Welcome to my blog. I'm a former bodybuilder, coach and pro wrestler.

Please feel free to add comments or questions to any of my blog entries. It's always nice to have feedback.

Les

Sunday 10 October 2010

My Grandson's Now Training

My Grandson Aidan started training a short while ago and has written an entry for my blog:

I'd like to add my story about bodybuilding. Well my name is Aidan and I'm the grandson of Les. I moved school at the age of 15 and saw a lot of my grandparents during that time. Within like two months of starting my new school I made some new friends who were into rugby and weights. It used to interest me watching my friends train so I asked my grandad if he could advise me how to get started. I got some weights and he wrote out a routine for me. I followed the routine four days a week (Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri) and had a rest on a Wednesday and the weekend. I stayed on that workout for about six weeks then changed it about. I carried on working out for about three months.

I then got a weight bench (bench press) with a bar and some weights, so I did a lot more work on my chest. I kept on adding weights and after a while built my own gym up in my basement at home. I first got one of my best friends to start training with me, but then stated training on my own with my friends coming over now and again to do a workout with me. I tried going to a new gym that was built up near to where I live. It was a poor gym with hardly any machines or weights.

I then went back to training in my own gym at home. My best exercise was bench press, my max on that was 95kg at the age of sixteen. My second best exercise was bar curls. I still enjoy the weight training and now that I have left school I am going to college and doing a sport and fitness course for one year. After that year is over, while I am there doing my gym instructor course, they will give me work experience at a gym. If I pass my qualifications I want to see myself in the future owning my own gym.

Bill Richardson

Bodybuilder Bill Richardson was for many years a good friend of mine. I've put some pictures of Bill on my Flickr page (link below) from my own personal collection, as well as three photos from the personal collection of Trevor Cording, who gave me his kind permission to use them. Thanks, Trevor. Below is a list of competitions that Bill took part in. There are also some personal recollections of Bill in my memoirs on this blog (My Story: Part 1-3).

Photos of Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson - Competitions

1971 Mr Universe NABBA Tall 5th
1972 Mr Universe NABBA Tall 4th
1973 Mr Britain NABBA 5th
1973 Mr Europe Tall 2nd
1973 Mr Universe NABBA Tall 3rd
1974 Mr Britain NABBA 4th
1974 Mr Universe NABBA Tall 5th
1975 Mr Britain NABBA 7th
1976 Mr Britain NABBA 4th
1976 Mr Universe NABBA Tall 2nd
1977 Mr Britain NABBA 3rd
1977 European Championships NABBA Tall 2nd
1977 European Championships NABBA 5th
1977 European Championships WABBA 5th
1977 European Championships WABBA Tall 2nd
1977 Mr Universe NABBA Tall 3rd
1977 World Championship WABBA Tall 1st
1978 Mr Britain NABBA Tall 1st
1978 Mr Britain NABBA Overall Winner
1978 European Championships WABBA Tall 1st
1978 European Championships WABBA Overall Winner
1978 Mr Universe NABBA Tall 1st
1978 World Championships WABBA Tall 2nd
1979 European Championships WABBA Tall 1st
1979 Mr Universe NABBA Tall 1st
1979 World Championships WABBA Tall 2nd
1980 European Championships WABBA Tall 1st
1980 European Championships WABBA Overall Winner
1980 Mr Universe NABBA Tall 1st
1980 Mr Universe NABBA Overall Winner
1980 World Championships WABBA Professional 6th
1981 European championships WABBA Professional 1st
1981 Universe Pro NABBA 5th
1981 World Championships WABBA Professional 5th
1981 Pro World Cup WABBA 9th
1982 European Championships WABBA Professional 2nd
1982 Universe Pro NABBA 6th
1982 World Championships WABBA Professional 1st
1983 Universe Pro NABBA 4th
1983 World Championships WABBA Professional 4th
1984 Universe PRO NABBA 5th
1984 World Championships NABBA Professional 4th
1984 World Championships WABBA Professional 4th
1986 European Championships NABBA Professional 1st
1986 Universe Pro NABBA 6th
1988 Chicago Pro Invitational IFBB 16th
1988 Grand Prix England IFBB 14th
1988 Grand Prix France IFBB 18th
1988 Grand Prix Germany IFBB 15th
1988 Grand Prix Greece IFBB 11th
1988 Grand Prix Italy IFBB 16th
1988 Grand Prix Spain (2) IFBB 13th
1988 Grand Prix Spain IFBB 13th
1988 Night Of Champions IFBB 17th
1990 Grand Prix Holland IFBB 18th
1990 Night Of Champions IFBB Did not place
1991 Grand Prix Denmark IFBB 13th

My Story: Part 3


Another Mr Universe from yesteryear was Tony Emmott. Tony had trained some years before he won this title. He had his own health studio: Olicana Health Studio. Tony was always knocking on the door to the big titles. I don't know how old he is, but he has lived in America for some years now. How we miss both he and Bill Richardson.

