Getbig.com: American Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure
Getbig Main Boards => Gossip & Opinions => Topic started by: ScottWelch on March 21, 2008, 10:53:23 PM
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Naked B1tches
More Gear Talk
Less Ads
More stories on the stupidity of pros
Naked B1tches
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Include some coverage of strength sports. Iron Man should cover all aspects of the iron game as Peary Rader did from the beginning.
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More ads and half naked women :)
J/K
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The magazine is fine. Print magazines are on their way to death. Just let it be.
This reminds me of those posts where people ask how to make bodybuilding marketable. As if people believe there is anything that can be done. ;D
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Less ads. Bring back Larry Scott's column.
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staple down the center (that is, make it 120 pages or less), fewer ads, more photos of up and coming amateurs, more contest coverage, including non-IFBB and NPC events, coverage of other strength and fitness events.
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The magazine is fine. Print magazines are on their way to death. Just let it be.
This reminds me of those posts where people ask how to make bodybuilding marketable. As if people believe there is anything that can be done. ;D
You mean there's no demand by the masses, for man in thongs?
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If you had the chance to improve any aspect of Iron Man to make it a better mag, what would you do to improve it? I'm meeting with the owner John Balik this week and I would love to collect your constructive feedback and pass it on to him as he's always looking for ways to improve his magazine.
Thanks guys,
Scott Welch
I've already met with John Balik last week and discussed this.
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- Improvement is needed in the contest coverage.
-Move away from the men's health style of articles.
- More articles from Rob Thoburn.
- More new photo's, the mag has used to death it's 90's libraries.
- Interactive info with it's website is the way to go.
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You can get rid of all the fitness models and put freaky mass monsters only instead.
If I want to see some hot chic,i prefer to buy some porno mags.
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sell it back to peary rader, he knew how to put out a quality mag. too bad he's dead so i guess they should just fold it.
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(http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=206856.0;attach=241632;image)
Wow. The guy is huge. Are there gear already or natural?
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staple down the center (that is, make it 120 pages or less), fewer ads, more photos of up and coming amateurs, more contest coverage, including non-IFBB and NPC events, coverage of other strength and fitness events.
Yeah return it to its roots, with peary rader.....cover powerlifting, calisthenic workouts, look back in history of mag to make it stand out....
In fact there is a big part of the sport that is older now and would love to see old articles from past re-published.........the old mags from the 50's 60's 70's. This is agreat idea!!!! And return it to original size too, these are thinga that would catch on in a hurry. Most guys want the good ol days back,,,,,,
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Tits.
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if you want girls in a bbing mag just buy a porn mag.
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You guys need to change everything.
Seriously, that's the last mag that I would read
if I had to buy a Mag, it would be Flex, then MD, then MuscleMag, only then I would buy an Ironman Mag.
The magazine needs more contest coverage/bodybuilding talk
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YES! Or this pic without the bikini
I'd like to turn my hand sideways and give her an unexpected shocker.
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if you want girls in a bbing mag just buy a porn mag.
Yeah but then you'd have to buy 2 magazines, I know 99.9999976% of getbig are millionaires, but magazines prices aint cheap anymore.
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Yeah but then you'd have to buy 2 magazines, I know 99.9999976% of getbig are millionaires, but magazines prices aint cheap anymore.
i dont see why theres a need for a porn mag anyway since theres internet but that goes the same for bodybuilding mags which are filled with the same crap every month.
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The magazine is fine. Print magazines are on their way to death. Just let it be.
This reminds me of those posts where people ask how to make bodybuilding marketable. As if people believe there is anything that can be done. ;D
Folks have been saying that for the last 5 years; yet FLEX, IronMan, MuscleMag, Planet Muscle, Muscle & Fitness, Natural Bodybuilding & Fitness, etc. are still here.
In fact, over the years, Planet Muscle has grown from a magazine that GNC used to give away, whenever you made a purchase, to a full-blown bodybuilding publication.
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What's wrong with Ironman? I haven't read it much but why would other mags be better? My impression was that Ironman was better.
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You mean there's no demand by the masses, for man in thongs?
We have a winner!
As if this is some conspiracy theory. When YouTube crushed the bodybuilding DVD market and resulted in a personal loss to myself or 40% of my revenue, did I fight it? No...I realized the market was gone and tried to catch the next wave. In my case, I decided to focus more on supplements since you can't download them.
This is like an elevator operator trying to maintain his job once the system became automated. It's actually quite unintelligent thinking in my opinion. Quit trying, and join up with the Megalodon that is bodybuilding.com. That is a sure way to make money. Or keep trying your own way, fail, and I will be here to say I told you so. Hope this helps.
