Rheo Blair(OLD SCHOOL) Anybody Know Him?

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  • #10423

    Mag
    Participant

    When I was a young teen I used to read bodybuilding Magazines from cover to cover.Usually Muscle and Fitness and other Weider rags.Then somebody gave me a huge stack of IRON MAN from the 1970s.IRON MAN looked like it was printed in someone's garage and was a counterpoint to the Weider stuff in diet and training.A lot more powerlifting,olympic and more talk about drugs and natural training.When it came to diet,this was the era of the "food pyramid","high protein,low fat,plenty of grains and carbs" kind of thing.If you wanted to get big and strong,this is how you had to eat,because..."all the champs do it".But then there was also a guy,who pre-dated the 1970s by a long way,who was also a pretty well known diet guru to muscle guys.His name was RHEO BLAIR,and he pretty much invented protein powder.He also advocated a HIGH PROTEIN,HIGH FAT,LOW CARB nutrition program.He had a drink he advocated which was his protein powder and heavy cream.He also blamed refined sugars and excess carbs for all kinds of health problems and behavior problems in children.He also hated the medical profession for putting kids on Prozac and Ritalin,and getting them hooked,when he proved he could get them under control with a high protein,high fat diet.Muscle Guys loved his protein,probably because it freakin worked,but it was also very,very expensive.He had ads in the back of some of the muscle magazines,and his protein was probably 5 times expensive than the Weider protein.Also,his diet ideas were in direct opposition to the direction that the whole medical industry was taking.But,you got the idea that everybody loved his stuff.So,anyway,I have followed the whole high protein,low fat,high carb diet thing since,because that was the most accepted thing,and never looked back.Until recently.I found this forum,then bought Carb Backloading.When I started to read some of the stuff here,the name "Rheo Blair" came into my head within 2 minutes,a name I hadn't thought about in friggin years.Just wanted to share,that a lot of this stuff has been around a really long time,but way back when,we hit a fork in the road,and went in the other direction.I know a couple of you really dig the diet science stuff,so I figured some OLD SCHOOL might be cool too.Here is a link,and you can google for more http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-protein-pioneer-lessons-from-a-golden-age-nutritional-guru.html.Also a pretty cool old school picture,probably from the 1960s.

    #211417

    Brandon D Christ
    Participant

    The thing about the high carb, low fat diet being used amongst bodybuilders in the 70s always caused me to scratch my head.  Reason being is I recalled reading interviews about with Arnold, Franco, and all of those guys and they were asked about their diets.  They said it was a lot of ground beef, cottage cheese, and eggs.  They said bread and pasta was extremely rare.  Sounds like a low carb diet to me.So what was promoted in the magazines might have not have been what was actually practiced.  As I believe it is today.

    #211418

    Mag
    Participant

    The thing about the high carb, low fat diet being used amongst bodybuilders in the 70s always caused me to scratch my head.  Reason being is I recalled reading interviews about with Arnold, Franco, and all of those guys and they were asked about their diets.  They said it was a lot of ground beef, cottage cheese, and eggs.  They said bread and pasta was extremely rare.  Sounds like a low carb diet to me.So what was promoted in the magazines might have not have been what was actually practiced.  As I believe it is today.

    Yes,Bob...I think there was a disconnect with what was printed in Magazines and what really went on with muscle guys(I lump bodybuilders and strength guys together).I think there has always been and still is a ton of dishonesty with diet,training and drugs, in all of it.It is so difficult to sort it out.Especially in the days when half the guys who joined a serious gym were juiced.I have trained 99% at home but there were gyms near me that practically handed the Dianabol out with a membership in the pre-felony days.And,it was the real,original pharmaceutical shit,no fake stuff.You probably could/can make major gains on a very low fat diet while juiced.So,when you see your buddy getting huge and ripped it makes you want to copy his training and diet,it sucks that he leaves out the part about injecting his butt cheek 3x a week.They kind of leave that part out in the magazines too.I bring up Rheo Blair because he publicly advocated the high protein/high fat diet in print,and for all people and age groups.I am doing all of this from memory,but he said go ahead and cut your fats,then watch your hormones drop out...like say,testosterone.I think that part of the Weider story with the high protein/low fat thing is that they sold tons of this weight gainer product, which was cheap protein and sugar.Just tons of empty calories.I guess if you were to recommend beginners to take that shit plus eat fats and meats,you would just end up with a bunch of no-muscle fatties

    #211419

    Brandon D Christ
    Participant

    Personally I think you can make good gains on any diet that has enough calories and protein, which is pretty much won't be an issue with people in first world countries.

