IRON AGE: CLANCY ROSS, the King of Bodybuilders and the the masterly regent of the golden era of Bodybuilding.

Hey guys, yes, I'm already back @ it again and this time again something sort of bigger and also again like with the ALMIGHTY LUMBERJACKS OF DEATH marking the return of the "AMERICAN Oi! HISTORY SERIES" up here a few days ago now something (again) already thought dead and, looking at it from another direction or perspective, simply by far too long overdue will here and now be coming for you, yes, and this time it's nothing that's anoyhow 'dealing with music(k)' and instead of this this will be finally again an article of the 'Sports' category up here and, to be (even more) precise, here and now you finally get the next and newest "IRON AGE" article since/in a bit over three years since the "IRON AGE" article to pay tribute to the unforgotten LARRY SCOTT finally saw the light of day up here and so if you are a 'veteran-reader' of this very blog here then you know that right here and right now it's all about true and passionate Old School Bodybuilding and even over the last four to five years my passion for and interest in actual or current Bodybuilding grew very, very slim'n'small and I am in our current days'n'age finally pretty much all into (especially) Olympic Weightlifting, Strongman/Strongmen sports, Powerlifting, and some few Crossfit/Functional Training (but without all that ridiculous Hippster-Bullshit surrounding and polluting it all so much since so many years right now again) my heart still beats incredible strong for the true Old School Bodybuilding from the late 19th century and early 20th century on and especially over the 1930's and 1940's going on through the 1950's and 1960's and evolving into the 1970's and in my book the very best physiques ever developed up to present day had been without a single doubt John Grimek, Bill Pearl, and Arnold Schwarzenegger - and of course the almighty Steve Reeves. And in fact my heart beats as strong as ever before for that decade-spanning golden age of true Bodybuilding, the IRON AGE, that gave this article-series once back then its very name. So, yes, it's really about time that the "IRON AGE" gets revived and can celebrate its rebirth up here finally, yes, and so here and now we and I will do. When I primarly started this posting-series I had a "masterplan" or there was sort of a "grand-scheme" or a "figured-out-schedule" in my mind and I moved on straight ahead through the years and decades paying tribute to by me 'hand-chosen' favorite Bodybuilders of that golden time and I knew where I wanted to stop with finishing the original series in the 1980's with looking at what happened in that decade with Bodybuilding and the training-principles and nutrition and the 'enhancement' and with paying a honourful tribute to the high'n'mighty and unforgettable Lee Haney, probably and in my book for sure the last true IRON AGE Bodybuilding Champion. After this I would do a 'foray' on the 1990's and the early 2000's when Bodybuilding pretty much started to turn more and more into becoming 'Mass-Building' like we knoew it all so well today and with giving respect, showing honour, and paying tribute to Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman, too, yes, and then finally closing the "IRON AGE" series as being finished. Over the years my by me hand-down-written schedule got lost somewhere along the way but to settle this one more time again would be no problem, yes, and so be sure that the "IRON AGE" series will from now'n'here on continue going on fnally again (we will see if that mentioned 'old schedule' will still be the order of it or if I will do it differently), sort of in an 'unregular-frequency'. Here and now we will for now move back from the 1950's and 1960's (the era of Larry Scott) into the 1940's and then also a bit into the 1950's with paying tribute to the one and only Clancy Ross, one of the mightiest and most fascinating Bodybuilders to have ever walked our beloved mother earth - and one that I missed out on in my 'old schedule' due to reasons I even by and for myself can't comprehend this days, hell no, and so I thought (and still think) that it is a great way to reanimate this very article-series up here with correcting a big wrong from the past. Yes, and so now by far too much and enough of the introducing smalltalking ongoing rambling(s) and so now finally right'n'straight direct into the action again.

The King of Bodybuilders...

- CLANCY ROSS -

...and the masterly regent of the golden era.

