I'm really getting a kick out of the public's increasing attention, nee appreciation, to bodybuilding. There is a wealth of knowledge available to the beginner as well as the more advanced personage that I have never seen before. I've been in the field for 20 years and although I dreamed of this recognition, I really, deep down, never thought it would get to this level. Never in my wildest dreams.
Not that I was being pessimistic. Hell no! I thought I was being realistic. I must apologize. I was simply being naive or not giving physical culture its just dues. When I got into it, and for years afterward, it was still looked upon as a kind of cult. NOT NOW!
Through the efforts of fine periodicals like Musclemag International we are informed, inspired and titillated. The big thing we in the business must now project is not just a good image, but some bottom-line information.
There are so many variables in the field of health and bodybuilding that it can become quite confusing to the beginner and intermediate. Understandably so. Sure, we all have the same basic chemistry and bodyparts, but the are so many variations on a theme. Therefore, you must learn by study and by trial and error.
There has been so much misinformation in this field over the years that it's truly refreshing to get the real skinny. The health field has been rife with bogus products for ages. Less of that today due to stiffer regulations in various countries. There there was always the false information given young bodybuilders by nefarious promoters and/or selfish and jealous champions that wanted the whole biscuit for themselves. Well, take heart gang. There's more light at the end of the tunnel than ever before.
Some good books and courses are available to save you time and get you on the right track. Particularly bodybuilding. One of the precious goodies coming up is a new book being published by Bob Kennedy. I've just received a letter containing a rough outline and it looks real good. So many of his courses are, but this one looks like it'll be a real gem. It's titled "Hard Core Bodybuilding" and if you're serious about bodybuilding you ought to get a copy. I think one of its fortes will be the generous amount of truly great photos he's using in it. Boy, they sure help and they're INSPIRING.
Apparently this baby is not going to be so wordy that you get lost in the shuffle and it contains only useful information. That is, information that you can USE and not just for late night reading by a flickering candle. Check it out. I think you should.
There's a couple of reasons I bring this up. One is the advanced notice of this book which impresses me and, two, is this quest of mine to try and help and straighten out some of the confusion. That's what brings my eyes to this information flyer sitting on my desk from Vince's Gym. On the front, in bold letters, is the phrase, "BACK TO BASICS." On the other side it says, "Nutritional, Cosmetic Bodybuilding in the Purest Tradition." It really says it all.
Judging by the mail we're getting, I'd say the articles in MuscleMag we've done on Vince Gironda and the seminar he did in Canada for Ken Wheeler have been MORE than interesting, let alone provocative. The "Iron Guru" DOES have a tendency to say what's on his mind. But isn't that refreshing in this day and age of buzzwords, doubletalk and semantics?
Sooo, I have another taped interview for you. One that Vince asked me, emphatically, to cut for MuscleMag readers.
Q: It's funny, in a way, Vince, that you're known for what you term, "stone age nutrition." What I mean by that is: there is a firm basis of biological hoo-ha with all of your nutritional theories. Some of it is rather deep as far as the research goes, yet it does sound more simplistic when you relate it. Take for instance your use of glandulars. What you do with them sounds fairly simple on the surface, but there's nothing SIMPLE on the work behind it.
A: Ha! Yeah, in a way. Like the remarks I made in my seminar in Canada about the ancient practice in so many cultures of preparing bull testicles in a palatable meal form. No photo of The Liver King will go here, thank you so much. Of course today we can get a scientifically prepared tablet of raw orchic substance. We use this as the foundational element in our natural anabolic or growth-promoting program. Of course you have to know how and when to use it.
The reason I never wrote about the use of these glandulars very much was the simple fact that I didn't want ANY medical authority to give me crap about "prescribing medicine," which I am not!
Note: You can find more info here, and in other books and booklets:
and here:
There's lots out there.
Also, his absolute beginner program is different from most. I'll put that up soon. I find this man very interesting!
Q: Upon examining your Nucleo-Gland "M" product, for precursing male hormone, I notice that in addition to the obvious orchic and the pituitary, adrenal, thymus, the base ingredients and all that -- there is a healthy dosage of heart tissue. 60 mg. I believe.
A: Heart is very important. A very valuable adjunct. It's in there for a reason. These things (the aforementioned glands) need to be supported. You can't stimulate one without throwing stress on the other. So, as far as we're concerned we're going to support ALL the glands. Again, we're talking about BALANCE. I'm sure the bodybuilders are looking for some amino-lysine/pituitary excretion from the cow that's going to change their whole life! Ha! But, uh, hormones cover a wide variety of things. They "spread out" and invigorate a whole number of things.
