Before reading any further about the Golden Era Bodybuilding, make sure that you first read the articles on The Bronze Era and The Silver Era of Classic Physique Bodybuilding to get a better understanding of how bodybuilding standards have evolved throughout history.

Done?

Fine, you are permitted to go on!

So, after a half century of growing more and more popular, Bodybuilding finally gained traction and gyms popped up all over the US, Europe and Russia. Even though it was still a niche, a kind of “sectarian” universe, a few men managed to turn it into an industry. One of them is the renowned “Father of Bodybuilding” Joe Weider, a Canadian bodybuilder and entrepreneur who owned an empire: he co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) alongside his brother Ben Weider, published several fitness magazines such as Muscle & Fitness, Flex, Men’s Fitness and Shape, but also training courses and he developed a range of gym equipment and branded sports under his name. Obviously, all sponsored athletes ran marketing campaigns.

However, it was not yet a high-reward business. Those athletes didn’t make much money -if any-, and couldn’t make a living from it. Also, steroids were widely available and were used in sports very early on. Even so, the results were still astounding and aesthetically pleasing, making this period of the 60s to the 80s the “Golden Age of Bodybuilding”. Every athlete contributed “a little something” to this world, as bodies were developed and defined better than ever before. It was common for pro bodybuilders, especially in Venice Beach, to train, eat, hang out, sunbathe, play and even work together as a team. Back then, the environment was very different from today.

Have you ever wondered how Golden Era bodybuilders trained? Did they follow a specific diet and/or workout? Were they on steroids? What was their old school routine like? What were their ratio measurements and proportions? Among the great names, legends and spearheads of that time, I will focus on 3 of the best Golden Era bodybuilders and describe how they trained, ate, and what their bodybuilding philosophy was.

Dave Draper, “The Blond Bomber” of the Bodybuilding Golden Era

One of the most iconic athletes of the ’60s was Dave Draper. Picture a blond-haired guy with a tanned body who worked 6 times a week for 3 hours per session. A handsome Californian dude, causing many to call him “The Blond Bomber”. He was one of the first athletes to be featured frequently in Weider’s advertising company’s magazine covers and photoshoots, as well as in TV shows and even movies.

He built his cartoonish physique in an underground gym beneath the old Santa Monica hostel, with all the rusty equipment of Muscle Beach. This gym used to be called “The Dungeon”, where all the big names trained: Oliva, Grimek, Casey, Mike Katz, Ahrens, Arnold Schwarzenegger… His physique changed from a raw 118kg/260lbs to a 105kg/230lbs, carved into stone, over his 183cm/6ft frame. On stage, he won multiple prizes and titles, beginning with Mr. New Jersey in 1962, Mr. America and Mr. Universe both Tall and Overall in 1965 and the following year, ultimately ending his career with Mr. World Tall and Overall in 1970.

His training routine was brutal as he would experiment with agonist bi-sets and then classic antagonist bi-sets. He followed what all athletes did back in those days: a double split, either training a bunch of muscles one after the other, or back to back. One of his most effective routines was :

Days 1, 3, 5:

Chest:

• Wide Grip BB Bench Press: 5×6-8 bi-set with
• Close Grip BB Bench Press: 5×6-8
• Incline DB Press: 5×6-10 bi-set with
• Flat DB Flyes: 5×6-10

Back:

• Wide Grip BB Bent Over Row: 5×6-8 bi-set with
• DB Pull Over: 5×6-8
• BTN Press: 5×10-12 bi-set with
• BTN Pull-Up: 5×10-12
• Seated Cable Row: 5×12-15 bi-set with
• Cable Pull-Down: 5×12-15

Shoulders:

• DB Seated Press: 5×6-8
• Cheated Lateral Raise: 5×8-12 bi-set with
• Strict Lateral Raise: 5×8-12

Days 2, 4, 6:

Abs:

• Sit-Up on Incline Bench: long sets for 20mn bi-set with
• Hanging Leg Raises

Biceps/Forearms:

• BB Curl: 5×6-8
• Incline DB Curl: 5×6-8
• Preacher Curl: 5×6-8
• BB Wrist Curl: 5×15-20

Triceps:

• Standing Rope Overhead Extension: 5×12-15 bi-set with
• Cable Triceps Extension: 5×12-15
• Lying BB Extension: 5×10-15 bi-set with
• BTN DB Extension: 5×10-15
• BodyWeight Dips: 5xMAX, occasionally weighted

Legs:

• Back Squat: 8×2-10 (working up to a top set then back offsets)
• Leg Extension: 5×12-15 bi-set with
• Leg Curl: 5×12-15
• Donkey Calves Raises: 10×12-15

Compared to the previous decades, this style of training was even rougher, adding much more volume and often for heavier weights (without care for strength, Dave Draper could military press 148kg/325lbs, bench press 205kg/450lbs, and his squat and deadlift were around the 227kg/500lbs mark). His peak measurements were 54cm/21″ arms, 137cm/54″ chest, and 89cm/35″ waist. Diet-wise, he ate enormous quantities of steaks, eggs, and milk, believing in the benefits of whole foods more than supplements. In fact, he was even at the origin of a lawsuit against a company selling “bulking powder” at that time with other bodybuilder fellows!

Now, onto another athlete who shook the entire 70’s and set standards even to this day!

Frank Zane, “The Scientist” of the Golden Era Bodybuilders

Up to this point, the emphasis in bodybuilding during the Bronze Era was all about being very strong and massive, whereas it was more about being defined during the Silver Era, but staying sometimes on the softer side conditioning-wise. With the ’60s, vascularity increased a lot with fat loss during preps, but it was still something that most athletes overlooked and just sort of made sure to deal with. This is how Frank Zane “The Scientist” achieved one of the most impressive physiques among bodybuilders. Standing at 175cm/5ft9″ and peaking at 90kg/200lbs in contest shape, he wasn’t a big dude compared to Arnold, Sergio, Franco or Robbie, approximately 10-20kg/20-45lbs heavier than him.

However, Frank’s beautiful symmetry, proportions, posings, and deeply shredded conditioning allowed him to defeat them several times, all the while winning not less than 3 Mr. Olympia titles in a row from 1976 to 1979. I strongly recommend you check out his official website which is an extremely valuable resource of knowledge and experience gleaned from his lifetime of training and competition.

His bodybuilding training, quite different from most pros at that time, was as follows:

Day 1 & 4 Pull Muscles:

Back:

There were several things that stood out: his volume was high, but much lower than other athletes we discussed. This was due to his preference for strict focused form and staying lean all year round, considering that a more focused work required less total volume, and that a low body fat level during a whole year couldn’t endure heavy loads without overuse and injury. His training actually continued until he was in his early 60s, staying in incredible shape. We can also see that he stretched between sets, something that science proved to be more efficient for hypertrophy. He also made sure to incorporate a lot of squeezes and mechanical drop-sets to keep the targeted muscles working without using any lighter loads.

Lastly, he was very adamant about training his abs nearly every day, and that he kept them conditioned and carved. Diet-wise, he privileged a pretty strict and clean one, cycling carb and fat intake, lowering the first for multiple days while increasing the latter, and then bumping the first one and reducing significantly the second one to manage kcal intake and replenish his muscles glycogen.

Last but not least, here is one of the most influential athletes of the ’80s, who also redefined competitive bodybuilding standards.

Tom Platz, the “Quadzilla” of the Golden Era Bodybuilding

During the 70s, a decade filled with genetic freaks and hard-working athletes (sometimes, athletes were both), the credits mainly went to arms and chest, with honorable mentions to shoulders, backs, and calves. One guy who didn’t have the best genes nor the best work ethic would develop the latter, pushing it beyond new barriers that no one had ever seen yet, and concentrate all that passion onto leg muscles, which were appreciated but mostly secondary.

Tom Platz, standing at 172 cm/5’8″ and with a peak weight of 106 kg/235 lbs, had some good potential, but not enough to compete with the likes of Sergio Oliva, Serge Nubret, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Lou Ferrigno. However, his work ethic was remarkable and his willingness to push himself through a high-level pain tolerance allowed him to build a championship physique with the biggest and most impressive thighs that the world had ever seen, so he could stand up to the giants of bodybuilding. Winning first titles in the ’70s, like Mr. Adonis and Mr. Ironman in 1973, then Mr. Michigan in 1975 and moving up to Mr. Southeastern USA in 1977, he then earned his pro card in 1979 and became Mr. Universe Amateur, and once more the next year but on the Pro side this time, opening up the way to Mr. Olympia.

