Top 10 articles: David Gentle

When I was blogging about my blogroll (parts one and two) before Christmas, I remembered that David Gentle’s new site was only just being created the last time I looked at it.  Going back, I found that he has now uploaded many more of his articles and there are now dozens there to be read.

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Here is a selection of my favourite David Gentle articles from his new site:

1. The Life and Times of David Gentle - if you haven’t come across David before, start here.  David explains how he became involved in documenting physical culture, why he thinks most people tend to only dabble in it for a short time and why hard work is all you really need.  Along the way, he tells stories of training in old home gyms where the floor is mud, the roof is tin and the weights are made out of concrete rather than steel.
2. John Grimek: the greatest bodybuilder of all time - in this heartfelt article, David explains why he believes that John Grimek was the greatest bodybuilder of all time, how he built his strength and size, how far ahead of everyone else of his time he was, how he worked for York Barbell until he was 75 and how he was still squatting with 600lbs in his 70′s.  I didn’t realise that John was only 5’8″, as he always appears taller in the photographs…
3. Marvin Eder: man of might and muscle - I am a huge fan of Marvin Eder, mainly because of his massive lifts on the weighted chin (200lbs, or double bodyweight for 8 reps, which is basically my 1RM) and 434lbs on the weighted dip (which is just nuts).  David catalogues these lifts and more besides, while giving his own insights into them as a medal-winning lifter himself.
4. Dave Prowse: may the force be with you - David looks at the man behind the mask of Darth Vader, of Star Wars fame.  I think most people know now that Darth Vader in the original three Star Wars films was played by three actors.  Dave Prowse was the body in the black suit.  James Earl Jones provided the voice and Sebastian Shaw provided the face in the very few scenes in which he is unmasked.  Dave Prowse was a big man but he also had big dreams for how much good he could do – he became the Green Cross Code Man, which was part of a campaign to teach children how to behave safely around traffic.  As a result, he visited over 700 schools and the number of deaths relating to traffic dropped by 20,000.  Potentially, he saved 20,000 lives.  Imagine having that on your CV…
5. Goerner: the iron man - Hermann Goerner was on the cover of one of the first physical culture magazines that David ever bought and became on of his great influences.  Famed as a great deadlifter, David notes that he could also do a strict curl with 220lbs (100kg).  I was interested to note that David explains how Hermann trained with many sets of low reps, three days a week.
6. The artistry of Frank Zane - David explains the phenomenon that was (and is, if you see his recent pictures) Frank Zane.  For a brief period, professional bodybuilding wobbled in its trajectory towards the gigantic behemoths that we see today, and favoured the slighter, more aesthetic physique, as modelled by Frank Zane.  Interestingly, David explains how Zane was also a relatively short man, like John Grimek, at 5’9″. 
7. The magic of Reg Park - I had to include Reg Park as David calls him the greatest bodybuilder that Britain ever produced.  I suspect that Dorian might now argue with that claim but whatever.  I was intrigued to see that Reg came from Leeds, which is a (fairly grim) city in the North of England, while Dorian, as everyone knows, came from just outside Birmingham, which is a (grim) city in the Midlands of England.  David explained how Reg used some pretty impressive poundages in his training, including a 605lbs bench press.
8. Bodybuilders, weightlifting and longevity - as a big proponent of resistance training to maintain activity in old age, I really liked this great article by David, in which he lists a number of famous bodybuilders and lifters who lived well into their 80′s, 90′s and even passed the 100 mark.  David also provides his top tips for ageing well and gives a sample programme for someone with a longevity bias.
9. Training terrific triceps - just in case you thought that David was only about recounting the tales of the great bodybuilders, here is a nice little training article about how to build up the most important arm muscle.  Understandably, he does refer to the exploits of certain bodybuilders along the way, including mentioning Marvin Eder’s massive dipping prowess (again! – I still can’t get my head around the fact that he dipped with twice the added weight than most other very well trained people can use).
10. Mind over muscle - David explains how the mind functions in bodybuilding and how it is possible to make the mind work for you instead of against you in achieving your goals.

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 I hope you enjoy reading these articles as much as I did pulling them together.