Golds Gym - "The Mecca", when it really was "The Mecca"

[wes]

Never saw King other than contest time. Cool physique.  

Yeah,we trained at the same 2 gyms since he was a teenager.

Really one of the nicest guys you could meet,real laidback and always willing to help people out as long as it wasn`t during his workout

[Spicoli]

Don`t you hate those kind of guys...........lucky bastards ?  

They just look at the weights and they start growing. One of my old training partners did half the work I did and half the disipline but had genetics that beat any GH15 cycle. Dude never touched a AAS,slin or HGH but looked like he lived in it. He used to take 6 months off and then be back in top shape in 8 weeks. Truely lucky bastards.

[wes]

Here`s a rarely seen pic of King that a buddy of mine took years ago at central City Gym in Springfield Mass.

[tommywishbone]

You're welcome. Glad you liked them!


I hate people like that.
What was his training like?

I trained with him several times. If I remember- he liked moderate weight, continuous tension stuff. Never locked any reps out. Good control. Above average volume. Nothing remarkable.  Darin was strong- Incline press 315 sets of 6-8.  High bar close stance squats 405 x 10-12 no locking out.

Again; he was in the top-5 of all the Gold's Venice cats I ever saw as far as "responding"  Only Mike Christian comes to mind as responding faster to less. Christian's transformations were CRAZY. Darin's were close.

[wes]

They just look at the weights and they start growing. One of my old training partners did half the work I did and half the disipline but had genetics that beat any GH15 cycle. Dude never touched a AAS,slin or HGH but looked like he lived in it. He used to take 6 months off and then be back in top shape in 8 weeks. Truely lucky bastards.

I knew this black dude named Willie.........(knew him for years but never asked him his last name  ).............this fucking guy trained like a pansy and ate garbage.........had about 18" arms all the time,29-30 inch waist,and could bench 315 for reps anytime he wanted to but never went over 225 in his "workouts".

I put workouts in quotation marks because as an example,he would do 20 pound cable curls while talking to some broad and his arms were insane looking.


He never did any drugs other than smoke some herb before his workout! 

[wes]

They just look at the weights and they start growing. One of my old training partners did half the work I did and half the disipline but had genetics that beat any GH15 cycle. Dude never touched a AAS,slin or HGH but looked like he lived in it. He used to take 6 months off and then be back in top shape in 8 weeks. Truely lucky bastards.

Seen it a million times,I hate that shit......it`s just not fair!!  LOL 

[Montague]

he liked moderate weight, continuous tension stuff. Never locked any reps out. Good control. Above average volume.

Thanks!!
I find that interesting, and I believe there's a lot to be said for that style of training.

[stuntmovie]

I  met Darin while he was working at Gold's and could not believe how great his arms were. Didn't he have a brother who  was also damn impressive?

WES, I have  not met 'millions' who could smell the iron in the air and get results but in my lifetime I've had 3 good friends who had never lifted  weighs but could give Jeff or Darin good competition  after a few short months in the gym.

In fact B. Grant and I were giving a bodybuilding seminar on one of the MC bases and as we were leaving one of the Marines asked us if it was possible for him to enter a BB contest within 6 weeks without embarrassing himself.

He took off his shirt and we immediately said. "Hell yea! How many years hane you been training?".

His answer was, "Three months, sir".

So we went back inside and showed him what to do (no roids) and 6 weeks  later he won the state title, got out of the corps, moved to Venice and  became the 'Mayor' of Gold's Gym in SM with a bodybuilding role in The Incredible Hulk, a photo shoot with the Play-girls at Hefner's mansion (one shot was published), and a decent poster that made him $300 and the photographer over half a million (so I have been told).

Has there ever been a study conducted why some guys like this and Darin and King and very few others can add muscle growth simply by breathing the air within a hard core gym?

The other twe were a doctor who loved to surf  and a factory worker who lifted heavy thing things all day while he was still in high school.

Some of you older Gold's guys probably know the 3 I'm spoeaking about

[wes]

There`s a lot of regular guys I`ve seen over the years,who if they trained,could be great bodybuilders but simply aren`t interested in it at all.

Genetics rule!!

