A History of Natural Bodybuilding

A History of Natural Bodybuilding and Strength
 
How many times have you been to a local school during recess and heard the following statements / questions?
 
“He-Man’s way stronger than Hercules! Oh, yeah? What about Goku then? He can lift a mountain! So what? It’s well known that my dad is the strongest in the world!” (and then smile as you realise it's your son speaking!)
 
Almost every child these days has been exposed to feats of superhuman strength and bodybuilding thanks to shows such as “Masters of the Universe”, “Dragonball Z” and of course their own parents (especially if they are competition weightlifters or bodybuilders), but it’s nothing new really. People have been fascinated by people who’ve been able to do more than most people since the dawn of time. So if a definitive list was to be drawn up of all the strongest / muscled men who have influenced history, it might look something like this:
 
Samson (approx 1,120BC – 1,080BC)
 
Samson was born in Canaan (modern day Israel) at the end of the twelfth century BC, but the question is raised as to whether he existed or not. What we do know is that his birth was preceded by an angel telling his mother that she would give birth to a Nazirite (from a different part of the Middle East) and that whatever was to happen, his hair couldn’t be cut. The reason for this strange request, well, this was demonstrated when Samson was about eighteen when a mountain lion pounced on him. About a minute later, Samson went on his way. And whilst in the Canaanite army, he managed to bump off a thousand Philistines (from what is modern day Georgia) with just a jawbone. This brought him to the attention of the Philistine nation and to one woman in particular named Delilah and when she was told that she’s get a reward for finding out the secret of Samson’s strength leading to some scenes that wouldn’t go amiss in a torture chamber, she found out about his hair and cut it whilst he was asleep. Well, now Samson was as weak as a baby and as a result was humiliated by the Philistines, until a national celebration when the Philistines decided to show off its biggest scalp. But as enough time had elapsed for his hair to grow back, Samson (after praying to God) brought the temple down around their ears and also committed suicide at the same time. When news arrived in Canaan of what happened, Samson’s brothers bought his body back home and he was buried between Zorah and Eshtaol in the same plot as his father.

Hercules (approx. 550BC – 500BC)
 
Like Samson, whilst the debate rages about whether or not there really was a Hercules (the latest suggestion is that he was perhaps a chieftain-vassal of the kingdom of Argos near the Gulf of Corinth in Greece) what can’t be denied is that in terms of superhuman feats, his twelve labours can’t be beaten, but what about his history? Well, using a combination of the legend and the history of Greece, we can determine that he was born about 550BC and was the result of what could be termed a “liaison dangereux” between Zeus, the king of the Greek gods and Alcmene. Why was this liaison dangerous? Well, firstly both Zeus and Alcmene were married (to Hera and Amphitryon respectively) and secondly, any cross breeding between gods and mortals was always likely to create ructions. The first of which was felt on Mount Olympus, when Hera found out what had happened and well, putting it politely “sought a termination”. Anyway, Hercules was born (despite Hera’s best efforts) and the name that the parents chose pushed Hera over the edge and she sent two snakes to deal with Hercules. Which would have worked, if the second ruction of a god / mortal breeding programme hadn’t occurred. Baby Hercules thought that the snakes were toys and started to use them as a rattle. The reason? He was possessed of superhuman strength. Hera was furious and spent the rest of Hercules’ life making it miserable as possible. After several years, Hercules got married to Megara and they had two lovely children. Well, this was too much for Hera to bare and so made Hercules kill his wife and children in a fit of madness. When Hercules recovered and saw what had happened, he made an offering to Apollo (the gods’ version of People’s Court) and asked forgiveness. He was told in no uncertain terms that he would have to work off his debt by performing several tasks and after a consultation with the Oracle at Delphi, he went to see and told him what happened and that the gods had commanded him to be King Eurystheus’s personal slave. Now, this king was no dummy and so ordered Hercules to perform ten tasks
 
Task 1: Slay the Nemean lion (and when he did he wore the skin as proof)
Task 2: Slay the nine-headed Hydra of Lerna
Task 3: Capture of the elusive hind (stag) of Arcadia
Task 4: Capture the wild boar of Mount Erymanthus
Task 5: Clean (by sunset that day) the cattle stables of King Augeas of Elis
Task 6: Shoot the monstrous man-eating birds of the Stymphalian marshes
Task 7: Capture of the mad bull that terrorized the island of Crete
Task 8: Capture of the man-eating mares of King Diomedes of the Bistones
Task 9: Take the girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons (and before you ask, yes, they did exist in what is now Azerbaijan)
Task 10: Seize the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon, who ruled the island Erytheia
 
Now as you can imagine, that took Hercules several years, but when reports came back to King Eurystheus that Hercules was on the way back, he panicked and came up with two extra tasks.
 
