Training Methodologies of the 1960's by Dr. Ken E. Leistner

It was almost a cult activity that attracted relatively few people. This meant a typical Mr. Olympia gathering and the Olympia contests were the epitome of the bodybuilding community coming together. If there were 5,000 people at the Brooklyn Academy of Mu sic, 3,000 of them were locals from the New York City and Long Island area and we knew 2,000 of them. We knew them personally, knew them on sight. We knew their training part ners, or knew them through others in the lifting community. This is another concept — the concept of the lifting commu nity and bodybuilding community— that’s very much been lost. With the emphasis on youth, looking good, and anti-ag ing so you can maintain a youthful appearance and perfor mance, you don’t have that sense of community where there weren’t a lot of people involved in what we were doing. There weren’t a lot of people who had the interest we had. We knew a lot of people didn’t approve of it and we felt a certain kinship with those we recognized as having a similar value system. That sense of community is long gone. It made for an exciting and always interesting approach to our training because everything was new.

25