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Getbig Bodybuilding Boards => Positive Bodybuilding Discussion & Talk => Topic started by: The_Iron_Disciple on October 11, 2007, 10:31:02 PM
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For me it was when me and my Father were flipping through Channels one Day ( I had to be around 8 years old or so ) and we happened to come across a Bodybuilding Competition on ESPN ( back when they ACTUALLY Broadcasted Bodybuilding Competitions ) ... I remember being in COMPLETE AWE with the Physiques presented on the Stage that day ... I was absolutely DUMBFOUNDED because these guys looked EXACTLY like the Superheroes I read in my Comic Books ... HELL, even BIGGER ! Back then I use to Draw a lot of Superheroes someday hoping that I, too, would look like one. It wasn't long after that when my Father and I came across some Bodybuilding Mags at a Garage Sale. I bought them IMMEDIATLY ! Because I was so young at that time I never got seriously involved with Bodybuilding ( I wish I would've :D ) ... not until 9 years later when I had a Sports Injury ... been with it ever since. ;)
I'd also have to say that my Parents DEFINITELY motivated me as well to lift Weights ... my Father was a Fireman and had a very strong Build ... just very dense, thick, and strong. And, surprisingly, my Mother had GREAT Genetics as well ... I don't think I've ever met or seen a Woman as Naturally strong as my Mother other than my Girlfriend. :D
Sorry guys ... don't mean to gloat ... guess sometimes I just miss the past. Didn't have an easy Childhood at all ( growing up Half-Black, Half-White has it's negative drawbacks :D ) ... just miss some things is all. At any rate, I would love to hear about your guys's experiences as well ! :)
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Arnold carrying that tree trunk in Commando!
Best picture I could find unfortunately.. :(
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Arnold carrying that tree trunk in Commando!
Best picture I could find unfortunately.. :(
YEAH, I guess that would do it ! LOL ! That was ONE HELL of a Movie !! 8)
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Ever since I was like 5 I'd always be flexing my biceps and shit like that. Started playing Rugby League when I was 7 and that kept me fit. Parents bought me a dumbbell set and weights when I was 13, and dad gave me his old bodybuilding mags from the 70's. That's how I started.
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There wasn't one particular thing that got me interested in bodybuilding but I can remember a few things that inspired me:
1. When I sat in the cinema aged 10 or 11 and saw a trailer for Twins - it was the first time I had heard of Arnold Schwarzenegger and my first reaction was "look at the size of that guy's name!".
2. When I was flicking through an old 1982 copy of the Guinness Book of Records at a friends house and saw a picture of Arnold mentioned as "the most perfectly devloped man in the history of the world". Thought that was pretty cool and wondered what it took to look like that.
3. One of the tabloids ran an article on the WBF back in 1990 (when I was 13) and I saw a pic of Gary Strydom. Thought it was freaky and really cool looking when everyone round me was saying "yuk, that's horrible".
Knew then that I wanted to look different than the average person.
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GREAT Replies, Guys ! I wish we could get some MORE Replies though ... :'(
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Had a cousin who was into bodybuilding, his physique was good. Initially I started working out with him.
Also Arnold was an interesting figure. Where he came from and the accomplishments he made after was amazing. Ever since if been interested in Arnold and bodybuilding.
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Terminator 2! I must have rented that movie at least 20 times when I was a kid. Just about any Arnold movie motivates me to lift some weights!
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steroids were cheaper than cocaine............just bullshitting
it was when i saw conan the barbarian when i was about 4 years old.
bench
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Art. I used to draw a lot when I was younger (superheroes & such) so I'd buy bodybuilding magazines to draw from. After a couple years I actually started reading them.
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Anger. Working out is better than jail. ;)
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finding Pumping Iron on a PBS station when I was 12 or so.
Then Lee Haney and trying to get Platz legs.
