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

The Classical Look

The tradegy of modern, mainstream bodybuilding is that it lost the ideal of the classic physique in favor of the gargantuan, "hulk-like" physique.

Before steroids, bodybuilders were inspired by the great classical sculptures of the ancient greeks which were muscular, proportionate, and yet attractive. Read the following excerpt from an article written by the great Reg Park (Mr Britain 1949, Mr Europe 1950, Mr Universe 1951, 1958, 1965) for Your Physique Magazine (Nov '50):

"The Classical Look for Physical Perfection

by Reg Park, Mr. Europe

When I first became interested in bodybuilding I took a new interest in not alone my own body, but in any statue or photograph which portrayed a well developed physique. I spent many hours studying the statues of the great masters at the Tate Gallery at Millbank in London, as well as at the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. There, enchanted by the sculptural grandeur of Apollo, Discobulous, Hercules and others representative of the great Grecian art which has endured the years and remains even today the accepted peak of physical perfection, I received my first education in physical proportions and impressiveness.

I was quick to notice how each body part blended perfectly with the rest of the anatomy in these masterpieces. How Hercules, thick, powerful and heavily muscled retained this massive proportionate development throughout his entire body..." (end of quote).

Can you imagine that article having been written by today's Mr. Olympia? So the classic ideal has been lost by mainstream bodybuilding. But we don't have to follow their lead. Bodybuilding can be natural, healthy, and lead to classic, muscular, and attractive physiques. We would do well to follow the example of Reg Park! (photo above is Reg Park on the cover of Your Physique Magazine, Jan 1951). - Classic Physique Builder

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!

Your Physique: Joe Weider's First Bodybuilding Magazine

In a previous post, we stated that our beginning date for the Golden Age of Classic Physique Building was 1940 - the year that Joe Weider published his first bodybuilding magazine, Your Physique. Here is a brief account of how Joe put together his first issue (August 1940, vol.1, no.1).

Joe was 17 years old. He went through back issues of Bob Hoffman's magazine Strength and Health and wrote down the names and addresses of guys in the "Pen Pals" section. With his 7 dollars in savings, he bought 600 post cards, sent them out to his mailing list, and sold subscriptions to his new magazine (75 cents for 6 bimonthly issues) - which didn't exist yet! With the money he received, he rented a typewriter and worked at night on his dining room table when his mother was asleep. He hand-lettered the big display type, drew his own muscle man illustrations, and typed 22 pages onto mimeograph stencils. He ran off copies on a rented mimeograph machine. Only the cover page was professional printed. He stapled the pages together and then sent them out. More subscriptions poured in! His second issue was sent to a real typsetter and printer.

Your Physique ran from 1940 to 1952 through 17 volumes. Many Weider magazines, exercise equipment, muscle-building courses, and supplements were to follow and the rest was history! Not bad for a 17 year-old kid with 7 bucks to his name!

Above is his first issue of Your Physique (August 1940, vol. 1, no. 1). Barton Horvath is on the cover. You can find an archive of Your Physique covers at http://www.musclememory.com/. You can also read more about Joe Weider in his book Brothers of Iron - which is available at most bookstores.

Joe Weider on Building a Fantastic Body Naturally!

"People who don't believe you can build a fantastic body without spending a fortune or - I have to say it - taking dangerous drugs, should pick up my magazines from the 1940s and '50s. You see some mighty, mighty men on the covers and inside pages. The drugs those men took were great big, heavy iron pills. They didn't swallow them; they loaded them up on Olympic bars and dumbbells and lifted them using tricks that Joe Weider taught them. They bulked up eating steak and hard-boiled eggs and drinking enough milk to suck whole dairy farms dry. They didn't have any of the scientific foods and supplements and specialized knowledge and equipment available today - mostly because I made it all available - but look at what they did. Look. And be inspired. Those iron men inspired me when I worked with them. Looking at the old pictures, I'm inspired all over again" - Quote from Brothers of Iron by Joe Weider & Ben Weider with Mike Steere.

Joe's right! Just take a look at 5' 7", 195lb George Eiferman (Mr California 1948, Mr America 1948, Mr Universe 1962) on the cover of Joe's Your Physique magazine (vol. 11, no. 2 - May, 1949).

The "Golden Age" of Classic Physique Building!

What was the Golden Age of Bodybuilding? Well...that depends on who is defining it. For some, it was the era of "Muscle Beach." For others, it was the 1960s and 1970s - a time when bodybuilding came more into the public consciousness. For many, it is simply refers to the generation of bodybuilders that inspired them.

However, we maintain that there was truly a Golden Age of Classic Physique Building. It began in 1940 with the publication of Joe Weider's Your Physique Magazine - the first magazine dedicated solely to bodybuilding. It ended with the passing of 1959. Why? In 1960, steroids were introduced into bodybuilding. From that point in time, they gradually permeated the field. The Golden Age had passed and physiques became increasingly unnatural in size, proportion, and muscularity.

So to find our inspiration, we look to that time between 1940-1959 - when physiques were built by proper training, proper nutrition, proper rest, determination, and persistance. This was a time when supplements consisted of protein powder, vitamins, minerals, brewer's yeast, and gelatin. Yet, even without today's sophistication in costly supplements, bodybuilders were still able to build healthy, classic, symmetrical physiques. Seeing the pictures of the bodybuilders of this Golden Age says volumes about what can be achieved naturally!

Here is a shot of John Grimek, Mr America (1940, 1941), Mr Universe (1948), and Mr USA 1949 - who inspired many including Steve Reeves and Joe Weider!