odds and ends [bodybuilding related.

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https://billdobbins.me/2018/12/04/bill-dobbins-my-creative-life/?fbclid=IwAR0fhCq6_06LGXYquuhYkk2bQNfwAQlo_W206Cjs9wxx9TDsqRa9g_b9X7A

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   HISTORY OF THE SISSY SQUAT
"The Sissy Squat will make a Sissy out of you!" These were once Vince Gironda’s words as to why he called this exercise the Sissy Squat. Unfortuoately, there is much misinformation on this exercise which was popularized by the Guru. Get on YouTube or Google and see the many variations which indicate that people really don’t know what they are talking about. For example, the Roman Chair Squat is mistakenly referred to as the Sissy Squat today.
Many misconceptions exist about this wonderful exercise, and to understand this movement better, it necessary to look back at it's origins.
The Sissy Squat was taught to Vince Gironda by its inventor, the great Silver Era icon Monty Wolford, whose leg development was unparalleled in his day. Vince Gironda personally measured his thighs and found out that Monty’s upper thigh, the area where we all measure, and his middle thigh (halfway between the knee and the normal upper thigh measurement) where the same diameter. Monty was the only man Vince knew of who possessed this measurement.
The reason why Vince was so impressed with this fact (equal diameter between upper and middle thigh) is that the effect of the Sissy Squat is that it gives the thighs a defined and sweeping look which gives the illusion of height to the bodybuilder’s physique, which would further enhance the V-Taper and give a more aesthetic look. This is of course in contrast to today’s bodybuilder’s that look for monstrous leg development.
Monty Wolford represented to Vince, the perfect aesthetic proportions. Possessing a wonderful v-taper, wide shoulders, flaring lats, high square chest, a tiny waist and defined legs, his physique flowed beautifully, and it is no wonder that Vince decided to learn from Monty.
Monty is known to have developed a strong foundation using compound movements to develop his leg and lower back strength giving him the fundimentals needed to muscularize his physique later on. Monty would depend on breathing squats and a variety of deadlifts early on. Monty would fafously say “ You are only as strong as your legs and back.”
Monty believed that one could not build the external musculoskeletal system if the internal visceral system was lagging behind. This reasoning again demonstrates why he depended so much on basic compound movements during his early bodybuilding career.
Once Monty had developed a decent foundation, he began to concentrate on shaping and defining his physique and eventually developed the Monty Wolford Squat, which is now known as the Sissy Squat.
But why I hear you asking is it now called the Sissy Squat?? Well, Vince didn’t seek to replace the name of the Monty Wolford Squat by calling it the Sissy Squat. The name stuck after Vince stated that this movement would make a sissy out of lifters who only performed the back squat.
The Monty Wolford squat allowed the musculature of the thigh to really stand out and give deep ridges into the quads.
As for the Sissy Squat, the correct way to perform it is explained in Vince’s own booklet titled The Sissy Squat. It was also featured in the Wild Physique, and although the explanation was correct, the picture in the book did not do the movement justice. The exercise is actually composed of three different movements or phases.
The Knee Drop
The Burlesque Bump
The Full Flush
Each phase was to be performed for 5 reps, and therefore this 3-phase movement totaled 15 reps per set. Vince never recommend performing more than 3 entire sets, stating that it was too strenuous to do more. Here is what Vince had to say on the Sissy Squat, criticizing the modern interpretations and explaining how to do it correctly:
“The main thing as I remember was keeping the hips forward and knees over feet. All too often people have mistaken the roman chair squat for the sissy squat – when they are nothing alike.
The sissy squat as an exercise takes on the form of a leg extension/squat more or less.
I started by performing these on his hack and/or smith machines.
I preferred a fixed motion machine as opposed free weights – for greater control.
You may want to start without any weight, and just holding onto the smith bar for balance.
The first 5 reps are just the way those little images show. The body is straight from the knees to the shoulders and you simply lean back as far as you can, and then come up.
The next 5 reps are from that lowest point you reach when you are doing the first 5 (so lean all the way back), and then fall to your ankles as if you were doing a full squat. From that full-squat position you don’t stand up, but rather, thrust the hips forward to get back into that low position. Then back down to your ankles again.
The final 5 reps are the combination of both. Lean back as if you are doing a limbo. When you reach that low position fall down to your ankles, then thrust the hips forward to come into that low “limbo” position, and then come up.
So there you have it, the Sissy Squat, previously known the Monty Wolford Squat is a movement which combines three different phases over each set of maximum effort.

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   HISTORY OF THE SISSY SQUAT
"The Sissy Squat will make a Sissy out of you!" These were once Vince Gironda’s words as to why he called this exercise the Sissy Squat. Unfortuoately, there is much misinformation on this exercise which was popularized by the Guru. Get on YouTube or Google and see the many variations which indicate that people really don’t know what they are talking about. For example, the Roman Chair Squat is mistakenly referred to as the Sissy Squat today.
Many misconceptions exist about this wonderful exercise, and to understand this movement better, it necessary to look back at it's origins.
The Sissy Squat was taught to Vince Gironda by its inventor, the great Silver Era icon Monty Wolford, whose leg development was unparalleled in his day. Vince Gironda personally measured his thighs and found out that Monty’s upper thigh, the area where we all measure, and his middle thigh (halfway between the knee and the normal upper thigh measurement) where the same diameter. Monty was the only man Vince knew of who possessed this measurement.
The reason why Vince was so impressed with this fact (equal diameter between upper and middle thigh) is that the effect of the Sissy Squat is that it gives the thighs a defined and sweeping look which gives the illusion of height to the bodybuilder’s physique, which would further enhance the V-Taper and give a more aesthetic look. This is of course in contrast to today’s bodybuilder’s that look for monstrous leg development.
Monty Wolford represented to Vince, the perfect aesthetic proportions. Possessing a wonderful v-taper, wide shoulders, flaring lats, high square chest, a tiny waist and defined legs, his physique flowed beautifully, and it is no wonder that Vince decided to learn from Monty.
Monty is known to have developed a strong foundation using compound movements to develop his leg and lower back strength giving him the fundimentals needed to muscularize his physique later on. Monty would depend on breathing squats and a variety of deadlifts early on. Monty would fafously say “ You are only as strong as your legs and back.”
Monty believed that one could not build the external musculoskeletal system if the internal visceral system was lagging behind. This reasoning again demonstrates why he depended so much on basic compound movements during his early bodybuilding career.
Once Monty had developed a decent foundation, he began to concentrate on shaping and defining his physique and eventually developed the Monty Wolford Squat, which is now known as the Sissy Squat.
But why I hear you asking is it now called the Sissy Squat?? Well, Vince didn’t seek to replace the name of the Monty Wolford Squat by calling it the Sissy Squat. The name stuck after Vince stated that this movement would make a sissy out of lifters who only performed the back squat.
The Monty Wolford squat allowed the musculature of the thigh to really stand out and give deep ridges into the quads.
As for the Sissy Squat, the correct way to perform it is explained in Vince’s own booklet titled The Sissy Squat. It was also featured in the Wild Physique, and although the explanation was correct, the picture in the book did not do the movement justice. The exercise is actually composed of three different movements or phases.
The Knee Drop
The Burlesque Bump
The Full Flush
Each phase was to be performed for 5 reps, and therefore this 3-phase movement totaled 15 reps per set. Vince never recommend performing more than 3 entire sets, stating that it was too strenuous to do more. Here is what Vince had to say on the Sissy Squat, criticizing the modern interpretations and explaining how to do it correctly:
“The main thing as I remember was keeping the hips forward and knees over feet. All too often people have mistaken the roman chair squat for the sissy squat – when they are nothing alike.
The sissy squat as an exercise takes on the form of a leg extension/squat more or less.
I started by performing these on his hack and/or smith machines.
I preferred a fixed motion machine as opposed free weights – for greater control.
You may want to start without any weight, and just holding onto the smith bar for balance.
The first 5 reps are just the way those little images show. The body is straight from the knees to the shoulders and you simply lean back as far as you can, and then come up.
The next 5 reps are from that lowest point you reach when you are doing the first 5 (so lean all the way back), and then fall to your ankles as if you were doing a full squat. From that full-squat position you don’t stand up, but rather, thrust the hips forward to get back into that low position. Then back down to your ankles again.
The final 5 reps are the combination of both. Lean back as if you are doing a limbo. When you reach that low position fall down to your ankles, then thrust the hips forward to come into that low “limbo” position, and then come up.
So there you have it, the Sissy Squat, previously known the Monty Wolford Squat is a movement which combines three different phases over each set of maximum effort.

   

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  HAROLD ZINKIN ... A LIFE-TIME OF FITNESS
 Harold Zinkin,  born May 11,1922, to immigrant Russian parents, grew up in East Los Angeles, where his family settled when he was five years old.
As a youngster, football, track, and gymnastics were Harold's primary interest. Harry Spencer, director of Physical Education for Belvedere Junior High School, had him executing back somersaults, with a full-twist and fast flip-flops, in a matter of months.
As a freshman at Roosevelt High School, Zinkin lettered in track, football and gymnastics; and his junior year, with no formal Olympic-style training, he pressed 170 pounds, snatched 170 pounds, and clean-and-jerked 245 pounds.
Because of an illness in the family, Harold worked eight to ten hour days throughout his final two years of high school. His extra-curricular activity was a twenty-mile weekend bicycle ride to Muscle Beach. There he absorbed and attempted to duplicate the feats other gymnasts, strongmen, and acrobats had mastered.
In 1939, Harold won the light-heavyweight "California State Weightlifting Championship," followed by the 1940 "Tri-State and Western Division Championships."
In 1941, at age 19, Zinkin won the first AAU "Mr. California" contest. Vic Tanny, the organizer of the competition, held the contest in his Santa Monica Gym and entered him in the event without Harold's permission. In Zinkin's book, Remembering Muscle Beach, published in 1999, he recalled:
   "I didn't enjoy bodybuilding for posing purposes and I told Mr. Tanny so. I reminded him I didn't stand a chance of winning the contest over the giants competing against me. Regardless, I was a kid and Tanny was an adult gym operator, therefore, I did what I was told. I'd never watched a bodybuilding contest and took my posing ideas from muscle magazines. And I won against future AAU "Mr. America contenders."
During World War II, Zinkin was assigned to the Naval Physical Instructor's School in Bainbridge, Maryland. He was transferred as a Company Commander to the San Diego Naval Training Station. Later reassigned to the Navy Physical Rehabilitation School at Sampson, New York, and finished his naval obligation at the Long Beach Naval Hospital.
In 1945, Zinkin won his division in the "National Weightlifting Championships" and the same day, placed second to Clarence Ross at the AAU "Mr. America" contest. 
In 1949, after winning the professional clean-and-jerk championships, Harold retired from competitive weightlifting and bodybuilding. He had the distinction of never experiencing defeat in an official weightlifting contest.
In 1948, Zinkin partnered with Bruce Connor to establish Bruce Connor's Physical Services in West Los Angeles. The combination health club/rehabilitation center was staffed by registered physical therapists, along with AAU "Mr. America winners John Forbotnik and George Eifferman. To raise venture capital for their new business, Zinkin and Connor toured as an acrobatic duo, duplicating feats they had perfected at Muscle Beach.
Relocating to Fresno, California, in 1953, Zinkin expanded his health club operation to 30 American Health & Silhouette Figure Form Studios throughout Central and Northern California.
After designing and fabricating the multi-station Universal Gym exercise machine in 1957, Harold founded the Universal Gym
Equipment Company. This revolutionary exercise unit featured seperate weight stacks that moved up and down on solid runner guides, with weight changes made quick and easy through a weight-key system. In 1968, the company sold to the Whittaker Corporation in a multi-million-dollar transaction, and Zinkin remained as CEO.
Over the next 25-years, Harold established shopping centers and other real estate ventures. However, he remarked, "If I'm proud of anything, it's the Universal machine. There probably isn't a professional athlete who hasn't trained on a Universal at least once."
Harold's numerous honorary achievements included the Big Heart Award from the American Heart Association and his induction into the World Acrobatic Association Hall of Fame in 2000.
Harold Zinkin died September 22, 2004, at age 82, from a fall in his home.