Heavyweight Wrestler Gill Singh: you might know of him, a giant of a man, wrestles and trains all over the world, and still lives in Leeds. Little Prince, who also lives in Leeds, another famous wrestler as broad as he is tall. He trained at Gateway to Health in
Leeds city centre, again a well-travelled man, wrestling all over the world. A good friend to have.

Another bodybuilder is Tony Hardcastle. At 6ft 7inch tall, another giant of a man, who still trains hard.

Laurie and his son Stephen train in the garage at home and do a lot of strong man stunts. By the way, Laurie, now over 70 years old, was the instructor in the Gateway to Health owned by Reg Park's father and David Wagstaff.

An old friend who I have not heard from for quite a while is Tommy McGeever.

I remember a contest at The Rialto picture house in York. A guy named Brian House won it at 5 ft 6 inch and about 17 inch
calves. His mother told me he had always had decent sized calves.

That's a quick trip down memory lane....

Below is a bodybuilders list. I'd be grateful if any of you have any recent information about them. Just post a comment

Geoff Whitaker
Mike Wyatt
Bob Sweeney
Graham Brogden
Len Sell
Alan Western
John Lees
David Priestly
Bob Brogden
Paul Garner
Brian House
George Flaherty
Paul Winter
Harold Wrigley
Ken Lathom
Peter Simpson
Al Beckles
Ian Lawrence
David Mitchell
Ron Collins
Eddie McDonagh
Spencer Churchill
Roy Dural
Peter Phillips
Earl Maynard
Terry Parkinson
Linda Cheesman
Katherine Winstanley
Sylvia Hibbert
Lynda Thomas
Charles Clairmonte
Bertil Fox
Ron Bell
Pat Whealdon

My Story: Part 2

My outlook on physiques is taper taper taper, small waist tapering, 32inch to probably a wide back with a good rib cage, and plenty of round looking pectorials what stand off with a melon like shape, arms about 20inch, with a taper from the wrist to about 15inch forearms, quite big traps for that for that most muscular pose, obviously a six pack but not too thick, and obliques what you can get your forefinger in. Then to the thighs: well cut about 30inch around with good thigh biceps and good teardrop muscels on the knees, calves all parts developed about 20inch at the thickest part tapering to a ankle about 10 inch , don't forget the neck about 18inch, this is my ideal physique and cut to the bone.

I remember Reg Park, the first time I saw him, he was about 6ft 1 inch quite long hair he did his calves for about three quarters of a hour, standing donkey calf raises with two of us on his back. This was at his health studio on Wellington Street in Leeds. All his muscles seemed to flow into one another. He was a big big man in all respects, not one of his muscles looked out of place, his calves must have been 19-20inch. I am very sorry that he died the way he did and my heart goes out to Marion and his two grown up children, God bless you Reg! You will be missed sadly forever.

Bill Pearl: well Bill beat the best in his time. Bill was about 5ft 11inch, 230-240 pounds, and again like Reg Park his muscles flowed into each other. Everything on him stood out, he was built like a brick proverbial, and those triceps must have made up 2/3 of his upper arms, Bill is still training. Come on, Bill, let us hear what you think about bodybuilding today.

Big Arnold Schwarzenegger: I had seen Arnold a few times and could not get over his physiques. He looked about 17 years old in his face, with the body of a man much older. He was friendly and a go getter. His arms must have been 21inch, chest about 60inch, his legs were all right, but needed a lot of work on them , which he brought up to par later on. He was 19 years old at the time, I think his mentors at the time was Wag and Diane Bennett. He was huge, I saw him do a 260 pound curl and a 650 deadlift. He did shows all over Europe and South Africa. He then went to America to live, and met the Weider brothers - he never looked back to this day. We all know about the Arnold classics, a physique show he runs every year. Also he is Governor of Califonia, which I suppose takes up most of his time. And a man of today, Arnold gives a lot of his time making bodybuilding acceptable, and his winners of his Arnold classics have the v shape and the x shape. I think Dexter Jackson would not be short of a Mr Olympia in shape.