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For me it was when me and my Father were flipping through Channels one Day ( I had to be around 8 years old or so ) and we happened to come across a Bodybuilding Competition on ESPN ( back when they ACTUALLY Broadcasted Bodybuilding Competitions ) ... I remember being in COMPLETE AWE with the Physiques presented on the Stage that day ... I was absolutely DUMBFOUNDED because these guys looked EXACTLY like the Superheroes I read in my Comic Books ... HELL, even BIGGER ! Back then I use to Draw a lot of Superheroes someday hoping that I, too, would look like one. It wasn't long after that when my Father and I came across some Bodybuilding Mags at a Garage Sale. I bought them IMMEDIATLY ! Because I was so young at that time I never got seriously involved with Bodybuilding ( I wish I would've :D ) ... not until 9 years later when I had a Sports Injury ... been with it ever since. ;)
I'd also have to say that my Parents DEFINITELY motivated me as well to lift Weights ... my Father was a Fireman and had a very strong Build ... just very dense, thick, and strong. And, surprisingly, my Mother had GREAT Genetics as well ... I don't think I've ever met or seen a Woman as Naturally strong as my Mother other than my Girlfriend. :D
Sorry guys ... don't mean to gloat ... guess sometimes I just miss the past. Didn't have an easy Childhood at all ( growing up Half-Black, Half-White has it's negative drawbacks :D ) ... just miss some things is all. At any rate, I would love to hear about your guys's experiences as well ! :)
I was short, fat, out of shape and it was getting worse. I'm still short but have improved the other stuff.
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GREAT Replies, Guys ! I wish we could get some MORE Replies though ... :'(
To see how pathetic everyone's genetics are compared to yours... ;)?
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Started training in the footy (Rugby League) off season and just got hooked. Plan on competing one day, but i am still young (18).
I just love training and have a pretty good base to work with and have seen results, so my motivation is pretty high. I guess i try and take it pretty serious (good diet, rest, training).
I was pretty fat when i started and , whilst i am hardly what you would call ripped right now, I'm pretty happy with the results. But to me it all comes down to the enjoyment i get in the gym. To me its fun, and i find it crazy that some people find it a hassle or a chore to go to the gym.
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Started training in the footy (Rugby League) off season and just got hooked. Plan on competing one day, but i am still young (18).
I just love training and have a pretty good base to work with and have seen results, so my motivation is pretty high. I guess i try and take it pretty serious (good diet, rest, training).
I was pretty fat when i started and , whilst i am hardly what you would call ripped right now, I'm pretty happy with the results. But to me it all comes down to the enjoyment i get in the gym. To me its fun, and i find it crazy that some people find it a hassle or a chore to go to the gym.
Whippersnapper... :-\
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I saw a pic of Flex Wheeler in the back of a Ironman magazine back in 1994. It was an ad for the 1992 USA's video. I wanted to look just like him. At the time I was naive, but then I had weight training classes in high school. The strength coach came over and told me i should take up weight-training because I was disciplined and didn't care about impressing people.
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I was impressed by Conan The barbarian when I saw Arnold in it, and then what sealed it for me was seeing Gary Strydom and Rich Gaspari in a Muscle & Fitness mag in 1987. I had never seen veins like Gaspari's before!
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girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
how come no one said that one already?
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I was like a lot of kids who just started lifting weights to improve performance in sports. Then one day I saw a Flex magazine on the newsstand with Tom Platz on the cover, doing a set of squats. I was like "Holy crap!" and picked it up (I still have that issue to this day.)
Sheesh, that was in 1984... I've been around this stuff way too long. 8)
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I was like a lot of kids who just started lifting weights to improve performance in sports. Then one day I saw a Flex magazine on the newsstand with Tom Platz on the cover, doing a set of squats. I was like "Holy crap!" and picked it up (I still have that issue to this day.)
Sheesh, that was in 1984... I've been around this stuff way too long. 8)
[/quote
The exact same magazine for me. i saw his quads and was blown away.
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Peer pressure and not wanting to be "the small guy"
All my friends got into lifting so I got into it cuz I didn't wanna be smaller than them.
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finding Pumping Iron on a PBS station when I was 12 or so.
exactly, then ordering the Charles Atlas course from a comic book
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GREAT REPLIES GUYS !
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exactly, then ordering the Charles Atlas course from a comic book
And how old are you exactly??? :P
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When I was a senior in high school, they had this US marine sponsered fitness test based on push ups pull ups , standing long jump, 300 yd sprint, etc. The top scores were invited to compete as team against other school teams in a state championship, which we won.
Two of our team members were these identical twins , Jim and Joe Goltier that had started to get into bodybuilding. They showed me an issue of Muscle Builder and Power ( which morphed in FLEX and Muscle and Fitness). It had Mike Mentzer on the cover and featured guys like Robby Robinson and Frank Zane.
I was hooked and compted in my first show a couple years later in Greenwich, Conn in the 1979 AAU Mr Eastern Seaboard. I didn't win, but I did place and got to meet Mike Katz, the show promoter. Chris Dickerson was a judge and gave out the trophies.
The top bodybuilders I met that day, in that era were all class acts.