Task 11: Bring back the golden apples kept at the world's end by the Hesperides
Task 12: Fetch up from the lower world (Hades) the triple-headed dog Cerberus, guardian of its gates

Well, as you can imagine when that last task was completed, Hercules was not going to be bossed around by anyone and became a freelance agent, dealing with minor emergencies such as preventing the Princess of Troy from being eaten by a sea monster, and even helping his father prevent a “corporate takeover” of Mount Olympus. After all these adventures, Hercules fell in love again and married for the second time. His wife this time was called Deianira and when he came back from his trip to Olympus, she had a present waiting for him. A cloak that she had woven herself with a little added extra. A special balm given to her by a centaur that would make Hercules the most “active” man on earth by ensuring them a fruitful relationship. However, guess who had given the centaur the balm in the first place? That’s right Hera, and as you might have guessed this wasn’t the 6th century BC’s version of Viagra but was in fact a deadly poison and as soon as Hercules put the cloak on, he’d had it. He asked his friends to sacrifice him to the gods to prevent the poison from killing him, and as his friends set fire to the funeral pyre, Hera relented. As the funeral pyre burned, Athena was sent down to take Hercules back to his ancestral home and even today can be seen in the stars.
 
After the Greeks (and to a certain degree the Romans), interest in feats of strength and muscle started to wain a little. Yes, there were still stories of great strength, an example being a king in what is now Romania, lifting and carrying a 425lb stone to assert his authority as king in the 1100’s AD, but it’s not until at least the 1620’s that strength and muscle makes a reappearance (and even then it’s due to someone writing about him in the 1800’s!)
 
Porthos (approx 1597 – 1661)
 
Now the more eagle eyed of you might be wondering what a 17th century dandy is doing in a review of strongmen / bodybuilders. Well, despite his foppish appearance, Porthos was anything but. Alexandre Dumas of course wrote him about in the 1850’s, but the story of the Three Musketeers was set in the middle of the 17th century, with Porthos leading the way.
 
Born in 1597, Porthos is pretty much unassuming as a child, but when he reaches his 18th birthday, his father despatches him to Paris to become a member of the Musketeers. We hear very little from him until 1625 when a certain D’Artagnan arrives in Paris and manages to team up with Porthos as well as Aramis and Athos and it’s here we start to see just how strong Porthos is.
 
When D’Artagnan is first introduced to Captain Treville (the captain of the King’s Musketeers) we get an inkling of how strong he must be when Dumas writes “He (Captain Treville) was of middle height; but his person was so admirably shaped and so well proportioned that more than once in his struggles with Porthos he had overcome the giant whose physical strength was proverbial among the Musketeers” but it’s not until 1845 when Dumas wrote a five act play about the Musketeers set after the original that we see just how strong Porthos really is.

Porthos has arrived in Paris to meet his old colleagues and is at D’Artagnan’s house (who is now a lieutenant) and is discussing his inheritance that enables him to call himself Baron du Vallon. In the library of the estate, there is a book about the twelve labours of Hercules and it tells about a similar person called Milon of Crete who was also remarkably strong. Porthos read about this and decided to do the same. So, he slaughtered a bull on his estate with a single blow, carried it on his shoulders for 600 paces and then ate it just for good measure, but there was one thing he’d not been able to do that Milon could, and that was smother his face in rope and then to break free using the strength in his face. But as D’Artagnan points out, Porthos’ strength is in his arms, not his face.
 
His strength also helps in the next book “Twenty Years Later”, but it’s his final appearance in “The Viscount of Bragelonne” that seals his reputation for superhuman strength. Porthos and D’Artagnan are hiding in a cave from some Cardinal’s guardsmen when D’Artagnan sneezes thus bringing the guardsmen down on them. During the fight a piece of wood is dislodged and threatens to collapse the cave. Porthos holds the roof of the cave from collapsing long enough for D’Artagnan to escape and then with a final “One for all” brings the cave down, killing himself and the guardsmen.
 