However, despite consistently reaching the top eight up until 1986, he never won any titles due to multiple politics and sponsor schemes. To round off his career, he won the Mr. America honorary title in 1995. Nicknamed “Quadzilla” for his huge thighs measured at 78cm/31″, he was a sight to see and set a standard with his gruesome training sessions.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the order nor the frequency of some of his bodybuilding workouts, but here is what this warrior most likely did pre-contest in the later ’70s:

Days 1 & 4:

Chest & Rear Delt (morning):

• Incline DB Press: 15×4-8
• BB Bench Press: 4×6-8
• DB Steep Incline Flyes: 4×6-8
• Upright Rowing: 6×6-15
• DB Bent Over Raises: 6×10-15

Back & Anterior/Lateral Delt (evening):

• Wide-Grip Pull-Up: 6×15
• Cable row: 6×15
• T-Bar Row: 6×8
• DB Pull-Over: 6×10
• BTN Press: 4×8-12
• DB Lateral Raise: 6×8-12
• Cable Unilateral Lateral Raise: 3×10-12

Days 2 & 5:

Biceps & Triceps:

• Alternate DB Curl: 6×6-8
• CG Bench Press: 6×6-8
• DB Overhead Extension: 4×8-10

Abs:

• Roman Chair Sit-Up: 4×30
• Crunches: 4×25
• Seated Twist: 4×50 bi-set with
• Side Bends: 4×50

Days 3 & 6:

Thighs:

• Back Squat: 8-10×8-20
• Hack Squat: 5×10-15
• Leg Extension: 5-8×10-15
• Lying Leg Curl: 6-10×10-15 rep

Calves:

• Standing Calves Raise: 6×8
• Seated Calves Raise: 5×40
• Calves Raise on Leg Press: 6×30-40

As you can see, in the same way competitors used to train at that time, he used a lot of volumes. However, Tom was very different as he was going to true failure at each set, using multiple intensification techniques like partial reps, rest-pause, partner-assisted, using more and more momentum or cheating the movement, mechanical advantage “drop set” by moving his body to an easier position to keep pushing. This routine is most likely from an early age, because he was reported to go very heavy on squat, but also sometimes for really high reps and heavy: he has been reported to squat 100kg/220lbs for 100 reps, 160kg/350lbsx52, 225kg/495lbsx23, 288kg/635lbsx12 and 320kg/705lbsx8.

He would also only focus on 2-3 exercises at most per body part, as you saw above, but would go really deep in intensity, later on, sometimes doing only 1 exercise per body part for 90mn straight. To fuel those workouts, Tom would eat like a monster 6 times a day, with snacks the size of a normal athlete meal, and a mixed diet of whole eggs, milk, steaks, oats and veggies.

Conclusion

• In this Golden Era of bodybuilding, steroids enabled athletes to push further the news boundaries in terms of mass and strength, but they were all training hard and for a long time, each one with his own distinctive style
• Steroids allowed those athletes to not necessarily always rely on heavyweights, but sometimes on keeping and increasing the pump as much as possible, but only via high-intensity techniques
• Most were doing bi-sets or tri-sets, and if they weren’t, rest times were short except when sets were very long and grueling, thus improving a lot the cardiovascular capacity and keeping it in shape, even if they were in the off-season or not interested in long term health goals
• They were as strong as they looked and nearly all had powerlifting or Olympic weightlifting background or influence
• Midsection work was often used as cardio and a vital point to their training. They understood that this was the first thing that the eyes would catch, but also a good way to prevent spine and back problems
• They were eating A LOT of plain, simple, whole food without any (or little) supplements

Well, here we are! Hopefully, you got to learn some interesting stuff about old school bodybuilding and these 3 eras when symmetry and aesthetics prevailed, until the Mass Monster Era and its bunch of bloated stomachs grew in popularity, making way for those interested in packing on the most muscle mass.

Your lightkeeper,

-Hersovyac.