That's why hormones can be life or death. So I use orchic substance as a BASIC. Nucleo-Gland is an overall support. It is the "kicker" for the orchic. It's hard to call this anything else other than a product called Nucleo-Gland M because we're dealing with a balance. I hate to sound redundant, but the balance is soooo important. Especially in regard to glandulars. We're dealing here with a balance of many things.
There's that famous pair of DBs again.
It's always difficult to claim ANYTHING. I've had to circumvent, to a degree, so many of these guys on the letters they send as to EXACT DOSAGES; how much to take, how often . . . I don't know who's sending me letters! (Author's note: this area has been researched and because Vince is NOT prescribing medicine, claiming to heal disease or otherwise making false claims -- he's covered. So don't write me, unless you want to, but write Vince if you want details on these various products.)
I hate to get anyone all jerked out of shape. I'm just saying that we use them in here, the guys get results and like all other food supplements the individual has to find out what his or her needs are and then take them accordingly; if they so desire. I keep thinking of that guy who wrote that diet book who's now in jail. I can't think of the name of it offhand, but he expounded on the use of Safflower Oil in his weight-loss diet.
Here:
Where he blew it was in the fact that he went out, after the book started selling so well, and MANUFACTURED his own safflower oil capsules and then marketed them with these ridiculous claims. Of course I'm not making any ridiculous claims. Really.
And of course he was right about the use of oils and fat burning fat, but he went too far. He went over the line. Perhaps greed overtook him. They construed his book and his capsules to be illegal labeling. They got him under the labeling laws. He shouldn't have done that. It makes it tough on those people that are legitimate and have something to say that is valid. We used this technique long before his book came out and before the sophistication of Lipos. Sure, we told 'em to take a shot of safflower or soybean oil before meals. it helped the emulsifying and breakdown of fats. I believe the title of his book was, "Calories Don't Count." I forget his name, but it was the high-fat method. That's all. He did substantiate my high-fat principle; he wasn't wrong there. He just made too many grandiose claims about his capsules.
Q: Are you still sticking to your theory of not having your students taking their supps at night; even with dinner? How about the glandulars? The adrenals could be over-stimulative.
A: Well, it can keep you awake at night. I think that's counterproductive, don't you? Once body heat becomes transferable to energy and so forth.
Q: Speaking of the glandulars, I notice up on your shelf you have two different types of pituitary substance: Anterior and Posterior.
A: They have different functions. I will say this to you, without being overly scientific, and I know if I don't you'll run off at the mouth on what the two lobes secrete and all that. Use 'em all. But do it in balance. We've given the readers the tip. Let them learn what they do and so on. Once you set a student on the right path, let him seek out at least some of the whys and wherefores. Otherwise he'll never really learn! THEN, if he runs into a stumbling block, help him out!
Note: Yes!
Q: Far out! That's the way I taught in my gym and my members actually got better results! And I didn't just do it to be lazy. Far from it. The 'ol Socrates approach.
Note: I do the same thing at work in an academic library. Lead 'em to water, then get out of the way. Be there if there's a bump/stumble, but don't simply spoon-feed anyone. It's a dead end. It's so much fun to see the person seek out and find answers on their own and devise their own plans to get what they desire. Any weightlifting, er, Weightlifting coach worth his keep knows that and I am sure, enjoys the hell out of that process.
But you know what a soft-hearted fall-guy I am. What if I just tip the reader off to the fact that the Anterior Lobe produces somatotropic and gonadotropic [thunder] growth and the posterior lobe pumps out the oxytocin and vasopressin hormones that are involved with blood pressure, smooth muscle and the water scene with the kidneys (respectively)? Fine. Leave it at that and let's go on. I mean, fine! If you want to know for your own confusion, I can tell you what they do, what their properties are, but you're going to bog down the message to Kennedy's people that are reading this magazine to make some gains and get on with their lives.
I think the one that we highlight is this, what do you call it, piece, is the orchic substance. I mean the orchic tissue is taken from the testes. The testes secrete the male hormone, testosterone and that's what it's all about. Why else would these poor souls be using all these steroids and test injections. Hey! These poor souls mean well. They pump up with steroids, bloat the hell up, trim down with a sensible diet (sometimes), look great for a few days, if that, and then check out. The steroid guys just don't seem to last as long in the game.
Fine. you just did. Sure, some of them look great. But so does the guy who's been beating his head against a wall for years, BUT DOESN'T GIVE UP. He'll last longer if he decided to stay in the game.