Like Samson and Hercules, it’s a bit tricky to determine if there was ever a real life Porthos, but what is interesting is that in 1617 in the village of Pau in the south of France, an Issac du Portau was born who in 1640 served in a private military force and in 1642 joined the Musketeers under the guidance of a certain Monsieur Treville and according to local tradition was still alive in 1670. So was this du Portau, the real life influence for Porthos, one of the strongest men in European literature? We simply shall never know.
 
The reason for Porthos being given superhuman strength was due in part to the time the books were being written. The “Enlightenment” was sweeping across the Europe and towards the end of the 19th century the Olympic games were reborn marking the pinnacle of this revolution of ideas. One of the ideas that was reborn during this time was the recognition of the perfection of the human body (as in the classical Greek statues) and if there was one man who embraced this idea completely, it was Eugene Sandow
 
Eugene Sandow (1867 – 1925)
 
Eugene Sandow was born in Konigsberg, in Prussia (what is now part of the Baltic nation of Latvia) in 1867 and like a lot of the people profiled so far had a normal childhood. During his teenage years he ran off to join the circus where he developed an interest in acrobatics, but in 1887 in Brussels in Belgium, he met Louis Durlacher (otherwise known as “Attila”). He recognised the young man’s obvious talents and decided to turn this unassuming young man into the world’s first real life muscleman.
 
Now as we have seen bodybuilding wasn’t exactly new in the late 19th century, but it was rather haphazard. Through a process of trial and error, Durlacher and other German trainers managed to hit on a system that worked and after only a couple of months of training, both Louis and Eugene travelled across Europe and by 1889 was the toast of London after defeating a well known stage strongman called “Sampson”.
 
Despite the Victorian’s fascination for feats of strength and muscle, they were rather unkeen on the idea of doing it themselves. The blame for this could be laid at the door of Dr. Peter Steinchron who wrote a book in the mid 1870’s stating “Bending over to tie or untie your shoes, bringing the fork to your mouth; the rubdown after a shower; laughing; talking and reading, all these furnish your daily exercise requirements” add to this allegations of “muscle binding” a condition caused by lifting too much weight and causing the muscles to grow so big that it would be possible to literally seize up. The fact that no evidence had even been recorded of this condition was beside the point.
 
The best place to see these strongmen was the theatre, which was the central point of life in the Victorian era. It would be quite common for them to appear in variety shows juggling cannonballs or even just lifting weights and over the next few years Eugene was a regular occurrence at theatres across the world and just like at contests today, audience members would often come up to him and ask to admire his physique and if there was a chance they could become as strong as him. This got him thinking and in 1897 he launched the first mail order fitness business and by the turn of the 20th century had opened the world’s first bodybuilding gym called a “Physical Culture Studio” in London.
 
Just like Bill Gates today, you couldn’t move in the early 20th century without coming across Mr. Sandow’s name. You could leave your home in London and go past his physical culture studio, pop into the food stores and buy his Health and Strength Cocoa and even purchase in the clothing shop his Patented Health Corset. And he didn’t stop with the UK, oh no, he went on tours of South Africa, India, Japan, New Zealand and Australia and even managed to bag a position in Buckingham Palace as the king’s personal trainer!
 
Eugene died in 1925 from the effects of syphilis, but his wife never allowed a gravestone, therefore even to this day, there is a part of Putney Vale graveyard in London that houses the remains of the world’s first bodybuilder, but no one will ever know. But it wasn’t just Eugene that was spearheading the muscle revolution. By the time the world left the Victorian era in 1901, a new muscleman was on the scene, his name was Gustav Fristensky.
 
Gustav Fristensky (1879 – 1957)
 
Gustav was born May 7, 1879 in Kamhajek, Bohemia (part of the modern day Czech Republic) and was apparently very sick at the age of one, as was typical of many infants in those days. He was taken care of by village healers and had a hard life in childhood. His father took over the grandparent's farm, so being the oldest son (he had 6 younger siblings, he had to help with the farm work whenever his father had to be away, travelling to town or during the harvest. Sometimes he even had to skip school entirely, but the schoolmaster understood. The stronger the young Gustav (called Gusta) became, the more frequently he missed school. When he was 14, the family started thinking of his future as the farm work could now also be done by his younger brother Karel, the second son of the family. It was decided that Gustav should learn some trade. Nobody asked young Gustav. His parents decided he would become a blacksmith.  This seemed natural, since one of the familiar faces at family get-togethers was Mr. Semerad, a blacksmith from Krechor. But eventually he went to apprentice in Kolin to a Mr. Jech on Sokolska Street. Early in his apprenticeship, he had an accident and severely burned his hand. He went home for three months. During that time, he assisted a local butcher bringing him cattle purchased from Gustav's father. As his hand healed, he became hesitant to return to the harsh conditions at the blacksmith's shop, and he decided to become a butcher's apprentice instead, which to him was a more promising trade.
 
