Many of us are idols from the early days of fitness, the golden age of bodybuilding represented by schwarzenegger as a generation of legends or ronnie as a behemoth, but who were their idols from the early days of fitness before them. We're featuring one such legend today.
He was, the first mr. Olympia, larry scott. Few bodybuilding champions have attracted the admiration and support of millions of people like larry scott. Search the internet for larry scott and you will find much about his training techniques, his diet and his close relationship with vince gironda.
Dig a little deeper, however, and you'll come across a story of overcoming adversity and perseverance. Larry, the first winner of the mr olympia, was not an overly talented man. He knew this and so did the rest of the fitness community. In his 1981 article on scott, "Champion trainer" Joe waddell said that larry "Had a narrower shoulder structure and wider hips than normal, but with a total commitment to fitness, unwavering perseverance and faithful adherence to the sport ", larry has managed to transform his body. Although it is so far back in time (1950s-60s) that it is difficult for us to find much information. But there is some limited information available for us to understand the important contribution he made to nutrition and training, and some of the ways in which he became a two-time mr olympia.
A star is born
In the early 1960s, scott told the story of his life in ironman magazine. Born in blackfoot, idaho in 1938, scott's early life was largely defined by his skinny stature. At the age of 17, larry weighed only 120 pounds (about 54 kg). It was for this reason that alan palmieri later described scott as follows: "He was thin, narrow-shouldered and short. But scott showed a keen interest in sport early on. Scott was too skinny for football and too short for basketball, so he joined the local high school gymnastics team. In high school, larry was even invited to compete against the idaho state university gymnastics team.
When it came to bodybuilding training, larry first tried weightlifting at the age of 17 and struggled to make progress. Scott admits that he trained diligently for three months, but eventually after the effort, along with a heavy diet, scott's weight increased to 171 pounds (about 77.5 kg). By 1959, he won first place in the mr idaho competition. Buoyed by his success, he moved to california. At local bodybuilding shows, he won third place in consecutive shows.
It was then that scott teamed up with owen johnson, who had interviewed scott for ironman magazine in 1964. At that time, johnson was known for his innovative and coveted protein powders and fitness supplements. At a time when fitness supplements were still in their infancy, johnson's products were well ahead of their time. When scott first met johnson, he was still struggling to gain weight. Under johnson's guidance, scott spent two months eating large amounts of johnson's protein powder and ended up gaining 9 pounds (about 4 kg) of muscle. It was then that scott won the mr california competition. Over the next decade, scott won many competitions, mr california being the first of many.
In the early 1960s, scott teamed up with vince gironda. At the time, vince was one of the most popular trainers in the fitness world. Under gironda's guidance, scott transformed his physique. Scott had won competitions before he met gironda, but that didn't mean he had gironda's approval; after scott's victory in 1960, news of "Mr california" Came back and gironda felt he didn't deserve to win. For gironda, scott was not "Physically ready". Out of curiosity, scott and gironda formed a long friendship. Gironda coached him in training, johnson handled his nutrition and scott began to work on the details of his improvement.
From 1961 to 1964, scott won a series of bodybuilding competitions such as "Mr. Pacific coast" (1961), "Mr. America" (1962) and "Mr. Universe "(1964). By the time of his mr universe race, scott's legend had been established. Despite not being able to be considered great genetically, scott possessed some of the best deltoids and triceps one has ever seen. In fact, despite being well muscled all over, scott is best remembered for his arms and shoulders. Many have copied them since, and it is for this reason that scott's later book, the loaded gun, was so successful. Scott then returned to bodybuilding competitions again with these accolades.
As we know, a new series of bodybuilding competitions emerged in the mid-1960s. From the late 1930s to the early 1960s, only a few major bodybuilding competitions existed. Of these, mr america was the most important. From the late 1950s onwards, a series of new competitions and contests began to emerge. The most enduring of these new competitions was, of course, the mr olympia competition founded by ben and joe waddell in 1965. Having won mr america and mr universe, mr olympia was the last mountain scott had to climb. So, in 1965, scott stepped up to the mr. Olympia stage. The results were, as joe waddell described, shocking.
That year saw the likes of harold poole, earl maynard and larry scott competing. As each stepped on top of the stage, he was cheered enthusiastically. But even before larry scott came out, the fans chanted in unison, "We want scott ...... We want scott!"
As soon as he appeared, the auditorium erupted in thunderous applause. The flashing lights took the stage from pitch black and illuminated it as if the sun had risen.
The floor also trembled from the impact of feet. The crowd went wild with excitement and it was clear that scott was the victor as he was unanimously declared the world's greatest bodybuilder, the first great bodybuilder, the first mr olympia.
In 1966, scott successfully defended his title as "Mr. Olympia". For no other particular reason, scott retired from bodybuilding to focus on his family and his business. This decision shocked all bodybuilding fans.
Scott had taken a break from the pressures of competition, having spent 20 years publishing bodybuilding books, writing for bodybuilding magazines and training others for bodybuilding competitions. He briefly resumed bodybuilding training in 1979 when he competed in two competitions in canada, but by then his once legendary physique paled in comparison to the new generation of competitors. When scott died in 2014 fans and other competitors mourned the death of bodybuilding's first mr olympia.