    #211420

    Mag
    Participant

    I agree with you on that.The problems really stand out when you attempt to get big and lean.Thats not just a bodybuilder thing either.It effects you in any sport where a weight class is involved.

    #211421

    Gnomer
    Participant

    been awhile but i remember reading articles on old old bodybuilder types from the 60s and before and many mostly had diets of steak, eggs, and milk

    #211422

    Mag
    Participant

    Yep,it true.Kind of simple common sense.Then things changed.Big wasn't enough.You had to be big and lean.Then,big and ripped,then huge and ripped.Mostly a product of drugs and hard training.But,then,in print anyway,the fats were cut way back,it just paralled what the recommendations of diet in general has been for the last 50 years.

    #211423

    Phatty
    Member

    After reading that article I fell down a rabbit hole of 70's nutrition and found this. http://videos.bodybuilding.com/watch/52521/rics-corner-bodybuilding-diet-of-the-70sSounds a hell of a lot like CNS.

    #211424

    Mag
    Participant

    After reading that article I fell down a rabbit hole of 70's nutrition and found this. http://videos.bodybuilding.com/watch/52521/rics-corner-bodybuilding-diet-of-the-70sSounds a hell of a lot like CNS.

    I'm not going to even watch the video,because I wanted to start a thread in a few days about what you may be hinting at.Are you talking about Arnold and the Venice boys weekend pig-out day?About 5 minutes looking into Carb Nite a few weeks ago,I could tell it had all been done before.By accident.

    #211425

    Phatty
    Member

    After reading that article I fell down a rabbit hole of 70's nutrition and found this. http://videos.bodybuilding.com/watch/52521/rics-corner-bodybuilding-diet-of-the-70sSounds a hell of a lot like CNS.

    I'm not going to even watch the video,because I wanted to start a thread in a few days about what you may be hinting at.Are you talking about Arnold and the Venice boys weekend pig-out day?About 5 minutes looking into Carb Nite a few weeks ago,I could tell it had all been done before.By accident.

    Pretty much. I'd recommend watching it though. It's interesting, not just because they were doing something incredibly similar to CNS back in the day, but also because Ric says years later he went with a very high protein/high carb/low fat diet and got incredibly lean.The saying holds true, there's nothing new under the sun.

    #211426

    Mag
    Participant

    Hey Phatty,that was an awesome video.What Ric Drasin  talks about there is also described in the movie Pumping Iron and in the Pumping Iron book.What he describes is  almost dead-on for Carb Nite,isn't it?Ric Drasin has about a hundred videos on 1970s bodybuilders on YouTube,and talks about training with Arnold Schwarzenegger at Venice Beach back then.He talks about diet a lot in his videos,and he usually addresses it pretty simple by saying to eat a lot of food,a lot of eggs,meat and no carbs.Funny how he kind of describes a gluten hangover after the pig-out day.

    #211427

    Phatty
    Member

    Hey Phatty,that was an awesome video.What Ric Drasin  talks about there is also described in the movie Pumping Iron and in the Pumping Iron book.What he describes is  almost dead-on for Carb Nite,isn't it?Ric Drasin has about a hundred videos on 1970s bodybuilders on YouTube,and talks about training with Arnold Schwarzenegger at Venice Beach back then.He talks about diet a lot in his videos,and he usually addresses it pretty simple by saying to eat a lot of food,a lot of eggs,meat and no carbs.Funny how he kind of describes a gluten hangover after the pig-out day.

    It's doesn't seem far off the mark, though I doubt they bothered tracking carbs back then. Ric also mentioned having a little white potato/rice here and there in the video.

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Rheo Blair(OLD SCHOOL) Anybody Know Him?

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