Clancy Ross was born at the 26th of October of 1923 in Oakland, California/U.S.A. to Jeanette and Hershel Ross a son. He had two brothers named Art and Roy, and his respectively their grandfather once was an immigrant from Germany who gave up his shoe-factory when he finally should move over to the States. Still when he was a young boy his parents got divorced and his father moved away while he stayed with his mother who sadly enough soon after this tragically died. So, yes, it's definite to say that life wasn't that good from the get-go to Clancy Ross who had to face a lot of hardships right from the start and had to struggle heavily. After the death of his mother he spend several to many years in an orphanage and different nursing-homes before finally a couple of spouses should come along the way and should show some heart with taking him to them where he stayed and lived in Alameda near Oakland where he visited elementary school before becoming a pupil of/at the Oakland Highschool. He had finally found a home. And you see, Clancy Ross' beginnings had been more than 'just' humble, so to say. This hard biographic facts and the fact that Clancy Ross all his life never had that much of a great genetic for Bodybuilding should in the future lead the also legendary Bodybuilder and later on also coach Leo Stern to say that Clancy Ross was the one guy who made out of the by far less the by far most, if not all, with climbing to the top of/in Bodybuilding without ever backing down and with hard work, pure heart, sheer will, and a clear focus, becoming a true king if not the true king and this inside and outside the gym. A true rolemodel and a guy who never needed 'safe-spaces' and 'anti-mobbing-seminars'... our current time is nothing but weak, sick, and disgusting, period!!! But that's at least maybe sort of another topic, and so back to Clancy Ross: At school he should become a (very) good athlete, and from early on as a teenager and then as a young man he worked hard in several different jobs to make his living on his own and with just being 18 years old/young in 1941 he married his first wife Jackie, and together they should become parents to their daughter Carol Lynn. Like already mentioned, Clancy Ross should become a damn good athlete in highschool and he was pretty much always strongly and enthusiatically interested in several different sports and practising this also, too. When a friend of him then should introduce him finally to Weighttraining one day he should absolutely fell in love with it right from the get-go and especially the Squat-Rack should become his new home and the Squat was from then on his new found love and he did it with heartfelt bruning passion and it was his key to finally get rid of his 'stork-legs' (like his Friends annoyed him with back then regulary). Even with only very limited basic Training Clancy Ross already started to make good progress, not at least due to his untamable will. He should soon later on enter the "United States Air Force" and he was stationed in Las Vegas, Nevada/U.S.A. and also when'n'where at this time the above already mentioned great Leo Stern was stationed and who worked there also as a (or the) physical education trainer and he, Leo Stern soon noticed the hard working mentality and the sheer firy will of him, Clancy Ross and took him under his wings. Clancy Ross trained hard and heavy and gained loads of high quality muscles as well as in general more and more an impressive physique and when in 1945 Leo Stern and he decided it's time to hit the stage at "AAU Mr. America" it was no one else than Clancy Ross himself who supremely reigned and took the unrivaled victory and he also took the awards "Most Muscular Physique" and "Best Chest" with him, too. Then one year later in 1946 he also won the "Pro Mr. America" in San Francisco in a triumphant-way and then he moved on and in 1948 and 1949 he was also one of the very, very few men (in fact there were only two and Clancy Ross was one of them) who were able to beat the maginificient Steve Reeves not just once but twice, in 1948 Clancy Ross won the "Mr. U.S.A." right before Steve Reeves who scored at the 2nd place and at the "Mr. U.S.A." in 1949 Clancy Ross was ranked at the 2nd place right after the unrivaled John Grimek and with Steve Reeves placed on the 3rd rank. (Note: John Grimek and Steve Reeves are also part of the "IRON AGE" article series up here, so maybe just check out the articles about them if you are interested.) The "Mr. U.S.A." of/in 1949 took place in Los Angeles in the "Los Angeles Shrine" in front of 6.000 viewers what was a damn impressive number for that time back then. Still in 1949 Clancy Ross should also win the "Mr. North America" and he was with winning this competition one of the very first few Bodybuilders who grabbed a price of 1.000 Dollar for the victory, and again for that time back then this was something damn impressive to archieve. To make his daily living after the "United States Air Force" he was running from 1946 on several different gyms. The first of his gyms he opened in January of 1946 and he used to run it succesfully for ten years. He had close ties to other Bodybuilders of his era like for example Jack LaLanne and Jack Dellinger with whom he often went surfing at the 'Sunny Cove' in Alameda, California/U.S.A. and he also very often and regulary went swimming. Beside being an active and competing Bodybuilder and running his gym(s) he worked also a model and also as an author for example (and especially) for the early mags of that time of Joe Weider named "Muscle Power" and "Your Physique" and he should also become the most prominent and/or important editor of this magazines right after Joe Weider himself who surely also used the prominent and impressive Clancy Ross quite a bit as his figurehead just like Joe Weiders biggest rival at that time, the "York Barbell Comapny", did so with the almighty John Grimek who was also one of the if not the biggest rival of Clancy Ross himself back then. Some good pairings you see, so to say. In 1951 after ten years of their marriage Clancy Ross and his first wife Jackie got divorced and later on along the way Clancy Ross should meet the very attractive Lois who loved, so they say, especially motorcycles and enjoyed life in general as much as only ever possible and who should then become his second wife. They had a long and happy relationship together and had two kids together, Lance who was born in 1961 and Darcy Lee who was born in 1965. And they had several pets together, with Clancy Ross himself being a huge fan of cats and regulary bringing a stray with hime home that he gleaned somewhere along the way home.