Larry Scott: this is the man in shape. Won the first Mr Olympia. A bit blocky around the waist, but what an inspiration in the mid sixties. Massive 20inch arms, and the rest of his physique to match. I hope you are still training Larry. Lets see some photos.

Sergio 'The Myth' Oliva: I followed your progress from the start, I saw you once lifting a 150 pound Anvil with one arm, just beating Bertil Fox for the protien supplement but ended giving Bertil the supplement. What a body, tapering to a small waist, massive arms, massive thighs, good calves. What else can I say about this guy what hasn't been said. I heard some talk about his son being into bodybuilding. Let us know Sergio, are you still in the police force or have you retired? Keep strong and healthy.

John Citrone: I think John was the greatest small bodybuilder around. In his time he held strength records and I think he was more balanced then Arnold in the Universe ( early days of Arnold ). I think he is still competing, or was up to a few years ago. He had a strong man act when he was younger, second to none. John was unassuming quiet and always friendly. Lets hear from you John, or some photos please.

Training systems: well this is a needle in a haystack. Many years ago I went through the Charles Atlas courses, got fitter, gained a small bit of muscle; but I was an apprentice joiner at the time and could not get enough food down me working a ten hour day. When I finished it was all in all probably a good start for the beginner if they have not been physically active. At the time I could do 400 sit ups at one go.

The Bullworker: at least it was some resistance work, probably good when you are going in for competitions, i.e., warm-ups, but I always say that if you take your time and do the exercises correctly you will get benefit. Its that old chestnut again concentration and regularly. I did get some benefit out of chest expanders and I could go quite high in repetions, and the pump was amazing. I liked the machines, not mentioning which ones, but they were great when you are training on your own. But free weights get the parts where no other system get (sound like a beer advert?). If you are short of space to train in get a couple of dumbbells and you can get a decent workout. I've trained all places and every place you could imagine from basements to garages. I would get hold of the mags/books, etc that give you training advice or I would seek out a gym and make sure you talk to some of the gym members on your free trial (after training) and see what they think about the gym. Most people go to increase their fitness and just get a little bit stronger. Keep on the routine for ten to twelve weeks and you should be seeing some increase in your measurements, or decrease - if you are too much overweight you weight will definitely change.


Well time's going faster and I am 60 years old, had a new hip replacement. My grandson, Aidan, started training a while ago. His starting poundage were more or less the same as mine when I started training, so nothing's changed except he weighs a bit more than me at his age. I've set him a programme so he gets used to handling the weights. I hope he will be a natural bodybuilder, if he sticks at it that is. Must be heart breaking if all of a sudden he stopped training.

I'm glad I have been through the peaks and troughs of bodybuilding. I hope you will say a prayer for my friend, Brian Askin, who is sixty- eight years old, and never even took a headache pill, nor steroids, but still got cancer. I think it is laid out for you in life, but enough of that. I have not heard from many people lately, I have been pretty busy, and just fell out with writing for a while. Please be helpful to all new trainees, as these could be future coaches and Mr/Ms Olympias and Universe winners. All you young men and women out there, sign up to the Beef magazine,keep buying the mags, as they in time if saved will become collectors items.

Some tips

1. Something when you're bored. Have a week when 3-4 of you use a hat, and write down on some paper 5 exercises a piece , and put them in a hat. First exercise pulled out must be done strictly and correctly, and so on. Just gives you something different to train on. Probably done once a month.

2. For someone who wants to put on some weight, say a hard gainer, 1 large cup of skimmed milk powder, 2 spoons of cocoa powder, 1 pint of whole milk, and 1 banana, 2 scoops of ice cream.

3. Get some dessicated liver tablets, eat about 20 a day, Vince Gironda was big on dessicated liver. Yeast tablets you can buy and have about 20 a day. Get some choline and inositol tablets and see your muscles grow. Times are getting hard and this will be a cheaper option.

Les.

Tuesday 5 October 2010

My Story: Part 1

Dear All,

I am sitting here thinking what might have been, had I succeeded at bodybuilding...

From reading the opening phrase I guess you know I failed. But I did not fail to train to the type of body, i.e., messomorph, ectomorph, endomorph. When I started training I weighed 9st, at 5 foot 11 inch high, chest 40 inch, upper arms 11 inch, thighs 19 inch, calves 13 inch, ankles 9 inch, wrist 7 inch, neck 15 inch.