Arnold schwarzenegger for the average fitness fan, everyone acknowledges that he has larry scott to thank for everything he did. Why do arnold and others respect scott so much? Aside from his impressive one-time victories, larry has revolutionised the sport of bodybuilding.
A change in nutritional patterns
Firstly, larry's transformation from a scrawny man to the ultimate olympia champion marked a dramatic change in fitness nutrition. As described in john fell and daniel hall's excellent article on protein powders, the diet of weightlifters and bodybuilders in the 1940s and 1950s was relatively simple. There was little thought given to the need for supplementation at that time.
A few protein powder sellers emerged in the 1960s, including johnson, but there was still relatively little demand for protein powders from the average enthusiast. Scott's own physical transformation changed that. Under johnson's tutelage, scott gained significant weight. Scott's weight gain was impressive, but what really caught people's attention was that scott increased his own weight and consumed a lot of johnson's protein powder. In later reports, scott confirmed this as well.
"I used 1 ½ to 2 cups of johnson's protein a day. I would mix it with cream and milk. I mix it with 2/3 quart of cream and milk each day to get it to the ideal consistency. I eat this protein mixture three times a day. I will eat it 6 to 8 times a day. I eat breakfast, then a meal at 10am. I have lunch at noon and then another meal at 2.30 pm, followed by dinner and a protein cream drink. I have my dinner after i finish my workout ......"
Scott began appearing in johnson's commercials promoting the protein powder as helping to build his physique. In a later ad, titled "Larry scott's open letter to bodybuilders", scott claimed that "The need for protein is well established". I don't eat three big meals, i eat five or six small meals a day. There is always animal protein in the diet. Much of scott's increased food intake is johnson's protein powder, which he claims to have been using for five years. Scott's support of johnson's protein powder helped fuel the booming supplement industry of the time. Scott was the first major bodybuilder to do so publicly, and helped inspire the next generation.
More importantly, however, scott told the story of a skinny boy to mr. Olympia, which helped inspire regular gym goers. He was the first bodybuilder to be called "Hardcore". Later, young people who struggled with bodybuilding were able to overcome their own bad genes because scott had overcome them. Scott did this through the use of protein powder, which meant that many people would follow him. Much of this reliance on protein powders among the fitness crowd began with scott.
An innovator in the gym
Scott is fortunate in that his work ethic and passion has created some truly great ideas.
In terms of nutrition, scott experimented with johnson's protein powders and his health ideas for himself. In terms of training, scott was lucky enough to join gironda's team. Gironda was outspoken, grumpy and, more importantly, successful in producing champions. These two are truly a match made in heaven.
According to scott, "Gironda has a lot of knowledge and we have a great relationship professionally and i always go to him when i have any questions about training or things i'm trying to figure out. Gironda was always very good at giving me ideas. He knows a lot about bodybuilding and he doesn't give you an idea that you have to do this, instead he often suggests you try it. Then i'd take it and try it out and let him know if it worked.
Under gironda's guidance, the pair created some highly effective training moves and equipment. One of the most influential was the priest's bench bend. The priest's bench was a little known piece of equipment at the time. Scott trains his biceps on the bench at gironda's gym in venice beach, california. When larry scott started winning competitions again, people began to take notice of his training methods. In particular, people began to take an interest in the priest bench curl. Through scott's appearance in joe waddell's bodybuilding magazine, people started talking about "Scott's bench", which we now call the preacher's bench curl. The preacher's bench bend was simply called 'scott's bench', a name that caused some debate between gironda and scott, but they both knew that scott had helped to spread the new method to a wider audience.
Scott's arms are certainly part of his star appeal. As well as popularising the preacher's bench bend, scott also used a series of strange and wonderful triceps exercises. For reasons we can't understand (too old to determine), many of these workouts are no longer used by gym goers, such as the barbell triceps reverse extension. However, during that time, scott's other unique triceps exercises, such as scott's twist in the traditional overhead triceps extensions, had everyone copying his movements. Influenced by gironda's training methods, scott's triceps extensions were performed on a bench about two feet in front of a rope apparatus. It offers a completely different way of training the triceps.
Scott's eagerness to try new exercises and variations has certainly contributed to his success. This also extends to his triceps training. In a sense, the scott dumbbell push-up is similar to the arnold-style push-up, which scott used specifically to increase shoulder width, just as arnold did a decade later. Fortunately, videos of scott showing his shoulder workouts may still be found online, which gives us more insight into his training. Both gym regulars, and even our favourite bodybuilders from the golden age of the 60s, have copied scott's workouts. More important than that, however, was scott's role in encouraging others to continue to adapt their training until they found what worked for them.
Scott is now remembered as the first mr olympia and no one else. This is more than mr. Olympia for a man who played a pioneering role in popularising protein supplements, a man who inspired thousands of people to "Go hard" And a man whose curiosity spawned dozens of new training methods. Scott retired at the height of his athletic career, but he remained humble and willing to help those who followed in his footsteps. Scott once said, "Inspire the mind and the body will follow." It is a testament to his belief that he doggedly followed his dreams.