Your Top 10 Favorite Bodybuilders

[DannyBoy]

I remember bodybuilding images from magazines that were iconic . For instance Paul Wynter and his lat spread ,
Grimek leaning on the pillar or Dave Draper pushing on a boulder up in the mountains . More obscure guys like
Bill Seno , George Paine and Dale Adrian . Smaller perfectly proportioned competitors ala Ken Covington , Anibal
Lopez and Richard Baldwin . How about Leon Brown's back shot . There you go , that's 10 . Probably could name
200-300 more with all the images I digested since I was a kid .

Please feel free to name more if you want to, Sticks. That's a very interesting mix of bodybuilders you named there, I especially appreciate that you gave respect to a guy like Anibal Lopez, who I think is highly underrated.

Speaking of Anibal Lopez, I thought I would mention that he's raising funds for a good will trip to Cuba in September in order to support aspiring bodybuilders there and teach them proper form & how to use equipment correctly.

https://www.facebook.com/OptimumBodiesAnibal?fref=nf
http://www.gofundme.com/8zb3gme9h4

[sticksb]

Lopez was a great bodybuilder . He primarily trains people hit style on 70s style Nautilus equipment . If he
gets to Cuba he won't have to teach them too much .Russian weightlifting coaches have been there for 40 years.

[sticksb]

An interesting constant on "best of or top 10 " lists is the omission of Casey Viator . Viator
was a symmetrical ripped up hulk with the strength of an offensive line . Arguably the best
bodybuilder of the early 70's-80s.At the Mr. Olympia during the early 80's , he stood next to
Arnold and Mike Mentzer , and condition wise , blew them away . Both guys admitted this .
Politically it wasn't in the cards for Casey & the IFBB as he was Nautilus's poster boy . Too bad
as he laid waste to any and all of the top bodybuilders who made the pilgrimage to Deland to
train with him .

[peter yates]

HI CHRIS,
YOU ARE SO RIGHT ABOUT CASEY VIATOR AS HE REALLY DID HAVE EVERYTHING GOING FOR HIM AND HE REALLY LOOKED STRONG AND WAS STRONG. EVEN WHEN HE WAS NOT IN SHAPE HE STILL LOOKED BETTER THAN MOST OF HIS PEERS. FROM ALL ACCOUNTS HE WAS STILL ENJOYING TRAINING AND COACHING UP UNTIL HIS SUDDEN DEATH.
REGARDS, PETER.

[David Gentle]

HI Guys, Re Casey Viator, I was a regular fan of Iron Man,used to get it in uk from a bloke called John Valentine who imported all the US mags.,especially Strength and Health, i bought Weider mags from a "Gay" shop. to continue.... I hated it when Nautilus sort of took over the mag, good income for Perry Rader who despite his religous leanings, also loved the taste of money.(I wrote for him, but he never ever paid me, thought ego was enough payment.) Anyway, re Viator, i have it on good source that "Alledgedly" those "before shots" were taken when Casey had been out of training for a while. then he got onto the well paid band wagon on Nautilus. but my source, who knew him personally said "Casey hated the apparatus, a lot of it totally useless. sure some was good, but a lot made up for exercises you could do with any free apparatus. My source says, Casey, made a show of using the stuff, then went off to train in another gym using free weights, you know, good old fashioned dumbells. How many gyms now carry all those very expensive machines i ask you?this of course "alledgedly" Ps. dont kick me guys, cant spell alledgedly without my spell checker on. David Gentle. also p.p.s. welcome to the new guys, what a special band of soldiers we are putting together. My missus goes nuts when i say, "just going to read the emails love." and turn up two hours later. thanks guys, lets make this forum number one on the subject.

[sticksb]

Made the pilgrimage to Deland , went to a Nautilus seminar with a buddy , and met Jones . We talked , manufacturing , RF electronics , radical (Attila the Hun) politics and ate at a greasy spoon . Hardly ever
discussed what we came to Florida for . Jones was brilliant but I got the feeling he had doubts about his
methods , volume and equipment , especially when a whole new leverage line based on good old up n down
gravity supplanted the rotary cam stuff . The actual HIT style of training , which turned into a puke fest for
me , proved unsustainable . There was also no "cycling" of training . It was always "balls to the wall". Jones
came on like a nutcase but a lot of his bombast was to get people to back off and provide space and time
for him to think and rethink what he had produced . His final solution really wasn't and Viator went along
with a lot of this out of loyalty . The original pullover torso machine , Jones' flagship piece , is the finest
most result producing machine I ever used besides the good old barbell . (Ten minutes to compose and read Mrs. Gentle , forgive David these ten minutes ". Best Regards Sticks