Eventually, he completed his apprenticeship and it was decided that he would then move away from home to gain some experience. He moved to Brno, and became interested in various sports clubs in Sokol, eventually taking up the sport of weightlifting in his free time.  Gustav visited the town of Vyskov, where there was an exhibition and on that occasion found several wrestling matches scheduled. He entered and won the first prize in his competition. Further trips to sporting events followed shortly. He defeated wrestlers from various Prague and German clubs in Brno. He then won the championship of Austria defeating all Viennese wrestlers. His ambition was fulfilled when he had been paired in matches with foreign wrestlers in the European Championship at Rotterdam in Holland. Gustav was very powerful and could do the continental press with 308 lb with his strength, he grew an impressive physique. He was to win a World Physique Championship in 1903 at 6 foot tall and weighing 220 lbs. with extremely low body fat. Gustav was one of the best built of the Victorian bodybuilders and his physique would be remarkable even today. He possessed near perfect genetics for bodybuilding.
 
He eventually married Miroslava Ellederova, who was the daughter of a prosperous brewer and a famous as a singer in her own right. They had no children. Gustav had served in the artillery during the Great War, and was so famous as an athlete at that time; the new president gave him property in Litovel, in what is now the Czech Republic. He was prosperous throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Unfortunately, like so many others, Gustav was sent to a German concentration camp during much of WW II. He had suffered in health, but due to his being in such good health beforehand, was later able to regain his strength after the war and died on April 4th 1957 at the age of 78. There is a statue of this great champion in a Prague museum with the title written beneath as "Mr. Czechoslovakia" and many of his medals are also displayed there .
 
After the Great War of 1914 – 1918, the world changed. Women were given the vote and started to stand for elections and the men started to realise that after the slaughter on the fields of France perhaps they should celebrate life and not destroy it, “Mack Sick” demonstrated this wonderfully
 
Mack Sick (Lifespan not known)
 
As you might have guessed Mack Sick was his stage name, but a very apt one as well as he suffered several illnesses as a child (which gave no indication of the future he had). Standing just five feet tall, he gained a reputation for training champion bodybuilders in his own studio and also had a natty little trick that is perhaps lost on today’s generation of bodybuilders, Total Muscle Control. His great claim to fame was the incredible ability he had to flex and move each muscle of his body almost independently. This extreme muscle control made for a remarkable display on the vaudeville stage. It gave birth to the phrase "rippling muscles", which many of the early muscle champions worked hard to develop. His posing routine astonished audiences in the early part of this century. As the twenties roared, more and more bodybuilders came to the fore, including Tony Sansone

Tony Sansone (1905 – 1987)
 
Tony Sansone was born in New York City on September 19, 1905. As a youngster he had to overcome sickness and physical frailty. Fortunately, at the age of 13, he became interested in athletics. Later he was inspired by a series of photos of physique star Tommy Farber in Physical Culture magazine. At 17 he won a Charles Atlas contest for physical progress and development. Given his obsession for physical perfection, Sansone soon became internationally renowned for his fabulous body. It was then his likeness that began to complement the pages of Physical Culture and other publications throughout the world. Tony had no secret training routines. Progressive dumbbell and barbell routines were his main exercise method, supplemented by hand balancing, gymnastics, sprinting, swimming, and handball. Tony never specialized in strength feats, but in his prime he was one of the best in the world on the parallel bars.
 
A professional career as an actor and dancer almost became a reality when Tony was offered a Hollywood contract, but he preferred marriage and domesticity instead. Over the years he successfully owned and operated three gymnasiums at different locations. His studios were efficiently equipped and immaculately kept. Celebrities from the stage, screen, radio and television were among his patrons. Tony impressed his clientele with his expertise and his ever- perfect bronze body. Tony had such a profound knowledge of training equipment; he foresaw contemporary bodybuilding needs and invented a leverage calf machine and lat apparatus.
 
