Classic Physique Building and Character Development!

(Photo above: Clancy Ross on the cover of the Jun 48 issue of Your Physique magazine, George Eiferman on the cover the Feb 48 issue of Strength and Health magazine)

In a previous post on "Classic Physique Building and the Classic Ideal," we mentioned that the classic ideal valued "the development of the mind and character as well as the body." In the Weider magazines such as Mr. America, articles can frequently be found with titles such as "How to strengthen your character, will-power, and personality" or "Brawn and Brains go together."

In the Sept 58 issue of Mr. America magazine, Clancy Ross (Mr. America 1945, Mr. Pro America 1946, Mr. USA 1948) wrote an article called "Six cardinal rules for a dynamic personality." He states:

"Muscles are my business - all of you know that. It may seem a bit odd, therefore, that I set aside some of the space usually reserved for strict bodybuilding instruction to talk about personality development. Actually, it's not strange at all, because the development of your personality is just as important to you as the development of your muscles. I would be failing my duty to all of you if I confined my instruction to just one side of what should be the complete man."

Clancy goes on to discuss each of his six rules:

1. Posture (how you hold yourself)

2. Learning how to greet the world (being interested and paying attention to others)

3. Giving credit to where credit is due (as a form of generosity)

4. Talk positively

5. Be of good cheer

6. A pleasant voice

The concern for character development can also be seen in the writings of George Eiferman (Mr. America 1948, Mr. Universe 1962). After his Mr. America win, he drove around the U.S.A. delivering talks on the benefits of fitness to High School assemblies. He was known for handing out small printed cards that had his picture on one side and the philosophy of his "Ten Daily Exercises" on the other. We will quote only the first six below:

"1. A good eye exercise - See also the perfection in others. See the everlasting beauty in human kindness.

2. A good tongue exercise - Speak from the heart instead of the mouth.

3. A good facial exercise - A smile often repeated.

4. Hearing exercise - When we speak, we learn nothing. Listening is the teacher. Then speak.

5. Brain exercise - Think only constructive thoughts. Good reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

6. Leg exercise - Walk toward knowledge, wisdom, health, and brotherhood of all men."

This concern for the development of the whole person (not just the muscular system) is what classic physique building was in the Golden Age! And today, it is another treasure that sets classic physique building apart from mainstream, roid-based bodybuilding!

So strive for the truly heroic ideal of building a classic physique, sound mind, and noble character!

- CPB

Classic Physiques in Magazines from the Golden Age of Natural Bodybuilding

If you are looking for inspirational classic physiques in today's mainstream bodybuilding magazines, then good luck! They and few and far between. You might see an occasional article about a Golden Age bodybuilder. You might find a regular "natural bodybuilding" column (maybe) in some of the mainstream mags. You might even stumble across one of the modern day natural bodybuilding magazines like Natural Bodybuilding & Fitness or Fitness & Physique - which are geared toward contest competitors and which most stores and bookshops don't carry. In any of these cases, what you won't find are magazines filled with classic physiques from the Golden Age of Drug-Free, Natural Bodybuilding.

So aside from coming here to Classic Physique Builder, where can you go to find that inspiration? Well, you can go to some of our recommended sites. You can also still find back issues of the major bodybuilding magazines of the Golden Age of Natural Bodybuilding (1940-1959) at such places as ebay.com. At Ebay, all you do is search on the magazine name, and whatever is available will pop up.

What were the major bodybuilding magazines of the Golden Age (as we define it)? There were actually quite a few. Joe Weider published most of them: Your Physique, Muscle Power, Muscle Builder, and Mr. America. Other publishers put out IronMan, Strength and Health, Health and Strength, and The Reg Park Journal.

Between the years 1940 and 1959, these magazines portrayed the best of natural bodybuilding. All bodybuilding was natural then because this was the time before the introduction of steroids. It was also a time when a proportionate, classic physique was highly valued rather than "freaky size." So not only do these magazines, during this time, provide a source of inspiration, but the training info is not bad either - since it worked well enough to produce classic physiques like those of Steve Reeves, Reg Park, John Grimek, Clancy Ross, Armand Tanny, Marvin Eder, George Eiferman, Jack LaLanne, Vince Gironda, Leo Robert, Leroy Colbert, Harold Poole - just to name a few!