Thought for the Day: “All the strength and force of man comes from his faith in things unseen. He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.” — Jesse
“The Research Report – The Golden Era of Bodybuilding” originally started out as an article written in my old website blog. This article was written upon the works of nutrition pioneers such as Rheo H Blair, “guru” Vince Gironda, and Larry Scott, who stood out in a unique manner in the The Golden Era of Bodybuilding. With great insight, these men clearly saw and established a solid relationship between diet and fitness.
It quickly became apparent that in order for all my readers to understand and follow the historical eating habits of the bodybuilder, the evolution of the sport itself would have to be unraveled to enrich the context of this story and to make it complete. Its origins and growth have been intertwined, segregated, and at times worked in harmony with other barbell and health advocates. And with little irony, the pioneering nutritional work of Rheo H Blair, “guru” Vince Gironda, along with Larry Scott, would significantly impact the evolution of this tale.
The sport has both spawned and traversed several arbitrary eras. Each stage seemingly built itself upon its predecessor, acquiring momentum and technologies that produced the most outlandish caricatures of the human body to walk the earth in modern history. However, it can also be argued that the industry really only had one era, that is The Golden Era of Bodybuilding.
The Golden Age of Bodybuilding can be defined as the period from 1960 to 1970. The world was getting more innovative with technology, better training methods, equipment, and nutrition that resulted in the increase in the body mass of bodybuilders. Perfect proportions and symmetry of the body was wanted and looked upon as a must have for bodybuilding.
The popularity of the sport took a tremendous turn, and became more competitive than the earlier years of when it first started. With the new bodybuilding craze, new competitions opened up such as the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) which created the first Mr. America. This became a problem, however, because the AAU only accepted amateur bodybuilders. Professional bodybuilders became upset that they could not participate, so turned to Olympic weightlifting. Olympic weightlifting was a very difficult task to achieve, and they needed something more than just that. This lead to the creation of the International Federation of Body Builders (IFBB) by Joe Weider and his brother Ben. Who in turn held their own Mr. America competition which was open to professional bodybuilders, unlike the AAU who only held theirs for amateurs. Later, they created a competition known as Mr. Olympia, which is still the most honorable title for bodybuilders of today. It was in 1950 that the National Amateur Bodybuilders Association was started and the the first Mr. Universe competition was held in the United Kingdom.
Back in the 1930s, Muscle Beach, in Santa Monica, California, was the “home of bodybuilding”. It was changed to Venice Beach, California in the 1950s. It was there that the now Governor of California, Arnold Schwartzenegger, got his start as a bodybuilder here in the United States. There were others such as Frank Zane, Frank Columbo, Dave Draper, Sergio Oliva, Lou Ferrigno, and Larry Scott that also became famous for their well-chiseled bodies. Muscle Beach Venice has been the home of many great bodybuilders since 1959. These young men had fun and a great comaradarie, and of course, competition between themselves. Even today, Muscle Beach Venice holds bodybuilding competitions and they have improved the public viewing areas as well. The Golden Age seemed like a great, nostalgic, and unforgetful time.
Back in the Golden Days of Bodybuilding, supplements were slim to none, and eating real food was the key to the well defined, ripped, bodies of these men, (and women). Their diet consisted of beef, chicken, eggs, and cottage cheese for the protein that was needed to put on the pounds. In addition, of course, they had to work very hard at weight lifting. Many of the bodybuilders have stated that those were the glory days and they would not trade them for the world.
The Genius of Bodybuilding Nutrition
Today supplements, drugs and other pharmacological aids are available to any bodybuilder who wants them, but it was not always so. In fact, until the early 1950s nutrition was pretty much uncharted territory. That all changed a half century ago, when a colorful and eccentric genius named Irvin Johnson began testing and marketing powdered protein supplements.
Johnson was born on October 9, 1921, in New Jersey, but he moved to Chicago in the 1940s to pursue a career as a singer. That didn’t pan out, so Johnson turned to muscle building, and when he combined that with his knowledge of diet, he soon began to make muscular gains. By the late 1940s, Johnson had purchased a gymnasium and built up his own slender physique enough to win a contest or two in the Windy City. His work as a nutritionist, coach and mentor, however, was his calling. In 1953 he began a magazine, Tomorrow’s Man, which touted his successes and told of his bold nutritional experiments.
Long before others were talking about high-protein diets, Johnson was calling for massive doses of his Instant Protein Supplement, as well as lots of meat and (more remarkably) milk and cream. It was an unlikely combination, but it produced results that were nothing short of amazing. By the late 1950s Johnson had closed his Chicago gym, sold the magazine and moved to Los Angeles, where he planned to concentrate on the nutritional aspect of his business. When muscle guru Vince Gironda found out about the new diet, he promoted it and Larry Scott, also did so at his gym, and many physique stars experienced the kind of phenomenal gains that had never before been possible.
Johnson was very interested in the occult, and in 1965 he decided to change his name to Rheo H. Blair because a numerologist had told him that his name needed more r’s in it. Under that name he became better known, and his face appeared in multipage ads that ran frequently in Iron Man in the mid-’60s. After shedding his old name, Blair became increasingly open about being gay, which may have caused friction within his family but didn’t seem to slow down his supplement business.
Unfortunately, by the 1970s many had abandoned the powder in favor of steroids, and sales dwindled. Rheo Blair died on October 6, 1983, but he is remembered for his flamboyant style and his effects on a generation of physique stars.