[wes]

I  met Darin while he was working at Gold's and could not believe how great his arms were. Didn't he have a brother who  was also damn impressive?

WES, I have  not met 'millions' who could smell the iron in the air and get results but in my lifetime I've had 3 good friends who had never lifted  weighs but could give Jeff or Darin good competition  after a few short months in the gym.

In fact B. Grant and I were giving a bodybuilding seminar on one of the MC bases and as we were leaving one of the Marines asked us if it was possible for him to enter a BB contest within 6 weeks without embarrassing himself.

He took off his shirt and we immediately said. "Hell yea! How many years hane you been training?".

His answer was, "Three months, sir".

So we went back inside and showed him what to do (no roids) and 6 weeks  later he won the state title, got out of the corps, moved to Venice and  became the 'Mayor' of Gold's Gym in SM with a bodybuilding role in The Incredible Hulk, a photo shoot with the Play-girls at Hefner's mansion (one shot was published), and a decent poster that made him $300 and the photographer over half a million (so I have been told).

Has there ever been a study conducted why some guys like this and Darin and King and very few others can add muscle growth simply by breathing the air within a hard core gym?

The other twe were a doctor who loved to surf  and a factory worker who lifted heavy thing things all day while he was still in high school.

Some of you older Gold's guys probably know the 3 I'm spoeaking about

Stunt,I was exaggerating slightly with the millions thing! 

My guess on the 3 guys would be:
Craig Whitehead
Sergio Oliva
Ernie Santiago

I know I`m wrong but had to throw something out there. 

[stuntmovie]

WES, Thanks! I completely understood your exaggeration and I gotta thank you for your three guesses with an additional comment (as per usual) about each of them:

I don't believe I ever met Dr Craig Whitehead (USAF) but possibly could have through Bill Starr or Larry Pacifico. There is an interesting story there which a more knowledgeable GetBigger may be able to talk about.

Sergio ... I met Sergio shortly after he 'deserted ship' (early 60's) and then on numerous occasions throughout his career. We had many talks and he was a great fan of Keiths.

Interesting Sergio stories also but the last time I saw him is whem Jeff Everson invited myself and Keith to assist Serg when he was a guest in Jeff's Planet Muscle booth at the Arnold Expo. (More on that later).

And it's interesting that you mentiomed Ernie (USMC). Many years ago I trained another Marine who came out of the blue and won a few BB events so Ernie called me to ask if I'd work with him and I'm proud to say that he went on to win two national titles within the same year. I recall those being the Jr USA and the Jr Nationals.

But each of the above had to work exceptionally hard to make it possible. The three individuals I referred to earlier would "double in muscular size" the moment they
'smelt' the iron.

That's an exaggeration of course but I think you get the picture.

SPICOLI, Thanks for the mem ory jolt regarding the very rare individuals who make muscle gains easily'

Slightly more to follow.

[Spicoli]

I knew this black dude named Willie.........(knew him for years but never asked him his last name  ).............this fucking guy trained like a pansy and ate garbage.........had about 18" arms all the time,29-30 inch waist,and could bench 315 for reps anytime he wanted to but never went over 225 in his "workouts".

I put workouts in quotation marks because as an example,he would do 20 pound cable curls while talking to some broad and his arms were insane looking.


He never did any drugs other than smoke some herb before his workout! 

Hahaha same with this guy too. He said it gave him an insane mind muscle connection and helped him isolate each muscle he was training to the extreme. He owns a coffeeshop in the red light district so he was always smoking 

[DroppingPlates]

Just added on YT; Ric Drasin and his buddies

[Spicoli]

WES, Thanks! I completely understood your exaggeration and I gotta thank you for your three guesses with an additional comment (as per usual) about each of them:

I don't believe I ever met Dr Craig Whitehead (USAF) but possibly could have through Bill Starr or Larry Pacifico. There is an interesting story there which a more knowledgeable GetBigger may be able to talk about.

Sergio ... I met Sergio shortly after he 'deserted ship' (early 60's) and then on numerous occasions throughout his career. We had many talks and he was a great fan of Keiths.

