Dorian Yates 270lbs in the gym pic (1995)

[OTHstrong]

Not really.  I am more of a physical culturist than a bodybuilder.  I gave up bodybuilding in the late 80s.  It became too drug oriented for me.  I still had friends that competed but gradually lost contact with the majority of them.  I would go for weekends to Gold's (the original and later versions) in Venice.  Those guys were not just "heroes" but actually nice guys that were eager to help one another.

Ken Waller was the nicest guy you would want to meet.   When I bought a XXX Gold's shirt and a "Dianabol - Breakfast of Champions" tank top (anyone else remember those!) from him at Gold's he cracked up saying I had better eat breakfast several times a day as I weighed about 120 pounds at 6' 1" or so at the time.  Great guy.

There was a camaraderie in the 70s that I miss, but that is true of anyone's youth.  As we age, we tend to live more in the past.  I just hope I don't get lost in it.  

So you blame the change on drugs? Those same guys you mentioned were all drug addicts as you put it, the only difference is in the amount, nothing more.

[Figo]

Crownshep,

Thanks for pics

So, Gary Taylor finally dials it in, only to find out the competition has stepped it up. Again.

[OTHstrong]

Everyone has a point at which they become disgusted with something that they think or feel has taken a turn for the worse.  Everyone.  You may not have reached yours.  Yet.   

You and I shall just have to agree to disagree.   If we cannot do so then we are "doomed" to lambast one another occasionally.  It is what it is, both "childish" and at the same time "fun". 

Don't think for one minute I do not respect your opinions just because I may disagree with them.  There are those here that I do not respect and I can assure you that you are not among them.   

A passion is a passion, no one gets sick of their passion, no one, if they do then it was never their true passion. All bodybuilders on the Olympia stage love what they do, it is their passion.

So if you do not want us to bump heads (as I do not either) then don`t make comments saying ``Phil is all drugs anyone can look like him`` or mock and ridicule cause I am here on this site for the passion of bodybuilding which is why I enjoy giving out advise to everyone and try to help people around here cause I love bodybuilding, so what makes you think I will not defend it?

Now if a bodybuilder is acting like a fucken retard (g4p or claiming natural with 22inch shredded arms, or is promoting some worthless supplement) then by all means take it to him.

[_bruce_]

Phil is all drugs and sponsored by a balloon manufacturer.

[Shockwave]

Then we shall just disagree on some things.  In the grand scheme of things, such as this will amount to nothing. 

Gotta agree with you, as I get older, things I was extremely passionate about in my youth went by the wayside or was marginalized to something I could do once or twice a month, whenever I had the time or energy.

Life has a way of forcing you to change your priorities.

[Palpatine Q]

Gotta agree with you, as I get older, things I was extremely passionate about in my youth went by the wayside or was marginalized to something I could do once or twice a month, whenever I had the time or energy.

Life has a way of forcing you to change your priorities.

Yes, but that's really not the point. I haven't opened a BBing magazine in 20 years, last show i went to was 99 , but I'm not so hypocritical That I'll call Phil Heath a pincushion but speak highly of the BBers from "my era" as if they weren't just as dependent on drugs. Take Ken Waller off drugs and he shrinks just like anyone else.

[Parker]

That was after the 94 Olympia where he dropped down to 249 and Dillett always dwarfed him , Levrone no and he was never ' more cut up ' You always got two Kevins , big with shitty conditioning and small with good conditioning , he always had a problem tying the two together

no, it was one of GPs, he got sick. I remember it in Flex. Because it was the Euro trip where Dillett and Kev had that "head to head Most Muscular" and Kev had his "security" (fans escorting him) and the. There was the shot of Dillett "flexing a deadly calf" with Dorian and his calves and the rest of him dwarfed Dorian.

[Shockwave]

Yes, but that's really not the point. I haven't opened a BBing magazine in 20 years, last show i went to was 99 , but I'm not so hypocritical That I'll call Phil Heath a pincushion but speak highly of the BBers from "my era" as if they weren't just as dependent on drugs. Take Ken Waller off drugs and he shrinks just like anyone else.

I agree, I was responding more to Onetimehards comment that no one gets sick of their passion. Well, maybe not sick, but interest definitely wanes over time.

[Shockwave]

no, it was one of GPs, he got sick. I remember it in Flex. Because it was the Euro trip where Dillett and Kev had that "head to head Most Muscular" and Kev had his "security" (fans escorting him) and the. There was the shot of Dillett "flexing a deadly calf" with Dorian and his calves and the rest of him dwarfed Dorian.

He was implying that it was the GP after the 94 O. As in, the 94 GP. Lol.

[Palpatine Q]

I never said that Waller didn't shrink when he was off.  Never said it was not wrong to take that stuff no matter what the era.  As I have never actually met Heath I cannot comment on whether or not he is a great guy.  Waller I can.  Franco too.  Zane, Robinson, Draper, Mentzer and several others as well.  Heath may well be a nice guy but his physique is even more dependent upon drugs than people of of thirty and more years ago.  It is what it is and I didn't particularly like it then and even less so now which is a major reason I stopped going to gyms and train at home.

I don't pretend to know the old days nearly so much as someone like Stuntmovie.  In the world of bodybuilding I was a nobody back then, but the guys that trained at the gyms pretty much treated everybody the same, as a friend or at least a potential one.  No big deal.  They would still spot you, call you by name and give you a hard time for missing a lift or a workout. 

The  jokes about the "Weider Principles" were damn funny no matter how many times we said them.

I never said you did. point is those guys were just as dependent on drugs to look the way they did as the guys of today.

Yes, they have upped the ante to ridiculous heights, and i think they have gone too far as well, but it's all relative. No drugs= no bodybuilder..just as true in the 70s as it is today.

BBing was in it's infancy then, there wasn't a fraction of the money in the sport as there now, and they were just regular guys who were kind of making it up as they went along.so I can see where there would be a lot more comraderie as compared to today, now you have sponsorships, gurus, big prize money...the "innocence" of those days is long gone...but that's like anything else that starts small and then the mainstream gets a hold of it.