Clancy Ross was beside being an enthusiastic athelete and a formidable and more than just great Bodybuilder also a huge music-lover and especially Jazz in all its different forms was his absolute favourite and he and his second wife Lois shared this passion and interest and they loved to dance and to party and they truly led a rich social life. Beside all this he also worked as a teacher for the(ir) local community at the Sunday-School, to give something back. And, of course, also Hollywood was/got attracted by Clancy Ross, his personality and his physique and so he had several movie-performances like for example already in 1949 in "The Piano Mover" and "So you want to be a Muscleman". Also for roles like "Tarzan" and even "Superman" and also as the private-detective "Sam Spade" the guys in/of Hollywood wanted to sign him up for but Clancy Ross turned that offers down because he refused to be that long away from home so often, and also because his heart still was completly signed to Bodybuilding. He should sell his own gym "Clarence Ross P.C. Gym" to work further on for the "American Health" 'gym-chain'. He was anyhow anywhere a much loved and highly respected and a through-and-through sympathic guy with lots of fans and Friends everywhere he went and came along. And he was a Bodybuilder through-and-through. He worked hard and gave it all he had to give and when we keep in mind that he lived and worked and trained and pumped in a time long ago where modern training-principles like sets and splits and such stuff and not to talk about 'fancy shit' like "FST-7", "Dogcrapp", etc. pp. weren't formulated and defined like we know and have it for example today and where of no training-equipment was to talk about and where 'things' about nutrition and especially supplementation were only of rudimentary knowldege (compared with later decades to come) and when there was no enhancement via drugs and hormons to talk of, yes, when it all was natural, yes, then you should see what an truly impressive physique he damn fucking build and how damn strong he really was. He was famous for his massive chest and did dumbbell bench-press with 60kg+ dumbbells regulary, squatted with 205kg for 10+ reps and when deadlifting he lifted 295kg+. Also his Olympic Weightlifting was damn impressive with for example 142kg+ at the strict frontpress. He also did 'deflected' culrs with 90kg+. And on the incline bench press with dumbbells he did 10+ reps with the 80kg+ dumbbells. Damn impressive!!! In 1955 then he won the "NABBA Pro Mr. Universe" in London, but due to a heavy (in)flu(enza) or a massive 'gripal-infect' he wasn't at his bestform and he did not take the Overall-Victory with him. This enlighted the fire in him one more time even stronger and led him to take the 2nd place at the 1956 "Mr. U.S.A.", only beaten by the larger-than-life Bill Pearl himself. (Note: Also Bill Pearl is already part of this "IRON AGE" article series up here, so why not check out his article as well?!) Somehwere along the road to come he and his second wife should got divorced as well, because Clancy Ross focussed more and more again and again on his training and Lois simply felt too heavily left behind and she draw her consequences. But at least both should stay close friends even after their divorce. His last years Clancy Ross, the "King of Bodybuilders", spend together with his close friends Auben and Margorie in a retirement-home where he finally died at the 30. of April of 2008 at the age of 84 years. Shortly before his death he planned together with his old friend Joe Weider to install a 'health-fitness-studio' in the retirement-home where he lived for all the residents of it, yes, but this dream he sadly could not fullfill anymore. But in the memories of all of us true IRON AGE and IRON SPORTS enthusiasts the unforgotten and larger-than-life Clancy Ross, the "King of Bodybuilders" will live forever on as one of the best, most impressive, strongest, and biggest and most (be)loved and respected Natural Bodybuilders of all time. Rest in Power!!!

Some of his impressive 'strength-stats' and or (much) better and (much) more precise sort of an impressive 'training-routine' of the almighty Clancy Ross I now still want to show you before I will finally close this article; so let's go:

(1.) Legs:

Squats 6 x 10 reps
Calf raises 4 x 25
(2.) Arms:
Seated dumbbell curls 3 x 8
Preacher curls 3 x 8
Triceps pushdowns 3 x 103
(3.) Chest:
Pushups on parallel bars 3 x 15
Chest Incline bench press 3 x 10
Bent arm laterals on bench 3 x 8
(4.) Abdominals:
Leg raises on ab bench 200 reps
Situps on ab bench 200 reps
Side bends 100 reps each side
(5.) Shoulders:
Lateral raises standing 3 x 8
Upright rowing 3 x 8
(6.) General Conditioning:
Pulldowns all the way down to legs on lat machine 3 x 10

(Copyright of/for this which means this training-plan or workout-schedule, is by: https://www.greatestphysiques.com/clarence-ross/ - check them out, great site, great work, big inspiration, and why not also like them up on Facebook @greatestphysiques.)

So, yes, that's it for now again already, and the "IRON AGE" finally is back again up here as well. I hope you enjoyed it, maybe at least as much as I enjoyed it putting this all together for you. And if you enjoyed it, yes, then make sure to stay tuned for more of this to come up here again one sooner or later day. And now, yes, have a great day and enjoy the weather, like I am about to do it now. I'm off and out for now, we'll read us (soon) again. Bye.

IRON AGE: Larry Scott, the first ever "Mister Olympia" also known as ''Larry the Great'' and as the incarnation of the Californian Bodybuilding scene of the 1960's.

Okay folks, back in action again. Finally again... and or even maybe for one of the last times (ever) up here. As I made it clear in the last article some weeks or so ago I am about calling it a day up here and maybe starting something new. Various reasons led me to this decision - even it's currently not 100% sure if I will come up with something new or not which means calling it a day in general (it just feels to me that time is flying by and no matter how often and how hard I may think about that it would be cool do something on music or so again I don't find the right and real attitude, mood, and time to really do so in the end... maybe it's just a temporary episode but maybe it's just me growing old and find myself more satisfied with doing other things these days). Maybe I will explain this reasons or some of them in sort of a final post or so coming soon, who knows, which means: we will see.  My new project is anyhow so far quite a bit currently already in the work and on its way, I just have to figure it out if this will work like I want it to work or not, and it depends on this "I will see..."-thought how soon (and if ever) it will come up in the future (beside the above mentioned "growing old"-stuff).
But for now back again up here on your good old "MANSLAUGHTER THUG LIFE" blog... and beside the fact that it feels already a big bit "nostalgic) it's also incredible how quick and fast time moves on, thinking about that I do or run this blog now for already a bit of over five years in a row... and it's really sort of shocking when I think about what and especially who came and went over this time of sort of over five years... the times are a changing or so they say... I guess they are right...
Okay, that's in general for now, and now back to the topic of this post and this will be all about the IRON AGE posting series, and yes, you're right, after sort of over (?) a half year passed since the last IRON AGE article saw the light of the day and while I was busy up here with doing other things (especially music-related stuff like record reviews) it's really time to finally change this again (even it's for the last time). Even more after this very article here is now for a very, very long, long while already in the making, so it's time to give it finally the breath of life it desperately hungers for. You may or better you should know the deal(and hopefully, of course, you do so), which means: that you know what's now coming up here for you. Yes, you know it, and if not, then just in short two short lines to the point:

(1.) Bodybuilding.