I was hooked on lifting and the bodybuilding lifestyle, it seemed so healthy and positive. I had heard of steroids and would find out soon after just how common they were in my new sport.
That made me sad, but would use myself, in small amounts from '83-'86 only to return to my drug free roots later.
Howard
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i'm no bb, & probably never wil be. i just came into this site about 8 years go looking for supplements and a way to get a little bigger, cause i was working out on and off at the time. i really got into working out more when i was 18 and a friend of mine signed me up for a bench press competition to raise $ for his fratrnity. i was only about 125lbs at the time, but i benched 175! iwas blown away, and since then wanted to get more into lifing. i know...what would i be doing in a bb site if i don't want to be a bb? well, i like the site! 8)
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an issue of muscular development with melvin anthony flexing his bicep and its said something like "marvelous guns". it was right after his win at the noc. but it wasnt that cover that inspired me...i bought the magazine because i wanted to startw orking out; but when i opened it they had a leg training article with branch warrenn. firstbodybuilder i had ever seen pictures of (other than the cover of the mag..)..and i thought it looked so awesome. he looked "like he is wearing football pads with a cowboy collar" and his legs were unfucking believable for a human being to possess. my entire family was disgusted by it. i thought it looked really awesome.
this is one of the pictures from that article=
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walking in a super market and seeing this flex cover of dorian,ive been hooked since!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/dekethecreep/DSC_0007.jpg)
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To pick up chicks
Hey at least I am being honest :D
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walking in a super market and seeing this flex cover of dorian,ive been hooked since!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/dekethecreep/DSC_0007.jpg)
IMO that's a terrible pic
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When I graduated from high school, I was 265 lbs at 5'11" and had a 42 inch waist. I had always been a fat kid, but that was my all time worst. So then I started college and started lifting and working out at the school gym. Being a stupid kid, I read a book by Arnold and thought that I had to spend 3 + hours a day in the gym, so that's what I did. I ended up getting down to 179 lbs with a 32 inch waist within 7 months.
About a year later, I joined Gold's Gym and met up with some true bodybuilders. After they saw me in there doing my marathon training sessions, they set me straight and taught me the right way to train. Once I started to actually see gains in my strength and size, I started reading the magazines to learn more about nutrition and different training routines. Through those magazines, I began to learn about professional bodybuilding, found it interesting and have been following it ever since.
It's been nearly 14 years since I started lifting and I have to admit that I'm physically and mentally addicted to it.
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My brother came up w/ a muscle magazine in the mid 1970s with Arnold, Casey, Samir, etc in it and said, "I'm gonna look like that".
We were just teens, but He was dead serious.
I was shocked at the pictures, never seen guys like that. We all ready had weight set etc but
started to read and lift with a goal of looking like those stars...
My Bro was real gung-ho and had a great natural base. A Perfect small natural mesomorph.
The relatives and friends mostly told us all the usual: Those guys are all drugs, have either no nuts, tiny
penis, or alternately a monstrous member from being all drugs and all gay, you'll become "musclebound",
too much muscle can "crush your heart" that's why I dont want to get too "built".... Yada Yada yada.... ::)
But our parrents just let us to our happy pursuit in the dank back corner of the basement.
We were undeterred by all the BS and crazy to see the next pictures of our hero's.
It was a time that BBing went mainstream due to Arnold's unusual presence and personality.
Frankly, at this point I prefer their builds to our current Mr Olympia.
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i was around 13 or 14 and saw Tom Platz' legs. I ran right out and got one of those 110 lb Wieder plastic and cement weight sets. i remember a bout a pound of sand would fall into my eye everytime i was benching (which is probably the only thing i did back then.
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i was around 13 or 14 and saw Tom Platz' legs. I ran right out and got one of those 110 lb Wieder plastic and cement weight sets. i remember a bout a pound of sand would fall into my eye everytime i was benching (which is probably the only thing i did back then.
Yup benching and curls.
A buddy used to come round to my place and we would do benches and barbell curls while bouncing a cigarette LOL ;D
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Bored
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My sister started competing when she was 13 and I went to every show. Seeing those guys and girls working hard at their physiques at such a young age...very inspiring. Got me interested and have been ever since.
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1)Commando, Twins
2)UK gladiator tv show in the early 90's.