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   MIKE QUINN ...THE "BAD BOY" OF BODYBUILDING
Mike Quinn was born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts. Growing up, he was often involved in fights with other kids. However, most of the boys Mike fought were larger in size – because of this, he was often bullied and couldn’t do anything to defend himself.
“I grew up in Brockton, Massachusetts, home of Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler. It’s known as a pretty rough city. I was picked on a lot and got the shit beaten out of me until I was thirteen or fourteen.”
However, as he grew older, Mike gained some size and strength naturally. This gave him the confidence to fend off any bullies that would want to fight him. As Mike said; “Later, I beat the fuck out of anyone that had ever beaten me up.”
Bullying wasn’t the only problem that Mike faced as a child. He also suffered from mental disorders such as ADHD. This made it hard for Mike to stay relaxed and focused while he was in school.
“I was a weird kid; I had a nervous condition. Technically I was mentally ill. Plus I have ADHD. I wonder sometimes if all the vaccinations as a kid had anything to do with it, because back then all the vaccines had mercury in them. 
Mike’s first training session took place in his home’s cellar, when he was 13 years old. His father, who built a small gym in the cellar, invited Mike to lift weights.
Since he was already naturally strong, Mike found it surprisingly easy to train. He said, “That first day, just messing around, I benched 220 pounds. I was a husky kid, chubby, you know? Instead of pecs, I had boobs.”
Mike trained at home until he was 15, then he became interested in American football. He quickly realized that he had a gift for the sport, however, he’d believed that his height of 5’8” would prevent him from reaching the elite NFL level. He decided to stick to bodybuilding, which served him as a natural therapy for his ADHD and anger issues.
After every football practice, which lasted for 2 hours, Mike would head into the gym to train for another two hours. He says this wasn’t exhausting for him because he loved it. Mike’s interest in lifting weights later led him to become a powerlifter.
However, it didn’t take long for Mike to realize that powerlifting wasn’t his true passion. When he was 18, Mike was getting ready for a powerlifting contest, and was supposed to squat 550 lbs for 5 reps that day.  He only managed to get 4 reps, which made him say, in his words, “Fuck this! I’m gonna be a bodybuilder!”
Just six weeks later, Mike entered his first bodybuilding show and won.
After winning his debut show, the Teen Mr. Massachusetts, Mike went on to earn an even more prestigious title – the Teenage Mr. America.
These early victories bolstered Mike’s confidence. So much so, that he said; “Even as a teenager I was as good as most of the older guys competing in the sport.”
In 1984, Mike took third place at the Mr. America. He went on to win the medium NABBA Universe London shortly after, joining the elite group of bodybuilders who’d previously won this show, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steve Reeves.
A year after winning his Pro status, Mike started competing in elite shows around the world.
In fact, 1988 was the most contest-dense year in Mike’s career. He took part in 9 contests that year, some of which included:
England Grand Prix, IFBB, 5th place
Grand Prix Germany, IFBB, 4th place
Mike also made his Mr. Olympia debut in 1988, finishing amongst the top 5 bodybuilders in the world.
In 1994, Mike took part in three shows: Night of Champions, Mr. Olympia, and IFBB San Jose Pro Invitational.
After this, Mike took a long break from competing. It wasn’t until 1999 that he appeared once again on the stage, claiming 17th place at the IFBB World Pro Championships.
Mike Quinn was always honest about his steroid usage. He started taking steroids at the age of 18, prescribed by his local doctor.
However, according to Mike, he’d never taken these substances to gain muscle, but to preserve his muscle mass while dieting.
Mike had tried countless variations of training over his career as a bodybuilder. However, by far the most effective for him was power-bodybuilding.
With this training style, Mike did four days of heavy training, followed by four days of light exercises. On heavy days, he’d take more rest between sets to “stimulate testosterone release”.
On lighter days, Mike trained with more reps and short rest between sets to raise his growth hormone levels. These light sessions also enabled Mike to recover from his heavy training days and prevent muscle wasting. As Mike states, “training consistently leads to a catabolic state”.
Along with power-bodybuilding, Mike also loved doing quick and intense workouts. He’d do a series of high-intensity exercises with extremely short rest periods.
Some of the exercises he’d do included barbell squats, bench press, and overhead press. Mike says, it’s these movements that built the foundations of his physique.
But, while he enjoyed lifting heavy, Mike never let the weights affect his form. He said: “The key things to my type of training are heavy weights with strict form, not to overtrain, not letting my ego get in the way and hurt myself.”
Mike was, and still is a huge believer in cardio for fat loss. In fact, aerobics was an essential part of his show preparations.
His favorite form of cardio was the stationary bike. Or occasionally, stair climbing. On his rest days from weightlifting, Mike would do 45 minutes of aerobics before breakfast to maximize fat loss.
“I’ve come to realize just how vital a role aerobics plays in my program. Quite simply, to get ripped you need aerobics. I used to do one and a half hours of daily aerobics. I would break up the aerobics into two 45-minute sessions right after I complete my weight workout. Then, the muscle glycogen stores are empty and the body burn fat faster.
There was a period where Mike trained extremely hard for his contests. He would train several days in a row without any rest. He says this led to over-training symptoms such as muscle loss.
But then, Mike changed his approach. He started training two days in a row before taking a day off. By giving his body a break every 3rd day, he’d noticed much better progress in his physique.
According to Mike, when he trained too hard, his body went into a catabolic state (muscle-wasting). But as he added more rest to his routine, Mike’s muscles were able to catch up with his workouts. As he said, “By interspersing two training days with a rest day I prevent my body from slipping into a catabolic state.”
Mike believes that nowadays, bodybuilders focus too much on protein. He says, 1g of protein per pound of lean body weight is more than enough to build muscle. He also says that far too many people avoid carbs, which he believes is not healthy for the body.
In fact, Mike says simple     carbohydrates are the best energy source. He would often increase his carb intake before shows to make his muscles appear fuller. He also ate proteins and fats from foods such as chicken, cheese, and avocados.
“My body oxidizes protein more efficiently than it does carbohydrates. But I still need carbohydrates. My mistake in the past was dropping carbs to 50-100 grams a day, which caused a loss of both muscle and training intensity.”
Whenever he prepared for a show, Mike ate in a caloric deficit so his body would steadily lose fat.
10 weeks before the contest, he’d eat 2000 calories per day. He’d do this for three days, and then, on the fourth day, Mike would add 800 calories from protein and carbs to ‘ignite’ his metabolism. On the fifth day, he’d start the process all over again by reducing his calories back to 2000 kcal.
Mike’s first influence in bodybuilding was his father. When Mike was still a child, he saw his father training in their small home gym. However, Mike’s father didn’t allow him to train with him because he was still too young to begin weight training. 
It wasn’t until Mike was 13 that he was finally invited for his first workout with his father. "When I was thirteen, my father decided it was time for me to start weight training."
Mike Quinn had one trait that made people either love him or hate him – his unapologetic honesty.
He was never afraid to speak up his mind and was also often aggressive towards those that provoked him. He couldn’t stand bullies, because he knew what it was like to be picked on as a kid.
Later, Mike channeled his frustrations and anger by lifting weights. Bodybuilding became his therapy. Throughout the years, his passions for the sport grew further to become a professional bodybuilder.
There are many lessons we can take from Mike’s story. But perhaps the most important one is that you should be yourself and never apologize to anyone for it. This might bring criticism – but it will also attract people in your life who’ll respect you for who you truly are.

