Big Brown’s loss at Belmont Park put a spotlight on drug use in horse racing. While it is legal in horse racing in most states, the owners of Big Brown took an unprecedented step. There are many parallels in bodybuilding. If you substituted the word bodybuilding for horse racing in the article, it would have been about many of the same drugs and the same problems.  What hasn’t happened in bodybuilding is no “owner” has taken the step that Big Browns owners did. They not only began withdrawing all performance enhancing substances from Big Brown but also from their entire stable of fifty horses. They did this for the integrity of the sport and the health of the horses. Now there’s  a novel idea.  

Today, sports and integrity are rarely in the same sentence. The owners of Big Brown called upon the other owners to join them in this step to “turn the game around,” to share their global vision. Let’s see if short term greed prevails or do the rest follow the lead of these global thinkers.

In horse racing, as in competitive bodybuilding, it’s about competition and the competitor demanding a level playing field. The problem is always how to insure that level playing field.  If the horses “slow down equally” it’s the same race. If the bodybuilder loses 20-30 lbs. of muscle, it’s a different game.  Would the fans come to see “smaller bodybuilders”?  That is usually the question. What do the fans want? I know what the bodybuilders want; it is that level playing field.  I have never met one competitive bodybuilder who liked taking the chemical load that is required to compete at the top.  One way or another, I feel that genetics and hard work would continue to rule but the physiques would look different. 

There is another parallel to horses: it’s obvious that the drug enhanced strength/muscle mass of the horses have contributed to the injury and death of these beautiful animals. Is there anyone out there who believes that a bodybuilder weighing 250-280 pounds at average height is healthy? Is bigger, better?

“We Know Training.” That’s our mantra, our focus, our mission statement. This issue is a perfect example of how we use those three words to shape IRON MAN.

Peary and Mabel Rader, the founders of Iron Man, believed not only that training was much more than lifting weights but that lifting weights was much more than lifting weights—it was a part of a process of building or expanding one’s self. The components of physical culture have expanded as our knowledge has expanded. From the beginning, Iron Man has been an open forum for ideas, and that has led to an eclectic mixture of authors and information that you won’t find in any other magazine in our field.

Everything starts with the author—no script, no movie! Passion is the unifying attribute, which is exemplified in coaches Bill Starr and Charles Poliquin. They have the credentials, certainly, but they also have the experience of testing their ideas on many athletes in the crucible of the gym. Their focus is narrow but with a wide field of vision. That, plus their ever-present passion, is what makes their material so interesting to read and their ideas so useful. In addition to Coach Poliquin’s regular column, this issue includes a feature by him on the chinup, which begins on page 158 of the July ‘08 issue.

Joe Horrigan, D.C., has helped Olympic and professional athletes, famous actors and yours truly to overcome injury at his world-renowned Soft Tissue Center. He’s another unique and invaluable resource who’s included under our training umbrella, and he covers both prevention and recovery in his monthly Sportsmedicine column.

If you train regularly, you know that motivation is an indispensable part of the pie. Knowledge is only potential energy until the mind energizes the body to action. Both words and pictures can be sources of that all-important ingredient, and Michael Neveux’s photography is an integral part of the inspirational mix. From food to fab abs, he sets the standard. Page through this issue, and you’ll see why his images are a cut above.

Training for competition is a big motivator for some. This issue highlights a bodybuilding champ from the past, Leo Robert, whose interview begins on page 188 (July ‘08 issue), and a current up-and-comer, ’08 IRON MAN Pro champ Phil Heath, who gets a pictorial salute, starting on page 242 (July ‘08 issue). Excellence is timeless. Fifty-plus years separate those two champs, but they share the will and passion to win. I find them both inspiring.

Jerry Brainum is the pros’ pro. He answers the tough questions from the pros and shares his 35-plus years of experience and research with us on various topics every month in IRON MAN. Jerry is a unique training resource whose expertise in nutrition, supplementation and pharmacology is unequalled.

As you can tell from this issue’s table of contents, there’s a cornucopia of training and related info that makes us who we are and what we are striving to be. IM

Early this week I was listening to National Public Radio as I drove to work, and there was a feature about a report on the state of happiness in the USA. The statistics weren’t very positive. A psychologist commented on why the numbers were so dismal and what to do about it. My mind wandered back 30-plus years to the original Gold’s on Pacific in Venice, a workout with Arnold and the breakfast that followed.

The conversation in the gym was about living in the moment and the fact that the only rep that mattered was the rep you were doing. Arnold is renowned for his ability to be totally focused on one thing at a time and his ability to switch from one to the other without “overhang.” During the set, the outside world disappeared for Arnold and reappeared after the set. He could be “in character” in one instant and joking the next.