When he retired from the gym business, Sansone went into volunteer work, helping underprivileged children to become better health-minded citizens. Perhaps his greatest enjoyment was spending his recreational time on the beach at Coney Island. He and his buddies swam in the Atlantic, walked and jogged on the beach, and had many delightful conversations. His spirit still infuses the sand there, bringing to mind better times and happier days. On January 13, 1987, another great chapter of physical culture concluded with the passing of Anthony Sansone, the uncrowned Mr. America, and the undisputed dean of the posers.
 
As the world headed towards a second world war, bodybuilding took a back seat, but that didn’t stop the bodybuilders of the 30’s lending their support to the war effort. I am sure that I have read somewhere that one of them even challenged a tank in a tug of war contest.  I can't remember off hand who it was, but will endeavour to find out.
 
After the Second World War, muscle faced a crisis. As part of the developments brought on by the developments of the war, scientists unveiled a new chemical called steroids. Thankfully though, they hadn’t permeated through to the United Kingdom allowing a person with a very famous last name to follow his namesake and lead the fight for muscle in the UK.

Spencer Churchill (1929 – unknown)
 
Spencer didn’t have the best start to his bodybuilding career. He was born on May 14th 1929 weighing little more than three bags of sugar. It wasn’t his fault though, his mother was suffering from tuberculosis and died soon after giving birth to Spencer and so it was down to his father and grandmother to look after him and that meant getting him to beef up something massive just to survive. Thankfully with his grandmother’s fascination for swimming (and very good food) he managed to beef up substantially, but by the time he entered school he was still underweight for his age. It was at school that Spencer developed his love of sport and even won a gold medal in the 220-yard run at the Open School Championships at the old White City in London.
 
In those days, national service was required and so as a result his training had to be curtailed (ending a very promising career in Olympic diving) but thanks to his better than average fitness he ended his service as a non commissioned physical instruction officer which meant he ran the army gym! With his new rank he was able to develop his swimming skills as well as his boxing skills and it was during his time in the army he made the link between muscles and weight training and decided to give it a go. It was an inspired decision as in 1949, some two years after the end of his national service he was chosen as part of a team that demonstrated bodybuilding and in 1950, he represented Great Britain at the Universe show and earned the nickname “Muscles Unlimited”. And from there he went on to meet one of the greatest bodybuilders of the era, Reg Park. With Mr. Park’s help, Spencer soon ballooned in all the right places and in 1951 placed 4th in a Class 2 Mr. Universe contest, appeared on several bodybuilding magazines (the latest fad), as well as being featured in the Daily Mirror in 1952 and even being immortalised in oils by John Martin and exhibited at the Royal Academy!
 
The 1950’s was a boom time for bodybuilding and as well as Mr. Churchill, a certain Leo Robert appeared on the scene and in 1955 the two of them had equal billing, but the real muscle star as the world headed towards the 1960’s was Mr. John Grimek

John Grimek (1910 – 1998)
 
John Grimek is the only man ever to win the AAU Mr. America title more than once. His wins in 1940 and 1941 were so overwhelming that contest organizers from then on implemented the single-victory rule. Grimek exhibited a Herculean visage and was as strong as he looked - evidenced when he represented the United States as a weightlifter at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. In 1948, at 38 years of age, Grimek beat the young sensation Steve Reeves at the NABBA Mr. Universe in London. 
 
A year later, in his last contest, the AAU Mr. USA, he beat Reeves again - as well as Clarence Ross, George Eiferman and Armand Tanny - and retired from bodybuilding competition undefeated. Expert at controlling his muscles and agile in acrobatic posing moves, he possessed extreme power; he was still able to squat with over 400 pounds for reps well after retirement age. 
 
With his combination of proportionate bodylines and raw power, John Grimek served as the perfect hybrid between the pre-war "bodybuilder as strongman" genre and the modern "one sport only" bodybuilder. John passed away on November 20, 1998, and will forever be remembered for his philosophy of life - always keep your focus on good health as the primary motivation for your toil, and build muscle the old fashioned way - earn it by hard work and dedication.
 