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  PETE GRIMKOWSKI ....
 The 1970s bodybuilding scene was wide  open for those who competed did so out of love for the sport and whatever drove them into lifting in the first place, and making money was the last thing on their mind. It is likely for this reason that we have such compelling stories- guys like Pat Neve and Steve Michalik, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dave Draper, and Pete Grymkowsky.  Pete stated, "I would eat disgarded hamburger and sleep under a pier to afford the 10  grams of anabolic steroids I did each day and the weed I smoked."
This was the cause of a devide in the  sport. Until 1980, the Mr. America contest was the premier title in the US,  but the all-America image of the winner of that show was fading in the footloose and carefree 1970s. This upset the likes of hardcore bodybuilder, Steve Michalik.
According to Michalik, the AAU needed                                         
comitment to it's ideals and a leader.
“ARNOLD HAD A CHANCE TO BE THAT GUY, BUT HE BECAME THE OTHER ... POT SMOKING, PROMISCUOUS AND  FUN LOVING. THERE WAS NO FIRM LEADER TO REIN IT IN AND SAY YOU GUYS CAN’T BE IN THIS CONTEST. THEY GOT GUYS NOW WHERE THEIR WHOLE FACES ARE TATTOOED WITH SCARS AND SWASTIKAS.
IN THE EARLY YEARS, IF YOU HAD A PIMPLE, YOU LOST THE MR. AMERICA.  WHEN ERIC PEDERSON COMPETED AGAINST STEVE REEVES, THEY WERE TIED FOR AN HOUR. THEY FOUND A BLEMISH ON PEDERSON’S LEG, AND STEVE REEVES BECAME MR. AMERICA.  YEAH, THAT’S HOW CRITICAL IT WAS BACK THEN.  SO THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED… THE LEADERSHIP CHANGED.
Clearly, it’s bizarre that a guy the likes of Michalik was moaning about how conformist the non-conformists were and how that eroded the sanctity of the bodybuilding scenebut that's how unique it was in the 1970s. This is the environment in which we find one of the most rags-to-riches stories in American bodybuilding history- the story of 1970’s Pete Grymkowski.
With a combination of insane work ethic, ludicrous drug regimens, and an  account way overdrawn attitude, Grimko stands heads and shoulders among his peers for both his single-minded obsession with bodybuilding greatness and the financial success that arose.
" WAYNE DEMELIA WAS GOING NUTS LOOKING FOR ME. HE FOUND ME IN MY HOTEL ROOM, AS I WAS “GETTING READY FOR THE SHOW.” YOU KNOW HOW I WAS GETTING READY? WITH FOUR OR SIX IV’S OF STEROIDS RUNNING INTO MY VEINS, SIMULTANEOUSLY. THAT WAS MY TRAINING! I HAD A SUITCASE FULL OF DRUGS.
GUYS  ASKED IF I WAS  SELLING? HELL NO! THIS WAS ALL  FOR ME. IN A  FEW  DAYS, IT WILL BE GONE!"
In 1970, Pete entered the AAU Junior Mr. USA and did not place in the top ten. He discovered that most everyone
one in the competition but him was
injesting Anavar because Dianabol caused too much water retention.
It wasn't just Grymko who was curious ... all powerlifters, weightlifters, and bodybuilders with whom he trained in Rochester wanted in on it. They started making weekly pilgrimages to York Barbell Company. There, they picked up training tips and information on "stacking" new Russian compounds
and the entire Rochester New York crew started packing on mass like crazy.
 At that point, the guys purchased a
 a German American community center and turned it into their own training facility. Gymko wasn’t shy about saying how his gains were made. Whereas other builders were either claiming natty or small dosages, he fessed up to using two grams of orals and injectables daily. That was his starter cycle.
There are the medical records to prove it- Grymko and his training partner actually volunteered to be studied by doctors at the University of Rochester Medical Center to examine the effects of megadosing performance enhancing drugs on the human body, and it seemed to the doctors that the extremely liberal use of anti-estrogen preserved sexual potency and overall health.
Pete stated, "I TOOK TWO TYPES OF TESTOSTERONES, AS WELL AS ANAVAR AND NILAVAR. I BLASTED UP TO 262 POUNDS. NO SIDE EFFECTS. I WAS ON THIS DOASGE FOR ONE YEAR STRAIGHT.
THE RUSSIANS AS WELL AS DR. HOROWITZ FROM POLAND SUGGESTED TO KEEP DOSAGES HIGH ALL THE TIME TO KEEP THE STEROID RECEPTOR SITES OPEN. SO, FROM 1971 -73, I DID THIS. I STARTED AT 3,000 MGS PER DAY, WORKING MY WAY UP TO 10,000 MGS PER DAY AND STAYING THERE. OF COURSE, I’D TAKE CLOMID AND NOLVADEX TO KEEP MY NATURAL ANDROGENS UP”.
Grymko went on to say, "MY UNCLE AND SISTER, BOTH DOCS, AGREED THAT THE SUPER HIGH DOSAGES OF STEROIDS PROTECTED ME…NOT CYCLING HELPED ME. CYCLING CAUSED DEFICIENCIES IN THE ORGANS. I’D DRINK BEET JUICE AND CRANBERRY JUICE TO FLUSH THE BLADDER AND LIVER AND KEEP MY ACID LEVELS DOWN”.
Due to his completely open stance regarding both weed and gear, Grymko had a tough time with the AAU. They wanted no part of Grymko’s image. However, in 1972, he defeated Steve Michalik at the AAU Junior Mr. America contest and was a favorite to win the Mr. America title that year. Michalik, however, saw that the judges were leaning more toward symmetry and away from anything associated with Grymko, so he pared down and shrunk his arms from 22″ to 19″ to match his calves and neck.
Michalik won the contest by a huge margin, though Grymko won most muscular man.
In 1973, Grymko lost the Mr. America to Jim Morris, mostly based on the interview that contestants did before the show.  Grymko was viewed as overeager, and Morris was more “well educated, mannerly, articulate, and poised in the interview process". He later explained he was “a little sick of the old style of judging where every guy had to be Mr. Prim ‘n’ Proper.  And you all had to talk nice to the judges.  At the time I thought that half of the judges were homosexuals”.
By 1974, Pete was getting impatient- he was clearly outclassing everyone in bodybuilding at the time but getting none of the accolades. Bear in mind that the Mr. America competition in 1973 boasted over forty competitors, while the Mr. Olympia only had three- Arnold, Franco, and Serge Nubret. Many considered Grymko’s condition was better than all three, and he drastically outclassed them in mass.
Wondering what he would have to do to get his due, Grymko asked Arthur Jones for advice. The father of Nautilus and progenitor of the Heavy-Duty training system said that he’d just have to pay his dues for a couple of years and wait.
Discontented with the idea that he should play second fiddle to bodybuilders to whom his physique was clearly superior, Grymko said “to hell with that nonsense,” cycled off gear, and sat out competition until 1977.
At the time, Pete was still training at the
Rochester gym, where the members roll contained a large number linked to the mob.
"WELL, THE MOB CAME ALONG AND WANTED TO TAKE IT OVER, PAY THE RENT AND SPONSOR ME IN SHOWS. AS I STILL HAD MY CLEAN UP BUSINESS. WAS STILL TRAINING FIVE HOURS PER DAY WITH MY DAILY DOSAGES. QUIT IN 1974 BECAUSE THE FEDS WANTED ME TO TESTIFY AGAINST THE MOB.
I TOOK OFF FOR ORLANDO STRAIGHT AWAY. YOU KNOW, I’D HAVE ENDED UP DEAD".
With the feds cracking down on the mob in Rochester, Grymko departed the Northeast,skipping his court date, and dropping down to around 190 lbs to skew his appearance. Rather than catch a bullet for snitching, Grymko decided to pick up a federal warrant.
On February 9, 1977, with his future business partner in tow, Grymko threw on a pair of painter’s pants, a t-shirt, grabbed two sweatshirts and forty-two bucks ($176 in today’s dollars) then droved to Florida in his 1965 Corvette.
It was those dosages, his unique diet, and his insane training regimen that led to Pete stepping onstage June 18,1977, at 242 lbs.… fully 50 lbs heavier than he was four months earlier.
“I WENT DOWN THERE WITH A BIG OLD BOX OF ‘ROIDS, SLEPT ON THE ROOF OF A GYM AND TRAINED ONLY AT NIGHT. I’D EAT ONE FOOD MEAL A DAY ALONG WITH FIVE PROTEIN DRINKS. I'D UNDERGO HYPNOSIS TO GET THROUGH UTTERLY BRUTAL WORKOUTS. I HAD PRIDE. I QUIT HIGH SCHOOL, BUILT MY OWN BUSINESSES, BUT THE FEDS WANTED ME. THE HAD WARRANTS OUT ON ME FOR ME TO COME BACK TO NEW YORK AND TESTIFY. I CAME DOWN TO ORLANDO AT 185 POUNDS. WHEN I LEFT FOR CALIFORNIA FOUR MONTHS LATER, I WAS 258 AND CUT UP.
Grymko upped the ante again and moved to Santa Monica.
“AS SOON AS I GOT OUT TO CALIFORNIA, WELL, I ARRIVED WITH 63$ IN MY POCKET. I SLEPT UNDER THE SANTA MONICA PIER. I WOULD EAT DAY OLD MCDONALD’S HAMBURGERS OUT OF DUMPSTERS. I’D WASH MY CLOTHES AND BATHE IN THE SEA. I DIDN'T OWN A CAR OR HAVE A JOB. I JUST WANTED TO BE TRAINING ALL THE TIME. TRAIN ALL THE TIME AND EVADE THE FEDS. AND THE BODYBUILDERS-WELL, I HAD LITTLE CONFIDENCE. I’D SEE [TOM] PLATZ. [MIKE] MENTZER. ROGER [CALLENDER] AND DANNY [PADILLA].
I DIDN’T THINK I COULD BEAT ANY OF THEM. DR. PETER SIEGEL, THE HYPNOTIST, NOTICED MY LACK OF CONFIDENCE AND HYPNOTIZED ME. IT MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE. AT THE AMERICA I POSED GREAT AND WON MY CLASS-IT WAS LIKE NIGHT AND DAY". 
Never a slave to routine, Grymko's training evolved and adapted throughout his life. When he trained in Rochester, his routine was essentially a powerlifting program. Though he trained up to six days a week, the program with which he gained the most size the quickest seems to have been a four day a week push pull program. He trained almost exclusively at night, between midnight and 7 AM, and put in between three and seven hours at the gym on those days.
In 1974, doctors running the steroid research program at Strong Memorial Hospital told Pete that he needed at least 72 hours to go through a full recovery cycle after training, as those docs believed that recovery was not markedly improved by exogenous test. Thus, he set up the following training program.
Monday– All pushing movements
Tuesday– All pulling movements
Wednesday– Cardio
Thursday– Push
Friday - Pull
Saturday -  Cardio
Sunday - Off
His nearly fifty set chest routine, which was a small part of his Monday and Thursday workouts, along with quads, shoulders, and triceps included:
Incline Bench Press (45°)– 10 x 8 (up to 320lbs)
Incline Bench Press (65°)– 7 x 7- 10
Decline Fly – 5 x 15
Incline Fly – 5 x 15
Incline Dumbbell Press – 4 x 12-15
High Cable Crossover - 6  X 15 - 20
Lest you think that Grymko had his nose to the grindstone for seven hours straight every night, his training days were set up far more like a Bulgarian or Chinese weightlifter’s day than your hour a day a few times a week- he trained off and on throughout the night as he “worked” at the gym.
Though Grymko was a high school dropout, he was no dummy, and his diet reflected his nature- brutal, simple, and well informed. Seemlessly blending evolutionary science with what he had learned in conversations with doctors during the steroid study in which he participated, Grymko developed a completely unique approach to bodybuilding diets. Ultimately, he
arrived at a single massive feeding period supported by five protein shakes.
Pete's logic was similar to other apex predators', humans should eat once per day, but because he was using such massive dosages of steroids, he could assimilate far more protein than the average human and needed to supplement his feeding frenzy with periodic shakes.
During those three-hour frenzies, he scarfs beef, eggs, milk, fish, and chicken- whatever he could find to fill the void in his stomach and fuel his workout. If he felt himself lagging during a workout, he’d take glucose tabs.
Sagging the 1977 IFBB heavyweight crown, Grymko competed at the AAU America show, placing 6th overall and 3rd in the tall class. Burned out, he didn’t want to compete again that year but was convinced by the owner of Gold’s Gym, Ken Sprague, to enter the Mr. World in Acapulco, which he won handily.
Pete competed three more times, showing up to contests days earlier than everyone else and laying in a hotel hooked up to bags of concoction he thought might give him the edge in competition. His suitcases of medical gear and drugs were so ridiculous that the IFBB president Wayne DeMilia remarked after walking into Grymko’s room that he felt like he walked into a high school chemistry lab.
“WE ALL WENT OUT TO LUNCH ONE DAY, JIM MANION, KEN SPRAGUE, OTHERS. JIM MANION WAS SUPPOSED TO BUY GOLD’S FROM KEN. THIS WAS 1978 WHEN THE NPC STARTED. ABOUT TEN OF US WENT BACK TO KEN’S-ME AND MANNY PERRY ENDED UP IN THE ALLEY, SMOKING A JAY. I LAUGH WHEN I THINK ABOUT THIS-AT THE TIME, I WAS LOU FERRIGNO DOUBLE ON THE HULK. BUT I SPENT THE FIRST DAY-14 HOURS JUST SITTING THERE WITH CAKED ON GREEN MAKEUP.
I OFFERED THE JOB TO MANNY AS I HAD JUST QUIT. MANNY WAS LIKE, ‘I CAN’T DO THAT-I’M BLACK!’ I TOLD HIM IT WAS MAKEUP AND HE GOT THE JOB! SO, ALL OF A SUDDEN, WE HEAR A COMMOTION IN THE HOUSE. MANION AND SPRAGUE ARE FIGHTING IN THE KITCHEN. MANION TOOK OFF, LEAVING HIS WIFE AND SAYING, ‘FUCK THESE GUYS.’ TWO OTHER GUYS WANTED TO BUY IT, BUT SO DID I. MARION SPRAGUE, KEN’S WIFE, LIKED ME AND WANTED ME TO GET IT. KEN SAID WHOEVER GOT HIM A 50K DOWN PAYMENT FIRST WOULD WIN. THIS HAD TO BE FOLLOWED BY A SECOND PAYMENT OF 50K ABOUT A YEAR LATER. I HAD 27 THOUSAND DOLLARS SAVED FOR MY DAUGHTER’S COLLEGE FUND. I CALLED ED CONNERS AND DENNY DOYLE AND ASKED THEM TO BUY IN WITH ME. WE GOT THE MONEY TOGETHER AND WE GOT IT.
THE WHEELS WERE TURNING IN MY HEAD. AT THE TIME, I WAS DOING POSINGS ALL OVER THE WORLD, AND WITH THE ADVENT OF PUMPING IRON, EVERYONE EVERYWHERE WANTED TO KNOW OF THE MECCA OF GOLD’S. I THOUGHT, ‘WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO CAN’T GET THERE? I’VE GOT TO BUY IT AND FRANCHISE!’ ABOUT A YEAR LATER, DOYLE WANTED TO CASH OUT TO BUY HIS DAUGHTER A CAR. I CALLED TIM KIMBER, WHO HAD JUST LITERALLY PUT 30 THOUSAND DOLLARS DOWN ON A NEW HOUSE. I TOLD HIM IF HE COULD GET THE MONEY BACK, THERE’D BE A SPOT FOR HIM. HE DID AND WE HAD HIM RUN THE FRONT OFFICE, ED HANDLED THE BANKING, AND I WAS ON THE ROAD. IT WAS A SPIRITUAL TIME, HOW EVERYTHING FELL INTO PLACE”
At the time, Grymko’s efforts were paying off massively- he was making $10k a week in cash for guest posing in Europe and sending it home in duffel bags covered in t-shirts. With that money he was able to throw in on the gym and keep it afloat, then grow it in the first year.
As with anything in Grymko’s life, however, success didn’t last- Joe Gold and Arnold were working together on World’s Gym and wanted Gold’s out of business. Their other partner, the actor Robert Blake, purchased the building in which Gold’s operated and tripled
 the rent, which left Grymko and his partners in a massive bind. It being the 80s, however, he was able to take matters into his own hands.
"IPUT DEREK BARTON, TIM KIMBER AND JOE BUCCI TOGETHER AS A TEAM. DEREK BECAME PRESIDENT OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, WHICH ALLOWED HIM TO KEEP THE COPS OFF ME WHILE I ‘NEGOTIATED’ WITH NEIGHBORHOOD CRACK HOUSES. WE WANTED TO OPEN IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, AND THERE WERE FIVE VERY BAD, SEEDY CRACK HOUSES IN THE WAY. I WALKED IN, STRAPPED WITH A MACHINE PISTOL. ‘I’M HERE TO TALK BUSINESS,’ IS WHAT I ANNOUNCED. I SAID I WANTED TO OPEN A GYM THERE, AND THE CRACK HOUSES HAD TO GO.
LARRY FIELDS WAS THE GUY WHO OWNED THIS REAL ESTATE, AND I OFFERED IF I COULD CLEAN UP THE MESS, WOULD HE GIVE US A BUILDING FOR THE GYM SIX MONTHS RENT FREE? HE BASICALLY SAID HE’D KISS MY ASS IF I COULD DO THAT. SO, THERE WERE A BUNCH OF FOLKS ALL ABOUT. I TOLD THEM WE HAD TO GET THE HOMELESS ELEMENT CORRECTED. WE COULD BE FRIENDS OR ENEMIES, EITHER WAY, THE CRACK HEADS HAD TO GO. I SAID THEY COULD MOVE A FEW BLOCKS AWAY, RIGHT NOW. HOW HARD COULD IT BE TO SET UP SHOP AS A CRACK HOUSE? C’MON MAN. Y’ALL GOTTA MOVE.”
“MY SECOND WIFE, LINDA, A GREAT PERSON, SHE HAD MY BACK. SHE WAS WITH ME AND STRAPPED WITH AN UZI. NO NONSENSE BRO. ONE GUY, PACKING ABOUT 550 POUNDS, SAID, ‘MAN, I WILL BE GONE!” ‘ANOTHER: ‘WHAT IF WE DON’T WANT TO COOPERATE?’ I TOLD HIM HE COULD WALK OUT OR HE WOULD OF COURSE BE CARRIED OUT".
THEY OFFERED ME A STAKE IN THE CRACK OUTFIT, BUT I SAID, ‘ARE YOU CRAZY? I DON’T DO CRACK, I JUST SMOKE POT.’ SO, THIS BECAME THE NEXT HOME FOR GOLD’S GYM, WHICH WE STARTED TO FRANCHISE. BUT THERE WAS A RUDE AWAKENING. TO FRANCHISE INTERNATIONALLY, YOU MUST REGISTER IN EVERY TERRITORY, WHICH WAS PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE TO DO. LIABILITY ABOUNDED AS WELL. IF A CLUB WENT BANKRUPT, THEY COULD SUE ME PERSONALLY FOR DAMAGES.
WE DECIDED TO MAKE THINGS SIMPLE WITH THE HELP OF MY BROTHER, PAUL, WHO HELD AN NYU DEGREE IN MARKETING. WE WENT INTO LICENSING INSTEAD OF FRANCHISING. ANY PRODUCTS SOLD BY CLUBS MUST BE PURCHASED THROUGH ME, BUT THE CLUBS COULD ALSO SELL OTHER PRODUCTS AS WELL. IT ALSO GAVE US THE RIGHT TO GO INTO TERRITORIES FOR PREMISE USE ONLY. THIS HELPED ME GET INTO DEPARTMENT STORES. MY UNCLE WAS THE VP OF ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH. DENNIS TINNERINO HAD CONTACTS WITH MACY’S, DICK’S, NORDSTROMS, WALMART. ALL OF A SUDDEN, WE HAD 11,000 STORES GLOBALLY SELLING PRODUCTS”.
Fast forward twenty years, and Grymko decided it was time to sell the club after open heart surgery, a move he profoundly regrets. Though the sale netted Grymko and his partners somewhere between 50 and 100 million bucks, the people who bought the club jacked up the prices on everything, turned the franchise into a shadow of what it once was, and basically crapped
all over a professional bodybuilder’s dream of having his bodybuilding mecca easily accessible to people all over the nation. Instead, what he got was cookie-cutter “training spaces” afraid of high insurance costs and big weights, run by those who never set foot on a bodybuilding stage or a powerlifting platform.
“THEY RAISED THE FRANCHISE FEE TO 100K [IT HAD BEEN $1500]. ALL OF OUR PRIME PEOPLE GOT DISGUSTED WITH GOLD’S WHEN THEY TOOK OVER. THEIR GOAL WAS TO PUSH THE INDEPENDENT OWNERS OUT. THEY ARE MUCH MORE PROFITABLE WHEN OWNED CORPORATELY. HALF OF THEM ARE NOW CORPORATE AND THEY ALONE GENERATE 650 MILLION DOLLARS ANNUALLY. “I TELL YOU; I WISH I NEVER SOLD. EVER. OUR DREAM IS NOW ASHES. MONTANARI’S [LEGENDARY HARDCORE GYM THAT HAD WANTED TO GO GOLD’S BUT WENT POWERHOUSE AFTER THE SALE]-GREAT PEOPLE. I WANTED TO KEEP IT GREAT FOR OUR OWNERS. I WAS MAKING THE MOST MONEY FROM THE STORES AND TEES, SO I SAID LET’S HAVE NO FEE FOR ANYONE WITH US FIVE YEARS OR MORE”.
So, there you have Pete Grymkowski- Mr. America, Mr. World, 1970’s mass monster, Gold’s Gym Owner 1979 – 1999, sponsor of UFC 1, 2 & 3, multi-millionaire, and Uzi toting nemesis of crack dealers. When he wanted something, he went for it and let absolutely nothing stand in his way, because they’ve never slept on a gym roof or under a pier or eaten day old McDonald’s burgers in prior of their dreams.
They’ve never pointed an Uzi in the face of a crack dealers to get what they wanted, and they’ve never tried taking what even the most geared up lifters take in a week every day for a  year. I'm not saying steroids are for everyone, either, I'm just saying that if you're not getting the results you want, it's likely you just don't want it badly enough.