Interesting Sergio stories also but the last time I saw him is whem Jeff Everson invited myself and Keith to assist Serg when he was a guest in Jeff's Planet Muscle booth at the Arnold Expo. (More on that later).

And it's interesting that you mentiomed Ernie (USMC). Many years ago I trained another Marine who came out of the blue and won a few BB events so Ernie called me to ask if I'd work with him and I'm proud to say that he went on to win two national titles within the same year. I recall those being the Jr USA and the Jr Nationals.

But each of the above had to work exceptionally hard to make it possible. The three individuals I referred to earlier would "double in muscular size" the moment they
'smelt' the iron.

That's an exaggeration of course but I think you get the picture.

SPICOLI, Thanks for the mem ory jolt regarding the very rare individuals who make muscle gains easily'

Slightly more to follow.

Looking forward to the next installment stuntmovie. Ahhh the good old days.

[crownshep]

I didn`t even recognize Samir, but saw Birdsong and the second guy from the left, but I can`t remember his name. 

Are you thinking of Serge Jacobs or Janko Rudman.

[Figo]

Are you thinking of Serge Jacobs or Janko Rudman.

you guys have an immense knowledge and memory

[crownshep]

one mag was claiming that he was 17 in this Universe competition. placed 6th i think??

According to muscle memory his dob is nov 7th 1955 so in the 1974 Universe he would have been 19,but more likely still 18 because i think the contest was a month or so before his 19th birthday.He placed 7th at that show


Medium
1 Ahmet Enünlü   (Turkey)
 2 Bob Birdsong   (United States)
 3 Leon Cesarion   (France)
 4 Janko Rudman   (Sweden)
  5 Serge Jacobs   (Belgium)
  6D Bailey   (Wales)
 7 Samir Bannout   (Lebanon)

[crownshep]

you guys have an immense knowledge and memory

From the muscle/builder mags from the 70s i can remember names and pics and what month they appeared in,but i can`t remember anything from a week ago.

[Figo]

From the muscle/builder mags from the 70s i can remember names and pics and what month they appeared in,but i can`t remember anything from a week ago.

Funny what sticks, and what doesnt

[wes]

Are you thinking of Serge Jacobs or Janko Rudman.

Jacobs.....thanks Shep,I had to go back and look at the pic again!!

[wes]

From the muscle/builder mags from the 70s i can remember names and pics and what month they appeared in,but i can`t remember anything from a week ago.

No shit huh ?  LOL 

[animal1991]

Awesome thread!

[hazbin]

From the muscle/builder mags from the 70s i can remember names and pics and what month they appeared in,but i can`t remember anything from a week ago.

same here, freaks people out.

[stuntmovie]

Little side comment here:

I've been meaning to say this for some time now but it's such a minor thing that I tend to forget......

This might be controversial to some of you GetBigger's tender ears but it's a fact worth fighting over....

There were numerous guys in Northern California back in the days of Reeves who were just as good as Reeves (and in a couple of cases that I am aware of ... even better).

But Steve's big advantage is or was that he was never too "SHY" to stand in front of a camera semi-naked (and in one case completely naked).

Back in those good old days you hardly ever saw a person wearing a pair of Speedos and it would be somewhat rare to even see a group of kids posing before a camera lens hitting muscle shots.

It  may seem stupid now-a-days but back then it was a way more modest time. Some might even call it the end of the VIctorian period.

But Reeves was one of quite a few great bods who was 'brave enough' to strip down and show what real muscle looked like, while others who were as good as (or even better) ... were simply too damn shy or too damn modest to appear shirtless before a camera.... and especially in front of a camera that was shooting a photo for a magazine that was perceived as somewhat questionable (at that time) .

I said it before and I gotta say it again ...... It was a completely different world back then.....  and ten years from now it will be completely different once again.

[Max_Rep]

Jeff King was like that too.............he would literally transform his physique in no time flat. 

Tell us more on that Wes.

Danny Padilla as well. He would literally transform from a Monday to a Thursday. I don't think Danny ever trained 12 weeks for a competition. Most years it was 6 to 8 weeks. The few times he did train for 12 weeks were the 1981 Olympia and the 1990 NOC/Niagra Falls/Grad Prix.