(2.) Larry Scott.

You still need some more input? Really? Oh man, damn it, come on, I mean... but okay, okay, okay, so two short lines more to the point here and now for you:

(3.) Mister Olympia.

(4.) The first ever crowned.

This must be enough , I mean, really, come on, what should you need more right here, right now? Yes, you're right, nothing else, and so now here we go, so let's go, enough of the introducing small talk.

And now, already and just as a little bit of showing what and who we will be talking about (which means what I will be writing on and what you will be reading here and now) right now:

The incarnation of the Californian Bodybuilding ideal of the glory days of old...

- Larry Scott -

...and the first ever crowned IFBB "Mister Olympia" - and the definition of ultimate magnificence.

I. INTRODUCTION: If you ask anyone with a at least small education in Bodybuilding about the one man who should become pretty much to the one and only valid definition of the Californian Bodybuilding scene and ideal then he or she will name you this one man first and ultimately solely: Larry Scott. He became sort of a incarnation of Bodybuilding of his era, and with his looks, his appearance, his shape and physique he clearly became to the leading character and athelete of the Californian Bodybuilding scene and its ideal of the 1960's. His look had been defined to be a thru and thru American look, a typical American look, clean-cut all-American, and with this look, his robust and very well proportioned body and physique and with his arms that had been a couple of one of the biggest, the best, and the most greatest guns ever in the history of this, of our sport, he became to an idol and a role model for millions of other Bodybuilders now and then outta there. And we all shouldn't forget that he was and is also the first ever crowned IFBB "Mister Olympia". And so you see that there are more than enough justified reasons for him to be up here and become a prominent part of this very posting series named (the days of the) IRON AGE up here. Now let us have together a more precise look on him, on Larry the Great.

II. THE EARLY YEARS: Larry Scott or Larry "the Legend" Scott or Larry "the Great" Scott, how he was also named, was born at the 12th of October of the year 1938 in Blackfoot, Idaho/U.S.A. to his parents a son. Already as  kid and a teenager he showed some potential in doing sports, so he was back then known as a already very well versed gymnast, before with becoming and then being sixteen years old in 1954 he started to conquer as a Bodybuilder. His parents had a own dump that they ran back then and when he was doing his work and duty by working in the family business he found an old Bodybuilding magazine with the great old school Bodybuilder George Paine on the cover of it, showcasing a triceps-pose from the side. He found it, saw it, grabbed it, and he was fixed. It was something totally new to him, something that he had never ever seen before. To Larry Scott the triceps of George Paine looked like shredded and ripped bananas in their most ever massive form. He wanted this for himself, and he wanted it badly. And so he even couldn't be stopped by the fact or circumstances that he had no access to proper weight lifting euqipment. Because instead of this he had a old tractor axle, and when he scrolled through the pages of the magazine he saw pictures of George Paine who did exercises that probably helped building up his impressive arms, and with his hunger and firy will as well as his creative artisanal skills he soon started to work out with his tractor axle like the pictures showed him the way (as far as he could adopt the exercises with his improvised training device). And they showed him good. Just with his improvised training device and his also pretty improvised exercises he managed to catch good worthy pumps after pumps and he build up his arms to 32cm ambit, pretty impressive and big guns already. This great results pushed him further on to work and train harder and harder, with the one aim to come off as big, strong, and massive as only anyhow possible. So he was on a quest, and he started to make his way, his way to forever immortalized ultimate magnificence.

III. "CALIFORNIA, HERE I COME!": Larry Scott trained every day and he always trained hard right from the start. His enthusiasm was nearly too much for his body's own growth potential at some times. Soon enough he exchanged his good old tractor axle with/to real weights, dumbbells, and barbells when he joined the local "YMCA". He also enthusiastically read all the issues of Joe Weider's own "Muscle Builder" magazine, and it added to his motivation and his imagination what all could be possible if he just sticked to his hard and honest working approach. Pretty soon it was and happened that Larry Scott came to the conclusion that if he wanted to really make steps ahead in Bodybuilding he had to move to California, California that already back then was sort of the Mecca of Bodybuilding. And so he started working on doing finally so. But just by wanting and planning to do so the job wouldn't be done, he needed something to make some money to make his living from with and that Larry Scott knew all too well, and so he started to work and graduate in the Californian Electronic-Technique industry beside his living as a Bodybuilder. California offered Larry Scott all that he wanted at this point in his life, he could study and work in his job and industry and at the same time he could work hard for becoming a better and stronger Bodybuilder. With this in his mind he one day entered a train and moved on to the shores of California. And there it all should really beginn...