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   Jim Morris, born August 31,1935, in Brooklyn, New York, was a clear winner of the 1973 AAU Mr. America contest, held in Williamsburg, Virginia. The runner-up, for third straight year,  was Pete Grymkowski, with Anibal Lopez placing third.
At age 32, standing five-ten inches and weighing 215 pounds,  Morris had 18 1/2 inch arms, a 54-inch chest, a 34-inch waist,24-inch thighs, with calves that measured 16 inches.
In Jim's initial physique contests, he won the 1967 Mr. New York Metropolitan, the Mr. New York State, and the Junior Mr. USA events. In 1970, he captured the Mr.Los Angeles and Mr. California titles. Two years later, he won the 1972 Mr. USA trophy and placed third at the Mr. America competition.
Following the Mr. America, he won the 1974 WBBG World Bodybuilding Guild, and the IFBB Mr. International contests.
Not content resting on his laurals, Jim flew to London to win the tall class division at that year's NABBA Amateur Mr. Universe. He finished his competitive bodybuilding career 23 years later by winning the 1996 IFBB  Masters Olympia Over 60 event.
Jim's interest in physical culture began in the 1950s, when he was dragged into the central Queens YMCA by an enthusiasic friend. Rather than jumping into serious weight-training, he put himself through a year-long course in biology, anatomy, nutrition, kinesiology, and related subjects pertaining to the human body. Later, he became an instructor at the Queens YMCA.
In 1959, Morris formed the New York Weighlifting Club. As a light-heavy weight, he snatched 280 pounds, pressed 260 pound and clean-and-jerked 335 pounds. His official powerlifting records were a 405-pound bench press; a 550-pound squat and a 600-pound deadlife.
Following a four-year tour in the United Stated Air Force, Morris received an Associate degree from New York's Pratt Univerity, prior to becoming a firefighter for New York City. He moved to Los Angeles in 1969, to train under the watchful eyes of Bill Pearl. Jim stated, "Bill taught me the mechanics of training and how to train others. With his guidance, I was able to win the Mr. America title. My employer, at Carnation Co., sent me on a nationwide media tour."
In 1973, for the following 15 years, Jim became the bodyguard for pop star Elton John. Between tours, he acted as a private fitness trainer for several Hollywoood notables.  In 1978, Jim opened a gym in West Hollywood and trained competitive bodybuilders Larry Jackson, James Joseph, Rufus Howard, Rory Leidelmeyer, Bob Paris and others.
At age 72, Jim was one one of the oldest men to be featured in Iron Man Magazine. In the article he stated, "Some say 'you look good for your age.' I don't think so. I believe this is how a 70-year-old should look."
In January of 2016, at age 81, while living in a cozy one-bedroom home in Venice, still training, living an apparent healthy lifestyle and instructing others, Jim shot and killed himself after a phone call to make sure his faithful dog would  be cared for.