By now, steroids were beginning to work their way into the public imagination. Even an episode of “The Incredible Hulk” (played by Lou Ferringo) suggested that the Hulk was a bodybuilder with too many steroids in their system, but there were still the true muscle stars training in the same way and following the tradition of those who had led the way
 
Chet Yorton (1942 – unknown)
 
Chet is one of the few bodybuilders who exploits survive in the present day and with the Internet you can find anything and having no knowledge of him prior to now feel that someone who met him should take over:

“As far as I can recall, this was about 1976 or 1977, making me 24 or 25. Well over twenty years ago. I had been training at Zuver's Costa Mesa for about three years and had made great gains. At 6' and 205, I was training hard and heavy. Benching well over 400. Bf was in the high single digits. One of my training partners at the time, a guy named Neil Smith, decided to enter the Mr. Orange County (California) Contest. A qualifier for the Mr. California. Neil was in very good shape, about 5'10" and just under 200 pounds. Great arms and shoulders. Softball peaked biceps. Good cuts in the upper body. Like a lot of young guys at the time, his legs weren't quite up to the upper body standards, but not bad either. He was definitely looking' good enough to enter this contest. Neil tried to talk me into entering, but I chickened out. Said I wasn't "ready." "Not big enough ... blah, blah, blah..." More on this later.
 
The show was held at the Garden Grove High School Auditorium where GGHS alum comedian Steve Martin had performed on the stage in high school plays a decade or so before. Ironically, the archrival high school to my own. At least 1,000 paid spectators as this was in the immediate post-"Pumping Iron" boom years of bodybuilding in the 70's. Anyway, Neil enters and does very respectable against some very tough competition. Third in his under 200 class, as I recall. He looked great on stage and had a blast! The guy who won Neil's class (and overall) looked a lot like Shredder. The guy was ripped and fairly big. Cross-striations in his lower quads and lower back! Unbelievable! Remember, this was the late 70's when *nobody* was quite *that* cut.
 
Chet Yorton was both guest poser and one of the judges. Bill Howard, who had been a Vince Gironda protege and top Mr. America competitor, but had just come to OC and was training at Zuver's, was the MC. Pete Grymkowski, then Mr. World and nascent Gold's entrepreneur, made a grand entrance and wowed the crowed with his monstrous size. Lots of luminaries of the bodybuilding world for such a seemingly small contest. However, OC was booming in bodybuilding terms at the time, so it was a good place to be. Probably second only to Venice/Santa Monica. When the final pose-downs were over, and the judge's scores were being totalled, Chet went back stage to change and get ready. The crowd was going nuts in anticipation, as he had been fully dressed in pants and long sleeves before he went back. Although he wasn't showing anything through his fairly loose clothing before going backstage, his above mentioned win in the Mr. U over Arnold had everyone talking about him.
 
Needless to say, we weren't disappointed. He was in great shape. Although as I said, we had just finished seeing some very good regional competition, Chet almost looked like he was from another species by comparison. I've had the good fortune to be around some top bodybuilders in my time, but I've rarely seen one as perfectly proportioned and "finished" as he was. And, this was well past his competition years. Not to be cliché, but he looked like a statue. Most photos of him I've seen don't do him justice. He was far from huge (I would guess he weighed 190-200 or so), but *everything* was in perfect proportion, separated, and cut. I swear, no need to add or subtract an ounce anywhere. The finish to his physique had that very rare quality reminiscent of a thoroughbred horse or large cat. I don't want to overstate this too much, but unlike a lot of bodybuilders before or since, a build like that looks like it was made by the hand of God rather than Man - everything went together that well. Arnold, Dave, Pearl, Zane and very few others I can think of fall into that category. He posed to "Exodus" or one of those really inspiring pieces. It was outstanding. I won't forget it. The crowd went wild.
 
After announcing the winners of the contest, I went backstage to help Neil collect his things. Chet was back there, shaking hands and congratulating the competitors. After doing so with Neil, I'm introduced as his training partner. Chet looks at me and says: "why weren't you out there?" Once I picked my jaw up from the floor, I mumbled some lame excuse. Chet laughed and said: "keep up the good work!" We all parted, me feeling like a bozo for not competing, but amazed to have met him.
 
By pure coincidence, a couple of months after, my wife and I were on a weekend trip to Vegas. Being on a 6-day split, I don't want to miss a workout, even on vacation, right? I check out the phone book and see "Chet Yorton's Gym." So, I went there, not really expecting to see him again, just to workout. It was an awesome gym for the time. Since I was used to the "funkiness" of Zuver's, this place was more like most of us would now be used to. Large, clean and very well equipped. Well lit as well, unlike Zuver's. The guys training in there had obviously benefited from Chet's tutelage. I change into a Zuver's tank top and a pair of shorts and start my chest workout.
 
