Nutritional Supplements for Classic Physique Building: The Truth!

(Photo Above: Pre-Roid Golden Age Magazines - Strength & Health August 1950 (top), Your Physique April 1950 (bottom))

In the modern, roid-based bodybuilding world of today, we are surrounded and bombarded with HYPE! If you pick up any modern muscle or fitness mag, almost 1/3 to 1/2 of the pages will be devoted to supplement ads! From the sheer quantity of all those ads (not to mention their sales pitches), one would think that the major activity of anyone interested in building muscle is learning about, buying, and taking the right supplements! In fact, one is bombarded so much by so many ads that psychologically one might begin to think that making any kind of significant gains is impossible without all those high-tech, cutting edge supplements!

Well...we've said it before and we will say it again - that is pure HYPE!

The history of the pre-roid Golden Age of Classic Physique Building (the 1940s and 50s) tells us the plain, simple truth - and here it is for all to see for yourselves! Take a look at the photos above. The top photo is the cover of Bob Hoffman's Strength & Health magazine August, 1950 issue. The bottom photo is the cover of Joe Weider's Your Physique magazine April 1950 issue. Just look at those physiques on the covers! Did they have cutting edge NO boosters? Did they have high-tech, thermogenic fat-burners? Did they have the latest "legal steroid" supplements that are so widely advertised in today's muscle mags? Did they even have decent protein powders? The plain and simple truth is NO!!!!!

That's right! In those two issues, which were typical for 1950 (right in the middle of the pre-roid Golden Age), there wasn't a single ad for anything that would pass for a modern, nutritional supplement!!! In the Strength & Health issue, there was ZERO nutritional supplement ads! In the Your Physique issue, there was one quaint ad for "Doc Tilney's VI-BE-ON" which was a B vitamin supplement "for the whole family" and an ad for "Doc Tilney's Peppermint Tea." That's it!

With this information, now the truth should become obvious to you. All those classic physiques on the covers of those two mags - those of Clancy Ross (Mr. America 1945), Alan Stephan (Mr. America 1946), Steve Reeves (Mr. America 1947), and George Eiferman (Mr. America 1948) - were ALL BUILT WITHOUT A SINGLE MODERN NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT!

And they weren't the only ones who built classic physiques in the pre-roid Golden Age without supplements! Just pick up any muscle mag from 1940-1950 and you will see plenty more who built fantastic physiques as well!

So, they weren't spending serious money on supplements were they? Well then, what were they doing? They were eating a high protein diet of real food with meats, dairy, eggs, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains on 3 meals a day in most cases (and perhaps a snack)!

Just remember that next time you are at the magazine counter and are flipping through the latest issues of MuscleMag, Flex, MD, Reps, IronMan, Planet Muscle, Muscle & Fitness, or any of the other junk that passes for "muscle mags" these days! These mags are loaded with HYPE (not to mention that most of the nutritional supplement ads actually feature steroid users) and you are paying for it and supporting it with your hard earned cash if you buy them!

The truth hits these modern, roid-based mags right in the pocket book (i.e., threatens their income from supplement company advertisements - which is how they make most of their money). This is why ALL of those mags stay as far away from the pre-roid Golden Age as possible and effectively pretend that none of this history exists!

- CPB

P.S. For a free, 1 year subscription to Classic Physique Builder Zine (CPBzine) - a pdf "zine" (do-it-yourself magazine) patterned after the muscle mags of the pre-roid, Golden Age of Bodybuilding (the 1940s and 50s) - just email your name, the name of your city, state/province, and country to us at cpbzine@gmail.com. That's it! Any info you send us is confidential. We don't share info with anyone. So you won't get on any unwanted lists or receive any spam (not even from us)!

Reg Park's Diet for a Classic Physique!

(Photo Above: Steve Reeves on the left, Reg Park on the right)

In the Golden Age of Classic Physique Building (the 1940s and 50s), the approach to diet was much simpler than today. The CPB Champs simply ate a high protein diet consisting of what they considered to be "nutritious, wholesome foods." So basically the diet was meat (all kinds), dairy (whether cow-based or goat-based), eggs, fruits, vegetables (in salads or cooked), nuts, and a bit of whole-grain cereals & bread (starchy foods were used sparingly).

The quantity of food varied depending on the individual. For example, Steve Reeves (see previous post - click on label "Classic Physique Diet") seems to have eaten a smaller quantity of food than Reg Park, even though they were of similar height and weight. But that makes sense since everyone's metabolism and activity levels are a bit different. The bottom line is that the CPB champs, through trial and error, figured out the quantity of food that was necessary to achieve their goals (of either gaining mass or increasing definition).

