Vol II Reviews
Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors Volume II – Review By Jim Bryan
Nine and one half years of research, literally hundreds of interviews, one of the most thoroughly researched books on the Iron Game History. This is Vol. II of “Muscle, Smoke, & Mirrors.” Vol. I set the standard and Randy has hit this one out of the park! History, back stories, conflicts, supplements, Arthur Jones, Ben and Joe Weider, Bob Hoffman, Vince Gironda and a host of very important people of the 60′s and 70′s. Who won what Contest and why? The Birth of P.E.D’s and the controversy they continue today. What it was like in Lake Helen at early Nautilus. Who was there vs. who says they were there. How the early Body Building Organizations got their start and who started them. The Politics, the head games, the ego, and the shakers and makers. Randy has done a monumental job! If you care anything about the “Iron Game” you should get this book, it’s value will continue to grow.
-Jim Bryan,
https://sites.google.com/site/strengthdepartment/
Read MoreMuscle, Smoke & Mirrors Volume II – Review By Mike Brown
Several years ago a friend of mine, a professional wrestler, bought some muscle magazines before he boarded an airplane. He told me that he had read everything he needed to read in those magazines before the plane left the runway a short time later.
It’s a sad state of affairs when you can go to a magazine devoted to the subject you want to learn more about and learn absolutely nothing. Some of you may remember the old Iron Man magazine, published by Peary Rader and his wife Mabel from 1936 until they sold it in 1986. I used to write for that magazine, starting in 1973.
Two things distinguished the old Iron Man magazine of yesterday and the current crop of catalogs. First, the Raders published different points of view and would accept advertising from different people. Second, the Raders tried to bring their readers and subscribers accurate information. Those days are long gone.
Or are they?
Just recently Randy Roach sent me his first two volumes of Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors. What I thought was merely a history of bodybuilding turned out to be a whole lot more. What I found in those two volumes (the third is as yet unfinished) was the type of training and nutrition information that was obtainable from the old Iron Man and other magazines decades ago.
And then it dawned on me. Randy roach has distilled basic bodybuilding knowledge from the last hundred years for anyone to access who wants accurate bodybuilding information. That information is interwoven with the history of the “iron game,” which in itself makes fascinating reading.
According to the author of the book, Looking Good: Male Body Image In Modern
America, Lynne Luciano, there are 85 million male bodybuilders in the United States. My own observation has been that, regardless of the numbers, more than 90% of them are being fed misinformation that hampers their progress (such as training to failure, six small meals a day, etc.) through the modern muscle magazines.
Randy Roach’s books may be a step backwards into the past but they’re a step in the right direction. As one fellow who had failed using the modern nonsense told me, “Brown, you old-timers knew what you were doing. Now I’m making gains.”
In addition, volume I contains two chapters that are alone worth the price of the book: the history of processed foods, the medical profession, and the pharmaceutical industry and the scientists who fought them, a struggle that is still taking place today. See e.g., truman@healthherbs.com, a friend of mine who is now in a court battle with the FDA over natural foods (the FDA wants his products labeled as drugs). Let Randy Roach introduce you to the old-timers, their training methods, their nutritional knowledge, and their history. His three-volume set will not only educate you, it will entertain you as well.
Mike Brown
December 01, 2011
Read MoreMuscle, Smoke & Mirrors Volume II – Review By Brian Johnston
Purely addictive! One does not have to be a physical culture aficionado to both appreciate and be swept away in the torrent of tales and history within the covers of this book; but for those who are, Randy Roach takes no prisoners and you will be glad you picked up this 600+ page tome. Usually it is difficult to write on any subject without being biased to some degree, but Randy has spelled out the good and the bad on every aspect and with every key player, and at the very least has brought to light questionable claims of even the most (seemingly) respected participants in the Iron Game during the 1960s and 1970s.
Within this book certain facets become evident, and for those critical thinkers, certain situations have been confirmed. Most prominent is how diminutive, narrow minded and niche-based competitive bodybuilding truly was and is. The addiction that millions of people around the world have with exercise is one thing, and in part due to competitive bodybuilding having been exposed to the masses (predominantly because of Arnold and the Pumping Iron creators), but the politics, scandals and dirty play of the IFBB is so ripe and a bit rotten to the core… so extensive and expansive… that stuff like this could not be made up and it is surprising that both competitive bodybuilding and the IFBB achieved what they did. In fact, night time soaps, like Dallas, are child’s play compared to the history and politics of competitive bodybuilding – so much so that it would be fascinating to have soap writers use Mr. Roach’s book to develop the most incredible series script in TV history. And because of how things were operated it can be seen how mainstream bodybuilding reached its peak and slowly is diminishing into potential oblivion… unless, of course, new key players emerge and rectify current public perception of these roided up athletes.
