What happened to dan Howard?

[ronrico]

Did Dan and Joe collaborate on the building of the equipment that went in the World gym that Joe owned in Panorama City? This was another great gym, and so easy to get a good workout in.
That gyms equipment seemed almost identical in design to the second World gyms equipment (Venice)

[jwb]

Found this in my collection of old mags

[ronrico]

Thanks JWB, some of those pieces in the picture look so familiar to the equipment in world gym 1 & 2 and the one in panorama city.
Great stuff thanks for the memories!!

[jwb]

Thanks JWB, some of those pieces in the picture look so familiar to the equipment in world gym 1 & 2 and the one in panorama city.
Great stuff thanks for the memories!!

yeah I think Dan played a big role in the equipment in all those gyms… supposedly George Turners gym in St Louis had the same equipment also.

Flex Fitness definitely lifted the 45 leg press design as well as the humped leg curl.

[WroldGym2]

I was one of the first to enroll in May 1979 and it actually was called "Dan Howards World Gym" in the beginning.
There were T-Shirts and shorts with the familiar World Gym Ape Logo selling in the front glass case, of which I bought and wore some.
Kal Szkalak was managing and the first summer it would usually be just Kal and I in the afternoons,after I was out of class, unfortunate for me, since Kal always wanted to use me as added ballast on some movement..
Kal actually had a notebook at the old Gold's, and in it was making sketches and notes of all the equipment, for Dan to duplicate at the Fountain Valley Gym his wife funded..and said he feared Joe would see him and kick him out of the gym for thieving his ideas..
And yes..Boyers equipment did pop up a little later..but it seemed heavily Arthur Jones influenced with cams and no one used it..in the picture of Dan thats Boyers BodyMaster Line in the lower right, gold in color.
Dan would usually be out back in overalls fabricating more pieces..it was a very quiet summer..

Also, DH was a judge at the O in 1980..and at another time, he and Arnold briefly had started a company, "The Association". So there was a friendship. Dan place Arbnold 2nd that year, and Arnold would not speak with him after that. Dan later said as a judge, that Arnold of then was not competing against the earlier version. In the contest of course. In peoples minds....another matter...

[funk51]

there is an article on howard in the mag pic'd below.

[Gym Rat]

This was a great thread to read, excellent!!

[Vince B]

Dan Howard was at the 1980 Mr Olympia in Sydney. He had a line of equipment he was promoting. He gave me several large prints of some of his equipment. I told my wife that I could build similar equipment. In 1981 I retired from teaching PE and rented a factory to make gym equipment. Dan favoured 2 X 2 inch steel hollow sections and I made most of my frames the same way. I had previously built a few pieces in a room at my gym in 1975. I acquired a mig welder, radial drill, cut off saw and a lathe and away I went, learning along the way. I never copied any equipment exactly and my policy was I would give away any equipment that was a copy. Quite the challenge designing and fabricating equipment. Early on I started using linear motion bearings for Smith Machines and leg presses. Those bearings solved the friction problem in the Smith Machine. The test was to lift the bar from the side weight holder. Previously, with chains and sprockets, that wasn’t possible. Dan used wheels on his leg press sleds but I never liked them partly for safety issues. Linear bearings delivered an almost frictionless movement.

[Vince B]

Dan’s design for the 45 degree leg press influenced everyone. The vertical leg press was replaced and for good safety reasons. Dan used wheels but I saw an old hack squat in the gym I bought in 1971 that had the wheels flattened on two sides so they merely slid instead of rolling. I figured there had to be a better solution. This is where linear bearings helps. Trouble is they require absolute precision to make sure the guide rods are parallel and on the same plane. I used self-aligning linear bearings that allowed the heaviest loads. Also 1 1/2” chromed, induction hardened shafts. My apparatus allowed two options…laying flat or sitting. The seat was also on linear bearings so could be adjusted. I also installed shock absorbers as I hated users banging the weights.

[jwb]

Dan Howard was at the 1980 Mr Olympia in Sydney. He had a line of equipment he was promoting. He gave me several large prints of some of his equipment. I told my wife that I could build similar equipment. In 1981 I retired from teaching PE and rented a factory to make gym equipment. Dan favoured 2 X 2 inch steel hollow sections and I made most of my frames the same way. I had previously built a few pieces in a room at my gym in 1975. I acquired a mig welder, radial drill, cut off saw and a lathe and away I went, learning along the way. I never copied any equipment exactly and my policy was I would give away any equipment that was a copy. Quite the challenge designing and fabricating equipment. Early on I started using linear motion bearings for Smith Machines and leg presses. Those bearings solved the friction problem in the Smith Machine. The test was to lift the bar from the side weight holder. Previously, with chains and sprockets, that wasn’t possible. Dan used wheels on his leg press sleds but I never liked them partly for safety issues. Linear bearings delivered an almost frictionless movement.

Having linear bearings on your weight stacks also set your equipment apart from other gyms in Sydney.

That must have cost a fortune though.

[Sunday]

Dan’s design for the 45 degree leg press influenced everyone. The vertical leg press was replaced and for good safety reasons. Dan used wheels but I saw an old hack squat in the gym I bought in 1971 that had the wheels flattened on two sides so they merely slid instead of rolling. I figured there had to be a better solution. This is where linear bearings helps. Trouble is they require absolute precision to make sure the guide rods are parallel and on the same plane. I used self-aligning linear bearings that allowed the heaviest loads. Also 1 1/2” chromed, induction hardened shafts. My apparatus allowed two options…laying flat or sitting. The seat was also on linear bearings so could be adjusted. I also installed shock absorbers as I hated users banging the weights.

The original Smith Machine invented by Jack LaLane was produced by Rudy Smith which is were the name Smith Machine came from. I have several pieces of equipment from the original World Gym and parts from the Smith Machine Joe modified are one of them. Linear bushings were a game changer when they came out. Here is a picture of the original Smith Machine from the Vic Tanny gyms of the late 50's. Since Linear bushings were not around, Joe had a cable system that kept the bar straight.

[Sunday]

People always wonder how the design of the 45 degree leg press came to be. Kal Szkalak was in the original World Gym where Joe had a big green hack squat machine near the counter. It had rollers that rolled in a piece of C channel. Joe was in the barber chair (that Zabo took naps in), and Dan was leaning over the counter when Kal went upside down on the hack squat machine with his back on the foot pad, and  his feet on the pads that you normally put your shoulders under. He then started doing leg presses on it.
Joe looked at Dan and said "Are you thinking what I'm thinking". Dan's reply was "Yep". (It happened on a Sunday which is how I knew about it.) I thought Joe was going to yell at Kal for screwing around but didn't.) The last I heard Kal was into bike racing, and was working as a personnel trainer in a gym in the Dana Point / San Juan Capistrano area of South Orange County. Years ago at the original World Gym, Jake from "Body by Jake, trainer to the stars" was Kal's training partner. Would love for Kal to confirm the story on the leg press.

[Sunday]

there is an article on howard in the mag pic'd below.

I believe it was Roy Leidelmeyer's brother that bought Howard's Gym when Dan sold it.