Here is some info on Reg Park's diet:

A Sample Daily Menu:

Breakfast: A glass of fresh orange juiceFruit: paw-paw (papaya) & banana,

Cooked Oatmeal (large soup plate full) with full cream/whole milk & fresh cream

A plate of bacon, eggs, tomato and toast

A couple of cups of tea

Lunch: Large bowl of soup (tomato, pea, minestrone etc.) with rye bread

Cooked vegetables

Beef steak

Desert

A couple of cups of tea with some chocolate

Also wine or milk stout(like Guiness)

Supper: Same as lunch.

(Reg would consume Milk stout/Guiness as an aid when he needed to gain weight)

In an interview with Reg by Osmo Kiiha, Reg was asked about his diet:"What type of diet did you follow?

Reg: I liked to eat like a king, but only food that was good for me. I ate prodigious amounts of food during the day, but adhered to a very balanced diet with everything in proper proportions. My favorite food is steak, which I sometimes eat twice a day. I also like salads, orange juice and wine. I have a wine cellar in my home. I also have used protein supplements and take vitamin and mineral tablets.

In an article in "Iron Man Magazine, Earle Liedeman wrote the following about Reg Park: "Reg Park of England wins a good second to Mac Batchelor with his speed. Once, when dining with Reg, he gargled three large plates of vegetable soup, then gulped chucks from his extra large and thick steak without his teeth sinking into the meat once, apparently, next stuffed many side dishes of vegetables into his ever open mouth and these include an extra large pair of baked potatoes, a huge bowl of salad, three glasses of milk and the last, the piece de resistance, a big dish of ice cream with cake. And all this, mind you, in about ten minutes. Gee! I've seen hungry bloodhounds gobble down food, but Reg Park wins a can of fried grasshoppers as second place for amount, and first place for speed."

So there you have it, another glimpse into the Golden Age nutrition of the CPB Champs! What can you learn from this for your classic physique building endeavors?

1) Eat a balanced, high protein diet of meats (all kinds), eggs, dairy (either cow-based or goat-based), vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grain breads and cereals (use sparingly).

(2) Use a 3 meal a day plan with/or without snacks in-between - depending on your goal of either gaining mass (with snacks)or losing weight (without snacks).

(3) Protein and vitamin supplements can be helpful.

(4) Adjust the quantity of food to achieve your goals (you may need to eat more for gaining mass or less if trying to lose body fat) - everyone is different, so follow the classic Greek advise to "know thyself."

(5) Remember that proper diet is as important as proper training and proper rest (but all three must be done together in order to achieve your goals).

(6) Avoid all junk (processed food, refined sugar, candies, cakes, pastries, soft drinks, etc) that does not contribute valuable nutrients to "building up the body."

- CPB

Eating for a Classic Physique: The Steve Reeves Diet

So what kind of diet did these classic physique builders of the Golden Age of Natural Bodybuilding follow?

Well, here is the Steve Reeves Diet as outlined in his book Building The Classic Physique The Natural Way (available at http://www.stevereeves.com/). It represents a typical day's diet when he was competing.

It isn't the modern "eat protein every 3 hours" or "eat six or seven small meals a day" type diet that we see today. Instead, it is based on the old "3 meals a day" plan.

Breakfast: The Steve Reeves Power Drink consisting of:

14 ounces of freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon of Knox gelatin
1 tablespoon of honey
1 banana
2-4 raw eggs (he recommends that pasteurized eggs might be safer today)
2 tablespoons of High-Protein Powder (which he made himself)

Lunch:

cottage cheese (with a handful of nuts, raisins)
2 pieces of fresh fruit (in season)

Dinner:

1 huge salad
1 swordfish steak (or turkey, tuna, or lean ground beef)

He describes this diet as "well-balanced with something from each of the food groups...". That's it! Pretty simple. He doesn't seem to have needed to eat protein every three hours as is recommended today. His home-made "protein drink" was taken as a meal replacement and he limited it to once-a-day for breakfast.

While we wouldn't recommend anyone using raw eggs today, his diet is well-rounded and healthy. It is interesting and encouraging that without the in-depth, scientific knowledge of nutrition that we have today, bodybuilders like Steve Reeves were able to produce classic physiques that are still unsurpassed today!