The Golden Age

If you ask the real old-timers what they considered to be the golden age of bodybuilding, they’ll tell you it was the 1940s and ’50s, when legends like John Grimek, Steve Reeves and Reg Park set the standard for physique development.

Many of us who have watched the iconic documentary “Pumping Iron” are tempted to answer that Venice Beach in the early to mid ’70s was the pinnacle. If you were fortunate enough to train at the original Gold’s back then, you were bench-pressing and curling next to Arnold, Franco, Draper, Zane and Robby Robinson.
It’s also only natural to consider whatever time you got involved in bodybuilding to be the glory days of the sport. For me it was the late ’80s and early ’90s, so I often wax nostalgic over spandex, mullets and Olympia battles featuring stars like Haney, Gaspari, Labrada and Mike Christian. Ah, the good old days.

When I really stop to think about it, though, the good old days really weren’t so wonderful. In almost every way, you’re better off becoming a bodybuilder today. First, there are the supplements. Most of the products we take for granted today—creatine, L-glutamine, postworkout shakes, protein powders and bars, and testosterone and nitric oxide boosters—didn’t exist years ago. Whey protein? We had weight-gainer powders loaded with sugar that would turn anybody into a fat slob.

What really changed everything was the Internet in the mid-to-late ’90s. No longer did you have to scour newsstands, bookstores and libraries for information on training, nutrition and supplementation. It was all at your fingertips at home. The stars of the sport also became far more accessible. Most of them maintain their own Web sites, and many post regularly on message boards.

Knowledge is power. Or as I like to say, “The more you know, the more you grow.” These days, the only reason an aspiring bodybuilder wouldn’t have for becoming self-educated on all the basics is sheer laziness. The Golden Age of Bodybuilding? You’re living in it, my friends.

—Ron Harris
www.RonHarrisMuscle.com