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  PETE GRIMKOWSKI ....
 The 1970s bodybuilding scene was wide  open for those who competed did so out of love for the sport and whatever drove them into lifting in the first place, and making money was the last thing on their mind. It is likely for this reason that we have such compelling stories- guys like Pat Neve and Steve Michalik, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dave Draper, and Pete Grymkowsky.  Pete stated, "I would eat disgarded hamburger and sleep under a pier to afford the 10  grams of anabolic steroids I did each day and the weed I smoked."
This was the cause of a devide in the  sport. Until 1980, the Mr. America contest was the premier title in the US,  but the all-America image of the winner of that show was fading in the footloose and carefree 1970s. This upset the likes of hardcore bodybuilder, Steve Michalik.
According to Michalik, the AAU needed                                         
comitment to it's ideals and a leader.
“ARNOLD HAD A CHANCE TO BE THAT GUY, BUT HE BECAME THE OTHER ... POT SMOKING, PROMISCUOUS AND  FUN LOVING. THERE WAS NO FIRM LEADER TO REIN IT IN AND SAY YOU GUYS CAN’T BE IN THIS CONTEST. THEY GOT GUYS NOW WHERE THEIR WHOLE FACES ARE TATTOOED WITH SCARS AND SWASTIKAS.
IN THE EARLY YEARS, IF YOU HAD A PIMPLE, YOU LOST THE MR. AMERICA.  WHEN ERIC PEDERSON COMPETED AGAINST STEVE REEVES, THEY WERE TIED FOR AN HOUR. THEY FOUND A BLEMISH ON PEDERSON’S LEG, AND STEVE REEVES BECAME MR. AMERICA.  YEAH, THAT’S HOW CRITICAL IT WAS BACK THEN.  SO THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED… THE LEADERSHIP CHANGED.
Clearly, it’s bizarre that a guy the likes of Michalik was moaning about how conformist the non-conformists were and how that eroded the sanctity of the bodybuilding scenebut that's how unique it was in the 1970s. This is the environment in which we find one of the most rags-to-riches stories in American bodybuilding history- the story of 1970’s Pete Grymkowski.
With a combination of insane work ethic, ludicrous drug regimens, and an  account way overdrawn attitude, Grimko stands heads and shoulders among his peers for both his single-minded obsession with bodybuilding greatness and the financial success that arose.
" WAYNE DEMELIA WAS GOING NUTS LOOKING FOR ME. HE FOUND ME IN MY HOTEL ROOM, AS I WAS “GETTING READY FOR THE SHOW.” YOU KNOW HOW I WAS GETTING READY? WITH FOUR OR SIX IV’S OF STEROIDS RUNNING INTO MY VEINS, SIMULTANEOUSLY. THAT WAS MY TRAINING! I HAD A SUITCASE FULL OF DRUGS.
GUYS  ASKED IF I WAS  SELLING? HELL NO! THIS WAS ALL  FOR ME. IN A  FEW  DAYS, IT WILL BE GONE!"
In 1970, Pete entered the AAU Junior Mr. USA and did not place in the top ten. He discovered that most everyone
one in the competition but him was
injesting Anavar because Dianabol caused too much water retention.
It wasn't just Grymko who was curious ... all powerlifters, weightlifters, and bodybuilders with whom he trained in Rochester wanted in on it. They started making weekly pilgrimages to York Barbell Company. There, they picked up training tips and information on "stacking" new Russian compounds
and the entire Rochester New York crew started packing on mass like crazy.
 At that point, the guys purchased a
 a German American community center and turned it into their own training facility. Gymko wasn’t shy about saying how his gains were made. Whereas other builders were either claiming natty or small dosages, he fessed up to using two grams of orals and injectables daily. That was his starter cycle.
There are the medical records to prove it- Grymko and his training partner actually volunteered to be studied by doctors at the University of Rochester Medical Center to examine the effects of megadosing performance enhancing drugs on the human body, and it seemed to the doctors that the extremely liberal use of anti-estrogen preserved sexual potency and overall health.
Pete stated, "I TOOK TWO TYPES OF TESTOSTERONES, AS WELL AS ANAVAR AND NILAVAR. I BLASTED UP TO 262 POUNDS. NO SIDE EFFECTS. I WAS ON THIS DOASGE FOR ONE YEAR STRAIGHT.
THE RUSSIANS AS WELL AS DR. HOROWITZ FROM POLAND SUGGESTED TO KEEP DOSAGES HIGH ALL THE TIME TO KEEP THE STEROID RECEPTOR SITES OPEN. SO, FROM 1971 -73, I DID THIS. I STARTED AT 3,000 MGS PER DAY, WORKING MY WAY UP TO 10,000 MGS PER DAY AND STAYING THERE. OF COURSE, I’D TAKE CLOMID AND NOLVADEX TO KEEP MY NATURAL ANDROGENS UP”.
Grymko went on to say, "MY UNCLE AND SISTER, BOTH DOCS, AGREED THAT THE SUPER HIGH DOSAGES OF STEROIDS PROTECTED ME…NOT CYCLING HELPED ME. CYCLING CAUSED DEFICIENCIES IN THE ORGANS. I’D DRINK BEET JUICE AND CRANBERRY JUICE TO FLUSH THE BLADDER AND LIVER AND KEEP MY ACID LEVELS DOWN”.
Due to his completely open stance regarding both weed and gear, Grymko had a tough time with the AAU. They wanted no part of Grymko’s image. However, in 1972, he defeated Steve Michalik at the AAU Junior Mr. America contest and was a favorite to win the Mr. America title that year. Michalik, however, saw that the judges were leaning more toward symmetry and away from anything associated with Grymko, so he pared down and shrunk his arms from 22″ to 19″ to match his calves and neck.
Michalik won the contest by a huge margin, though Grymko won most muscular man.
In 1973, Grymko lost the Mr. America to Jim Morris, mostly based on the interview that contestants did before the show.  Grymko was viewed as overeager, and Morris was more “well educated, mannerly, articulate, and poised in the interview process". He later explained he was “a little sick of the old style of judging where every guy had to be Mr. Prim ‘n’ Proper.  And you all had to talk nice to the judges.  At the time I thought that half of the judges were homosexuals”.
By 1974, Pete was getting impatient- he was clearly outclassing everyone in bodybuilding at the time but getting none of the accolades. Bear in mind that the Mr. America competition in 1973 boasted over forty competitors, while the Mr. Olympia only had three- Arnold, Franco, and Serge Nubret. Many considered Grymko’s condition was better than all three, and he drastically outclassed them in mass.
Wondering what he would have to do to get his due, Grymko asked Arthur Jones for advice. The father of Nautilus and progenitor of the Heavy-Duty training system said that he’d just have to pay his dues for a couple of years and wait.
Discontented with the idea that he should play second fiddle to bodybuilders to whom his physique was clearly superior, Grymko said “to hell with that nonsense,” cycled off gear, and sat out competition until 1977.
At the time, Pete was still training at the
Rochester gym, where the members roll contained a large number linked to the mob.
"WELL, THE MOB CAME ALONG AND WANTED TO TAKE IT OVER, PAY THE RENT AND SPONSOR ME IN SHOWS. AS I STILL HAD MY CLEAN UP BUSINESS. WAS STILL TRAINING FIVE HOURS PER DAY WITH MY DAILY DOSAGES. QUIT IN 1974 BECAUSE THE FEDS WANTED ME TO TESTIFY AGAINST THE MOB.
I TOOK OFF FOR ORLANDO STRAIGHT AWAY. YOU KNOW, I’D HAVE ENDED UP DEAD".
With the feds cracking down on the mob in Rochester, Grymko departed the Northeast,skipping his court date, and dropping down to around 190 lbs to skew his appearance. Rather than catch a bullet for snitching, Grymko decided to pick up a federal warrant.
On February 9, 1977, with his future business partner in tow, Grymko threw on a pair of painter’s pants, a t-shirt, grabbed two sweatshirts and forty-two bucks ($176 in today’s dollars) then droved to Florida in his 1965 Corvette.
It was those dosages, his unique diet, and his insane training regimen that led to Pete stepping onstage June 18,1977, at 242 lbs.… fully 50 lbs heavier than he was four months earlier.
“I WENT DOWN THERE WITH A BIG OLD BOX OF ‘ROIDS, SLEPT ON THE ROOF OF A GYM AND TRAINED ONLY AT NIGHT. I’D EAT ONE FOOD MEAL A DAY ALONG WITH FIVE PROTEIN DRINKS. I'D UNDERGO HYPNOSIS TO GET THROUGH UTTERLY BRUTAL WORKOUTS. I HAD PRIDE. I QUIT HIGH SCHOOL, BUILT MY OWN BUSINESSES, BUT THE FEDS WANTED ME. THE HAD WARRANTS OUT ON ME FOR ME TO COME BACK TO NEW YORK AND TESTIFY. I CAME DOWN TO ORLANDO AT 185 POUNDS. WHEN I LEFT FOR CALIFORNIA FOUR MONTHS LATER, I WAS 258 AND CUT UP.
Grymko upped the ante again and moved to Santa Monica.
“AS SOON AS I GOT OUT TO CALIFORNIA, WELL, I ARRIVED WITH 63$ IN MY POCKET. I SLEPT UNDER THE SANTA MONICA PIER. I WOULD EAT DAY OLD MCDONALD’S HAMBURGERS OUT OF DUMPSTERS. I’D WASH MY CLOTHES AND BATHE IN THE SEA. I DIDN'T OWN A CAR OR HAVE A JOB. I JUST WANTED TO BE TRAINING ALL THE TIME. TRAIN ALL THE TIME AND EVADE THE FEDS. AND THE BODYBUILDERS-WELL, I HAD LITTLE CONFIDENCE. I’D SEE [TOM] PLATZ. [MIKE] MENTZER. ROGER [CALLENDER] AND DANNY [PADILLA].
I DIDN’T THINK I COULD BEAT ANY OF THEM. DR. PETER SIEGEL, THE HYPNOTIST, NOTICED MY LACK OF CONFIDENCE AND HYPNOTIZED ME. IT MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE. AT THE AMERICA I POSED GREAT AND WON MY CLASS-IT WAS LIKE NIGHT AND DAY". 
Never a slave to routine, Grymko's training evolved and adapted throughout his life. When he trained in Rochester, his routine was essentially a powerlifting program. Though he trained up to six days a week, the program with which he gained the most size the quickest seems to have been a four day a week push pull program. He trained almost exclusively at night, between midnight and 7 AM, and put in between three and seven hours at the gym on those days.
In 1974, doctors running the steroid research program at Strong Memorial Hospital told Pete that he needed at least 72 hours to go through a full recovery cycle after training, as those docs believed that recovery was not markedly improved by exogenous test. Thus, he set up the following training program.
Monday– All pushing movements
Tuesday– All pulling movements
Wednesday– Cardio
Thursday– Push
Friday - Pull
Saturday -  Cardio
Sunday - Off
His nearly fifty set chest routine, which was a small part of his Monday and Thursday workouts, along with quads, shoulders, and triceps included:
Incline Bench Press (45°)– 10 x 8 (up to 320lbs)
Incline Bench Press (65°)– 7 x 7- 10
Decline Fly – 5 x 15
Incline Fly – 5 x 15
Incline Dumbbell Press – 4 x 12-15
High Cable Crossover - 6  X 15 - 20
Lest you think that Grymko had his nose to the grindstone for seven hours straight every night, his training days were set up far more like a Bulgarian or Chinese weightlifter’s day than your hour a day a few times a week- he trained off and on throughout the night as he “worked” at the gym.
Though Grymko was a high school dropout, he was no dummy, and his diet reflected his nature- brutal, simple, and well informed. Seemlessly blending evolutionary science with what he had learned in conversations with doctors during the steroid study in which he participated, Grymko developed a completely unique approach to bodybuilding diets. Ultimately, he
arrived at a single massive feeding period supported by five protein shakes.
Pete's logic was similar to other apex predators', humans should eat once per day, but because he was using such massive dosages of steroids, he could assimilate far more protein than the average human and needed to supplement his feeding frenzy with periodic shakes.
During those three-hour frenzies, he scarfs beef, eggs, milk, fish, and chicken- whatever he could find to fill the void in his stomach and fuel his workout. If he felt himself lagging during a workout, he’d take glucose tabs.
Sagging the 1977 IFBB heavyweight crown, Grymko competed at the AAU America show, placing 6th overall and 3rd in the tall class. Burned out, he didn’t want to compete again that year but was convinced by the owner of Gold’s Gym, Ken Sprague, to enter the Mr. World in Acapulco, which he won handily.
Pete competed three more times, showing up to contests days earlier than everyone else and laying in a hotel hooked up to bags of concoction he thought might give him the edge in competition. His suitcases of medical gear and drugs were so ridiculous that the IFBB president Wayne DeMilia remarked after walking into Grymko’s room that he felt like he walked into a high school chemistry lab.
“WE ALL WENT OUT TO LUNCH ONE DAY, JIM MANION, KEN SPRAGUE, OTHERS. JIM MANION WAS SUPPOSED TO BUY GOLD’S FROM KEN. THIS WAS 1978 WHEN THE NPC STARTED. ABOUT TEN OF US WENT BACK TO KEN’S-ME AND MANNY PERRY ENDED UP IN THE ALLEY, SMOKING A JAY. I LAUGH WHEN I THINK ABOUT THIS-AT THE TIME, I WAS LOU FERRIGNO DOUBLE ON THE HULK. BUT I SPENT THE FIRST DAY-14 HOURS JUST SITTING THERE WITH CAKED ON GREEN MAKEUP.
I OFFERED THE JOB TO MANNY AS I HAD JUST QUIT. MANNY WAS LIKE, ‘I CAN’T DO THAT-I’M BLACK!’ I TOLD HIM IT WAS MAKEUP AND HE GOT THE JOB! SO, ALL OF A SUDDEN, WE HEAR A COMMOTION IN THE HOUSE. MANION AND SPRAGUE ARE FIGHTING IN THE KITCHEN. MANION TOOK OFF, LEAVING HIS WIFE AND SAYING, ‘FUCK THESE GUYS.’ TWO OTHER GUYS WANTED TO BUY IT, BUT SO DID I. MARION SPRAGUE, KEN’S WIFE, LIKED ME AND WANTED ME TO GET IT. KEN SAID WHOEVER GOT HIM A 50K DOWN PAYMENT FIRST WOULD WIN. THIS HAD TO BE FOLLOWED BY A SECOND PAYMENT OF 50K ABOUT A YEAR LATER. I HAD 27 THOUSAND DOLLARS SAVED FOR MY DAUGHTER’S COLLEGE FUND. I CALLED ED CONNERS AND DENNY DOYLE AND ASKED THEM TO BUY IN WITH ME. WE GOT THE MONEY TOGETHER AND WE GOT IT.
THE WHEELS WERE TURNING IN MY HEAD. AT THE TIME, I WAS DOING POSINGS ALL OVER THE WORLD, AND WITH THE ADVENT OF PUMPING IRON, EVERYONE EVERYWHERE WANTED TO KNOW OF THE MECCA OF GOLD’S. I THOUGHT, ‘WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO CAN’T GET THERE? I’VE GOT TO BUY IT AND FRANCHISE!’ ABOUT A YEAR LATER, DOYLE WANTED TO CASH OUT TO BUY HIS DAUGHTER A CAR. I CALLED TIM KIMBER, WHO HAD JUST LITERALLY PUT 30 THOUSAND DOLLARS DOWN ON A NEW HOUSE. I TOLD HIM IF HE COULD GET THE MONEY BACK, THERE’D BE A SPOT FOR HIM. HE DID AND WE HAD HIM RUN THE FRONT OFFICE, ED HANDLED THE BANKING, AND I WAS ON THE ROAD. IT WAS A SPIRITUAL TIME, HOW EVERYTHING FELL INTO PLACE”
At the time, Grymko’s efforts were paying off massively- he was making $10k a week in cash for guest posing in Europe and sending it home in duffel bags covered in t-shirts. With that money he was able to throw in on the gym and keep it afloat, then grow it in the first year.
As with anything in Grymko’s life, however, success didn’t last- Joe Gold and Arnold were working together on World’s Gym and wanted Gold’s out of business. Their other partner, the actor Robert Blake, purchased the building in which Gold’s operated and tripled
 the rent, which left Grymko and his partners in a massive bind. It being the 80s, however, he was able to take matters into his own hands.
"IPUT DEREK BARTON, TIM KIMBER AND JOE BUCCI TOGETHER AS A TEAM. DEREK BECAME PRESIDENT OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, WHICH ALLOWED HIM TO KEEP THE COPS OFF ME WHILE I ‘NEGOTIATED’ WITH NEIGHBORHOOD CRACK HOUSES. WE WANTED TO OPEN IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, AND THERE WERE FIVE VERY BAD, SEEDY CRACK HOUSES IN THE WAY. I WALKED IN, STRAPPED WITH A MACHINE PISTOL. ‘I’M HERE TO TALK BUSINESS,’ IS WHAT I ANNOUNCED. I SAID I WANTED TO OPEN A GYM THERE, AND THE CRACK HOUSES HAD TO GO.
LARRY FIELDS WAS THE GUY WHO OWNED THIS REAL ESTATE, AND I OFFERED IF I COULD CLEAN UP THE MESS, WOULD HE GIVE US A BUILDING FOR THE GYM SIX MONTHS RENT FREE? HE BASICALLY SAID HE’D KISS MY ASS IF I COULD DO THAT. SO, THERE WERE A BUNCH OF FOLKS ALL ABOUT. I TOLD THEM WE HAD TO GET THE HOMELESS ELEMENT CORRECTED. WE COULD BE FRIENDS OR ENEMIES, EITHER WAY, THE CRACK HEADS HAD TO GO. I SAID THEY COULD MOVE A FEW BLOCKS AWAY, RIGHT NOW. HOW HARD COULD IT BE TO SET UP SHOP AS A CRACK HOUSE? C’MON MAN. Y’ALL GOTTA MOVE.”
“MY SECOND WIFE, LINDA, A GREAT PERSON, SHE HAD MY BACK. SHE WAS WITH ME AND STRAPPED WITH AN UZI. NO NONSENSE BRO. ONE GUY, PACKING ABOUT 550 POUNDS, SAID, ‘MAN, I WILL BE GONE!” ‘ANOTHER: ‘WHAT IF WE DON’T WANT TO COOPERATE?’ I TOLD HIM HE COULD WALK OUT OR HE WOULD OF COURSE BE CARRIED OUT".
THEY OFFERED ME A STAKE IN THE CRACK OUTFIT, BUT I SAID, ‘ARE YOU CRAZY? I DON’T DO CRACK, I JUST SMOKE POT.’ SO, THIS BECAME THE NEXT HOME FOR GOLD’S GYM, WHICH WE STARTED TO FRANCHISE. BUT THERE WAS A RUDE AWAKENING. TO FRANCHISE INTERNATIONALLY, YOU MUST REGISTER IN EVERY TERRITORY, WHICH WAS PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE TO DO. LIABILITY ABOUNDED AS WELL. IF A CLUB WENT BANKRUPT, THEY COULD SUE ME PERSONALLY FOR DAMAGES.
WE DECIDED TO MAKE THINGS SIMPLE WITH THE HELP OF MY BROTHER, PAUL, WHO HELD AN NYU DEGREE IN MARKETING. WE WENT INTO LICENSING INSTEAD OF FRANCHISING. ANY PRODUCTS SOLD BY CLUBS MUST BE PURCHASED THROUGH ME, BUT THE CLUBS COULD ALSO SELL OTHER PRODUCTS AS WELL. IT ALSO GAVE US THE RIGHT TO GO INTO TERRITORIES FOR PREMISE USE ONLY. THIS HELPED ME GET INTO DEPARTMENT STORES. MY UNCLE WAS THE VP OF ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH. DENNIS TINNERINO HAD CONTACTS WITH MACY’S, DICK’S, NORDSTROMS, WALMART. ALL OF A SUDDEN, WE HAD 11,000 STORES GLOBALLY SELLING PRODUCTS”.
Fast forward twenty years, and Grymko decided it was time to sell the club after open heart surgery, a move he profoundly regrets. Though the sale netted Grymko and his partners somewhere between 50 and 100 million bucks, the people who bought the club jacked up the prices on everything, turned the franchise into a shadow of what it once was, and basically crapped
all over a professional bodybuilder’s dream of having his bodybuilding mecca easily accessible to people all over the nation. Instead, what he got was cookie-cutter “training spaces” afraid of high insurance costs and big weights, run by those who never set foot on a bodybuilding stage or a powerlifting platform.
“THEY RAISED THE FRANCHISE FEE TO 100K [IT HAD BEEN $1500]. ALL OF OUR PRIME PEOPLE GOT DISGUSTED WITH GOLD’S WHEN THEY TOOK OVER. THEIR GOAL WAS TO PUSH THE INDEPENDENT OWNERS OUT. THEY ARE MUCH MORE PROFITABLE WHEN OWNED CORPORATELY. HALF OF THEM ARE NOW CORPORATE AND THEY ALONE GENERATE 650 MILLION DOLLARS ANNUALLY. “I TELL YOU; I WISH I NEVER SOLD. EVER. OUR DREAM IS NOW ASHES. MONTANARI’S [LEGENDARY HARDCORE GYM THAT HAD WANTED TO GO GOLD’S BUT WENT POWERHOUSE AFTER THE SALE]-GREAT PEOPLE. I WANTED TO KEEP IT GREAT FOR OUR OWNERS. I WAS MAKING THE MOST MONEY FROM THE STORES AND TEES, SO I SAID LET’S HAVE NO FEE FOR ANYONE WITH US FIVE YEARS OR MORE”.
So, there you have Pete Grymkowski- Mr. America, Mr. World, 1970’s mass monster, Gold’s Gym Owner 1979 – 1999, sponsor of UFC 1, 2 & 3, multi-millionaire, and Uzi toting nemesis of crack dealers. When he wanted something, he went for it and let absolutely nothing stand in his way, because they’ve never slept on a gym roof or under a pier or eaten day old McDonald’s burgers in prior of their dreams.
They’ve never pointed an Uzi in the face of a crack dealers to get what they wanted, and they’ve never tried taking what even the most geared up lifters take in a week every day for a  year. I'm not saying steroids are for everyone, either, I'm just saying that if you're not getting the results you want, it's likely you just don't want it badly enough.

