Reviewing the Masters (part 1 of 2)
Some people have suggested that I'd review a book every once in a while. No problem with me - not that I read much autobiographies and similar, but I thought I'd give my two cents worth regarding two books: Arnold - The Education of a Bodybuilder, and Blood'n'guts by Dorian Yates. They are both written by Champs - multiple Mr.Olympias - but the contents are very different. In more ways than one. I'll start off with Arnold.
Arnold - The Education of a Bodybuilder
This book is a classic. That's another word for "old", and when you read the training & nutritional advice you'll see what I mean. It's a split in two sections - the first describing his upbringing, and the second giving advice on how to get huge.
The first part of the book is most disturbing. In my opinion, anyone who gets so obsessed in such young age should take a minute to consider what life is all about. Granted, Arnold personifies the word "winner", with an outstanding drive and hunger for success. However, he also makes no secret of his willingness sacrificing everything - and I do mean everything - in order to become Number One.
Personally, I feel split between respect for his winning attitude, and deep disturbance by the total lack of balance in his personal life. There is definitely something to be learned here - on both sides.
The most astonishing thing about him is his use of positive thinking - how he becomes a winner before even walking onstage, simply by using his mind to go beyond the competition.
As the book hardly deals with anything but his training and competing (that was all he did, except have sex, drink beer, and dodge his parents) there's really not much to add in this section.
The funny part begins when he's giving advice to beginners in the second section. You can clearly tell two things:
1. This is written by someone who uses considerable amounts of drugs.
2. This person is definitely not a beginner himself.
For example, he happily advocates 2 hours of training in the morning, and another 2 hours at night. Every day. No rest days. And that's when he's keeping the training volume DOWN! Now, tell me a single natural athlete who could get away with this schedule without overtraining?
Another example is that he recommends pre-training - for beginners who haven't even set their foot in the gym yet (and is in really lousy shape) - to "warm up" by doing some simple exercises at home. Like, for example, doing 50 dips between two chairs. I'm sure many 40-year old men with beer guts can jump off the couch and blast away a nice 50 smooth reps. Heck, why not let the wife sit on his shoulders while doing it, so there's a bit of a challenge involved??
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