3)a new healthfood/supplement/BB shop opened in the town nearest me. i went in and picked up a copy of Musclemag with feature on the 1997 Olympia. It was like lookin at pictures of aliens. When I showed my friends and dad a picture of paul dillet they thought the BB's and me were crazy and wierd. i thought those pictures were amazing. I was hooked. 10 years later when i finally went to the olympia i got that same feeling that i was looking at people who wre another species.
the Doc
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Hulk Hogan..oh yeah...i grew up in Venice
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Arnold and his side-chest pose.
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Turning 40 :o
Wrestled in high school....lifted some weights
In my 20's ....benches and curls
In my 30's 8 ball and 9 ball
Then finally looking in the mirror at 39 and getting into bb
Time flies when your having fun
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when i seen this pic of sergio
till to this day it inspires me to train hard
cheers
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v729/yiriss/sergio.jpg)
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Sergios Pics are still inspiring... ;) Awesome.
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Sergios Pics are still inspiring... ;) Awesome.
Indeed ! 8)
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That's how a BB'r should look IMO.
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What got interested in bodybuilding
1 The Hulkster
2 Watching any Arnold film
3 The blood and sweet in the gym
4 lifting heavy bad ass weights
5 the grunting and the yelling yeah buddy light weight baby.
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Indeed ! 8)
I'm not entirely convinced he had a good chest though. In the side chest pose his chest is tiny in these pics. Any better ones to prove me wrong?
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I'm not entirely convinced he had a good chest though. In the side chest pose his chest is tiny in these pics. Any better ones to prove me wrong?
This should help you out a little ... sorry for the late Reply, though ... been busy a lot lately. :-\ :)
http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=154371.0
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I grew up in the 80’s with
Conan,
He-man,
WWF,
Testosterone was all around me – even in the f*cking toy stores.
Muscularity seemed the norm, and I wanted it, too.
Still do.
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It's difficult to pinpoint any particular moment when I became interested in bodybuilding, but for sure I was always struck by muscular physiques.
There are several events which spring to mind, though.
One is Tom Platz's appearance on a network chat show over here in the mid-Eighties, long before cable was available. He dropped his pants and the British studio audience's jaws dropped! At home as a kid of around ten, I couldn't believe what I saw.
Another time I was watching one of the Rocky films on TV. I must've commented upon Stallone's physique, 'cos I remember my father pointing out that he (Sly) had built himself to look that way. Not that my father knew or knows anything about BBing; but it's significant that up until then I must have assumed that some men just happen to grow up looking like that!
Perhaps during the same film broadcast, I remember seeing Hulk Hogan as 'Thunder Lips' in the ring with Rocky for a charity exhibition bout. I noted the immense difference in builds, and I think I assumed that maybe the bigger guy just worked harder! ;D
And I recall watching Film '85 with Barry Norman (a long-running Brit TV show) and listening to Norman describing then-new big-time movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, and his Rambo-clone movie Commando. He showed the clip where Arnold's character jumps from the plane's landing gear into a marsh.
(This is around the time when wowsers like the Hollywood Wives began blaming movie stars and rock bands for all the world's ills, and Arnold/Stallone were fave targets for such nerds.)
Anyway, the point is, Arnold was in the right place at the right time for someone like me to be blown away by his physique. God knows what I would've thought if I'd seen a picture of him ten years previously!
Even though I didn't start heaving weights myself until I was 21, I'm sure that the seeds were sown more than ten years before.
TNBT
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I.D. for me it was seeing arnold and lou and the other guy's on the mag's back then. although, those guy's tried to fool people that drugs did not contribute to thier gains. ask dave drapper if his new heart valves are working ok. arnold too. regardless of thier misrepresentation thier physiques got me started.
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Dave Draper is a tiresome git for sure.
I read some of Brother Iron, Sister Steel and knew before too long that I wasn't gonna finish it.
If Draper's trying to tout himself as some sort of high-thinking man apart, he's gone too far by a long stretch.
He gets himself so bogged down in wordiness and conceptuality, his point (if there is one) gets buried in the avalanche.
What is clear in parts, is that Draper (as Roc mentioned) is still trying to distance himself from gear use, and certainly from 'excessive' gear use.
Fuck off, Dave! You get those 21-inchers and chest to match, just from a handful of D'bols as a Christmas treat? LOL!
I have to laugh when bodybuilders downplay their juicing like maybe they oughta be ashamed of it. Duh, guys! Maybe you used a few grams this week, but look out the window, the world's still turning!
Or even better, those natural guys who seem to want a standing ovation for being 'clean' as if the rest of us are dirty rotten fake motherfuckers. LOL! The most pathetic ones are the liars who juice then take part in natural shows. How much of a tight-ass, conflicted child do you have to be!?
