Hidden Secrets – Eating for Size Old School Style

People ask me how the Pro’s ate in the off-season in the 70’s and 80’s. We’ve seen contest diets publicized. Off-season in bodybuilding is for size building.

Ken Waller was a big eater as was his buddy Tony Nowak. There was a place all the bodybuilders went on Lincoln Ave in Westchester, CA. It was about 20 minutes from Gold’s Gym and across the street from Loyola Marymount University. It was an all you can eat Smorgasbord place called the Swedish Inn. According to Danny Padilla, Ken and Tony got banned from the place for eating too much food.

Then there was Dinah’s on Sepulveda in Culver City. Every Monday night the place was packed with bodybuilders because it was all you can eat Fried Chicken night. We’d be waiting outside talking to Roger Collard, Dave Dupree, Larry Jackson and many others.

Then there was “The Omelet Parlor” on Main St., in Santa Monica just down the street in between Gold’s Gym and World Gym. They had an Omelet called “Arnold’s Favorite”. I don’t remember what was in it because I chose something different.

So what’s my point!

Okay, okay… here’s my point. In the off-season many of the guys just ate a well balanced diet of protein, complex carbs and vegetables. They’d limit bread and sugar consumption and eat pretty clean. They knew to eat 4-5-6 times a day. Some like Larry Scott, Sergio Oliva and Casey Viator were heavily into Blair’s Milk and Egg Protein mixed with Heavy Cream or Half and Half. Rheo H. Blair had people sipping this all day long even during workouts with good results. I used it myself and got good results. Scott often said he used 2 full cups of the powder every day. I believe similar results or even better result can be achieved today by mixing a multi-blend protein formula (whey and casein) along with omega fatty acids

My guess is that with the exception of the added heavy cream for those who used it, most of the bigger Pro’s were in the 4000 to 4,500 calorie a day range. If they needed more calories they’d add in natural peanut butter.

The diet I listed in my last post was one that I found to be effective for me just through lots of trial and error. Guy’s back then did it backwards from what is practiced today. They experimented, found what worked and then let someone figure out the science involved in what they were doing. Let’s call it “empirical evidence’.

Today they seem to look for the science to tell them what to do before they do it. I guess they feel that’s more efficient. The problem is that theory doesn’t always translate into reality.

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