Questions for VINCE BASILE

[The True Adonis]

Hey Vince,
I for one am glad that you are posting here and taking the time to put together intelligent responses that are helpful.

I have a couple of questions for you.


1. What was dieting like in the late 60s and early 70s for you?  Did you follow suit and do the 50-60 grams of carbs.  I like that approach myself.

2. How was your training?

3.  Any cool stories of legends from the past?

[Vince B]

Many of my stories are here:

http://ironage.us/yabbse/index.php?topic=10250.0

35 years ago we dieted down to get defined. I am afraid most of us were unable to get really defined. I never had many cuts in my thighs and Bill Pearl had the same problem. I guess we were carrying more fat than bodybuilders do today. I think preparing for a contest is just about as hard as trying to get bigger. You need to know a lot of physiology and nutrition to get really low bodyfat and retain large muscle size.

I merely cut down on calories and especially fat. I lost 20 pounds in two weeks before the Mr Canada in 1970. Today if I diet I lose muscle size, too! The body thinks muscles are less important than fat!!

I trained differently from what I would do now. I trained until my muscles were pumped to the maximum. That took about 7 strict sets. I did a pyramid.  If I trained now I would do totally different things and some things that might surprize the heck out of you. For example, I want to try training arms from 8 to 12 hours a day every second or third day and see what happens. I think it is possible to put perhaps 2 inches on the arms in a month. Imagine the gains that are possible if you devote about 6 months to finding out how to grow at your physiological maximum. Most of us have false theories that we believe and therefore cannot grow rapidly. Come down to Sydney for a month and see if I can get you bigger in that time. You have to leave all your pet theories at home and do exactly what I say. You will be amazed at the change that is possible.

The biggest change I would do is to repeat maximum sets instead of pyramids. That is do at least 5 or 6 sets with your maximum resistance. I posted some of my theories on HST forum so you can do a search there and see why the guys there considered me nuts.

[Krankenstein]

For example, I want to try training arms from 8 to 12 hours a day every second or third day and see what happens. I think it is possible to put perhaps 2 inches on the arms in a month.

Nice experiment for people who dont have a life.

[LongtimeLurker]

Vince- thanks for the reply and the link.

[TheGoldenPrince]

Many of my stories are here:

http://ironage.us/yabbse/index.php?topic=10250.0

35 years ago we dieted down to get defined. I am afraid most of us were unable to get really defined. I never had many cuts in my thighs and Bill Pearl had the same problem. I guess we were carrying more fat than bodybuilders do today. I think preparing for a contest is just about as hard as trying to get bigger. You need to know a lot of physiology and nutrition to get really low bodyfat and retain large muscle size.

I merely cut down on calories and especially fat. I lost 20 pounds in two weeks before the Mr Canada in 1970. Today if I diet I lose muscle size, too! The body thinks muscles are less important than fat!!

I trained differently from what I would do now. I trained until my muscles were pumped to the maximum. That took about 7 strict sets. I did a pyramid.  If I trained now I would do totally different things and some things that might surprize the heck out of you. For example, I want to try training arms from 8 to 12 hours a day every second or third day and see what happens. I think it is possible to put perhaps 2 inches on the arms in a month. Imagine the gains that are possible if you devote about 6 months to finding out how to grow at your physiological maximum. Most of us have false theories that we believe and therefore cannot grow rapidly. Come down to Sydney for a month and see if I can get you bigger in that time. You have to leave all your pet theories at home and do exactly what I say. You will be amazed at the change that is possible.

The biggest change I would do is to repeat maximum sets instead of pyramids. That is do at least 5 or 6 sets with your maximum resistance. I posted some of my theories on HST forum so you can do a search there and see why the guys there considered me nuts.

The steroids also assist in fat loss tremendously when it comes to contest prep.