IV. FROM BEING THE APPRENTICE TO BECOMING THE MASTER OF THE IRON: Larry Scott moved to California, made his plans and dreams come true. He had no car, but his school (for Electronic-Technique) was near by where he lived so that he could make it to there by walking, and he had dreams of and plans for making it big. And so on every front Larry Scott did his best to make it big - and how he did. He trained back then at "Bert Goodrich's Health Club", and this gym was only ca. around a mile from where he lived back then, so also nothing but a easy walk to go there and do what needed to be done. The "Bert Goodrich's Health Club" Gym was filled by sportsmen and athletes of all size and kind, but it was in particular the big, massive, muscular, and strong Lou Degni who was caught by Larry Scotts attention by far the most. For Larry Lous chest and back were the most incredible and the by far most imposing things or sights that he had ever seen so far in his life. With a 74cm ambit of his waist, arms with 48cm ambit, the chest and back of a giant, and seemingly centimeter deep carved abs Lou Degni was sort of all Larry Scott at this point in his life ever wanted to become, ever wanted to be. And even Larry Scott was the new guy in "Bert Goodrich's Health Club" and also only weighing around 68kg at this time no one else than Lou Degni himself soon should take notice of him, because of his quick and big progress' he made, and pretty soon the both should become training partners. Pretty soon after Larry Scott and Lou Degni joined forces in the Gym together it was Lou Degni who was offered a role in a Italian movie production and he had to leave the city for it. Later on Lou Degni should become sort of famous under his pseudonym or artist name of Mark Forest for playing in many sword and sandal films of that time. After the training partnership with Lou Degni broke due to him starting his movie career Larry Scoot soon decided to leave "Bert Goodrich's Health Club" to join the legendary "Vince's Gym" that was run by no one else than the infamous Vince Gironda, a legend of his very own. Especially in the 1950's and 1960's the gym of Vince Gironda, the "Vince's Gym", had a phenomenal good and strong reputation, not at least for bringing up and out many Bodybuilding champs. It had been Vince Gironda to whom all the Hollywood agents and movie makers send their actors to get in shape for their movies. It was sort of a fact that there would be no man with more knowledge of training/working out and nutrition than Vince Gironda. And so, you see, Larry Scott moved to the right place, at the right time - and to the right man. And Vince Gironda had a huge influence on Larry Scott and his future development, on his training, his nutrition, and also on his posing and on the way he posed or should pose up on stage. So it was Vince Gironda who, for example, teached Larry Scott also to pose between his poses, because, so he said to him, it would be more important what he did between the poses than what he does at or with or in his actual poses. And he was right with this. Vince liked the young athlete that Larry Scott was back then right from the start, even in Vinces eyes he wasn't one of the genetical gifted Bodybuilders. (But at least in this point opinions can surely differ a bit - if not maybe even a lot.) Anyhow, he liked him and so Vince Gironda helped Larry Scott out and cultivated his training and nutrition. Untill this certain point in time nutrition was just sort of side-thought in the head and mind of Larry Scott, something that Vince Gironda changed drastically and everlasting, and this was also the time when Larry Scott started to use protein supplements. It was also during this time period that Larry Scott should develop his fantastic arms, very much due to his excessive practise of the strict Preacher Curls, an excercise he was introduced to by Vince Gironda, and that should become so stronly linked with Larry Scott that the excercise very soon should become named after him the Scott Curl - and this is also so still today. After a few years of being trained and coached by Vince Gironda it was time for Larry Scott to take the next steps and enter a stage with competing at one of the big Californian Bodybuilding Championships. He already won back then in 1959 the "Mr. Idaho", but he knew very well that a competition in California was something very different. But anyhow in 1960 he competed at the AAU "Mr. Los Angeles" and he scored in on place no. # three, and in the same year he also won the AAU "Mr. California" and also gained the "Most Muscular Award" on this very show as well. Great kick off for his career. In 1961 he became the "Mr. Pacific Coast" after winning the AAU "Mr. Pacific Coast" championship, and just one year later in 1962 he became the IFBB "Mr. America". Over the distance of the next two years Larry Scott managed to let his victory streak grow on with winning the medium category of the IFBB "Mr. Universe" in 1963, and with taking the overall victory of this championship one year later in 1964. It really happened, the apprentice turned into the master, the master of the iron, and it was time that the king received his crown and take place on his throne.

V. BEING THE "MISTER OLYMPIA": The situation in the 1950's and 1960's was sort of a confused or confusing one in the world of professional Bodybuilding, with various federations fighting amongst each other who would be the leading no. # one in the world and what competition would crown the one and only best Bodybuilder in/of the world, and it was in and out of this particular situation that the Weider Brothers and their IFBB installed the "Mister Olympia" as their very own competition to make it clear that the IFBB would be the solely home of the elité Bodybuilders and that the "Mister Olympia" alone would crown the very best Bodybuilder worldwide. (And like we see it today and if "you" now may like it or not this was an all out success.) So when in 1965 the first ever "Mister Olympia" took place the IFBB managed to put a proper line up together and no one else than Larry Scott was a part of it - and he should with all justifications beat all his rivals and he succeeded on what should become the biggest stage of them all, he succeeded at and became the first ever "Mister Olympia" and when he won the title he was given a real crown encrusted with "jewels" - but no money (after back then out of and with Bodybuilding there was simply no real money to make, especially not for the athletes). In 1966 Larry Scott managed to repeat his golden triumph and he won also the second edition of the IFBB "Mister Olympia", again in tremendous shape and in a dominant way. In 1966 there was no crown handed to him but instead of this a check about 1.000 U.S. $ and asked if he would miss his crown he answered more or less in the way that he would have also rather taken the 1.000 $ instead of the crown the year before. But you see, to make your living out of and with Bodybuilding alone (as a sports man) was still something anything but really possible. This and a new priority-setting compared with the thought that he had reached all what he only could reach as a active Bodybuilding athlete let Larry Scott finally to the decision to end his career more or less straight after his second "Mister Olympia" triumph, and to move on to new shores and finally to move ahead in a monetary or fiscal sense, not at least because he had bills to pay. But anyhow, the unrivaled superstar had left the building, point and fact.