By this point, I'm now at about 210 lbs. Tanned and big at the tail end of summer. My waist size was right at 32. Abs were good. Arms were about 18, maybe a tad over. Still have some photos ;-). Actually, in retrospect, I was probably in the best shape of my life physique-wise (hence, my current obsession with reaching that weight and/or bf level). As I'm doing incline flies to finish my chest work, my pecs pumped and popping', Chet walks in the front door, dressed in dress street clothes (slacks and short sleeves). Still looking perfect, the guy has that walk and carriage unique to a champion bodybuilder. Hard to describe. He recognizes me and says hello. After exchanging pleasantries, we chat about the Mr. OC contest. He asks me if I'd like to show him a few poses. Who am I to refuse a Mr. U, a guy who beat the Austrian Oak? So, moving over to the area where he had the lighting in the gym perfect for posing and pulling off my tank top, I go though my thing. He looks and critiques. The bottom line? He tells me I would have probably placed a close second in my class and third overall in the Mr. OC to the guy with the shredded legs and one of the other guys in the over 200 class who was much bigger! Now I'm bummed! He says don't worry and keep hitting it. With a hearty "good luck to you" we part and he walks into the back area of the gym. I haven't seen him since, or even heard much about him. I won't ever forget him, though.
 
And if you are wondering, yes, he was one of only three people to beat “The Governator!”
 
As the 1980’s dawned, bodybuilding became more and more mainstream. Who can forget He-Man in 1984 which muscles that would put old Arnie’s to shame? Or equally still every male cartoon character having a muscled upper body, but even as the muscles on our screens were getting bigger and bigger, some people still did it the old fashioned one, and one of those people was
 
Mark Teasley (1959 onwards)
 
Aged twenty when he entered his first contest, Mark instantly fell in love with the sport after discovering weight training as part of his American football training. Now living in Durham in North Carolina, he’s been pumping iron for 30 solid years and gives the following advice to those following in his footsteps
 
          “BE PATIENT”
 
And like every great bodybuilder before them, the bodybuilders of today have been patient. They’ve bided their time while the steroid monsters bulge and flex and then smiled quietly as suggestions began to emerge that steroids could damage the health of the user instead of augment it, and today as we come into the second half of the first decade of the third millennium, natural bodybuilding is back in the centre stage again with people such as “Dino”
 
Dino Pierce (1980 onwards)
 
Dino started bodybuilding at the tender age of 16, but began lifting weights shortly before trying out for the 8th grade football team whilst in the seventh grade! Putting on some size during his athletic years in junior high and high school, he broke his junior high school's push up record in the 9th grade completing 427 consecutive push-ups and if that wasn’t enough he was also named the strongest person on the football team pound for pound. His junior high school did not have a powerlifting team and so his coach wanted him to contact another strength coach from a neighbouring parish. He said that “you really had potential as a lifter” and he was interested but as a 14-15 year-old kid knew that getting there (to practice) would be a problem. In fact he never even took the issue up with his parents.
 
He was training at a local health club during the off-season from track & football and met a bodybuilder there and he encouraged Dino to do my first show. Encouraged was about it though, and he dieted and trained himself for his first show. He had a little help from him for my second show via Marris Lee and it was then that he actually met Marris and the two have been building up his muscles ever since.
 
So, we started off with Samson in the 12th century BC and now have Dino in the 21st century AD. Who knows where natural bodybuilding will next go? For all we know, the next big name in bodybuilding could be reading this very article and say “Yeah, I’m a natural bodybuilder and I want to be the body of natural bodybuilding for others to look up to". Or it's even possible that the moderator of this forum might say "I AM the body of natural bodybuilding" and having beaten people who aren't natural, perhaps he's right!

Ah, Muscleman.  An incredible read.  Thanks for your research and for posting this very interesting treatment of the subject of natural bodybuilding over the millennia. You are quite correct.  The final chapter has yet to be written.  LOL 

Scott "Old Navy" Hults, NFPT-CPT; NGA-CPT FAME, NGA & IDFA Natural Master Pro Bodybuilder FAME, NGA & OCB Contest Judge [image]http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/6610/shlogo2hor8tk.jpg[/image]

good post...

nice post, well put together.
 
Have you ever heard of the Epic of Gilgamesh?  Supposed to have been written b4 the Torah and it's kinda along that hero line so I hear.  If your into this stuff you might wanna google it and pick it up at a local book store if youre into it.