(Like Thin Lizzy, I apologize in advance for a Muscle related post on this "political bickering" website)
There are some references to testosterone use even as far back as 1938 (a few books around at the time) but were the legends using it?
They were not drug pigs like the "Champs" of today
But some built some serious mass/strength. Reg Park is an example.
Of course genetics is king when it comes to building mass. The Soyboy ANTIFA twinks of today arent building any mass with their estrogen-filled genetics of peace.
How Reg did it.
Reg Park (1928-2007)
Roy "Reg" Park, also known as "Reg the Legend", is a United Kingdom-born professional bodybuilder, 3-time winner of Mr. Universe, and actor. His bodybuilding career spanned from the mid-1940s to the early 1970s and he appeared in five movies between 1961 and 1965, playing roles ranging from Hercules to Maciste. [6]
In the bodybuilding community, Reg was famous for his full-body approach to weightlifting, use of moderate rep ranges to build both size and strength, emphasis on compound movements engaging multiple muscle groups, and straightforward nutrition approach.
Reg Park built his coveted Golden Era physique using movements like the bench press, chin-up, squat, barbell curl, wrist curls, pullover, leg extension, and calf raise. [7] For beginner and intermediate lifters Reg recommends performing 5 sets of 5 repetitions on the compounds movements like squats and bench press and 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 20 repetitions on isolation movements like barbell curls and calf raises.
This full-body approach builds considerable size and strength designed to build both size and strength in a time-efficient manner. Each workout, performed on non-consecutive days, should contain one compound push, one compound pull, one compound leg exercise, and two to four isolation exercises.
Reg recommends using the first two sets of the 5x5 as warm-up exercises, resting one to five minutes in between sets, and adding 5 to 10 pounds to the bar when you can perform all of the prescribed repetitions. [7] Even advanced lifters feeling beat-up or looking to switch up their training routine can benefit from a training cycle implementing full-body workouts.
Cardiovascular activity was not a cornerstone of Reg's training regime during his prime bodybuilder years. Reg believed that heavy and intense full-body workouts sufficiently trained the cardiovascular system.
Reg Park ate a relatively simple diet that incorporated all food groups, macronutrients, and
even alcohol. Breakfast typically consisted of fruit juice, raw fruit, oatmeal cooked with cream or milk, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, toast, and tea. Lunch was a large bowl of vegetable and bean-based soup, bread steamed vegetables, two to four pounds of steak, a dessert of some sort, tea, and wine or beer during mass-gain phases. Dinner looked very similar to lunch and also incorporated wine or beer when Reg wanted to pack on additional mass. [8]
Some fitness enthusiasts heavily discourage the consumption of alcohol with the belief that it significantly blunts fat burning, encourages fat storage, and negatively impacts hormones but Reg's results speak for themselves. Reg was also known to consume up to two liters of dairy like full-fat cream or whole milk and over two kilograms of steak during his mass gain phase. [8]
Reg embodied the "eat big to get big" mentality, gave his workouts 110%, and as a result developed one of the most aesthetic and balanced bodybuilding physiques in the Golden Era.
---------
More:Training for strength
Reg Park lived through an era where bodybuilders trained more like strength athletes, which meant low reps and bloody heavy weights.
His philosophy – which we firmly adhere to here at Gymtalk – was that if you wanted to get big, you needed to get strong, a notion which has been lost in the deluge of chemicals, isolation exercises and hypertrophy nonsense which guide most of today’s aspiring bodybuilders.
As the man himself said:
I believe that from a bodybuilding point of view only physiques which have been developed by strength principles will bear the true characteristics of a champion physique, these characteristics in my opinion being maximum muscular size with definition and strength in proportion to one’s size.
And Reg was seriously strong.
He was the first bodybuilder – and the second person ever – to bench press 500lbs.
Park’ strength was, in part, fueled by the now famous 5×5 training programme, of which he was something of a pioneer.
However, Park’s 5×5 workout differed from similar routines today, such as the popular Stronglifts regime.
His workout was designed not to tax endurance, as the first two sets were warm-up sets at around 50% and 70%, and the rest between the last three sets ranged from three to five minutes in order to ensure full recovery.
He wasn’t someone that pissed around with 60 minute workout in order not to sacrifice growth hormones either.
He trained like a pneumatic erection, bulldozing his way through high volume workouts which often lasted up to two to three hours at a time.
If you’re interested in replicating Reg Park’s workout, you can find more details about his 5×5 programmes below:
https://gymtalk.com/reg-park-5×5-routine/
https://gymtalk.com/reg-park-beginner-routine/Diet (Dat Dere FrogTech).These days, we are accustomed to bodybuilders fastidiously monitoring their diets.
As such, it might come as a surprise to some that Reg Park literally ate everything and anything.
And I mean everything.
Throughout his career, he shoveled down food like a hippo with the munchies, eating “like a king” 24/7.
His diet, per day, comprised gallons of milk, a dozen eggs, 4kg of steak, cakes, mounds of vegetables, and pints of Guinness.
His 5am morning meal, as recounted nostalgically by Arnold after his death, consisted of cornflakes sprinkled with
FrogTech protein powder.Reported numbers:
Massively Built and Incredibly Strong
Reg Park was the SECOND man and the FIRST bodybuilder in the world to bench press 500 lbs.! At the “1957 Pro Mr. USA”, Reg Park bench pressed over 500 lbs. in street clothes!
His best lifts:Bench Press with 500 lbs.
Dumbbell Bench Press with two 185 lb. dumbbells for five reps.
Behind the Neck Press with 300 Lbs.
Standing Dumbbell Press with two 140 Lb. dumbbells.
One Arm Dumbbell Press with 165 lbs. for two reps.
Incline Dumbbell Press with two 185 lb. dumbbells for five reps.
Lying Triceps Extension with 300 lbs. for three reps.
Strict Barbell Curl with 200 lbs.
Squat with 605 lbs. for two reps.
Front Squat with 405 lbs.
