Dave Draper’s Musclebuilding Q&A

Did you and Arnold focus more on moderate poundage and the feeling of the movement, or did you concentrate on heavy movements? I have heard that Arnold did train lighter in an effort to zero in on the pump. Was this true in your eyes? He made tremendous improvements to his physique in the early to mid ’70s.

The tale of the Oak is true of all of us. There was a time and a season for heavy work, but moderate+ with fight and form was the rule. Sensible, healthy, effective and sustainable.

Go… God’s speed… DD

I don’t know if you’ll ever share the reasons for dropping from the public eye way back in the early ’70s, but every man has his choices to make. Sometimes they’re made for him.

The reasons are simple:

• Being very good is fun; being the best is too serious
• No money while you’re trying to get there, no money if you do
• Too much ego and too many egos in the immediate atmosphere
• I enjoyed using my muscle and strength as a function in my work-life (counterproductive for championship)
• Too self-centered, which imposed sacrifice on those I loved and liked, including me (time, dedication, dieting, costs)
• I admire muscle and strength building, whereas bodybuilding is a rub…

I forget the other reasons… and excuses…

We lift, by God… DD

I am a fan of yours and would very much like to know what your measurements were at your peak.

I’d be guessing. And guessing is a step away from exaggerating, which is a step away from lying. The tape can be a cruel stretch…

The best I can do is 6′… 230 lbs, size 12 sneaker.

Thanks for your support, my friend.

Go… Godspeed

There are pictures of you using a Power Twister Bar and I am really intrigued. Do you believe they serve a valuable purpose? How about the Bullworker? I’m also interesting in bending steel and other types of strength feats.

The Samson Power Twister is not commendable for any real musclebuilding or power building; more of a pumping tool used backstage before local competition. In fact I thought they were by now designated to their proper place in attics across the globe. The Bullworker I suspect is okay for certain mentalities or if one is limited in space or desperate to exert oneself.

I’ve never applied myself to strongman steel-bending (spikes, coins, horseshoes, bars) and thus have no suggestions.

Start with Dave Whitley at irontamer.com… he’s immersed in bending steel and you might pick up a scent to follow…

Go… Godspeed… Dave

Where was the Dungeon?

The outdoor training area located on the sands of the Santa Monica Beach just south of the pier in the ’40s and ’50s was called Muscle Beach. Sometime at the end of the ’50s, the bodybuilding equipment — the iron — was moved to the cavernous basement of a hotel on the corner of Fourth Street and Broadway in Santa Monica, half a mile away, the new home of the Muscle Beach Gym.

The dark and grim ambiance of the new digs suggested its favorite name, the Dungeon.
Another sunny day in heaven… Godspeed… Draper

** Late edit:  After posting this, we received an email message from a man who was in Santa Monica at the time, who wrote, “Everyone who writes about the move from Muscle Beach seems to skip the Alley Gym era. The weights went first to a location between Ocean and Second entered via the alley. It was a great place to train (I was there in 1960). Subsequently there was a move from the alley to the Dungeon at Fourth and Broadway.“

Who was your favorite workout partner back in the late ’60s, early ’70s and why would you choose him?

I had some no-fame beauties during the dungeon days — Dick Sweet, Rick Joesephson, Fritz Sills — but by the late ’60s and early ’70s I was done with my training partner phase… and found training alone the only way to go.

Meeting a time schedule and compromising urges and needs no longer suited my mentality or lifestyle. I hooked up with Frank in the early mornings during the summer of 1970 before a series of contests later that year. We were compatible for the hour and the short connections served us well.

The Golden Era mob (Arnold, Franco, FZ, etc) often trained together over those grand years, side by side, sharing and kibitzing, but not necessarily in partnership. Unspoken encouragement goes a long way — back and forth.

Dick Tyler wrote of that in this excerpt, Golden Impressions, from his book West Coast Bodybuilding Scene.

Push that iron, savor the good times, endure the tough and be thankful always.

Go… Godspeed… Dave

Didn’t you train for a while with Vince Gironda? I have a copy of Vince’s book “Wild Physique” and found his nutrition information fascinating and far ahead of his time. What are your thoughts on Vince and his knowledge of physique training and nutrition?

Though I knew Vince and occasionally trained in North Hollywood, we seldom share training ideas. Seems each locale — Muscle Beach, Pasadena, Vince’s — had its own variations of the basics, accepted the differences and trained vigorously accordingly.

Our ideas on nutrition run parallel in most areas and his training MOs have been applied coincidentally with purpose and affect. The knowledge — exercise, nutrition, psychological — I’ve picked up, assimilated and retained over time is a big bundle of goods I go through irregularly and recycle.

Over in the forum you’ll find a treasure trove of conversation about Vince’s theories and exercises, as well as these a few discussions about Vince, the man (1 and 2).

Remember: The iron heals, mends, fortifies, toughens, vitalizes, enables, engages, entertains, satisfies, serves, instructs, humbles and makes a good door stop…

I am 55 years old and used to read the magazines when I was a teenager. It must hurt you a little that Arnold got so famous. You must feel like the baseball players of the old days felt as they played baseball for the love of the game.

Good analogy.

Arnold is one of a kind and I feel no envy, only admiration.

I’m content, and when dissatisfaction visits my door, I recognize him as an enemy of my soul. He’s scolded and sent on his way. Gratefulness follows his departure and we feast in the gardens.

Go… God’s strength… Dave

Could you tell me more about Vince Gironda? What was he like in person?

In my day it was cool to know and associate with the guys (Larry Scott, Zabo, Don Howorth, Bill MacArdle, Labra, Mozee and Vince and countless other characters) in a life-does-not-center-around-weights environment. We hung together, but didn’t talk shop.

Remember, I didn’t train at Vince’s North Hollywood Gym and that crew didn’t train at the Muscle Beach Dungeon. We were comrades, an unspoken weave of pride stitching us together. Musclemen were a vapor. To talk muscles amongst each other was not common. Personal training and dietary particulars drifted in the air like elemental particles ­ mythology, hearsay and stories.

Vince was always quiet, serene. I see him sitting on a curbside sharpening a stub of a pencil with a pocket knife. That’s us; we lean against a Hollywood studio’s brick wall (KHJ on Gower) waiting to be called for a screen test for The Gladiator.

He’s wearing a black long-sleeved wool shirt in another impression joining the fun in a car commercial, all of us packed in a sedan as the cameras roll.

He’s sitting back in the corner of his shadowy gym, observing and waiting in a white t-shirt. I heard he doesn’t like squats so I don’t dare do them when I visit if I could — no squat racks for miles. I’m not quiet; I have no mouth. My mind is in a can of tuna… it’s under my shirtsleeve.

Vince likes protein and intensity and perfection and form. Strictness is power. A big ass is the sign of a fool. Full range of motion, extend and contract, isolate, concentrate and it’s no laughing matter. He didn’t say so; he exuded it.

Vince, like many we know, is an image bigger than life. It’s all those years of chins and dips and relentlessness and mystery and acquired admiration.

Shoulda took notes.