VI. BESIDE AND AFTER BEING THE "MISTER OLYMPIA": Larry Scott worked beside and after his Bodybuilding career in the movie business and he acted roles for example in "MUSCLE BEACH PARTY" together with Frankie Avalon and Anette Funichello where he was to be seen as "Rock", a Bodybuilder of the infamous Beach-Gang of Jack Fanny who was played by Don Rickles in the movie. He was also very often hired as a Fitness Photo Model, and especially the shootings he did with Pat Milo are today often called art for good reasons. And also he worked as an author for all the famous "WEIDER" publications of his time - and he wrote excusively for the magazines of the Weider Brothers. After his active career he worked for several companies to develop and sell work out machines, nutrition supplements, and first PC based work out/training schedule programmings. Finally he should start working for a big insurance company, and in 1991 he wrote and released his highly reputated Bodybuilding book "LOADED GUNS". He made a brief (and not really succesful) comeback in 1979 before forever retiring from competition in 1980. And in 1999 he was introduced into the "JOE WEIDER BODYBUILDING HALL OF FAME".
He lived his latter years together with his second wife in Salt Lake City, Utah/U.S.A. where he finally ran his personal training and nutrition company, "LARRY SCOTT FITNESS & NUTRITION", and together with his wife Rachel Scott he had five children, three of them, Susan, Erin and Nathan are still alive, while Derek and Michael sadly died long befor their time in 1992 respectively 1993. Larry Scott himself died on March the 8th, 2014 at the age of 75 years of complications from the Alzheimer's disease he was suffering through.
REST IN PEACE, Larry "the Great" Scott, you will always be remembered and never forgotten.
Keep on lifting in heaven, like we keep on pumping down here. R.I.P. /// Andy

So, okay folks, that's now all for this post, and all of us showing our heartfelt respect and honour to one of the greatest champs the stages of every sort of iron sports have ever seen: Larry Scott. I hope you enjoyed the reading through and of this article and that you had been entertained and maybe also at least a little bit educated by it. The rest you can read above in the introduction words to/of this very post/article... that pretty much is nothing else than the last ever and truly final real post up here... so I hope you've enjoyed it... That's it for now and pretty much also that's it up here in general... anyhow... and for now and so long, as usual, an honest "Thank you!" for your interest and for reading this article goes out to you from me. Cheers, your dear (Manslaughter-) Andy.

PHIL "THE GIFT" HEATH - From NCAA College Basketball to becoming the ruling "IFBB MR. OLYMPIA" from 2011 up to the present day.

Oh man, pretty much two years passed... and it really took me so long to finally come up with the next new follow up "Sports" post in form of a tribute to one of the ruling Bodybuilding Champs of our current time(s)... damn it... where does all the time go by so fast...?!? Okay, okay, okay, one after another, so here we go: Back then pretty much exactly two years ago in 2012 I did the last real proper tribute post to an active, currently competing Bodybuilding Athlete, the tribute post to honur the Canadian Muscle Machine Ben Pakulski that back then followed up pretty if not very promptly the tribute post to honour Zack "King" Khan, the ultimate Ultra Muscle Mass Freak from the U.K., and since then in two years no new proper tribute post of this kind used to come up. This had different reasons that I won't declare or write down here again in a detailed way or something like this, just let me say that it all culminated in the pretty dead last year of 2013, the decline and changing of the direction of what once was planned as the first theme days posting series in a row up here, and in the still pretty silent first half of this very year of 2014, so, okay, after enough time came and went unused and I am finally really back on track again with blogging and this blog came back to "real" life in a proper way some months ago and after I am enthusiastical and passionate running my "little baby", the "IRON AGE" series totally dedicated to (Old School) Bodybuilding, I really felt like it was definitely in every sense far about all and every time that I re-start working also on the regular "Sports" posts, finally, and so now I do so with this very article here and now. So, okay, straight into the action, here we go!!!

