Author Topic: Eat your heart out, Melvin Goodrum! (Read 11140 times)

Vince B · « **on:** September 13, 2006, 09:24:32 PM »

I found an old photo from 1974 taken at my gym. It was one of the first 'seminars' that Arnold gave in Australia. I have several more photos taken that day. I asked Arnold plenty of questions then the audience asked theirs. He did a posing routine too then demonstrated exercises. The guy was huge! Next he went to Tony's Gym for a posing routine then came to my penthouse apartment at Manly for dinner and some fun. He disappeared for a while and couldn't be found.

The True Adonis · « **Reply #1 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:28:47 PM »

Quote from: Vince Basile on September 13, 2006, 09:24:32 PM

I found an old photo from 1974 taken at my gym. It was one of the first 'seminars' that Arnold gave in Australia. I have several more photos taken that day. I asked Arnold plenty of questions then the audience asked theirs. He did a posing routine too then demonstrated exercises. The guy was huge! Next he went to Tony's Gym for a posing routine then came to my penthouse apartment at Manly for dinner and some fun. He disappeared for a while and couldn't be found.

That is AWESOME!

Huge!

Hey Vince, What did you guys eat? What did you talk about? How much would you say Arnold weighed there?

Give us DETAILS!

Vince B · « **Reply #2 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:29:24 PM »

With Sergio.

Vince B · « **Reply #3 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:30:44 PM »

Ray Mentzer used to clown around.

Vince B · « **Reply #4 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:33:09 PM »

We always tried to have fun in our gym. Here is Chicken Legs. This guy could sing and he sure was a ham at time. He forgot to train his legs but had a big upper body.

Vince B · « **Reply #5 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:35:27 PM »

Ray Mentzer put on great seminars and training camps. This one was in 1987.

Vince B · « **Reply #6 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:38:03 PM »

My MEd photo from Sydney University in 1989

Vince B · « **Reply #7 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:43:43 PM »

Arnold was huge in 1974.

Vince B · « **Reply #8 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:45:24 PM »

Larry Scott gave the best seminar we ever had at our gym in 1979. He did some posing when requested.

ARMZ · « **Reply #9 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:46:43 PM »

(bookmark) cool pics..

avesher · « **Reply #10 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:47:13 PM »

you named your son Zorba??? No doubt that kid took some beatings in school

Vince B · « **Reply #11 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:48:56 PM »

We had a lot of nice Aussie girls in the gym. Several did powerlifting and looked even better.

The True Adonis · « **Reply #12 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:49:32 PM »

Quote from: Matt C on September 13, 2006, 09:46:15 PM

You need to get the idea out of your head that pros did anything differently back then than they do now. They ate big and trained hard just like the guys today. I assure you that they had the same mentality as pros today. They would have been mainlining bodybuilding drugs if the option was available - just like guys today. Why didn't they? Because they couldn't.

I know that. But I love to hear personal accounts of what they ACTUALLY did versus what they TELL everyone else to do....Arnold was the KING of that...

Vince B · « **Reply #13 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:52:11 PM »

I named my son after my hero, Zorba The Greek who was a real person. Just so that he had others we called him Vincent Frank Henry Zorba Basile so he could have his pick. No one ever teased him which surprized his Australian Grandfather who was a Crown Solicitor. Zorba was elected School Captain when he was a senior at Carlingford High School. I was lucky enough to be school president in KHS in Kamloops in 1960. Sometimes names don't have the impact we imagine they might have.

avesher · « **Reply #14 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:52:43 PM »

Zorba---gayer than a creamsicle

Bigger Business · « **Reply #15 on:** September 13, 2006, 09:58:02 PM »

this thread is gayer than two guys sharing a milkshake

Vince B · « **Reply #16 on:** September 13, 2006, 10:00:10 PM »

Adonis, you have to understand that drug use was frowned upon in the old days and was considered cheating. Arnold admitted using steroids but only before contests. I guess all he had to do was to keep having contests to prepare for. The doctors advising bodybuilders about drugs were not reckless and the idea was to go on them for a few months then go off. I think Arnold and many of the top guys used stuff like Decadurabolin. Dianabol was popular with many of the top guys. Everyone kept their mouth shut about any drugs so a sub-culture was formed and insiders passed the information onto others. I was never in that loop and no one told me anything about steroids. There were handbooks being published even then that had heaps of stuff.

The training was more or less pyramids and then choosing a few exercises for each bodypart and training those bodyparts about 2 times a week. The top guys who didn't have to work used to go to the gym twice a day and split split routines. I guess Arnold did what you would call volume training. Ray Mentzer advocated more intense and briefer workouts with a good warmup. Those who followed Ray's advice got good results. We all wondered about injuries because Ray had a perpetually sore neck perhaps from that day he did a double squat with 925 pounds. Ray was a huge guy and muscle for muscle one of the biggest to ever visit Australia. For some reason he doesn't look that big in photos but he was a giant.

Vince B · « **Reply #17 on:** September 13, 2006, 10:04:35 PM »

A few of us from 1975 just before my last contest where I placed last thanks to Paul Graham and Arnold S.

Vince B · « **Reply #18 on:** September 13, 2006, 10:06:27 PM »

Here is what I looked like a week out from the 1975 Mr Australia contest.

youandme · « **Reply #19 on:** September 13, 2006, 10:07:59 PM »

Cool Pics thank for sharing

Vince G, CSN MFT · « **Reply #20 on:** September 13, 2006, 10:14:18 PM »

Very interesting pictures. I don't see the reason this thread has my name on it but interesting pictures

Vince B · « **Reply #21 on:** September 13, 2006, 10:14:54 PM »

The original gym in West Ryde long before I bought it. Perhaps this photo was from the late 1950s. I bought the gym for $1,500 back in August 1971.

Yev33 · « **Reply #22 on:** September 13, 2006, 10:15:08 PM »

Quote from: Matt C on September 13, 2006, 10:06:41 PM

Ray did a double with 925? Damn, even to unrack that weight is impressive. He was 5'9 right?

Let's be real though, Arnold looked like nothing compared to pros today. We are just wooed by his height, his looks, his charisma, the fact he was getting laid like mad, the fact he was an alpha male, the fact he would hide his flaws in posing, the fact he was so much superior to competition which was much weaker than what is around today, and lastly and probably MOST importantly, the fact that only the best pictures of Arnold are ever used in his defense which were favourable, or black and white, or taken up close, or with a wide angle lens, etc, etc. He would be nothing special today. Granted he was from a different era, but if you keep comparing him to pros today, expect people to criticize him accordingly.

This is not the most popular opinion but I liked Mike Mentzer's physique over Arnold's. How strong was he compared to his brother Ray?

Vince B · « **Reply #23 on:** September 13, 2006, 10:16:57 PM »

Well, Vince G, you are always belittling me and putting my accomplishments down. Just thought you would be proud if you accomplished some of the things I have done.

Karl Kox · « **Reply #24 on:** September 13, 2006, 10:19:18 PM »

cool pics