Note, last one, I promise: This fella was a genius in what he was doing. A far cry from simply, "PIN TREN" . . . and that's fine if you choose to do it. None-a my concern in the least, But please, do remember how transparent your addiction and dependency are to anyone with half-a-brain in their heads. No problem here, but you should know that the majority of people see you for the fraud you are, just like they see any other junkie.
Meanwhile, the orchic and other glandulars provide the compliments to all the hormone-precursing techniques I've been touting all these long years. They add the icing on the top. THEY ARE AN ALTERNATIVE. Look, why would all these people keep buying glandulars in here if they didn't work? They'd bring the empty bottles back to me and place them where the sun doesn't shine if I was jiving them! Think about it!!! Further emphasis here created by you visualizing that "Falling Down" army surplus Nazi-lover scene. I don't know what other people are selling, but the stuff that I search high and low for and use in my gym for my students that pay me hard-earned bucks to get results WORK! That's all I know.
Q: There are some ads here and there in various mags, but I don't see any REAL articles on this jazz and especially on orchic.
A: Well, and I mean this in all humbleness, I don't think they know how to talk about glandulars yet. I do know that some of the more established food supplement companies are starting to carry them. I know you were involved in these in the mid-70's with your mail order service, but I think the public wasn't ready. At least the bodybuilding public. Today they're ready for 'em, but nobody's educating them. (Note from author: What the hell do you think we're doing now, Vince? Just kidding. Vince . . . Vince . . . put down that gun. Drop that baseball bat from under your desk. Gimme a break! I'm just trying to make a point. All right, now don't do THAT to my tape recorder . . .).
Okay, get off the floor and let's get on with this. Enough laughter and merriment, for the moment, of course.
DNA-RNA. A big point. You notice how it's used in the base of all these products. Why do you think I carry them? They're complete! And don't start reminiscing how I used to put guys on RNA with aminos in the "old days!" We've gone beyond that, now. It almost helps the body to understand what to do with it (the particular glandular product involved.)
DNA is the master blueprint in every cell, and RNA is the messenger. Even my amino-lycine has it in there as a "base." That's why you can't use a single substance as these people suspect -- unless you know what you are doing. They're all looking for a magic panacea, which doesn't exist. EVERYTHING IN NATURE IS IN CONCERT.
Q: I guess glandulars are an exception at times. Depending on what you need and your body's balance, eh? Like in the case of taking the orchic.
A: Yes. You'll notice that even the orchic product is balanced. Balanced so your body will utilize it for whatever purpose you have intended. A lot of the fellas take up to nine a day, but because they're a natural product and not a synthetic steroid, they don't suffer any bad side effects.
That's the way, anyway, they've been using it around the gym. They seem to be getting results. No complaints, that is, that I know about. I suggest that they take it with meals. Then I try to teach them to LEARN the balance that THEY, the individual, might require for the results they seek.
What I have to warn them about . . . the glandular you don't take with meal is the adrenal. You never take it with protein in the stomach because the HCL dominates or destroys the adrenal. YOU CAN'T TAKE ADRENAL WITH A HIGH PROTEIN MEAL.
Age regression used to be the goal in taking orchic, but it becomes more of a support system. You'd be surprised how many people don't realize that its main intended use nowadays is to promote potency in males. I think that's obvious. I get a lot of mail from older guys on this. Hey! Relating to that, I was recently doing an article on training men over 40. I changed it to "hard gainers." Same thing.
Q: Yes, it would be the same as to the training and diet approach. Well, I'm glad we got onto the subject of glandulars. Any insight is welcomed by the readers.
A: You might say that the real secret is not a mono-substance or any one product, but an orchestration of them. Like zinc. It's utilized better when you take PABA. The interaction of PABA and zinc is fascinating.
By the way, hypothalamus and vealzyme are good ones, too. Vealzyme precurses red blood cells. it is an enzyme product taken from bone marrow of veal. When you're getting into hormones, you've gotta get into protein, better blood, enzymes, etc. One thing leads to another. Old World recipes included bone marrow soups and the use of marrow on buttered toast.
Endomorphs usually have a lower hormonal output. The fat in their bodies negates the breakdown and utilization of fat. The underfed or ectomorphic type seems to be the sexually more potent type. They seem to retain their youth more; underfed. Notice how the overfed test animal always dies first. They age more rapidly. The mesomorph seems to die around 55 of a heart attack. The skinny guy seems to go on forever. My dad always said that people were digging their own graves with a knife and fork.
Q: I think I'll leave off right here with that very poignant thought. Thanks for your time and keep your orchic up.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
