No for Dillet, Fox, Whitley, Robinson, and Mentzer.
The man I talking about was at one time married to a woman named Valerie.
Zyzz?
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OK, for my second try I’ll go with Markus Rühl
Boyer Coe!
Leash got it right: Boyer Coe.
I mentioned Boyer’s arms in another thread and I thought someone would bring his name up before now.
But in my own mind, looking back it was a close choice among Sergio Oliva, Dorian Yates, and Boyer.
I first saw Boyer in Dallas, Texas, in 1964. I was in a powerlifting contest at the Downtown YMCA. And so was Boyer. I was seated next to him during some of the lifting. He was focused on the lifts and was silent. He was only 17 or 18 years of age, but his triceps were hanging down, rounded, and cut to ribbons.
Seems like he weighed 180 pounds, but he bench pressed 385 pounds – which was 50 pounds more than I did. Years later, Boyer told me that he bench pressed 400 pounds when he was still in high school.
The next time I saw Boyer was in the summer of 1965, at the Mr. Texas contest in Tyler, Texas. Texas was an unusual state because you could enter the Mr. Texas and be from another state. Boyer lived in Louisiana. It was fairly well known, however, that out-of-state entrants didn’t do well, as there had been some excellent contestants in the past from New York, Tennessee, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Louisiana – who not only did not win, but didn’t even place.
Evidently, Boyer didn’t act like he knew the unwritten rules. Once again, he was mostly silent and seldom smiled . . . and his posing was simply front and back double biceps, combined with a side chest.
But I’m telling you those three poses were electric. His arms seemed to explode with active muscles. And his chest rippled as he expanded his ribcage. Boyer Coe literally brought the house down.
And as I said previously, Boyer seemed unaffected by the commotion. He was unassuming and gracious receiving his trophies.
I would have given almost anything at that moment to be Boyer Coe.
While at Nautilus Sports/Medical Industries, I worked closely with Boyer from 1980-1984. I trained him many times and he remains one of my dear friends.
He’s on the cover of The Nautilus Advanced Bodybuilding Book and that photo is one of the very best physique shots I’ve ever seen. Plus, I have several chapters about him in The New Bodybuilding for Old-School Results and a bunch of outstanding pictures of him training.
So, I tip my hat to Mr. Boyer Coe. Boyer, you’re the best!
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Ell, what did Boyer do to finally get abdominal separation at the end of his career?
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Boyer Coe was indeed very impressive. When you said book cover all I could think of was Vince Comerford from the high intensity book,
Dr D,
I recall some forum talk that Boyer wasn’t nearly as strong as a lot of the HIT pros at that time. Is that accurate and do you recall any poundages he was moving?
Boyer talked about really liking a concept he learned from Vince Gironda, which are called stacks. That’s where you do 4 or 5 exercises back-to-back with no rest in between. I can’t remember what those exercises were.
But I can tell you that a guy I worked with, Andy McCutcheon, who had some of the deepest etched abdominal muscle that I ever seen, designed a series of stacks that I described on page 201 in The New Bodybuilding for Old-School Results.
McCutcheon had A, B, and C cycles that he alternated. The A version is listed below:
- Reverse trunk curl
- Trunk curl
- Trunk curl with twist
- Lying leg scissor
- Full setup with knees bent
The A cycle is performed lying on your back. Andy does not count reps, but he does keep track of time. No exercise lasts more than 60 seconds and the entire cycle is over in approximately four minutes.
Yes, you are going to get a deep burn in your abs.
Give that a try and let me know your thoughts?
Boyer wasn’t as strong as Casey Viator or Ray Mentzer, but both of those guys were unique. I promise you Boyer demonstrated plenty of strength to me – and his focus was always spot-on.
Here’s one exercise that Casey and Ray could not come close to doing. And Boyer accomplished it the first time he tried.
Arthur Jones was really into regular chinups. He thought it was one of the best-ever exercises for your arms.
One day Arthur had the idea of doing a very slow chin-up – like 30-seconds up and 30-seconds down. So I started applying that with some of my trainees. Gradually we worked up to trying 60-seconds up and 60-seconds down. Over a six-month period, I had one guy who managed 55-seconds up and 55-seconds down. He could not quite finish the task, but he was close, very close.
One of the first times I trained Boyer Coe, I challenged him with that goal: 60 up and 60 down. It wasn’t easy, but Boyer did it: 1 minute up and 1 minute down. And . . . it was the very first time he tried it.
Could he have worked up to 90-seconds up and 90-seconds down? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t bet against him.
Boyer also told me that as a teenager he could do several one-arm chins with either hand.
I’d call Boyer Coe one strong dude.
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I picked up Boyer Coe’s book Getting Strong, Looking Strong (long out of print I’m sure) when I first became interested in physique training (this would be 1980 or so). In it, he talked about winning a local pull-up competition when he was a young teenager. He did some crazy number (mid-30s or so) for a relatively untrained kid.
He owned a gym–Boyer Coe’s Bodymasters, I think it was called–that was a few blocks from a bar I worked at as a teen. (Long story.) This bar served breakfast from 11P to 7A. Boyer and companions (employees? gym members?) would occasionally come in around midnight and chow down. I had no idea who he was–just some huge dude.
Thanks for that detail.
Boyer liked to workout early, like 3:00 or 4:00 am. He said usually there was no one around and no one to bother him. Thus, he could keep his focus much better.
When I was about 16 Boyer Coe and Jim Haislop came to Kennedy’s Heath food store in Falls Church . We stood around and talked and they were both really nice guys . There was some kind of small potatoes physique contest in the area and Haislop guess posed at it. Ever after that they were my hero’s ! I’ve watched Boyer for most of his career and I’ve always wondered if he had another job other than bodybuilding where he earned his living like Dave Draper who edited films or whatever or did he run a gym or something similar? I think Sergio was a cop and Columbu was a chiropractor but there’s so many big bodybuilders where it’s unclear how they earn a living other than the little they must get for posing or contests or bodybuilding related stuff.
Boyer sells car insurance for fancy automobiles on the West Coast. Haislop operates a gym in Tampa. They are both super individuals.
Thanks for the info! On another note today I started to do my usual workout of Nautilus pullovers, lateral raises, etc, etc and instead of doing my usual 2-3 sets of 8- 15 reps to failure , this time thanks to your inspiration I decided to do 30 seconds up and 30 seconds down x 3 on each exercise which I haven’t tried in a long time. Boy at the end of the workout my muscles and system felt more worked than I have in a long time!!
You, no doubt, need to keep doing a variety of different techniques.
Where can we get copies of The New Bodybuilding for Old-School Results? I’ve still got mine, but would love to give one to my son and have a few extras.
Hey Drew, you can still buy new paperback copies here at this link,
https://biotest.t-nation.com/products/new-bodybuilding-for-old-school-results
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