[.ca] Muscletown USA: Bob Hoffman And The Manly Culture Of ... (ISBN 0271018550)

Grimek vs Reeves:
I noticed that at least two reviews have comments about the 1949 Mr. USAContest which was awarded to JohnGrimek with Clarence Ross 2nd andSteve Reeves 3rd.Although I wasn't there and thiscompetition occurred before I waseven born, what's the point ofarguing over a competition that tookplace over 50 years ago?So what if the fans booed Grimek offthe stage...bodybuilding contests area matter of taste and personalpreference.As for the book, it was interestinto get the facts about York Barbelland Bob Hoffman and based on thisbook and in talking to some oldtimers in the sport, Hoffman did doit for "his own ego".Good book if you are into thehistorical aspects of the Iron game.

Not the whole story:
I have to admit that I was not aware of Hoffmans health problems untill I read this book, although on seeing him in person at shows in York in the 1960's and early 1970's it was very obvious that his physical and mental faculties were declining fast.I also wasn't aware of his problems with Charles Atlas. And while I am not a fan of the Atlas "Dynamic Tension" program, it certaintly couldn't have been any worse for muscular development than the York Simplified Barbell and Dumbell courses or Hoffmans Daily dozen.Hoffmans war with Weider, on the other hand, was well known and obvious. Most of us felt that Weider was just a con man and self promoter. Weider was, in fact, bodybuildings number 1 fan and promoter.The contests promoted by Hoffman were always in the worst venues and under the worst conditions. No air conditioning on a hot summer weekend, uncomfortable seating and disorganization. Some of the bodybuilding shows were held in gymnasiums with a flood light clamped onto a basketball net and the audience sat in the bleachers.The olympic weightlifters didn't fare much better having to compete in auditoriums or gyms in national competitions in 85 to 90 degree temperatures with competitions running all day and untill 2am.The Bodybuilders would get the worse end of the deal. The Mr. America contest would be held in a high school auditorium and contestants would stand on a band leaders pedestal and frequently, the best developed men would lose. In some cases, it would after midnite before the contest (which were always held after weightlfting contests) would start. Smaller contests were held in YMCA gyms or community centers.Of course the biggest losers were the fans who to pay for this nonsense and the sport, which failed to attract any real audience.In the 50's and 60's, bodybuilding lost a lot of good champions who quit in disgust. Some went overseas to compete in and win the NABBA Mr. Universe like Earl Clark, Mickey Hargitay, Enrico Thomas and Elmo Santiago while others just left the sport.Black bodybuilders like George Paine, Arthur Harris, Leroy Colbert. Leon Burke, Bob Walker and Harold Poole and non olympic weightlifter types like Bud Counts, Lynn Lyman, Jerry Ross and Lou Degni would frequently lose to lesser developed olympic lifters with a partial interest in bodybuilding.In the late 50's, American bodybuilders had an alternative with the IFBB and the Weider/Hoffman battles really heated up.Hoffman made a big deal about Chuck Sipes winning the IFBB Mr. America after placing 18th in the AAU Mr. America. The following year, Sipes would defeat Ray Schaeffer, a AAU Mr. America and Amateur NABBA Mr. Universe for the Pro Mr. Universe title.Weider would also sponsor bodybuilders like Clancy Ross, Jack Delinger (who beat Bill Pearl sponsored by York) Doug Strohl and Reg Lewis and others to the NABBA Mr. Universe in London competing directly with Hoffman and giving the great champions of the day, slighted by York Barbell an opportunity to go for the Gold.Hoffman would sponsor the current AAU Mr. America to the NABBA Mr. Universe.Hoffman was also a self promoter of sorts. In the 60's, Hoffman was trying to promote a new "secret" strength and muscle building system using a power rack doing isometrics and isometronics (partial limited range movements in the power rack) offered by York and endorsed by top AAU National Weightlifters and AAU Mr. America winners. In reality, their secret was anabolic steriods and the York people were among the first, if not the first to use steriods.The power rack "secret" system went the way of the hoola hoop once the truth came out.The last AAU show I attended was the 1971 AAU Mr. America. What a thrill it was to see Sergio Oliva, Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Ken Waller in the audience. How disgusting it was to see world class bodybuilders like Ed Corney and Mike Mentzer finish 4th and 10th respectively when both should have been in the top four at least and then losing to York man/Olympic lifter Bill St. John was a joke. The organization was typical York chaos and on a hot June night, the fans and contestants sweltered in 80-degree+ temperatures because the promoters told the school maintenance staff not to turn on the air conditioners.Corney and Mentzer never competed in the AAU again after that.I also recall Hoffmans energy bars having more sugar than nutrition and the Hi Proteen powder had a lot less protein than we thought and was hard to digest. Ditto for the Protein of the Sea, Energol, powdered Lecithin and Papaya Juice that Hoffman peddled.Strength & Health was mainly an olympic lifting news magazine and a catalog for Hoffman products with bodybuilding, fitness and health as a side interest.Hoffman did help some olympic weightlifters like Bob Bednarski, giving both an apartment and a salary (I thought these guys were supposed to be amateurs???) and then tossed him aside after he passed his peak. The best thing that I can say is that I enjoyed the articles in Hoffmans magazines by John McCollum, Bill Starr and Ernie Picket. Muscular Developent was at least initially, a good, quality magazine under York rule that deteriated badly in later years. Some of those AAU contests had some great champions: Olympic lifers-Tony Garcy, Phil Gripaldi, Bill MARCH and Bob Bednarski. Bodybuilders-Harold Poole, Hugo Labra, Don Howorth, Joe Nistam Jr., Frank Zane, Chet Yorton, John Corvello, Eric Pederson, Bob Hinds, Zabo Kosiewski, Jim Haislop, Boyer Coe, Chris Dickerson, Casey Viator, Ken Waller, Ed Corney and Mike Mentzer.Strength & Health and Muscular Development were both catalogs and commercials for York products primarily with some useful information as an afterthought.This book covers a lot about Hoffman, but it misses a lot as well and is not the final word on Hoffman and York Barbell. Bob Hoffman was no saint.