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Folks have been saying that for the last 5 years; yet FLEX, IronMan, MuscleMag, Planet Muscle, Muscle & Fitness, Natural Bodybuilding & Fitness, etc. are still here.
In fact, over the years, Planet Muscle has grown from a magazine that GNC used to give away, whenever you made a purchase, to a full-blown bodybuilding publication.
Sure, there are exceptions, but as a general trend, magazines are going the way of the dodo. Not exactly a conspiracy theory.
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Go with the old format, just make it the same size as other mags on the shelf ( so it won't get lost.)
Do a 50% -50% first half new articles on real workouts. Use Kris from kegged muscle for your photos he has unique and beautiful shots. The second half, reprint old articles from 60's 70' and 80's, with same pics, just format the page a little different. The second half should be like the stuff over on IronAge ( a great site.)
have old school adds, if Muscle tech ( or anyone ) wants an ad, work with them to make a specific retro ad for IronMan.
Get behind Vince Taylor as an editor / monthly contributor. Get him on the staff make him a part of things, he has a loyal following.
The beef
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all bodybuilding mags seem to be nothing more than supplement catalogs, the first improvement is obvious for any of them, remore about 75% of the ads, ALSO have some criteria on screening of the ads, meaning the outrageous ads with unrealistic claims should not be allowed, it's insulting to the intelligence of the reader and not fair to the uneducated in the industry that believe this crap, i.e. naive teens.
that would be a start.
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You can get rid of all the fitness models and put freaky mass monsters only instead.
If I want to see some hot chic,i prefer to buy some porno mags.
Learn to use the Internet.
:D
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if I had to buy a Mag, it would be Flex, then MD, then MuscleMag, only then I would buy an Ironman Mag.
Flex, MD, MuscleMag, Muscle & Fitness and only then Ironman. :-\
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Simply copy the MD formula it works and I only pick up their magazine because nothing comes close, see here is why that formula works, flex, m&f is picked up by schmoes they are not dedicated to bodybuilding, MD because it has real content people make it a point to pick up month in a and month out hence they are growing by leaps and bounds.
Now here is your mistake, you think that posting a few swimsuit photos will help sales, well you know by now that dont work, magazines that have full hardcore sections dont sell anymore, its not 1980 anymore its 2008 that stuff dont sell in magazines hence FHM is already out of business and almost all that banked on bikini or even sex photos are heading to bankrupcy court.
So this is the only way to rescue the mag.
Real content, stop with those stupid pages on how to do pushups and how many reps and sets to do for chest, you dont need those fly by night readers.
Now lets remember tabloids make money, why because they have juicy gossip.
So the cover should stop reading "Add 12 inches to your arm in 14 days" and start reading something about industry gossip, and stuff like "The truth about Dbol" etc real stuff not the stupid shit
The content should be Q&A's with pros and write ups from pros just like MD, make sure the Q&A are real not every answer is "Drink nitrotech"
Write about steroids that sells end of story and that has a following,
You have 2 choices be out of business guaranteed within 12-18 months or make drastic changes ASAP
I understabd you are up against the same mindset of people that dont listen, people like old guys at blockbuster who didnt think netflix is a threat people like steve balmer that laughed at google, my point being they need to learn its a new world and give younger guys who keep up with that world total control and let them change everything about the mag.
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Go with the old format, just make it the same size as other mags on the shelf ( so it won't get lost.)
Do a 50% -50% first half new articles on real workouts. Use Kris from kegged muscle for your photos he has unique and beautiful shots. The second half, reprint old articles from 60's 70' and 80's, with same pics, just format the page a little different. The second half should be like the stuff over on IronAge ( a great site.)
have old school adds, if Muscle tech ( or anyone ) wants an ad, work with them to make a specific retro ad for IronMan.
Get behind Vince Taylor as an editor / monthly contributor. Get him on the staff make him a part of things, he has a loyal following.
The beef
Exactly. retro articles would be great. Id subscribe in a heartbeat...
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1st get those 2 xrep guys to stop lying about not talking gear - it insults the readers intelligence.
2nd no more ghost written articles.
3rd start funding and reporting real ongoing scientific studies,
for example:
take 10 guys with equal caloric and macronutirent ratios, but work them with different workout styles i.e. hit, volume, doggcrapp, take the results for hypertrophy and strength. then start again with strength workouts i.e. westside, metal malitia, 5x5 etc. then compare the 2 winners.
compare steroids. like dbol vs deca. ( obviously run this in a country where its allowed) for muscle gain and strength.
yes these sorts of studies have been done before, but very few have totally reliable testing methods etc.
the potential is endless, and you wouldn't even need to pay the participents - many would get involved for both the love of the game, and for some the publicity.
thats just to get you going. if you want any more tips, get me on the payroll 8)
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Sure, there are exceptions, but as a general trend, magazines are going the way of the dodo. Not exactly a conspiracy theory.
