Reprinted from Muscular DevelopmentNovember 1964

Yes, we saw Steve Reeves change from a“skinny” bodybuilder to a Mr. Universe winner in justseven weeks! It was in 1950 when we invited him tocome and train with us in York, and since he expresseda desire to compete in the Mr. Universe contest again,York Barbell Club was willing to sponsor him.

Of course it was only a year earlier when heplaced third in the Mr. USA contest, which I won, andopenly declared for the third and final time that Iwould no longer compete in any more physique con-tests no matter who hurled the challenge at me. Ifurther stated that if any further challenges would beissued, Steve would be the man to accept them on mybehalf. Because of this, Steve kept me well informedabout his training progress, and I gave him whateverencouragement he needed. I knew, of course, that hewanted to compete in the Mr. Universe contest again,and I assured him that York Barbell Club would sendhim over if he would stay in shape. He was veryinterested and he kept in contact with me regularly.Then several months lapsed when I didn’t hear a thingfrom him, and being busy at the time I dismissed thethought from my mind. Therefore it was quite asurprise when a few months later, on Memorial Day tobe exact, he and George Eiferman suddenly arrived inYork. We discussed his training and about the comingMr. Universe contest. He was very enthused andanxious to get started. We had dinner and then foundthem a place to stay since both were a little tired fromthe long trip and wanted to start training the following

day.The next day just before noon he and Eiferman

walked into the old barbell building where the Yorkgym was located, eager for a good workout. GeorgeEiferman, of course, had trained with us many times,but this was Reeves’ first visit to “Muscletown.”Nevertheless he didn’t have any trouble acclimatinghimself to the surroundings, but later asked whether aspecial T-bar could be made for him so that he couldutilize the Hack squat principle. This proved to be no

HOW STEVE REEVES TRAINED

by John Grimek

problem for machine shop manager Jules Bacon. Juleswas able to make this gadget for him and Reeves wasable to utilize it for his leg work. Later we fashioneda long cable rowing pulley device which he wanted toexercise his latissimus dorsi and arms. But he took aspecial liking to our home-made incline bench onwhich he performed his curls, and about which he laterwrote a small feature—“My Favorite Exercise”—forS&H magazine—August 1950.

After about a week of training he began toregain some of his shape. Earlier some members of thegym, who saw him on his arrival, were not impressedby his development. It was obvious that he had donelittle if any training for some time (during the time Ilost contact with him) but now he was beginning toshape up again. A number of visitors, who used todrop in at the old gym and watch us train, remarkedtheir disappointment in the Reeves’ physique. Andeven I had to admit, upon seeing him change into histraining clothes, that he did not look like the Reevesthat I had competed against only a year before. ThisReeves looked like he had lost everything except hislegs, which still appeared fairly impressive in spite ofhis weakened condition. But his arms, shoulders, chestand back lacked any semblance of previous muscular-ity.

The accepted opinion of the fellows in the gymwas that he didn’t have a chance of even placing in theMr. Universe contest let alone winning it. I, too, hadmy doubts at this time, but we underestimated Reeves’ambition and drive. Each workout he took he puteverything into it, and continued to do a little moreeach week, so that after a few weeks he showedamazing improvement. He seldom sat around talkingand killing time. Instead, he went from one exercise toanother. He would repeat each exercise until hecouldn’t do another rep, and on several occasionswhile he was doing his incline curls I saw him kick upthe weight with his knees and then strongly resist as helowered the weight. He put a lot of concentration into

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IRON GAME HISTORY VOL. 5 No. 4 & VOL. 6 No. 1

each and every movement and after he was finishedtraining he achieved a terrific congested condition andlooked twice as big!

During training he had no regard for time butworked until he had completed his routine, which tookanywhere from two to four hours. Of course he cameto York to train, so all his time was devoted to trainingand resting and this paid off for him because he didwin the Mr. Universe title as he planned.

Training in York agreed with him. Within fourweeks he began to show remarkable improvement, andat the end of the fifth week he began to look like his oldself again: big, massive with good muscularity.

His training in York included a lot of variety.However, each week he would increase his training,doing more reps, more exercise, more sets or a combi-nation of all these. By the end of the sixth week theHercules of Muscledom had recovered his large,sinewy arms, and a fuller, rounder chest. His backlooked wider and more massive. Even his shoulderslooked thicker, and his abdomen showed more detailand muscularity. Those who saw him training noticedthe dynamic effort he put into every workout. He knewthe time was getting short before he would be vying forthe Mr. Universe title, so put everything into histraining. There was no more whispering in the gymabout whether he could win the title. Everybodyagreed that it would take a darned good man to beathim now . . . if he could be beaten! Yet only sevenweeks before it was very doubtful if he could place inthe first five . . . how did this change happen?

I already mentioned that he trained with clock-like regularity. As a rule he employed high repetitions,and usually starting with a weight that was near hislimit and gradually employing lighter weights but stillusing maximum repetitions. I also pointed out that heseldom if ever sat around talking between exercises butshifted from exercise to exercise, some-times repeating the exercise in sets orusing a similar movement for the same

also favored the long cable rowing exercise, a gadgetwe made for him. However, he did the exercisedifferently from the way most of us performed it. Hewould bend his body forward and maintain this posi-tion while he pulled the bar to his chest by arm and latpower alone, and then resisted the pull of the weighteven slower. And though he wore training clothes hislats and biceps bulged while he performed the exercise.

The other favorite exercise he enjoyed was theHack lift. He fixed the platform exactly the way hewanted it, and then after Bacon made the long T-barfor him he was able to utilize this principle andimprove the detail in his legs. No doubt he enjoyedworking out in these surroundings as well, or better forthat matter, than any other place he ever trainedbecause he really put in plenty of effort.

And now that he was achieving his best possi-ble shape we spent several evenings a week developinga suitable posing routine for him. In time we workedout a very good posing routine which, no doubt, helpedhim to his victory.

But now the time was up and, to our way ofthinking, Hercules was ready. He took one finalworkout and then asked us to appraise his posing. Aswe watched him shift from one pose to another it wasevident that here was the winner. The improvement hemade was amazing. He had worked hard and longthese past seven weeks and now he was ready for theBig Competition.

The following morning I drove him to NewYork where we spent the night with friends, and on themorrow took him to the airport and saw him off.Couple days later I got word of his victory, and wasback in New York to greet him at the airport, congrat-ulating him as he disembarked. We were just as happyover his victory as he was, so we threw a banquet inhis honor to celebrate his victory. He seemed de-

lighted. After a couple months of loaf-ing and taking an occasional workout,he bought himself a Ford convertibleand began the long drive back to Cali-fornia. He soon started to get his firstbreak in movies and stage productionsafter this.

muscle area, or switching to a com-pletely different exercise altogether. Hewould rest only after he finished histraining and had his shower . . . then hewould carry on with the fellows.

One of his favorite exercises inMuscletown was the curl on inclinebench which he did regularly in everyworkout, and after a few weeks his armsshowed the effect of such curling. He

49

Yes, we have watched manyMr. Americas and Mr. Universes trainin our old gym, but none whipped them-selves into championship shape in lessthan two months except Reeves. Andthis happened in York in 1950.

APRIL 1999 IRON GAME HISTORY