build a classic physique naturally - without the use of drugs, growth hormone, insulin, and other health-destroying substances. Our major goals are to: (1) promote the ideal of developing a classic physique, (2) demonstrate what kind of body can be developed naturally, (3) preserve & learn from the history of the Golden Age of Classic Physique Building, and (4) serve as an inspiration to all to develop an attractive, healthy, natural, classic physique.
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9 comments:
this is a great site for people who think that size matters and you need to be big as people are today but they dont realise that most workouts and diet are used by bodybuilders who take steroids.
It is cool that there is a site for oldtime bodybuilding - but before we jump the gun and say how great their workouts were compared with todays let us point out that the top guys back in the old days didn't have full time jobs either...I read where Steve Reeves slept for 10 to 12 hours a night and this was true for John Grimek as well..I work 8 hrs + per day then to workout 2 hours and to the gym and back that would leave me with 2 hrs a night for wife and family and friends and all the chores around the house...I remember talking to John Grimek back in the earlier 80's and he said that his life was made up of training and balancing acts, his parents were fustrated that he didn't want to get a job. This came from his mouth, plus it was a little bit more crude, but you get my point.. they didn't do drugs but sure spent their days training and relaxing...Read Steve Reeve's book Classic Physique and you'll see what I mean about it being almost a business then as well.
Hi Johnny and Welcome to CPB!
Your observations are certainly true. Some of the pre-roid, Golden Age champs did have the opportunity to train and rest perhaps more than most of us. In some cases, they were younger and not married, etc. However, there are plenty of young people today who are in a similar position. But there were also champs who were married and held down full time jobs (remember, no one made any money in those days by winning contests).
However, it would be wrong to think that all the pre-roid, Golden Age workouts were full body, 2 1/2 hour workouts.
Peary Rader (the founder of Iron Man magazine) published "abbreviated workouts" for those who were busy, or were older, or who had less energy. Abbreviated routines also appeared in the Weider mags as well. These abbreviated workouts were actually some of the best mass gaining routines!
So please see our posts on "abbreviated routines." (You can click on "abbreviated routines" in the side bar labels) These routines often contain 6 or less exercises and can be completed in about 45 minutes.
We haven't posted on it yet, but in the later half of the Golden Age (1950-59), split routines became more popular for intermediate trainers (this also cut down the workout time). The basic split routine was doing the upper body on one day and lower body the next (e.g., upper body - M and Thu, lower body T and Fri).
So be patient with us. The pre-roid Golden Age was quite rich in methods and it will take us a while to get around to everything!
- CPB
Looking over on what I wrote earlier I was too harsh on the old timers and for that I more then apologize...They(oldtimers) were at that time on to cutting edge training & diet ideas that are being used all over again today...just amazes me to read about all the new training ideas and how full circle these theories come back to roost...Cardio in those days consisted on a lot of walking and more manual labor work...without a doubt they were more well developed than todays champs becaused they looked much more healthy..It wasn't just about bodybuilding they were physical culturist - they looked good in dress clothing and not like today's gorillas walking around with traps up over their ears-Steve Reeves once said that a 7' foot man looks impressive but would you want to be 7 feet tall or 6 feet tall..it looks impressive to see 23inch arms and a 58 inch chest, but I would myself choose a Classic Physique body over a gorilla's body and so would my wife and most other women...I'm just glad to see more and more people trying to go back to an era where there is a realistic view on what men & women should look like and strive for...Good luck with this site, it is a great site
Hi Anonymous,
No need for apologies! I'm just glad that you find something of value on CPB Blog!
Of course, CPB has its editorial view on things, but that doesn't mean that everyone needs to agree.
Regardless of our various editorial positions, we will strive to present the richness of the pre-roid, Golden Age so that people can benefit from this information (that might otherwise remain unknown in the "forgotten pages of deteriorating magazines").
As you pointed out, the pre-roid Golden Age champs looked healthy and great, in or out of clothes. And, for some reason, in our view, they looked better than today's bodybuilders (whether steroid-oriented or even most natural bodybuilders in contest condition).
For anyone that shares this perception above, the answer to why they looked better must lie in their methods (which were, in many ways, different from modern methods today - although some Golden Age methods seem to pop up as "new discoveries with new names" in modern mags every now and then). It is these Golden Age methods and these Golden Age champs, that we want to share with everyone.
So, if anyone finds something of value here (even if they don't agree with everything), then we have accomplished our mission!
Thanks for your participation! We strongly believe that it is our CPB Readers' comments that add an invaluable richness to this site.
All the best,
CPB (Anthony)
You know what made that era so good was the fact that they tried many ways to workout...not all the guys did the same routine...even Steve Reeves did a lot of bodyweight exercises when it came to gymnasics moves on his offdays from lifting...they became in tuned with their bodies..Dave Draper once said that most most people do not overtrain, but they undertrain..They body can endure quite a bit...some might say that training and muscle group 3 times per week is overtraining, but those in the Golden Era did it frequently plus adding in hand balancing acts and gymnastics moves as well...I fell in the most part is to keep active thru out our lives and not be so obsessed with training but to let it come Naturally as they did in the Golden Era
Anthony,
Thanks for taking the time to put together something like this ... I absolutely love it.
I have a small free gym for everyone down in the Shenandoah Valley area of Va and get lots of young guys looking for some muscle and some strength ... you know, "the Golden Age Look".
The first thing I always tell the young guys is to stay the hell away from the muscle mags for various reasons. Now it's nice to give them something to read and reference from the Golden Era ... like what you have put together here.
I know this is no easy task putting together what you have here Thank You, you've done something good here.
Hi Steve-O,
Thanks for the words of support! But offering young people access to a small free gym and trying to steer them in the right direction is also a good thing! So thanks for the good work you are doing!
If enough of us ban together, perhaps one day we can truly marginalize roid-based "bodybuilding" and bring about another Golden Age of Classic Physique Building!
All the best,
CPB (Anthony)
Loaded with helpful info.
I'll be back for more.
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