Which ones would those be?
The only magazines I've see go away over the last 10-15 years have been Muscle Media and Pump!
Pump's demise seem to, as I've said elsewhere, coincide with the demise of the supplement company that backed (So Cal Sports, I believe), whose main products were prohormones and ma-huang-based fatburners. A handful of upstart publications came from companies like that.
MuscleTech would have met the same fate (and perhaps MuscleMag International, along with it) had the company not shifted its focus from Hydroxycut and the prohormones (Anotesten and Nortesten) to Cell-Tech and Nitro-Tech.
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peary rader's ironman was always a solid mag selling quality equipment and giving good advice from day one, and yes they even gave steroid advice back in the day.
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I have read IRONMAN since 1970s. (but now I did not)
*More pro bber columns ,even top amateurs.
*More foreign edition (has Japanese already).because too many bb mags in US already,
but like in Asia ,still need more bb mags here (local language & English both).
*more contest reports ,not just NPC.
Need World's ,European ,Asian......amateur contest's reports....
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*More foreign edition (has Japanese already).because too many bb mags in US already,
but like in Asia ,still need more bb mags here (local language & English both).
for most of the bodybuilding mags, including Ironman, the foreign editions are franchises. they are separate local companies that pay a licensing fee to use the name. they have their own editors, staff, and printers. they have the right to use each others content, but mostly they do not.
The September 2004 issue of Australian Ironman had a very nice article (http://www.musclememory.com/wiki/index.php?title=MuscleMemory_Press) about me and my website. The US version had the right to reprint it, but chose not to.
They sent me a few copies of that issue of Australian Ironman, and the most noticeable thing about it is how uncluttered it seems. fewer ads, but also lots of space between the text, headlines and pics.
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I, too, am a fan of the little yellow IronMan. If you could find a way to copy that mix (say 40% bodybuilding, 40% WL, PL, Strongman, 20% other), you'd have a great magazine.
Throw in a section for half naked fitness girls, and a few pages for a decent, but not assholish drug guru, and it would be all the better.
I think the best years for IronMan were the Peary Rader years and that short period(1998-2000) where they were a bit more experimental.
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The magazine is fine. Print magazines are on their way to death. Just let it be.
This reminds me of those posts where people ask how to make bodybuilding marketable. As if people believe there is anything that can be done. ;D
Print mags in general, yes, nitche mags like bodybuilding mags not necessarily...
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I heard when Peary Rader was retiring and wanted someone to take over the magazine. I always thought that would be a great job. However, why would anyone nowadays want to be the editor of a muscle magazine?
What has changed is that guys used drugs in the old days but it was insider/underground stuff and no one was really admitting to using such drugs. Today those drugs are classified as illegal to own and use without a prescription. Sort of changes everything.
What information do bodybuilders need to become Mr Olympia or Mr Universe? Do they need to know how to train and which equipment is best, etc.? Or do they need a guru to advise them on which drugs to take and for how long and how to avoid gynocomastia, if that is avoidable?
The drug use has killed hypertrophy theory and it seems irrelevant because just about everyone believes you just need the right drugs and genetics and voila, Mr Olympia. That isn't true but many believe it to be. The point is people aren't buying magazines to find information any more. That is the difference between today and the good old days.
I would advise John Balik to hire a true expert in bodybuilding. He could also introduce proper scientific experts in bodybuilding to his team. That is, if there are any such experts out there. It would be refreshing if someone came along and was honest about the supplements. Guess that magazine wouldn't have any ads then! How hard is it to actually pay photographers and writers for good photos and articles? I remember issues of the old magazines that had full page photos of every Mr America. Stuff like that would still be a treat to have.
If you don't have the vision then no one can help you.
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Here's an idea:
VOUCH FOR YOUR ADVERTISERS
When supplement company X wants to purchase a full page ad (~$5k) for some product (say: Protein Powder X), someone from IRONMAN should head to the nearest GNC and buy a tub of said protein powder and send it off to a qualified lab for a full quality analysis.
Send the labs bill to the supplement company, then and only then should the ad go to print... with the lab analysis included.
Granted, the snakeoil companies would no longer advertise in IRONMAN, but you can bet most supplement consumers would pick up a copy of the mag... the increase in readership and prestige afforded by an IRONMAN magazine endorsement would allow you to charge whatever you want for ad space.