I was born in Leeds, England, UK. My father was a paratrooper, and then later a wagon driver. I was always very skinny but played a lot of sports at school. I left school when I was fourteen and got a job as a joiner. I was at my local youth club one night when I saw this lad doing curls with a barbell, and his muscles were big to me. I touched the barbell for the first time - I never fell out of love with weights from that day on.

The youth club closed down, and I bought some weights and trained every day. I didn't really know what I was doing until I got hold of a magazine called Health and Strength. This had in it pictures and training routines, and advice from a man called Oscar Heidenstam. Oscar had won all different bodybuilding contests, and he helped me when I wrote him a letter in which I said I could not gain weight. He knocked me down to three days a week, instead of the seven days I was doing. I gained about half a stone. I remember I measured my arms at about 14 inch, when 10 stone and 6 foot tall. Still, I needed to gain weight. I bought a magazine called Iron Man and from this I learned all about bulking exercises and heavy calories. I gained about a stone in weight after going on Joe Weider's crash gain weight. I also had, I think, a can of protein of about 45 grams.

I trained at Leeds Athletic Institute, because I saw that most of the powerlifters were well built, and so I trained with them for a while. However, my poundages weren't great. I think my bench pess was 180lb, squats 160lb, deadlifts 350lb, press 80lb, clean and jerk 120lb. I needed to cultivate my eating, which was not great and left me lacking in nutrient, i.e., vitamins and minerals.

I saw an advertisement in "Men's World" about Reg Park's supplements and weight lifting equipment. I saved up some money and went down on a Saturday morning. When I first went in I thought: 'My God, this is out of the Dark Ages!' There was a picture of Reg's Grandad, with massive calves, and of course pictures of Reg Park junior. I bought some protein powder and some wheatgerm oil, and got a list of all their prices for weights, etc. I met a lad there who was a couple of yours older than myself. Brian Smith was his name. I will come back to Brian later on in my memoirs. So I saved up again and bought my own weights and Mr Universe course. This was a course by Reg Park on exercise, diet, etc.

I trained taking notice of the exercise but not the diet. I just added pints of milk a day. I took on a bodybuilder's shape but not a lot of size. I think my arms went up to 14 inch, thighs 21 inch, chest 44 inch. By now I was starting to look - to myself of course - top heavy, a thing I never corrected. I used to train on bench press for hours, just to pump out the heavy weights and feel great.

Now that I was getting used to going to Reg Park's place, I got to know Brian Smith, the manager, quite well, and we started training together. My poundages went through the roof, but I still lacked the hunger to eat a lot of food. We rented a room above the bookies in Rodley. We set up a small gym. I suppose today they would call it 'hardcore', because it was basic and you had to put in a lot of heavy training reps. Brian could have won any junior contest at the time - 16 stone of solid muscle - but was too shy to go in for one at that time.

Brian got married, and he and I did a guest spot. Mine was blowing up a hot water bottle and bursting it to which I rose to applause from the wedding guests. Brian didn't train much after getting married. A pity because Brian was bigger than Reg Park, and plus had a lot of potential.

I next trained at Gateway To Health, in Leeds. This gym was full of good training machines, plus free weights. I was thinking of entering a contest and forgot all about dieting, although at this time I weighed only 13 stone in defined condition no ad dab though. I went in for the Under 18's in Bradford Central Library Theatre. This was a plush venue. My training partner at that time came fourth. I came seventh out of twelve. I did not get home until twelve o'clock that night, but was so excited that I trained until about two in the morning.

I went and had a sauna the next day, talking it over with Harold Wrigley from Manchester. We decided to go compete in the Junior United Kingdom in Manchester. However, there were future greats there, Bertil Fox (the eventual winner), David Priestley and Bob Whitehead. We never even got an ask out to pose, although I looked like Twiggy compared to those three! I think Ian King was there also. The contest was held at the Holdsworth Hall Theatre. There was a good crowd, packed to the rafters. Glad I wasn't on stage! I was slightly depressed afterwards and wondered was it the way I was training. No. Was it eating? No. Was it drugs? What were these drugs? I enquired. "Oh, they just put weight and size on." I'd put on enough size without drugs, so what did I need them for? I was a joiner with two years apprenticeship to do, so I decided not to enter any more contests.