Inspired and influenced by the this Saturday happening annual battle for the crown at the stage of the "IFBB MR. OLYMPIA" I decided to let this post here be totally in the spirit and mood of this great competition and so I decided to pay tribute and give respect and honour to the currently ruling already three time(s) "MR. O.", to no one else than PHIL "THE GIFT" HEATH. To get it straight, I am not the biggest fan of him anyway, and I really thought and still think that in 2012 Kai Greene definitely was better than him, not to talk about Dennis Wolf the last year, maybe, but after the IFBB Pro Bodybuilding is pretty much like Sports Enteratinment like the WWE Wrestling nothing makes me wonder anymore. Also I am not that much comfortable with that stereotypical "All American Golden Boy" image with that at least slightly arrogant touch or note to it that is created by "WEIDER" publications like for example especially the "FLEX" magazine or like it was created in the movie "GENERATION IRON" for him to create a battle between him, Phil Heath the golden boy and champ, and Kai Greene, the underdog suffering through hardships (so it seems and feels to me), but I am also not so sure how true this all is, this whole imagery that's created around him. Keep in mind, pretty much like Sports Entertainment in the WWE style, so maybe we all shouldn't give so much about all the created images and rivalries and counterparts, created just to sell the product(s) and label(s), and better focuss and concentrate on the sports and the athletes. But like the WWE I enjoy also heavily the IFBB and know very well the effort, the passion, the dedication, and just the incredible hard work these athletes put in it, so that it is by far more sport than most of the other stuff else outta there. So, with that said I have also to state that PHIL "THE GIFT" HEATH is a great champion, a great "MR. O." and one of the best ambassadors Bodybuilding today could only have. And also, above all, he is a great athlete with one hell of an amazing and mind-blowing HD body direct from out of the third dimension, and so with maybe (or definitely) not all but surely nearly all possible justifications he holds the crown as being the No. One, as being the "MR. OLYMPIA", and this is exactly the reason why I decided here and now to pay tribute, give honour, and show respect to this great one known as PHIL HEATH or just: "THE GIFT", a name they all call him for a reason (or two, or more).

FROM BEING THE SHOOTING GUARD OF THE "DENVER PIONEER'S"...

*** PHIL "THE GIFT" HEATH ***

... TO BECOMING THE RULING "IFBB MISTER OLYMPIA".

Phil Heath was born on the 18th of December in 1979 as a son to his parents in Seattle, Washington/U.S.A. who gave him his full proper name of Phillip Jerod Heath and in Seattle it was where he also spend his teenage and school day years, where he then used to discover and experience and further on develop his passion for and skills in playing Basketball. He was pretty good, so that maybe also a NBA career was possible for him, just that you know it. In Highschool, he visited the Rainier Beach High School, he played Basketball with a hunger for more and with the drive that's needed to make more out of it than just a hobby or a school sports thing, and so he finally earned and secured a scholarship to go to college, and so he did and the Uinversity of Denver was his choice and there he continued playing Basketball and became the shooting guard of the "PIONEER'S" or "DENVER PIONEER'S", and there he played in the NCAA Division 1-A Men's Basketball team from 1998 up to 2002. Like already said, he was a good player, but in no way he was that dominant on the hardwood than how he is it today on the stages of the IFBB Bodybuilding competitions. In his four year spanning career he scored 86 points before changing the Basketball top with the Posing slip and focussing solely on Bodybuilding and becoming the ruling biggest star of it today here and now. A lot of his understanding of and passion for being an athelete and doing what must be done by an athlete to get ahead he learned, archieved, and earned during his Basketball days especially when he was the shooting guard of the "DENVER PIONEER'S", so his future Bodybuilding career gained much benefit and profit from it and from the hard working focussed mentality that he earned as a Basketball player as well as his trust in his coach or coaches as well, something that still leads him through his career today and something that also benefits his career heavily. Beside playing Basket ball he also studied when he was at college and he finally double majored in "IT Technology" and "Business Administration", just that you know about it, not so unimportant.

With being no stranger to training and working out with weights Phil Heath more and more moved away from just being a Basketball player and became more and more fascinated by and with weight lifting and iron pumping. This ever ongrowing interest finally led him to quitting Basketball and focussing on Bodybuilding, it led him to really start with Bodybuilding and this finally led him to an impressive and amazing career, like we all know it today. It was especially his ongoing hunger for new experiences and challenges and a different, a more intense style of training and work outs as well as his curiosity of a very different style of competition like Bodybuilding on stage surely is compared with Basketball on the court that led him into Bodybuilding and away from Basketball. He moved more and more away from Basketball, and at the same time more and more (in)to Bodybuilding, also because he felt that Basketball not really led him to define himself as an athlete in a whole. And then in the October of the year of 2002 it finally happened, the time was right and the time had come for Phil Heath to fully move into Bodybuilding and to start his journey that led him from gaining his Pro Card finally to becoming the crowned king of Pro Bodybuilding and the definite current superstar of this sport, the "IFBB MR. OLYMPIA". His first competition he experienced in 2003, it was the "ROCKY MOUNTAIN USA CHAMPIONCHIP - NORTHERN CHAMPIONSHIP" and he already back then grew on from 185lbs. to 192lbs., so you see, he started back then in the Light-Heavyweight-Division, and he walked away with gaining gold and archieving the overall title win as well. And this fueled his fiery desire for more, for far more, and so he moved ahead and on and on. It took him just two more years before he won the "NPC U.S.A. CHAMPIONSHIPS" and there he then also walked away victorious with his IFBB Pro Card earned that allowed him from then on to compete as a IFBB Pro Bodybuilder. In 2006 he competed already as a Pro Bodybuilder and right from the kick off he won his first two pro competitions, the "COLORADO PRO CHAMPIONSHIP" and the highly reputated "NEW YORK PRO CHAMPIONSHIP". It was a very good first year as a Pro, a very good Rookie year, without any doubt. In 2007 he moved on to bigger stages and for the first time ever he competed at the infamous "ARNOLD CLASSIC" where he reached the fifth rank. This was enough for him to qualify for the 2007 "MR. O.", but anyhow Phil Heath decided not to participate, not to compete, because he felt like he really need more time to work hard and harder even than before on his form, and so he was not to be seen on the "MR. O." stage in 2007 even he was qualified for doing so.