[DannyBoy]

HI Guys, Re Casey Viator, I was a regular fan of Iron Man,used to get it in uk from a bloke called John Valentine who imported all the US mags.,especially Strength and Health, i bought Weider mags from a "Gay" shop. to continue.... I hated it when Nautilus sort of took over the mag, good income for Perry Rader who despite his religous leanings, also loved the taste of money.(I wrote for him, but he never ever paid me, thought ego was enough payment.) Anyway, re Viator, i have it on good source that "Alledgedly" those "before shots" were taken when Casey had been out of training for a while. then he got onto the well paid band wagon on Nautilus. but my source, who knew him personally said "Casey hated the apparatus, a lot of it totally useless. sure some was good, but a lot made up for exercises you could do with any free apparatus. My source says, Casey, made a show of using the stuff, then went off to train in another gym using free weights, you know, good old fashioned dumbells. How many gyms now carry all those very expensive machines i ask you?this of course "alledgedly" Ps. dont kick me guys, cant spell alledgedly without my spell checker on. David Gentle. also p.p.s. welcome to the new guys, what a special band of soldiers we are putting together. My missus goes nuts when i say, "just going to read the emails love." and turn up two hours later. thanks guys, lets make this forum number one on the subject.

That's pretty interesting, David. If you have enough confidence in your source to repeat what they've told you regarding the matter of Casey Viator's feelings on the Nautilus machines, then I can believe it, even if it only is "allegedly" as you say.

[peter yates]

WELL IF YOU LOOK AT VIATOR'S TRAINING AFTER HE LEFT JONES AND WHAT HE WAS TEACHING OTHERS IT CONTAINED A LOT MORE VOLUME WITH BARBELLS, DUMBBELLS AND MACHINES. SEEMS LIKE HE STILL TRAINED HEAVY THOUGH. SO I HAVE HEARD THE SAME THAT HE DID SNEAK AWAY TO GET SOME BARBELL WORK IN WHEN HE WAS WITH JONES. THEN I HAVE HEARD FROM OTHERS WHO SUPPOSEDLY WERE THERE AT THE TIME THAT CASEY WAS KEPT ON A VERY TIGHT LEASH AND COULD NOT GET AWAY. ANYWAY WHATEVER THE TRUTH THE FACT IS THAT CASEY VIATOR WAS A NATURAL, A GENETIC SUPERIOR WHO HAD EVERYTHING IN PLACE TO BE AT THE TOP OF THE HEAP.HE WAS THE TYPE WHO COULD WALK PAST A GYM AND GROW MUSCLES. LIKE STEVE REEVES HE OFTEN DID NOT TRAIN FOR MONTHS BUT COULD QUICKLY WHIP BACK INTO SHAPE. SO GIVEN THE FACT THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE TO GROW ON ANY TYPE OF TRAINING HE JUST MAY HAVE DONE IT WITH JONES TRAINING ALONE. I GUESS WE WILL NEVER KNOW FOR SURE. BY THE WAY I ONCE DID NAUTILUS TRAINING FOR SIX MONTHS IN TOKYO AND THE ONLY MACHINE I REALLY LIKED WAS THE PULLOVER.
REGARDS, PETER.

[sticksb]

Wasn't that pullover machine the cats' a$$ Peter . Worked up to 225# for sets of twelve . You'd pile
barbell plates on the loading rods on the back deck of the machine . Once me and by partner snuck in
a drop set , where we peeled off a couple of plates every 5 or 6 reps and extended the set to 20-25 reps !
Our lats and pecs were shot . It was really hard on the shoulders because of the full rotation of
the arm pads . Some people are just not that flexible . We saw Casey down there riding his bike . He was
built like a tank with the most impressive forearms and calves I've ever seen . Did not see him train though.
We did see a lot of Miami Dolphin football players training a single Nautilus circuit . 45 minutes and done .
The coaches loved it because it shaved and hour off of their traditional strength training program . Jones
eventually spent most of his time with the football players probably because the NFL teams had the long
green !

[DannyBoy]

I've honestly never used a Nautilus machine, not because I have anything against Nautilus, but because I've just never been to a commercial gym or anywhere that would have Nautilus equipment. Is this the pullover machine you guys are referring to?