God I'm clever...
The Luke
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i say go all the way out law lots of talk about scandal and steroids you wont be able to go mainstream as flex and muscle mag have that part wrapped up i say go sub culture look at how busy this place is and its main talks are gossip and drugs
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Maybe John surrounds himself with staff who agree with him? Not a formula for getting original ideas out there. I never bought that positions of flexion stuff. Neither should anyone else.
I stopped writing for muscle magazines after my articles in Ironman in 2000-01. I prefer to post my ideas on the internet or keep them to myself. Few editors have a clue about hypertrophy. It is a waste of my time to write for them.
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dedicate the magazine to the followin years:
1983 thru 1997.
That's it.
haney and dorian year.
You have ironage for all the old shit, and getbig/md for everything coleman on.
the 'golden years' of bodybuilding were teh best.
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You guys need to change everything.
Seriously, that's the last mag that I would read
if I had to buy a Mag, it would be Flex, then MD, then MuscleMag, only then I would buy an Ironman Mag.
The magazine needs more contest coverage/bodybuilding talk, advice from personal trainers.
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Thanks. I try :-* Anyway, when you sneak dudes into the basement, how do you keep your parents from hearing? Serious question
We don't have basements here in Ireland... they'd be moats pretty quickly.
I was actually being serious with my comment though Panda, you're not funny enough to contribute so little.
The Luke
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We don't have basements here in Ireland... they'd be moats pretty quickly.
I was actually being serious with my comment though Panda, you're not funny enough to contribute so little.
The Luke
coming from an unemployed thirty something "guy" who lives with "his" parents, I'll take that as a compliment :-*
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coming from an unemployed thirty something "guy" who lives with "his" parents, I'll take that as a compliment :-*
...wow, running someone else down about something they openly admitted and presumably aren't ashamed of, that's very original coming from you Panda.
I was being serious... you contribute nothing to this board... just as you've contributed nothing to this discussion... your posts are painfully predictable and unfunny; the same lame catchphrases; the same lame putdowns; the same painfully obvious transference of your own latent homosexuality.
You, sir, could be replaced with an automated response program.
The "You're so gay..." Luke
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...wow, running someone else down about something they openly admitted and presumably aren't ashamed of, that's very original coming from you Panda.
I was being serious... you contribute nothing to this board... just as you've contributed nothing to this discussion... your posts are painfully predictable and unfunny; the same lame catchphrases; the same lame putdowns; the same painfully obvious transference of your own latent homosexuality.
You, sir, could be replaced with an automated response program.
The "You're so gay..." Luke
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:-\
...an emoticon does not constitute discussion.
Either give us your thoughts on how to improve IRONMAN magazine or run back to one of your soon-to-be-deleted troll boards where you can accuse others of your own homosexual tendencies.
The Luke
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Sure it does. FOR EXAMPLE.... " :'( " means your sister gave me a bad blowjob last night :D
what does it mean when The Luke uses " :'( " ?
;D
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what does it mean when The Luke uses " :'( " ?
;D
hahaha I ain't even gonna go there. What "he" does in the privacy of "his" own family isn't any of my business...I just don't like it when "his" sister overcharges for a BJ :D
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what does it mean when The Luke uses " :'( " ?
;D
It means Uncle Teddy is coming over..........
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for most of the bodybuilding mags, including Ironman, the foreign editions are franchises. they are separate local companies that pay a licensing fee to use the name. they have their own editors, staff, and printers. they have the right to use each others content, but mostly they do not.
The September 2004 issue of Australian Ironman had a very nice article (http://www.musclememory.com/wiki/index.php?title=MuscleMemory_Press) about me and my website. The US version had the right to reprint it, but chose not to.
They sent me a few copies of that issue of Australian Ironman, and the most noticeable thing about it is how uncluttered it seems. fewer ads, but also lots of space between the text, headlines and pics.
Agree
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I was being serious... you contribute nothing to this board... just as you've contributed nothing to this discussion... your posts are painfully predictable and unfunny; the same lame catchphrases; the same lame putdowns; the same painfully obvious transference of your own latent homosexuality.
You, sir, could be replaced with an automated response program.
The "You're so gay..." Luke
Seems to me that criticism applies to all of us at Getbig! :)
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the guy that bought ironman john balik was pictured in the first bbing mag i ever bought in the young stars section. so he should know better. the mag he was in was better than the current ironman.
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how about a slightly less compressed version of that file
(http://musclememory.com/magCovers/sh/sh6609.jpg)
and then a pic of Balik
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good pic tim balik was slightly younger in the 66 pic in strength and health. a couple pics of my favorite ironman mags, when it was a good mag.