Fairy Tale Of Peace

[illuminati]

  PETE GRIMKOWSKI ....
 The 1970s bodybuilding scene was wide  open for those who competed did so out of love for the sport and whatever drove them into lifting in the first place, and making money was the last thing on their mind. It is likely for this reason that we have such compelling stories- guys like Pat Neve and Steve Michalik, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dave Draper, and Pete Grymkowsky.  Pete stated, "I would eat disgarded hamburger and sleep under a pier to afford the 10  grams of anabolic steroids I did each day and the weed I smoked."
This was the cause of a devide in the  sport. Until 1980, the Mr. America contest was the premier title in the US,  but the all-America image of the winner of that show was fading in the footloose and carefree 1970s. This upset the likes of hardcore bodybuilder, Steve Michalik.
According to Michalik, the AAU needed                                         
comitment to it's ideals and a leader.
“ARNOLD HAD A CHANCE TO BE THAT GUY, BUT HE BECAME THE OTHER ... POT SMOKING, PROMISCUOUS AND  FUN LOVING. THERE WAS NO FIRM LEADER TO REIN IT IN AND SAY YOU GUYS CAN’T BE IN THIS CONTEST. THEY GOT GUYS NOW WHERE THEIR WHOLE FACES ARE TATTOOED WITH SCARS AND SWASTIKAS.
IN THE EARLY YEARS, IF YOU HAD A PIMPLE, YOU LOST THE MR. AMERICA.  WHEN ERIC PEDERSON COMPETED AGAINST STEVE REEVES, THEY WERE TIED FOR AN HOUR. THEY FOUND A BLEMISH ON PEDERSON’S LEG, AND STEVE REEVES BECAME MR. AMERICA.  YEAH, THAT’S HOW CRITICAL IT WAS BACK THEN.  SO THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED… THE LEADERSHIP CHANGED.
Clearly, it’s bizarre that a guy the likes of Michalik was moaning about how conformist the non-conformists were and how that eroded the sanctity of the bodybuilding scenebut that's how unique it was in the 1970s. This is the environment in which we find one of the most rags-to-riches stories in American bodybuilding history- the story of 1970’s Pete Grymkowski.
With a combination of insane work ethic, ludicrous drug regimens, and an  account way overdrawn attitude, Grimko stands heads and shoulders among his peers for both his single-minded obsession with bodybuilding greatness and the financial success that arose.
" WAYNE DEMELIA WAS GOING NUTS LOOKING FOR ME. HE FOUND ME IN MY HOTEL ROOM, AS I WAS “GETTING READY FOR THE SHOW.” YOU KNOW HOW I WAS GETTING READY? WITH FOUR OR SIX IV’S OF STEROIDS RUNNING INTO MY VEINS, SIMULTANEOUSLY. THAT WAS MY TRAINING! I HAD A SUITCASE FULL OF DRUGS.
GUYS  ASKED IF I WAS  SELLING? HELL NO! THIS WAS ALL  FOR ME. IN A  FEW  DAYS, IT WILL BE GONE!"
In 1970, Pete entered the AAU Junior Mr. USA and did not place in the top ten. He discovered that most everyone
one in the competition but him was
injesting Anavar because Dianabol caused too much water retention.
It wasn't just Grymko who was curious ... all powerlifters, weightlifters, and bodybuilders with whom he trained in Rochester wanted in on it. They started making weekly pilgrimages to York Barbell Company. There, they picked up training tips and information on "stacking" new Russian compounds
and the entire Rochester New York crew started packing on mass like crazy.
 At that point, the guys purchased a
 a German American community center and turned it into their own training facility. Gymko wasn’t shy about saying how his gains were made. Whereas other builders were either claiming natty or small dosages, he fessed up to using two grams of orals and injectables daily. That was his starter cycle.
There are the medical records to prove it- Grymko and his training partner actually volunteered to be studied by doctors at the University of Rochester Medical Center to examine the effects of megadosing performance enhancing drugs on the human body, and it seemed to the doctors that the extremely liberal use of anti-estrogen preserved sexual potency and overall health.
Pete stated, "I TOOK TWO TYPES OF TESTOSTERONES, AS WELL AS ANAVAR AND NILAVAR. I BLASTED UP TO 262 POUNDS. NO SIDE EFFECTS. I WAS ON THIS DOASGE FOR ONE YEAR STRAIGHT.
THE RUSSIANS AS WELL AS DR. HOROWITZ FROM POLAND SUGGESTED TO KEEP DOSAGES HIGH ALL THE TIME TO KEEP THE STEROID RECEPTOR SITES OPEN. SO, FROM 1971 -73, I DID THIS. I STARTED AT 3,000 MGS PER DAY, WORKING MY WAY UP TO 10,000 MGS PER DAY AND STAYING THERE. OF COURSE, I’D TAKE CLOMID AND NOLVADEX TO KEEP MY NATURAL ANDROGENS UP”.
Grymko went on to say, "MY UNCLE AND SISTER, BOTH DOCS, AGREED THAT THE SUPER HIGH DOSAGES OF STEROIDS PROTECTED ME…NOT CYCLING HELPED ME. CYCLING CAUSED DEFICIENCIES IN THE ORGANS. I’D DRINK BEET JUICE AND CRANBERRY JUICE TO FLUSH THE BLADDER AND LIVER AND KEEP MY ACID LEVELS DOWN”.
Due to his completely open stance regarding both weed and gear, Grymko had a tough time with the AAU. They wanted no part of Grymko’s image. However, in 1972, he defeated Steve Michalik at the AAU Junior Mr. America contest and was a favorite to win the Mr. America title that year. Michalik, however, saw that the judges were leaning more toward symmetry and away from anything associated with Grymko, so he pared down and shrunk his arms from 22″ to 19″ to match his calves and neck.
Michalik won the contest by a huge margin, though Grymko won most muscular man.
In 1973, Grymko lost the Mr. America to Jim Morris, mostly based on the interview that contestants did before the show.  Grymko was viewed as overeager, and Morris was more “well educated, mannerly, articulate, and poised in the interview process". He later explained he was “a little sick of the old style of judging where every guy had to be Mr. Prim ‘n’ Proper.  And you all had to talk nice to the judges.  At the time I thought that half of the judges were homosexuals”.
By 1974, Pete was getting impatient- he was clearly outclassing everyone in bodybuilding at the time but getting none of the accolades. Bear in mind that the Mr. America competition in 1973 boasted over forty competitors, while the Mr. Olympia only had three- Arnold, Franco, and Serge Nubret. Many considered Grymko’s condition was better than all three, and he drastically outclassed them in mass.
Wondering what he would have to do to get his due, Grymko asked Arthur Jones for advice. The father of Nautilus and progenitor of the Heavy-Duty training system said that he’d just have to pay his dues for a couple of years and wait.
Discontented with the idea that he should play second fiddle to bodybuilders to whom his physique was clearly superior, Grymko said “to hell with that nonsense,” cycled off gear, and sat out competition until 1977.
At the time, Pete was still training at the
Rochester gym, where the members roll contained a large number linked to the mob.
"WELL, THE MOB CAME ALONG AND WANTED TO TAKE IT OVER, PAY THE RENT AND SPONSOR ME IN SHOWS. AS I STILL HAD MY CLEAN UP BUSINESS. WAS STILL TRAINING FIVE HOURS PER DAY WITH MY DAILY DOSAGES. QUIT IN 1974 BECAUSE THE FEDS WANTED ME TO TESTIFY AGAINST THE MOB.
I TOOK OFF FOR ORLANDO STRAIGHT AWAY. YOU KNOW, I’D HAVE ENDED UP DEAD".
With the feds cracking down on the mob in Rochester, Grymko departed the Northeast,skipping his court date, and dropping down to around 190 lbs to skew his appearance. Rather than catch a bullet for snitching, Grymko decided to pick up a federal warrant.
On February 9, 1977, with his future business partner in tow, Grymko threw on a pair of painter’s pants, a t-shirt, grabbed two sweatshirts and forty-two bucks ($176 in today’s dollars) then droved to Florida in his 1965 Corvette.
It was those dosages, his unique diet, and his insane training regimen that led to Pete stepping onstage June 18,1977, at 242 lbs.… fully 50 lbs heavier than he was four months earlier.
“I WENT DOWN THERE WITH A BIG OLD BOX OF ‘ROIDS, SLEPT ON THE ROOF OF A GYM AND TRAINED ONLY AT NIGHT. I’D EAT ONE FOOD MEAL A DAY ALONG WITH FIVE PROTEIN DRINKS. I'D UNDERGO HYPNOSIS TO GET THROUGH UTTERLY BRUTAL WORKOUTS. I HAD PRIDE. I QUIT HIGH SCHOOL, BUILT MY OWN BUSINESSES, BUT THE FEDS WANTED ME. THE HAD WARRANTS OUT ON ME FOR ME TO COME BACK TO NEW YORK AND TESTIFY. I CAME DOWN TO ORLANDO AT 185 POUNDS. WHEN I LEFT FOR CALIFORNIA FOUR MONTHS LATER, I WAS 258 AND CUT UP.
Grymko upped the ante again and moved to Santa Monica.
“AS SOON AS I GOT OUT TO CALIFORNIA, WELL, I ARRIVED WITH 63$ IN MY POCKET. I SLEPT UNDER THE SANTA MONICA PIER. I WOULD EAT DAY OLD MCDONALD’S HAMBURGERS OUT OF DUMPSTERS. I’D WASH MY CLOTHES AND BATHE IN THE SEA. I DIDN'T OWN A CAR OR HAVE A JOB. I JUST WANTED TO BE TRAINING ALL THE TIME. TRAIN ALL THE TIME AND EVADE THE FEDS. AND THE BODYBUILDERS-WELL, I HAD LITTLE CONFIDENCE. I’D SEE [TOM] PLATZ. [MIKE] MENTZER. ROGER [CALLENDER] AND DANNY [PADILLA].
I DIDN’T THINK I COULD BEAT ANY OF THEM. DR. PETER SIEGEL, THE HYPNOTIST, NOTICED MY LACK OF CONFIDENCE AND HYPNOTIZED ME. IT MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE. AT THE AMERICA I POSED GREAT AND WON MY CLASS-IT WAS LIKE NIGHT AND DAY". 
Never a slave to routine, Grymko's training evolved and adapted throughout his life. When he trained in Rochester, his routine was essentially a powerlifting program. Though he trained up to six days a week, the program with which he gained the most size the quickest seems to have been a four day a week push pull program. He trained almost exclusively at night, between midnight and 7 AM, and put in between three and seven hours at the gym on those days.
