My interest in lifting weight started, from watching pro wrestling, specifically superstars like Lex Luger, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, the Road Warriors/Legion of Doom, and my favorite as a kid, Hulk Hogan.
As far as pro bodybuilders go, two bodybuilders come to mind, because they refuted two of the biggest myths, as it relates to bodybuilding.
Mike Mentzer shot down myth #1: that you have to lift all day, everyday, and kill yourself every session. He had a beginner program that instructed to lift three times per week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), doing 3 sets of 10 for each bodypart.
The magazine from which I got this information was Muscle & Fitness, the July 1988 issue (I think).
The other pro bodybuilder was the very first Mr. Olympia, Larry Scott. He and Betty Weider were on the cover of that M&F magazine. It displayed a current picture of the two of them and an inset of a cover that they did 20 years earlier.
When I found the article on Scott, my jaw hit the floor, when I discovered that he was nearly 50 years old. I couldn't believe it. Except for a few wrinkles and a slightly-receeded hairline, Scott looked just as big at 50 as he did at 50 (to my untrained teenage eye, at least).
That chopped down myth #2: The tired, "when you get old, all that muscle turns to fat" spiel.
From that point forward, I was hooked. I really wanted to pump iron. Since my family didn't have cable, at the time, I couldn't watch shows like American Muscle. So, Florida Championship Wrestling, NWA World Championship Wrestling, WWF Superstars, and WWF Wrestling Challenge provided the on-screen bodybuilders.
That's also why you need fat wrestlers. It makes the muscular wrestlers look good. What wrestling fan will ever forget "The Slam Heard 'Round the World" (Hulk Hogan bodyslamming Andre the Giant at WrestleMania 3, in front of 93,000 people)?
