As a kid growing up in the 1980s, I grew up idolizing the likes of the Stalone’s, the Schwarzenegger’s and the Hulk Hogan’s of the world. I remember the first time I saw the movie Commando, an 80s action classic! If you haven’t seen it I suggest you crawl out from beneath your rock and rent it, burn it, copy it, download it, instagram it or whatever else the kids do these days. I watched in awe and amazement as a ripped and muscle- bound Arnold Schwarzenegger went through the movie killing endless amounts of bad guys and looked super bad ass while doing it. I was mesmerized by Arnie’s physique and knew from that point on that I wanted to one day look just like him. To add gas to my internal fire and desire to transform my own skinny and somewhat puny frame, Stallone was kicking everyone else’s ass in the Rocky & Rambo sagas and was looking harder and leaner with each new film that was released.

So now that I knew what I wanted to look like, the next step was to figure out what the hell I was going to do to look like it. I tried to learn through the Rocky movies, but the training clips were merely seconds long and most of the time they just included him running up stairs or chasing chickens. Wrestling was on every weekend back in the 80s so I stayed glued to the TV set hoping for some advice or training footage from my idol Hulk Hogan and the other wrestlers. Unfortunately the only thing I learned through wrestling was that no men should ever wear yellow tights or any tights for that matter (mind you, it was the 1980s. FYI for the guys at my gym, it’s not anymore though!) . Hogan did however tell us on numerous occasions to “Say your prayers and eat your vitamins” whatever that meant…….

At this point I became frustrated. I had no idea as to how I was going to achieve the ripped, hard, muscular physique I so desperately desired. There was no google, neither of my parents knew a thing about working out and I was just a kid with no cash to go out and purchase a weight set or the resources needed to teach myself how to train and eat properly.

So unlike the great Martin Luther King, I gave up on my dream.

Fast forward a few years later. My Dad comes home with a bulky, smelly, somewhat ripped, wet and torn-apart book and hands it to me. “Thought you could use this” he says with a grin on his face. Now my Father has always been one for bizarre gift giving practices such as Walkie-Talkies, random flashlights, and even a banjo on the odd occasion, so being accustomed to his unusual yet thoughtful gifts, I smiled, graciously accepted his present and set the book aside gently.

“Open it!” He said as he could sense my disinterest I had in his new gift. Not wanting to be disrespectful or appear rude, I did as he requested. The cover was missing so I had to flip through the first few pages to see what this giant monstrosity was all about (I later found out that my he found this book in our back ally dumpster, hence the smell).

After skimming through a few pages I finally found the title of the book which read: “Arnold Schwarzenegger Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding”. Inside the book were hundreds upon hundreds of photos (in black & white ofcourse) of exercises being demonstrated and performed by none other then Schwarzenegger himself. There were chapters on how to train back, legs, chest, arms, shoulders, diet plans, supplement protocols, and a glimpse into Schwarzenegger’s own bodybuilding routine.

As I continued to skim through the pages, glancing at the photos, my excitement started to grow. The nostalgia and sentimental longing from my past had been reawakened. My Dad had just brought home the holy grail. The bible to any true bodybuilder and/or bodybuilding fan. My dream had been reborn.

Or was my nightmare in fact about to begin?……..