One of Arnold’s major attributes is the unmitigated joy he takes in everything he does. As he’s said to me many times in various ways, “Everywhere I go I have a good time.” That’s his mantra. Back to our conversation: Besides exhorting me to concentrate on the present and lock out the past and the future, he referred to several people in the gym and commented on why they seemed to just be going through the motions. To paraphrase him: no emotion, no focus, no hope.

As for living in the moment, we all know now that Arnold was able to live his master plan (and continues to), but how did he do that? His advice to me was to plan for the future but not try to live there! He executed his own plan in the present to ensure that the future turned out the way he wanted. Let me explain.

Arnold created a team to make sure that his goals would be met. In the NPR piece the psychologist mentioned the percentage of negative thoughts each of us has in the course of a day and that our environment affects the balance and content of our thought and, ultimately, how we feel—our happiness. Why were (and are) Franco and Arnold friends? Arnold recognized that Franco had strengths both physical and emotional that made both of them better in the gym and in life. Arnold was very clear: Negative people and situations are destructive.

While Arnold was and is empathic—he would give you the help you need, as he did to me in the gym—but if you started whining about how it’s too hard or voiced other negative thoughts, he would quickly lose interest in helping you. The psychologist on NPR echoed what Arnold said to me long ago: The most important thing you can do to ensure joy and happiness is to surround yourself with joyful people. We are what we think about all day long, and those thoughts are heavily influenced by the people around us. Long before the term “toxic personalities” was coined, Arnold understood that there was no room in his life for people who didn’t share his vision of joyfulness. IM

My friend Bob Gajda, a Mr. America and Mr. Universe in the mid-’60s, started out as a three-letter athlete in high school. He spent four years in the Air Force as a fitness instructor, but his athletic accomplishments, while extraordinary, come in a distant second to his vision and creativity.

I first met him at the Division Street YMCA in Chicago in 1962. The YMCA had given him a couple of rooms in the basement to set up a weight-training gym. Bob took the empty rooms and put together a gym that was equipped with many of his own designs, which he had talked various people into welding together for him. The members of the Y were a diverse ethnic mix who had the common bond of working out. Bob was the undisputed cheerleader, but they also included the newly arrived from Cuba Sergio Oliva. In addition to Sergio, many local bodybuilders trained there.

The Duncan Y learned of Bob’s skills and hired him away from the Division Y. Now his fertile mind was fueled by not only his enthusiasm but also a budget, which had to bring his ideas to life. Bob created one of the best gyms in the country at that time and attracted a group of bodybuilders and weightlifters equal to the gym. Besides spending many hours keeping it all going, he was working on a master’s degree in kinesiology.

Many years before anyone else talked about range of motion, he was already applying his theories on ROM to championship weightlifters and other athletes. He talked about and created devices to enhance balance and coordination, again when no one else in our world discussed it. I sort of tolerated the conversation, since I was only interested in strength and development. Ah, but now the world has caught up with Bob’s vision. There isn’t a world-class athlete today who doesn’t work on range of motion and balance as a part of strength and skill training.

All of these memories have surfaced because of two things: 1) numerous articles that have appeared in the popular press about athletes, stretching for ROM and balance over the past few months and 2) the decline of those attributes with age. These days my workouts contain not only strength and cardio but also stretching and balance work. I wish I had starting doing them back then. As per Bob’s advice from 40-plus years ago, I don’t overdo stretching, and I only do it when fully warmed up—after I have worked the bodypart. Bob was the first to state that everyone has a unique range of motion. If you exceed it, you can damage the joint and cause instability in the joint.

I have recently added a new five-minute routine to my regular program that includes stretches for my lower back, shoulders, hamstrings and quads and some balance work. Those short routines have given my training a new dimension and have reenergized me.

To comment, please send e-mail to ironleader@aol.com. IM

I started producing bodybuilding events in the late ’60s as a volunteer with the AAU, which was then the dominant sanctioning organization for amateur bodybuilding in Southern California. That association culminated when I coproduced the ’70 AAU Mr. America with Bill Pearl in Culver City.

The first professional bodybuilding event I produced was the ’80 IFBB California Grand Prix. Fast forward 28 years: February 15–17, 2008, was the 19th IFBB IRON MAN Pro and its fifth year with the Los Angeles FitExpo. As the saying goes, we’ve come a long way!

As a teenage bodybuilder I expressed my competitiveness by entering bodybuilding and Olympic weightlifting events. Later, I “graduated” to the other side of the lights to promote the sport that’s been central to my life. Bodybuilding and Olympic weightlifting are essentially individual sports—you and the barbell in its most elemental form. You may have a coach or training partner, but you win or lose on your own.

