Simon Javierto

[Kazza61]

Growing up as a young boy my father had many bodybuilding magazines but only one book. That book was the absolutely fantastic 'Muscle Building' by Earle E Liederman dated 1938, a book I have read and enjoyed many times over the years. One athlete in that book always took my breath away - Simon Javierto of the Philippines. The incredible vacuum pose of his is displayed here:

https://i.postimg.cc/T3BfztX8/simonjavierto01.jpg

His perfect set of abdominals are displayed here:

https://i.postimg.cc/VkqKwNxY/simonjavierto02.jpg

And his phenomenal triceps are displayed here:

https://i.postimg.cc/BQxzSND9/simonjavierto03.jpg

All the photos above are scanned directly from the book. The last time I scanned the vacuum pose was to prove someone wrong on another forum who was adamant Frank Zane had invented the vacuum pose! I think Simon Javierto proved my point very effectively indeed!

A search of the internet finds just one more photo - admittedly I have removed the name of the website the photo came from (not sure of the etiquette of such things?)

https://i.postimg.cc/Rh3zptbC/simonjavierto04.jpg

In this last photo he looks a little older and to have amassed even more muscle!

Ok, so the purpose of my post is to declare I know absolutely nothing of him. Earle E Liederman discusses the poses rather than the man and the other website states simply that he was a student of Liederman! Surely he was more than that by the look of him? Does anyone know anything of him at all?

[David Gentle]

I agree with you about the great photo, that was the exact one i had in mind like you although i have seen the photo elsewhere in ads, never found anything about the guy which is a shame with such a great physique, ab control and even good looking guy, everything a star bb should have, so dontknow why they didnt use more of him????David

[peter yates]

Tony, apart from Leiderman's book i have seen photos of Simon in early Strength and Health magazines, again with little information.There were many who practiced physical culture in such Asian countries as Philippines , Malaya [as it was then] and Thailand[Siam] but i guess with communication being what it was in those days,we heard little about them. Also Saldo, Maxick and others where doing vacuums before Zane's parents were even born, and Indian yogis well before that.He really had a classic physiques and wish more was known about him.
Regards,Peter.

[Kazza61]

Thank you Peter and David.
If only the young Simon Javierto could have known that those photos would be appreciated more than 80 years after he posed for them! What a legacy that is.

I have had the pleasure of training in a number of Philippines gyms over the years. They are a lovely welcoming people and are keen to come and engage and assist wherever they can. Being a generally smaller people, I tend to appear very large and strong to them and when I tell then I am in my late 50's, that always seem to impress them too (or are they just being polite and kind??).
Their training predominantly seems to be light weights and high reps for lots of the sets. They build some fantastic shapely and lean physiques although they don't tend to be anywhere near as big as the competitive bodybuilders we are familiar with.

[peter yates]

Tony, thanks for sharing that,i found the same in Thailand.I stayed in the home of a former Mr.Thailand competitor,and while he had a wonderful shapely and muscular physique accentuated by his skin tone, he did not have much in way of size.He had built a gym in his yard out of wood and scrap iron where the local bodybuilders would congregate and train. Fantastic atmosphere but like you mentioned the emphasis was on high reps and a large variety of exercises.Good times.
Regards,Peter.