In 1974, doctors running the steroid research program at Strong Memorial Hospital told Pete that he needed at least 72 hours to go through a full recovery cycle after training, as those docs believed that recovery was not markedly improved by exogenous test. Thus, he set up the following training program.
Monday– All pushing movements
Tuesday– All pulling movements
Wednesday– Cardio
Thursday– Push
Friday - Pull
Saturday -  Cardio
Sunday - Off
His nearly fifty set chest routine, which was a small part of his Monday and Thursday workouts, along with quads, shoulders, and triceps included:
Incline Bench Press (45°)– 10 x 8 (up to 320lbs)
Incline Bench Press (65°)– 7 x 7- 10
Decline Fly – 5 x 15
Incline Fly – 5 x 15
Incline Dumbbell Press – 4 x 12-15
High Cable Crossover - 6  X 15 - 20
Lest you think that Grymko had his nose to the grindstone for seven hours straight every night, his training days were set up far more like a Bulgarian or Chinese weightlifter’s day than your hour a day a few times a week- he trained off and on throughout the night as he “worked” at the gym.
Though Grymko was a high school dropout, he was no dummy, and his diet reflected his nature- brutal, simple, and well informed. Seemlessly blending evolutionary science with what he had learned in conversations with doctors during the steroid study in which he participated, Grymko developed a completely unique approach to bodybuilding diets. Ultimately, he
arrived at a single massive feeding period supported by five protein shakes.
Pete's logic was similar to other apex predators', humans should eat once per day, but because he was using such massive dosages of steroids, he could assimilate far more protein than the average human and needed to supplement his feeding frenzy with periodic shakes.
During those three-hour frenzies, he scarfs beef, eggs, milk, fish, and chicken- whatever he could find to fill the void in his stomach and fuel his workout. If he felt himself lagging during a workout, he’d take glucose tabs.
Sagging the 1977 IFBB heavyweight crown, Grymko competed at the AAU America show, placing 6th overall and 3rd in the tall class. Burned out, he didn’t want to compete again that year but was convinced by the owner of Gold’s Gym, Ken Sprague, to enter the Mr. World in Acapulco, which he won handily.
Pete competed three more times, showing up to contests days earlier than everyone else and laying in a hotel hooked up to bags of concoction he thought might give him the edge in competition. His suitcases of medical gear and drugs were so ridiculous that the IFBB president Wayne DeMilia remarked after walking into Grymko’s room that he felt like he walked into a high school chemistry lab.
“WE ALL WENT OUT TO LUNCH ONE DAY, JIM MANION, KEN SPRAGUE, OTHERS. JIM MANION WAS SUPPOSED TO BUY GOLD’S FROM KEN. THIS WAS 1978 WHEN THE NPC STARTED. ABOUT TEN OF US WENT BACK TO KEN’S-ME AND MANNY PERRY ENDED UP IN THE ALLEY, SMOKING A JAY. I LAUGH WHEN I THINK ABOUT THIS-AT THE TIME, I WAS LOU FERRIGNO DOUBLE ON THE HULK. BUT I SPENT THE FIRST DAY-14 HOURS JUST SITTING THERE WITH CAKED ON GREEN MAKEUP.
I OFFERED THE JOB TO MANNY AS I HAD JUST QUIT. MANNY WAS LIKE, ‘I CAN’T DO THAT-I’M BLACK!’ I TOLD HIM IT WAS MAKEUP AND HE GOT THE JOB! SO, ALL OF A SUDDEN, WE HEAR A COMMOTION IN THE HOUSE. MANION AND SPRAGUE ARE FIGHTING IN THE KITCHEN. MANION TOOK OFF, LEAVING HIS WIFE AND SAYING, ‘FUCK THESE GUYS.’ TWO OTHER GUYS WANTED TO BUY IT, BUT SO DID I. MARION SPRAGUE, KEN’S WIFE, LIKED ME AND WANTED ME TO GET IT. KEN SAID WHOEVER GOT HIM A 50K DOWN PAYMENT FIRST WOULD WIN. THIS HAD TO BE FOLLOWED BY A SECOND PAYMENT OF 50K ABOUT A YEAR LATER. I HAD 27 THOUSAND DOLLARS SAVED FOR MY DAUGHTER’S COLLEGE FUND. I CALLED ED CONNERS AND DENNY DOYLE AND ASKED THEM TO BUY IN WITH ME. WE GOT THE MONEY TOGETHER AND WE GOT IT.
THE WHEELS WERE TURNING IN MY HEAD. AT THE TIME, I WAS DOING POSINGS ALL OVER THE WORLD, AND WITH THE ADVENT OF PUMPING IRON, EVERYONE EVERYWHERE WANTED TO KNOW OF THE MECCA OF GOLD’S. I THOUGHT, ‘WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO CAN’T GET THERE? I’VE GOT TO BUY IT AND FRANCHISE!’ ABOUT A YEAR LATER, DOYLE WANTED TO CASH OUT TO BUY HIS DAUGHTER A CAR. I CALLED TIM KIMBER, WHO HAD JUST LITERALLY PUT 30 THOUSAND DOLLARS DOWN ON A NEW HOUSE. I TOLD HIM IF HE COULD GET THE MONEY BACK, THERE’D BE A SPOT FOR HIM. HE DID AND WE HAD HIM RUN THE FRONT OFFICE, ED HANDLED THE BANKING, AND I WAS ON THE ROAD. IT WAS A SPIRITUAL TIME, HOW EVERYTHING FELL INTO PLACE”
At the time, Grymko’s efforts were paying off massively- he was making $10k a week in cash for guest posing in Europe and sending it home in duffel bags covered in t-shirts. With that money he was able to throw in on the gym and keep it afloat, then grow it in the first year.
As with anything in Grymko’s life, however, success didn’t last- Joe Gold and Arnold were working together on World’s Gym and wanted Gold’s out of business. Their other partner, the actor Robert Blake, purchased the building in which Gold’s operated and tripled
 the rent, which left Grymko and his partners in a massive bind. It being the 80s, however, he was able to take matters into his own hands.
"IPUT DEREK BARTON, TIM KIMBER AND JOE BUCCI TOGETHER AS A TEAM. DEREK BECAME PRESIDENT OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, WHICH ALLOWED HIM TO KEEP THE COPS OFF ME WHILE I ‘NEGOTIATED’ WITH NEIGHBORHOOD CRACK HOUSES. WE WANTED TO OPEN IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, AND THERE WERE FIVE VERY BAD, SEEDY CRACK HOUSES IN THE WAY. I WALKED IN, STRAPPED WITH A MACHINE PISTOL. ‘I’M HERE TO TALK BUSINESS,’ IS WHAT I ANNOUNCED. I SAID I WANTED TO OPEN A GYM THERE, AND THE CRACK HOUSES HAD TO GO.
LARRY FIELDS WAS THE GUY WHO OWNED THIS REAL ESTATE, AND I OFFERED IF I COULD CLEAN UP THE MESS, WOULD HE GIVE US A BUILDING FOR THE GYM SIX MONTHS RENT FREE? HE BASICALLY SAID HE’D KISS MY ASS IF I COULD DO THAT. SO, THERE WERE A BUNCH OF FOLKS ALL ABOUT. I TOLD THEM WE HAD TO GET THE HOMELESS ELEMENT CORRECTED. WE COULD BE FRIENDS OR ENEMIES, EITHER WAY, THE CRACK HEADS HAD TO GO. I SAID THEY COULD MOVE A FEW BLOCKS AWAY, RIGHT NOW. HOW HARD COULD IT BE TO SET UP SHOP AS A CRACK HOUSE? C’MON MAN. Y’ALL GOTTA MOVE.”
“MY SECOND WIFE, LINDA, A GREAT PERSON, SHE HAD MY BACK. SHE WAS WITH ME AND STRAPPED WITH AN UZI. NO NONSENSE BRO. ONE GUY, PACKING ABOUT 550 POUNDS, SAID, ‘MAN, I WILL BE GONE!” ‘ANOTHER: ‘WHAT IF WE DON’T WANT TO COOPERATE?’ I TOLD HIM HE COULD WALK OUT OR HE WOULD OF COURSE BE CARRIED OUT".
THEY OFFERED ME A STAKE IN THE CRACK OUTFIT, BUT I SAID, ‘ARE YOU CRAZY? I DON’T DO CRACK, I JUST SMOKE POT.’ SO, THIS BECAME THE NEXT HOME FOR GOLD’S GYM, WHICH WE STARTED TO FRANCHISE. BUT THERE WAS A RUDE AWAKENING. TO FRANCHISE INTERNATIONALLY, YOU MUST REGISTER IN EVERY TERRITORY, WHICH WAS PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE TO DO. LIABILITY ABOUNDED AS WELL. IF A CLUB WENT BANKRUPT, THEY COULD SUE ME PERSONALLY FOR DAMAGES.
WE DECIDED TO MAKE THINGS SIMPLE WITH THE HELP OF MY BROTHER, PAUL, WHO HELD AN NYU DEGREE IN MARKETING. WE WENT INTO LICENSING INSTEAD OF FRANCHISING. ANY PRODUCTS SOLD BY CLUBS MUST BE PURCHASED THROUGH ME, BUT THE CLUBS COULD ALSO SELL OTHER PRODUCTS AS WELL. IT ALSO GAVE US THE RIGHT TO GO INTO TERRITORIES FOR PREMISE USE ONLY. THIS HELPED ME GET INTO DEPARTMENT STORES. MY UNCLE WAS THE VP OF ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH. DENNIS TINNERINO HAD CONTACTS WITH MACY’S, DICK’S, NORDSTROMS, WALMART. ALL OF A SUDDEN, WE HAD 11,000 STORES GLOBALLY SELLING PRODUCTS”.
Fast forward twenty years, and Grymko decided it was time to sell the club after open heart surgery, a move he profoundly regrets. Though the sale netted Grymko and his partners somewhere between 50 and 100 million bucks, the people who bought the club jacked up the prices on everything, turned the franchise into a shadow of what it once was, and basically crapped
all over a professional bodybuilder’s dream of having his bodybuilding mecca easily accessible to people all over the nation. Instead, what he got was cookie-cutter “training spaces” afraid of high insurance costs and big weights, run by those who never set foot on a bodybuilding stage or a powerlifting platform.
“THEY RAISED THE FRANCHISE FEE TO 100K [IT HAD BEEN $1500]. ALL OF OUR PRIME PEOPLE GOT DISGUSTED WITH GOLD’S WHEN THEY TOOK OVER. THEIR GOAL WAS TO PUSH THE INDEPENDENT OWNERS OUT. THEY ARE MUCH MORE PROFITABLE WHEN OWNED CORPORATELY. HALF OF THEM ARE NOW CORPORATE AND THEY ALONE GENERATE 650 MILLION DOLLARS ANNUALLY. “I TELL YOU; I WISH I NEVER SOLD. EVER. OUR DREAM IS NOW ASHES. MONTANARI’S [LEGENDARY HARDCORE GYM THAT HAD WANTED TO GO GOLD’S BUT WENT POWERHOUSE AFTER THE SALE]-GREAT PEOPLE. I WANTED TO KEEP IT GREAT FOR OUR OWNERS. I WAS MAKING THE MOST MONEY FROM THE STORES AND TEES, SO I SAID LET’S HAVE NO FEE FOR ANYONE WITH US FIVE YEARS OR MORE”.
So, there you have Pete Grymkowski- Mr. America, Mr. World, 1970’s mass monster, Gold’s Gym Owner 1979 – 1999, sponsor of UFC 1, 2 & 3, multi-millionaire, and Uzi toting nemesis of crack dealers. When he wanted something, he went for it and let absolutely nothing stand in his way, because they’ve never slept on a gym roof or under a pier or eaten day old McDonald’s burgers in prior of their dreams.
They’ve never pointed an Uzi in the face of a crack dealers to get what they wanted, and they’ve never tried taking what even the most geared up lifters take in a week every day for a  year. I'm not saying steroids are for everyone, either, I'm just saying that if you're not getting the results you want, it's likely you just don't want it badly enough.