Producing a weekend event like the IRON MAN Pro/Los Angeles FitExpo is at the other end of the spectrum—a collaborative effort with every aspect an important part of the chain. Many people came up to me during the weekend to congratulate me on the IRON MAN Pro and the expo. I accepted the congratulations knowing that such an event can only happen with the effort and support of everyone involved. If any one of the key elements were missing, the IRON MAN Pro/Los Angeles FitExpo weekend couldn’t be what it is. Without sponsorship, the event would be financially impossible; without the fantastic lineup of IFBB pro bodybuilders, the fans wouldn’t be there; without great lighting, the bodybuilders wouldn’t look their best; without the marketing/information push, no one would know about it; without my staff, I’d be stressed beyond recognition. It is really about the team.

Bodybuilding.com and Gaspari Nutrition were the presenting sponsors, and we had great media help from Peter McGough and Robin Chang at AMI/Weider, Steve Blechman at Muscular Development and Bob Kennedy at MuscleMag and super Web support from Ron Avidan at Getbig.com and Isaac Hinds of Liftstudios.com.

When the ’08 competition year is reviewed, I believe the IRON MAN Pro lineup will compare favorably to the Mr. Olympia lineup in depth and quality. A huge thanks to the 32 top IFBB pros for giving the event such fantastic support. Everyone showed up in great condition, and the sellout crowd showed its appreciation.

Many people commented on the superb lighting that enabled the bodybuilders to appear at their best. Mike Neveux, the master of light and shadow, is responsible for creating the visual presentation. The light defines the physiques and determines the quality of the audience’s visual experience. From the beginning, the IRON MAN Pro has set the lighting standard, and that’s due to Mike’s understanding of both the physique and the light that defines it. (See the photo report that begins on page 252 of the May ‘08 issue.)

The expo itself grew from 40,000 square feet in 2007 to 140,000 in 2008. Our expo partner, National Fitness Productions and its team, with tireless assistance from both Marc Missioreck and Erin Ferries, created an event second only to the Arnold Sports Festival in attendance—almost 20,000 people over 2 1/2 days. The move to the Los Angeles Convention Center was successful on every level, and that move was made possible by the fantastic support of our sponsors and all of the vendors who supported the expo—a big thanks to all.

Next year is our contest’s 20th anniversary, and we’ve already got big plans for it. See you there. IM

The legacy of Reg Park is worldwide, and it’s a living legacy, manifest in the bodies and lives he changed by his example. In 1956 I was in the eighth grade, and I distinctly remember seeing a photo of Reg in Muscle Power. He was doing a front lat spread. I stared at it in amazement, and I began to dream of being stronger and more muscular. At the time I weighed 100 pounds and was about to borrow my uncle’s weights so that I could begin to realize my dream. In a very real sense, my lifelong connection with bodybuilding started with that photo.

Fast-forward 25 years, and I’m on the outside deck of World Gym in Venice, California, taking exercise photos of Reg and his son, Jon Jon. I’d met them through Arnold. Reg had an unmistakable presence, a voice and a demeanor that got your attention—regal yet not aloof. Here was a man who’d won everything there was to win in his day but never mentioned it. He was just a guy who loved to help people, and he loved to train. That wasn’t false modesty—it was simply the way he was.

The last time I saw Reg was at the Arnold Classic in 2007. He greeted me warmly, as if we’d talked the day before, when in fact it had been a year since I’d last seen him and his wife, Mareon. When the emcee acknowledged the Parks, the crowd rose as one with a sustained standing ovation—a “goose bumps” moment.

When I was a teenager, Reg unknowingly touched me through his photos, and last December I had the privilege of attending a tribute to him and celebration of his life hosted by Arnold. Speaking about his friend and mentor, Arnold said that as a teenager he’d had Reg’s picture taped to his bedroom ceiling. He also said that he wouldn’t be where he is today without Reg, citing the inspiring photos as well as being invited to South Africa after the NABBA Mr. Universe contest in 1965.

The three weeks Arnold spent with Reg in South Africa were a turning point in his life. As Arnold said, “Reg’s influence taught me about ‘I’ and ‘we’.” In observing the love between Reg and Mareon and Reg’s devotion to his children, Arnold saw what family life—something he didn’t have growing up—was all about, and he wanted his life to be that way. He saw, too, that Reg was not only a bodybuilding champion but also a successful entrepreneur and actor. Reg’s example revised Arnold’s vision of what he could do, and the rest is history.

The thousands of e-mail condolences Jon Jon Park received from people around the world bear witness to his father’s legacy. On a personal level, I always say that our only touch with immortality is through our children. In this case, Reg Park is immortal because of the way he led his life and the way he touched the people he encountered. IM