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a couple pics of my favorite ironman mags, when it was a good mag.
where are you getting these scans? They are originally from my site (http://musclememory.com/mags.php?im), as you can tell by the creases in the binding. but they've since been highly compressed, as you can tell by the little swirls around the edges.
(http://musclememory.com/magCovers/im/im2906.jpg)
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I've got bodybuilding mags going back to 1947. One day I will start scanning them and put them online at full resolution. Ditto for heaps of those old photos.
I used to buy all the bodybuilding magazines that I could find. Mostly from 1960 to about 1995 when I stopped buying all of them. I acquired some bound volumes of some old British magazines dating back to 1950. Ah, the good old days when Mr Universe was coveted.
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I've got bodybuilding mags going back to 1947. One day I will start scanning them and put them online at full resolution. Ditto for heaps of those old photos.
I used to buy all the bodybuilding magazines that I could find. Mostly from 1960 to about 1995 when I stopped buying all of them. I acquired some bound volumes of some old British magazines dating back to 1950. Ah, the good old days when Mr Universe was coveted.
That would be f*ckin awesome. Post some photos of arnold Vs. sergio that no one here has seen!
P.S. less ads would be #1 mag
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I've got bodybuilding mags going back to 1947. One day I will start scanning them and put them online at full resolution. Ditto for heaps of those old photos.
from 1998 to 2002 I scanned for my website over 2500 magazines, most at 300 dpi. however no one had broadband back then, and you use to get charged for your bandwidth, so there was no way I could upload them that big. Most are 400 pixels wide. sooner or later I'll get around to uploading higher res pics.
and sooner or later I'll get back to adding to my table of contents database (http://musclememory.com/toc/). Right now I have in a database the table of contents of every US bodybuilding magazine through 1970. haven't been able to add to it recently, as I've had to make money to pay the rent.
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tim i got the scans off musclememory.com one of my favorite history sites, i do own all the mags pictured however.
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Casey Viator's arm looks huge as a teenager......
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Less ads. Bring back Larry Scott's column.
Less abs..............fixed
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Hire Tony Monchinski and allow him to give adequate coverage to power lifting
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if you go on ebay, there's three collections of muscle mags up for sale 50 mix of muscle builders musclemag, muscular developement. another bundle of 42 ironman mags including the arnold cover. and finally 12 mr america's mags. all mags from 60's and early 70's.
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Tim Fogarty,
I'd be very interested to get your opinion on my idea of vouching for the advertisers:
VOUCH FOR YOUR ADVERTISERS
When supplement company X wants to purchase a full page ad (~$5k) for some product (say: Protein Powder X), someone from IRONMAN should head to the nearest GNC and buy a tub of said protein powder and send it off to a qualified lab for a full quality analysis.
Send the labs bill to the supplement company, then and only then should the ad go to print... with the lab analysis included.
Granted, the snakeoil companies would no longer advertise in IRONMAN, but you can bet most supplement consumers would pick up a copy of the mag... the increase in readership and prestige afforded by an IRONMAN magazine endorsement would allow you to charge whatever you want for ad space.
God I'm clever...
The Luke
...wouldn't that step, and relying less on the bullshit supplement manufacturers for your advertising income lend IRONMAN some modicum of the respect/integrity sadly lacking in the field. That would win over a loyal readership base.
Perhaps an added emphasis on natural bodybuilding would help... but instead of calling Jeff Willet a natural while simultaneously running articles in which 300 lb IFBB pros also claim to be naturals, IRONMAN should label steroid users ("Chemical Bodybuilding" perhaps) and confront the steroid issue head on.
-run articles on exactly what lifts/measurements constitute a good natural base (maximum natural size)
-emphasize that only those who have reached their maximum natural size should even consider steroid use
-put an emphasis on pre-steroid era bodybuilding
-cover other athletes who lift weights for their sport
-print/summarize in layman's terms the latest nutritional research
-do star profiles on inspirational bodybuilders such as Chet Yorton who stayed natural and keep lifting into their 60s
-stop the ghost written articles
-admit the role steroids play in bodybuilding
-admit steroids work
-cover the health/criminal problems encountered by those who use steroids; be candid about the fact that steroids aren't particularly dangerous... but don't skip over the statistical evidence that steroid users are a high risk group for other (associated) risk factors
...basically, turn IRONMAN into a magazine expounding the benefit of weight training as a way of life. Not a magazine that glorifies the sorry state of affairs that bodybuilding has become.
The Luke