Really !! WTF 10grams a day - 70grams a week FFS
Maybe he did - only he really Knows.
and he's Still alive !!

He sure was quite big & muscular
Though I cant think that Dorian / Nasser/ Ronnie / Ruhl / faux etc would
be using that much or more .

i have fairly reliable knowledge Dorian wasn't using anywhere near them amounts well certainly not when he won his 1st/2nd olympia.

[wes]

” YOU KNOW HOW I WAS GETTING READY? WITH FOUR OR SIX IV’S OF STEROIDS RUNNING INTO MY VEINS, SIMULTANEOUSLY.

I never heard of intravenous steroids.

[funk51]

   https://www.instagram.com/barbellfilms/?hl=en

[karasan]

” YOU KNOW HOW I WAS GETTING READY? WITH FOUR OR SIX IV’S OF STEROIDS RUNNING INTO MY VEINS, SIMULTANEOUSLY.

I never heard of intravenous steroids.

I was about to write that this article is full of BS, you beat me to it.
Aside from ridiculous dosages, it suggests Pete was better than Arnold and Nubret.
Oh boy!

[funk51]

   BILL SENO ... WORLD CHAMPION POWERLIFTER / BODYBUILDER
Bill Seno, born in Chicago, Illinois, grew up in a rough and tough section of Chicago. He and his brother were raised by their mother in public housing.
A gifted athlete, Bill excelled in sports at a public high school. He played four years of football at Western Illinois University, however, his interest waned in football during his freshman year when he became involved in weight-training. Exceptionally powerful, at a bodyweight of 178 pounds, he overhead pressed 175 pounds during his first workout session.
In 1962, Seno spent six months on active duty in the U S Army Reserves. Discharged in 1963, he won the AAU Mr. Illinois title, prior to capturing the Most Muscular event at the AAU Jr. Mr. America contest.
As part of an exhibition, during that contest, Seno set a new national bench record of 451-pounds at a bodyweight of 198 pounds. Later that year, he placed 5th at the AAU Mr. America contest.
Bill returned to college and graduated in 1964, and then taught at a Chicago suburban high school for the next 29 years.
A member of the Sayre Park Weightlifting Club, Seno's best lifts were 300 pounds in the standing press; 250 pounds in the snatch and 310 pounds in the clean-and-jerk.
Wearing a normal t-shirt, his personal-best bench press consisted of a single with 580 pounds; a double with 550 pounds; six with 500 pounds; nine with 470 pounds, and 15 with 420 pounds.
In 1964, considering himself a powerlifting/bodybuilder, Bill won the Most Muscular award at the AAU Mr. America contest, over the likes of Sergio Oliva, Val Vasilieff, John Gourgott, Bob Gajda, and John DeCola. At the height of five-feet, eight-inches, his chest measured 49-inches; waist, 32-inches; upper flexed arms, 18-inches; thighs, 26-inches; calves and neck, 17-inches.
In 1965, Seno focused more on powerlifting and won two Senior National titles, and in 1981, he completed a 579 pound bench press in the 242 pound "Master's" division, without the aid of a bench suit or elbow wraps. The lift stood in some federations as a world record for 24 years.
A competitor in all aspects of the Iron Game, Bill evolved as a strength coach, having mentored such powerlifting legends as Ed Coan. He also authored "Pushing for Powerlifting and Sports" to help spread his knowledge on strength training to those who could not personally avail themselves to his teachings.
In 2004, Seno was honored at Chicagoland Muscle Reunion, joined by Sergio Oliva, Ernie Frantz, Ed Coan, Fred Schutz, Bill Pearl, and other well-known strength athletes.
Bill Seno remains one of the few lifters to have won National titles in two of the three aspects of the Iron Game: bodybuilding, powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting. He recently remarked:
"Growing up in public housing with others hoping to make themselves look better, by putting you down, had a propelling effect. It was the fuel that drove me to some of my highest accomplishments."
Bill Seno celebrated his 83rd birthday on May 6, 2022.

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   I’ve never encountered a problem that didn’t grow smaller after 10 minutes in the gym and under the iron." ~ Dave Draper
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Dave sometimes slipped bits and pieces of stories into his newsletters without ever writing in detail about an event. Traveling with Elvis is one such example -- a couple of paragraphs here and there, but no full article telling the tale. The following is an example of what I have in mind for the edit of the interview compilation book, where I'll weave a collection of pieces into more of a story. Here's "Travels with Elvis," beginning with an email correspondent's question.
<I read your bio and it said you toured with Elvis Presley. I was quite surprised about that because it isn’t mentioned in any book about Elvis. Could you tell us a little more about your tour with Elvis? When did the tour take place? Which places? Were you part of the entourage? Any stories about the tour you might want to share?>
Elvis did a three-week tour of the States from New York to New Mexico in 1971. I worked as the assistant to the producer in a six-man crew that filmed his concerts, his travels and the behind-the-scenes action. They were one-night stands of his Vegas show at large venues (dome stadiums, football arenas) in 20 different cities in a dozen different states.
As our film crew's aircraft reached for the sky from LAX, I asked the producer, Pierre, my good friend who gave me the job as I had none, “What do I do?” The crew—a two-man camera team, a sound man, a lighting man and Pierre and me—all laughed at my absurdity. I think that was the last time I laughed until our aircraft made its final landing three weeks later.
I was to coordinate sleeping arrangements, morning wake-up calls, food for the gang, car rentals, drive, acquire releases from anyone on camera or interviewed, act as the producer’s liaison, keep notes and make sure everyone was on the right aircraft right on time. This is where Laree laughs: HA. I’ve never been good at any of those things, especially keeping track of time.
Elvis and his entourage had their own jet and we—assorted Elvis backup folks, the roadies and tons of equipment—traveled on a prop jet that lumbered through the friendly skies. Madness in the air, craziness on the ground and insanity backstage and on stage. No time to eat, no time to sleep, no time to work out. The miles of exposed film became a documentary called “Elvis On Tour” that won an award and a two-paragraph write-up in Time Magazine, no box office smash.
I'm proud to have come alongside such a phenomenal character in contemporary history, ruling a vastly popular domain with charismatic magnificence. Can you imagine attending 20 Elvis Presley concerts in 20 different towns in 21 days? Many of you are thinking, “Are you nuts?”
These were spectacular sold-out events at large auditoriums with people—mostly gals—literally climbing the wall to get closer to the action. There I am backstage, onstage and shooting up close, at major airports and remote airfields, in a rental car chasing the Elvis crew on their bus like infamous paparazzi, cops frantically chasing the rental car full of amateur paparazzi frantically chasing the Elvis crew, getting releases from the local color and making sure everyone in the documentary crew was alive and awake each morning to go to destinations often unknown till we arrived.
Let me recollect… we were in Albany, Memphis, Nashville, Albuquerque, Trenton, Denver, Atlantic City, L.A., San Antonio, Little Rock, New Orleans… That’s half of them and probably not entirely accurate. The sights and scenes were in continual supply.
It was incredible. Elvis, packed screaming audiences, mostly women who were once kids, night after night, front row, backstage, in the balcony with a walkie-talkie setting up camera angles and gear.
Alas, Elvis was kept apart from the concert’s backup crews and roadies and managers. He flew on his own jet and arrived each night by a limo brigade at the venue’s secret-private-hidden-clandestine and well-guarded subterranean entrance. The King was quickly escorted to safe accommodations until he leapt onstage 30 minutes later. The rest was a wild, crazy and often moving ride. He tore the house down, as they say, everywhere he went. When Elvis and the band exhausted themselves, the curtains dropped and the announcer came to the mike with the immortalized words, “Elvis has left the building.”
“Elvis has left the building,” the end of the show for Elvis and the fans, was the beginning of the show for the roadies and the Cinema Associates film crew.
Once, I was invited aboard his aircraft, where we shook hands and exchanged looks of physical recognition and rapport; that is, we were both physical people on the edge of our senses, and we identified.
I survived the escapades and the story goes on. Two weeks later we did 10 days in Las Vegas and Detroit filming “Rock ‘n Roll of the Fifties.” Chubby Checker, Shirelles, Platters, Bo Didley, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and those fine folks. Another gas.
I was asked at another time if I’d like to join Elvis's crew of friendly sidekick bodyguards. Nice place for an outgoing, single guy whose head isn’t on sideways. But me? No, but, gee, thanks, guys.
If you’re gonna travel, travel with the best.
Dave

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   LOUIS RIECKE, JR. ... NATIONAL WEIGHTLIFTER / STRENGTH COACH
Lou Riecke was born October 2, 1926. He was the oldest of five children; three brothers and one sister. He grew up in New Orleans. He always thought of himself as an athlete.
At Jesuit High School, Riecke ran track and particularly enjoyed sprints and the long jump. During his senior year, he decided that weightlifting would help him in his efforts to gain weight so he could play football. Lou spent  hours that summer lifting weights at the New Orleans Athletic Club and working as a lifeguard at the Ponchartrain Beach in New Orleans where he and his future wife, Enid, enjoyed performing acrobatics with friends. All his training paid off because he was twice named best athlete of the year, all sports, in the Greater New Orleans area.
Lou joined the Navy following his first year of college at Louisiana State University. He was stationed in New Orleans at the Navy Medical Hospital for the duration of WWII.
Upon his return to school, Riecke won the NCAA weightlifting championship in 1947 and on three occasions captured the national YMCA title.
It was at the National YMCA championship in Los Angeles that Lou set a 325-pound World Record in the snatch in the light-heavy weight division. Over the years, Lou and his friends continued weightlifting in his gym, which was set up in his garage. This also served as a convenient place for housing his hugh collection awards and  trophies!
In 1964, at the age of 38, Riecke won the Olympic trials in New York and competed later that year in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Prior to leaving for the Games in Tokyo, the American Olympic team visited the NASA space capsule production facility in L.A. It was reported that the capsule was a tight squeeze!
In 1970, Chuck Noll, head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, was replaying films of 13 straight disastrous football games. In the process, he discovered the definite correlation between strength and hitting. He called Lou and set up an interview, after which Riecke was hired to improve the strength of the Steelers. He designed a special apparatus that was nicknamed the Riecke-Rack and installed one at the Three Rivers Stadium at Pittsburgh and another one at the Steelers’ training camp.
Riecke knew the value of strength training for maximizing athletic performance. He stated, “I operate on the theory that all NFL players are good athletes or they wouldn’t be here, but I know if their strength is improved they’ll hit harder, run faster, jump higher, and move quicker, because they have more horsepower.” He went on to say, “There’s no way for you not to know you’re strong if you are, and if you’re strong and know it, you’ll find yourself doing things you wouldn’t even attempt if you didn’t know you’re strong.”
Coach Riecke was highly respected by other NFL franchises as well. John North, Head Coach of the New Orleans Saints, recognized the impressive improvment Riecke had done with the Steelers and was quoted as saying, “We’d like Lou with us year round, but I don’t know if we can get him away from Pittsburgh. If we can’t get him full time, we’ll use him in the off season.”
After the 2010 Super Bowl Party in New Orleans, this legend in the Field of Strength and Conditioning was wearing something a bit more special than a team jersey, his four Super Bowl Rings, a testament to the tremendous impact of his contributions to the field!