Much of the online interest in Rheo H Blair is focused on his protein powder, but with this comes a couple of misconceptions. I want to deal with each of these briefly so you will see Blair’s use of protein in building bodies — and building health in general — in the context he intended.
First, there was no one Blair protein powder. You may have seen references to “the” Blair protein, or “the” Blair formula. In reality, there were many Blair protein formulas over the years. He had three primary formulas based on the “mother’s milk” concept. First there was a white powder formula which was available at health food stores and from various distributors and other sources. This was his basic, and least expensive, formula intended for general distribution. At the same time, he offered his private clients two additional grades of protein, which he nicknamed “Extra Special” and “Super Extra Special” reflecting, respectively, the level of egg yolk content in the mix. The Extra Special was an off-white slightly yellow-colored product; the Super Extra Special had more of the yellow color to it. Back in the late 1940′s when Blair, then known as Irvin Johnson, introduced protein supplementation to the public, in any number of different formulations.
Another misconception concerns the use of the word “miracle” in conjunction with the Blair Proteins. Perhaps Blair himself was responsible for this notion by calling his first powder a “miracle food” and using similar descriptions for subsequent powders. He was, after all, a first rate salesman. Peary Rader suggested Blair could sell reading glasses to a blind man. In any case there has been no shortage of people ever since who have been gung-ho with the thought of using the “miraculous” Blair protein. But the idea that all one need do is consume quantities of this miracle stuff and the lean muscle will follow is just wrong.
To help explain how the protein worked as part of the larger Blair program, and his concept of protein supplementation and it’s use by and in the body, I will use the analogy of a treasure chest. If this analogy fails, I am sure many of you will let me know;-) Consider a can of Blair protein as a treasure chest. By virtue of your possession of the treasure chest, you are wealthy. But there is a problem; you can’t go out and spend the wealth inside because the treasure chest is secured with a combination lock. If you don’t know the combination, you can’t get to it. But once you know the correct combination and use it to unlock the chest, the wealth is yours to enjoy.
Instead of wealth, the tin of Blair protein contains health. But the health benefits of the protein, including lean muscle, are also locked up — in this case by your own body chemistry. Rheo was adamant about a concept called — Biochemical Individuality. This idea is that we are all biochemically different and have different nutritional needs. This concept explains why some people are hard gainers and some are easy gainers, or as he called them — “naturals.” He said that naturals inherited a certain glandular makeup, an efficiency of glandular chemistry that enabled them to add muscle with relative ease. The rest of us don’t have it so easy. Nor did he. This is why he became a nutritionist. He was his own first “before and after” example. He was in miserable health until he discovered (1) protein supplementation, and (2) the biochemical combination that unlocked his body chemistry enabling it to properly and efficiently digest and assimilate protein. When that happened, the lean muscle followed. This, you see, was the “miracle” of his protein and his program. What he did with his many before and after transformations was unlock their body chemistry. This was done with enormous levels of nutrient supplementation. For most bodybuilders this meant 500 pills and capsules each and every day for months, plus of course the protein. In effect, the supplements made the protein effective. They activated the protein. Let me quote him from 1951 “…scientific eating means a good protein diet PLUS the use of food concentrates. He could not have produced the Before and After cases without food concentrates. They were the key factor. Correct exercising and eating were important, but the food concentrates were the big factor.
Golden Era of Bodybuilding and steroids
As for steroids, what else can really be said? There are problems on a number of fronts. They have in fact literally hijacked the strength, muscle, and speed-oriented fields of athletics decades ago. As I mentioned in why do athletes take steroids? Many like to delineate the sport into specific ages and eras. These are often legitimate categorizations, but I feel that there were only 2 ages separated by 1 era — the age of no drugs and the age of drugs. These 2 ages were transitioned through the 1960s, a decade I arbitrarily labeled “The Golden Age of Bodybuilding.” The 60s began the heavy insurgence of steroids and by the decade’s end, the process was complete. You were no longer able to seriously compete in many of the strength and speed oriented sports unless you engaged performance enhancing drugs.
In the early 1950s Irwin Johnson (later famous as Rheo H. Blair) introduced the first commercially manufactured protein powder, a very crude soy product. Hoffman sold him advertising space at first, but as he noted sales volumes for protein, he developed his crude Hoffman’s Hi-Proteen and cut Johnson out. Before that barbell magazines sold barbells. Barbells don’t bring repeat sales, but protein supplements soon became a thriving business. By the 1960s Blair brought out his milk-and-egg protein, which was soon the hit of Muscle Beach and advertised only in Iron Man.
Well, I’ll continue from the previous question. Top pro bodybuilding isn’t really bodybuilding anymore. It’s something else. Call it what you want, it’s dying. Avenues necessary to attain such a look are outrageous and most won’t go there. Those who do are real chemical pioneers as far as what the body can withstand.
In fact, genetics may not even be the dominant factor anymore. It’s more like, “Who is the bravest?” “Who is the best chemist?” and “Who can sculpt with Synthol most effectively?”
There will always be a small faction who just like to do the crazy thing or get the crazy look. But the sport is better than this. Contrary to what many think, there are a lot of good people in the industry. The sport is always hungry for money and media attention. It will follow the money and attention. We just need people to take it in a new direction. And we may be at that time.
The one who what’s to to be great, must first study greatness. Humility a strange thing. The minute you think you’ve got it, you’ve lost it.
Love thy neighbor and his dog…
Jesse Erving L.S.C.T.