And just when you think all is said and done, Mr. Roach delves into one of fitness history’s most prolific writers and contributors, Arthur Jones. It’s not just what Arthur has contributed, which is immense to say the least, but Randy’s attention to detail, even with court manuscripts, make it obvious just how corrupt and contaminated big business is, even with fitness and those attempting to make change for the better. It also discloses Mr. Roach’s tenacity for research and fitting so many of the scattered pieces into a mesmerizing story.
As eye-opening is Randy’s approach to bodybuilding’s use and abuse of anabolic steroids and its influence on nutrition supplements. As drugs are downplayed, and often ignored up to a point, the situation provided ample leverage for the supplement industry to make outlandish claims as to why champions are who they are and why so many young men consumed enough nutrition daily to feed a small family. This may seem old-school to serious bodybuilding enthusiasts in today’s day and age, and what we have come to know about steroid abuse and sport supplement hyperbole, but Mr. Roach leads us by the hand and through the 1970s to disclose just how all this came about.
This book, as well as its Volume I predecessor, surely will have people thinking differently about what has happened and will continue to happen behind the scenes, which concurrently can be viewed as enlightening and somewhat disheartening. Moreover, and I do not doubt this, once Mr. Roach finalizes his book set it will remain on shelves as one of the most important contributions and references in fitness… and one day may be seen as an equal to Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in telling human-kind just what went wrong and why.
-Brian D. Johnston,
Director of Education
I.A.R.T., Prescribed Exercise Clinics
Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors – Review By Brian D. Johnston
Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors II
Review by Brian D. Johnston
Purely addictive! One does not have to be a physical culture aficionado to both appreciate and be swept away in the torrent of tales and history within the covers of this book; but for those who are, Randy Roach takes no prisoners and you will be glad you picked up this 600+ page tome. Usually it is difficult to write on any subject without being biased to some degree, but Randy has spelled out the good and the bad on every aspect and with every key player, and at the very least has brought to light questionable claims of even the most (seemingly) respected participants in the Iron Game during the 1960s and 1970s.
Within this book certain facets become evident, and for those critical thinkers, certain situations have been confirmed. Most prominent is how diminutive, narrow minded and niche-based competitive bodybuilding truly was and is. The addiction that millions of people around the world have with exercise is one thing, and in part due to competitive bodybuilding having been exposed to the masses (predominantly because of Arnold and the Pumping Iron creators), but the politics, scandals and dirty play of the IFBB is so ripe and a bit rotten to the core… so extensive and expansive… that stuff like this could not be made up and it is surprising that both competitive bodybuilding and the IFBB achieved what they did. In fact, night time soaps, like Dallas, are child’s play compared to the history and politics of competitive bodybuilding – so much so that it would be fascinating to have soap writers use Mr. Roach’s book to develop the most incredible series script in TV history. And because of how things were operated it can be seen how mainstream bodybuilding reached its peak and slowly is diminishing into potential oblivion… unless, of course, new key players emerge and rectify current public perception of these roided up athletes.
And just when you think all is said and done, Mr. Roach delves into one of fitness history’s most prolific writers and contributors, Arthur Jones. It’s not just what Arthur has contributed, which is immense to say the least, but Randy’s attention to detail, even with court manuscripts, make it obvious just how corrupt and contaminated big business is, even with fitness and those attempting to make change for the better. It also discloses Mr. Roach’s tenacity for research and fitting so many of the scattered pieces into a mesmerizing story.
As eye-opening is Randy’s approach to bodybuilding’s use and abuse of anabolic steroids and its influence on nutrition supplements. As drugs are downplayed, and often ignored up to a point, the situation provided ample leverage for the supplement industry to make outlandish claims as to why champions are who they are and why so many young men consumed enough nutrition daily to feed a small family. This may seem old-school to serious bodybuilding enthusiasts in today’s day and age, and what we have come to know about steroid abuse and sport supplement hyperbole, but Mr. Roach leads us by the hand and through the 1970s to disclose just how all this came about.
This book, as well as its Volume I predecessor, surely will have people thinking differently about what has happened and will continue to happen behind the scenes, which concurrently can be viewed as enlightening and somewhat disheartening. Moreover, and I do not doubt this, once Mr. Roach finalizes his book set it will remain on shelves as one of the most important contributions and references in fitness… and one day may be seen as an equal to Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in telling human-kind just what went wrong and why.
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