At this point in time I had various training places. Anywhere I could get free training in. I mostly trained on my own on the Reg Park Mr Universe course, even today you will make gains at about twenty. I was a fully fledged junior and met a guy most of you will know called Bill Richardson. Bill, the first day he came to start in the gym, had a great body. His arms, without training, were about 16 and a half. Bill and I did not train together, as our training needs were different. I got kicked out of my home and I went to live with Bill and his wife, Trisha, in Harehills, Leeds. We went all over the place together - when I wasn't babysitting so that Bill and Trisha could go out. Sadly I was not with Bill when he won the Mr Universe Amateur, but wished him all the best.

Bill and I worked together on the doors at The Vine pub in Leeds at night. It was a decent enough job. I hated throwing people out though, it was such a bad tempered affair.

The next gym I was at was mine and a few partners, more or less a co-op gym. It was called Spartan Gym. But it was sold on and a couple of years later was pulled down to make way for houses. I next got into pro wrestling, a sport which I liked because hardly anyone got hurt. But I hated the umbrellas up the rear end you would get when you was going back to the dressing room. Some thought it was real and wanted to start a fight with you. I got out of that, as it was only a tenner a night. Also, finding one's way there was hard to do without being able to drive and you needed to be in Scarborough on a Saturday afternoon.

On I went, while all the time getting training was becoming harder. Next I played rugby union for Roundhay, but got drunk in the bar more times than I can care to count. Well the spirit was there, the flesh too weak, so I got transferred down to the Copperworks. I got more games there, but only in the second team. But we got many good drink-ups. In that team only we were happy when we lost or when we won. The training was all runing, sprinting, fast runs, slow runs, sprints, touch and pass, you name it we did it. I got sick of rugby though, too many injuries.

So I had to find a new venture. Boxing was the game at the Market district. I didn't last long there, broke a professional vow, was just suppossed to be around a bit. I then went to Centour health studios. It had two owners, Vic and Bert, and opened Monday, Wednesday, Friday and half day Sunday. There were not enough weights but the set out was there. Bill Richardson trained here, but trained in a gang. Bill was quite strong, benching over 500lbs. Trevor Cordingles trained here also, plus Paul Garner once a week. I was in touch with Harold Wrigley again, he said he had a novice contest coming, and would we like to enter. We said yes, and enter I did. I came third out of four. Bronze medal I won. It was Mr Lancs. Cheshire. There wasn't much of a crowd there. We said our goodbyes to Harold, and got back on our way to Leeds. Another fine day.

Each and every Saturday Bill, Trisha, the two and I would shoot off to Scarborough, and be back in time for The Vine in the evening. And every Saturday morning in the winter we went through to Doncaster for Bill to be trained by Terry Hollian. Also, do you remember Brian Taylor and Peter Simpson? They trained there, too. Brian Taylor, as you know, died early in life, but I wasn't training there then. So sad for his family. Yes, Brian, I still remember you, even though the years have passed. Good on ya, Brian!

Well the years passed and I left Bill's place and went home. I met two lads from Leeds: big Brian and little Brian. I talked training over with them on Friday nights out in the pubs. They told me how their training had gone. I saw how they looked and this helped me to train on my own. In other words it gave me a goal in my training. They were clean and they trained hard. They went running on a Sunday morning and trained five days a week. One Brian was an electrician, the other Brian a motor mechanic.

Anyway moving on to time to watch Mr Universe. We all got tickets down to London, and all stayed in one hotel bedroom (cheaper that was). We went down on the train early Saturday morning, and watched the show until about ten at night. Then we all went for a walkabout with Chris Dickerson following on. We came across a van driver unloading is wagon, and we rolled our sleeves up, but after about ten minutes he said thanks but no thanks, and we went on our way. Food was on our mind, so we went to a restaurant where you paid 10 pound to eat all you can. Bill Richardson must have been empty because he went around for four helpings! Mind you, he had just entered the Amateur Mr Universe, so dieting for a contestant leaves you famished. Good on ya, Bill! I believe Bill is abroad now, owning his own gym.

In the next few years I hardly had a lot of training to do, just trained on the nautilus system using weights, not machines. Routine would go something like this: squat 3x15, 10.5, pullovers 3x15, calf raises 3x15, bench press 3x18-10, flys 3x8-10, press with barbell 3x10-5, lateral raises 3x10-15, barbell curls 15-10-5, tri-stretch 3x15, end: Tuesday and Friday only.