Bodybuilders normally have one of two aims depending on their duration of time in the sport. People new to the sport often have body fat, so they have the goal of wanting to lose that fat, whereas experienced bodybuilders want to create bulk, muscles and strength.

Beginners would like to accomplish both of the goals at the same time, but unfortunately this is not simple as dieting to lose fat reduces muscle too, if it is not done properly.

The process of creating muscle used to be pretty personal until not so long ago, unless you were in the top strata or could afford your own fitness adviser or dietitian. It in essence involved eating as much as you could and then working to burn the fat off, while attempting to keep the muscle on.

As an instance, a man hoping to be Mr. Wales was working as a labourer with my brother in the Seventies digging trenches: he used to bolt a chicken and drink a pint of milk in his ten-minute tea break at ten o’clock.

He did not stick the job long by the way, because bodybuilding is concerned with posture and posing. If lifting is involved, like with weight-lifters, the power is short term, whereas diggers of trenches need to slog all day

A more famous example was Bruce Randall in the Fifties. He did his bulking in the American Marines eating huge amounts of protein-rich foodstuffs courtesy of the tax-payer. He ultimately reached a body weight of 400 pounds, but he could accomplish 900 pound lifts.

One story goes that Randall was working out in a gym in New York in this era, but was not happy with the siting of a bench he wished to use. So he picked it up and placed it where he wanted to work. After putting it down, he saw that it had been bolted to the floor. He merely had not noticed ripping the bolts out of the floor!

Later, Randal resolved to take the sport seriously. After a great amount of exercise and coaching by trainers and dietitians, he reduced his weight to 187 pounds from 405 pounds, although he did go back up to 227 pounds. He was rewarded by the fact that he won the much-desired title of Mr Universe in 1959 in London.

Lou Ferrigno, who played the Hulk in the TV series was a two-time winner of Mr Universe. When he began in Brooklyn, he was a pretty regular looking kid, but he was determined to get the ideal body. He worked very hard and ate and ate and ate. At his peak, Lou weighed 300 pounds.

When asked what his secret to bulking up was, he said: ‘Lots of milk and food’. This was the hit or miss system of the Seventies , Eighties and to a lesser extent the Nineties. However, nowadays the tactic is to consume the right foodstuffs and supplements to only build muscle or at least mostly muscle.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, and is now concerned with pure omega 3. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Omega 6 9

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