It's really irrelevant:
Comparing what York Barbell controlled to what the Iron game is all about today is like comparing a small Mom n Pop store owner to the Ceo of Wal Mart. The Iron game was in it's infancy and unfortunately, Hoffman did little to promote the sport to the general public. It was for his own ego and to sell his magazines, barbells, weights and food supplements.Comparing what Hoffman had control over back in the old days to where the Iron game is today is totally irrelevant.

Hoffman did it for his ego alone:
Finally we know the truth about Bob Hoffman. That he didn't work out. Didn't eat right and was nowhere near as healthy (actually pretty unhealthy) as he pretended to be.We also discover that Hoffman was not as well liked even among the weightlifters as we had thought.In fact, the whole thing was probably just used by Hoffman as a tax writeoff to offset his successful oil burner business. And in the end, Hoffman did writeoff a lot of the people that he used in his magazines to promote his ridiculously over rated products.Yeah, John D. Fair is correct, Hoffman did it for his ego alone.

An honest analysis of weightlifting in the 1950s:
I enjoyed this book and feel that it deals honestly with bodybuilding in that time. The book is extremely well written and documented. It is not a white wash job by any sense of the term. Bob Hoffman was a risk taking promoter who stretched the truth in many instances to promote a cause that he believed in. Like most people who bring about change he was highly concentrated in one area and had many character faults in other parts of his personality. He was competing against Charles Atlas who got his build with weights,but continued to deny it to promote his mail order course and Joe Weider who was more interested in bodybuilding than weightlifting. In the end Hoffman almost singlehandedly opened the benefits of weight training to athletes throughout the world and should be given credit for that. Must reading for anyone interested in the history of the sport.