In 2008 then he returned to competing on stage and he won the well-known "IRON MAN" show and placed second to Dexter "The Blade" Jackson at the 2008 "ARNOLD CLASSIC". In 2008 then Phil Heath finally competed at the "MR. O." stage for the first time ever and scored in at rank three, an impressive statement, and something that only the iconic Flex Wheeler managed to archieve in his first "MR. O." competition before him, and this was already in 1993. For the "MR. O." 2009 he was definitely the major fan favorite to take the title, but a stomach virus costed him the competition so that he finished it just placed fifth. In 2010 he was defeated by the mighty Jay Cutler at the "MR. O." stage, the then supreme ruling "MR. O.", but then in 2011 the signs where set different and Phil Heath defeated Jay Cutler and won the "MR. O." and became for the first time ever crowned the King of Bodybuilding, the "IFBB MR. OLYMPIA". In 2012 and 2013 he managed to defend his title against Kai Greene and "the rest of the world", and we will see what 2014 (and beyond) holds in store for him. Here you can have a look on the history of his so far archieved titles:
* 2003: "NORTHERN COLORADO STATE", 1st place Light-Heavyweight and Overall Victory (- See above, the "ROCKY MOUNTAINS" affair.)
* 2003: "NPC COLORADO STATE", 1st place Light-Heavyweight (After this competition he changed the ''weight class/division", from Light-Heavyweight to Heavyweight.)
* 2004: "NPC COLORADO STATE", 1st place Heavyweight and Overall Victory
* 2005: "NPC JUNIOR NATIONALS", 1st place Heavyweight and Overall Victory
* 2005: "NPC USA CHAMPIONSHIPS", 1st place Heavyweight and Overall Victory (There he earned his IFBB Pro Crad.)
* 2006: "COLORADO PRO CHAMPIONSHIPS", 1st place
* 2006: "NEW YORK PRO CHAMPIONSHIP", 1st place
* 2007: "ARNOLD CLASSIC", 5th place
* 2008: "ARNOLD CLASSIC", 2nd place
* 2008: "MISTER OLYMPIA", 3rd place
* 2009: "MISTER OLYMPIA", 5th place
* 2010: "ARNOLD CLASSIC", 2nd place
* 2010: "MISTER OLYMPIA", 2nd place
* 2011: "MISTER OLYMPIA", 1st place
* 2011: "SHERU CLASSIC", 1st place
* 2012: "MISTER OLYMPIA", 1st place
* 2012: "SHERU CLASSIC", 1st place
* 2013: "MISTER OLYMPIA", 1st place
* 2013: "ARNOLD CLASSIC EUROPE", 1st place
Beside competing on stage he also appears usualy and regulary in all the known "WEIDER" publications, especially the "FLEX" magazine, as well as he was the major star of and in "GENERATION IRON" and also beside this movie he released several Bodybuilding work out, diet, and lifestyle DVD's, as well as he runs his own Nutrition & Supplement company, "GIFTED ATHLETICS", and he also appeared at the 20th of October of the year of 2013 as a special guest star at the TNA PPV "BOUND FOR GLORY". Ah, and he was for all what I know pretty much the only athlete who was already signed by or to "AMI"/"WEIDER" when still being an amateur athlete, because they were already back then so impressed and convinced by his potential and also due to the promo work that the great Jay Cutler put in for him to convince the guys at "AMI"/"WEIDER" even more. Before we are now coming to the closing lines of this articlel let us have a short look on his body stats:
- Height: 5,9''
- Offseason Weight: 280lbs.
- Competition Weight: 250lbs.
- Arms: 23
- Legs: 32
- Calves: 20
- Neck: 18,5
- Waist: 29
Phil Heath is known for his amazing genetics and his smart and very intelligent training systems and strategies and his trust in his chosen trainers/coaches. Both, his impressive genetics and his very smart art of training, led him to his amazing and truly complete HD body with that for him typical bombing and/or bombastic 3D effect and also to his nickname "THE GIFT", just look at him and you will get it. Today he is married and lives in Arvada, Colorado/U.S.A. and trains at the "ARMBRUST PRO GYM" in Wheat Ridge, Colorado/U.S.A., and all signs are set for him to have an even brighter future than his already very bright present.

Okay, that's it so far, now for your visual inspiration just a few videos of PHIL "THE GIFT" HEATH, and then that's it for this post. I hope you enjoyed it and by any means stay tuned for the "MISTER OLYMPIA 2014" happening this coming weekend, and maybe you are as curious and exited about it as I am, and then for now just thanks for your time and interest.
Keep on pumping and stick to the iron. /// Andy

(PHIL HEATH, full body work out for the "MR. O. 2014")


(PHIL HEATH, Bodybuilding motivation video)


(PHIL HEATH, road to the "MR. O. 2014", shoulder workout)


(PHIL HEATH, work out video from 2013)