So yeah, please don't buy that 'blonde' prick's products, just encourages him.
TNBT
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Watching my younger brother train. I couldn't have him beating the shite out of me because he was making gains. That, and watching Pumping Iron late one night on the midnight movies.
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Watching my younger brother train. I couldn't have him beating the shite out of me because he was making gains. That, and watching Pumping Iron late one night on the midnight movies.
Interesting to note that Meinhard Schwarzenegger took up weight-resistance training for a short while too, and reportedly was more slim-waisted than Arnold, had broader shoulders, and more innate muscularity.
Moot now though, 'cos of course he's long-dead, and he quickly lost interest in the gym.
Which is fair enough. Bodybuilding by its very nature isn't something you can be half-into. Not if you want to be any good!
I think bodybuidling is either in your blood or it ain't.
TNBT
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My older brother had one picture cut out of a mag hanging by the dumbbells in his room. I was like ten but I still remember it was a pic of Yates training biceps in black and white. My brother never did anything with those dumbbells but that pic was all it took for me, been training ever since. Thank You Mr. Yates.
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Great post man! :)
You mean you just strode in and took your brother's neglected dumb-bells?
Nice one LOL!
TNBT
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I guess for me it was Lee Haney's show on ESPN back in the day. Then when Dorian hit the scene it was all over. I was hooked.
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My father brought me magazines home when I was about 12...Zane , Coe and Tinnerino on the cover.
I was very impressed by Zanes calves...and seated calves was the first exercise I did when I first went to the gym at 15. Not chest, not arms...calves!
Also, the Hulk on tv inspired me.
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I was 15 and my girlfriend was really into it- had the hardest ass I had ever (or have ever) seen. I was 5'10" and 110 lbs, so it was embarassing walking around with this amazon chick. I picked up a FLEX with Ray on the cover ('90), saw pictures of Labrada and Benfatto, bought some dumbells, and I was hooked. Put on 40 lbs that year, and 60 since then.
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I was working security at the 2004 Nationals here in Dallas, and seeing those guys is what did it for me. Palumbo was there ( not competing ) I was out in the lobby and saw him come up the escalator , he was wearing shorts and when I saw his legs thats what inspired me to get into bodybuilding. I had no idea who he was at the time but I later saw him in MD. I told him that story at the Europa this past year.
I was in the gym before that but had no idea what I was doing or how to eat and did not no shit about bodybuilding.
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More great stories!
Karl, yours in quite unusual, in that you had to see the guys in the flesh to get truly inspired, rather than the mags/television that puts a rocket up most up most of our asses.
Frog, you musta had something else going on if you got the girl while you were still a bag o' bones! ;)
Mooseman, my first-time-in-the-gym story has parallels with yours.
I began training with my legs foremost in my thoughts. Since I was old enough to be self-conscious (i.e. adolescence) I'd used every excuse in the book not to wear shorts. Looking back, a bunch of my classmates were skinnier than me from the waist down, but anxiety can distort reality, especially at that age.
Anyway, when I borrowed Arnold: The Education... from a buddy who'd bought it but wound up ignoring it, I took on board what Arnold said about legs, and the common temptation to neglect them.
What particularly struck a chord was what he said about calves being the prime muscle of the leg. He pointed out that a guy with poor thighs but great calves will draw compliments for his great legs, but a guy with big thighs and no calves, he'll be singled out as having poor legs.
I went back to the gym with this stuff circling in my head. My workout was squats, standing calves, then whatever else. Perhaps partly as a result of that, my calves are now probably my best muscle group.
TNBT
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When I used to watch the Hulk series, I was still very young, was under the impression that some people just look that way!
Muscular I mean, not green! ;D
Also, Lou was always kinda soft as the Hulk, wasn't he? I guess that was to maximise the Hulk's bulk.
I heard a funny anecdote once from a Hulk producer.
Lou came to hime one day and said Jerry, how come de Incwedible Huwk dudn't hab mo' diawogue?
Jerry replied Well Louie, I just don't think it's a good idea for him to talk... And if he did talk, I don't think he oughta come from Brooklyn!
TNBT ;D
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For me it was seeing bbdr's of shorter stature. Lee Labrada, Rich Gaspari, Franco Columbo and Lee Priest. If they did it I figured I could do it too and they all look awesome.
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I was trying to gain muscle for wrestling season. Got Bob paris' "Beyond Built".