I ran across this video of Lou Ferrigno competing at the Mr Olympia in 1992 after a long layoff. He looks incredible – yet he finished 12th! Dorian Yates began his phenomenal run that year, winning 6 times in a row.

Harold Poole

I added Harold Poole to the Bodybuilding Hall of Fame. I will get to the women sooner or later, but for now, it’s the men only. Admittedly, most of the members of my Hall of Fame are from the ’80s and earlier.

I want to do a series of “Best of…” each decade, say, since the ’50s all the way to the present. If you want to nominate somebody, please say so in the Comments.

I just posted my #17 entry for the Muscle-Build.com Bodybuilding Hall of Fame (the Men) here (it’s Tim Belknap, a little-known bodybuilder to many, but very well-known to old-time fans of the sport).

"Brutal" Bertil Fox

I put up my #19 for the Bodybuilding Hall of Fame. It’s Bertil Fox. He was awesomely big, ushering in the modern-day era of “mass beats everything else.”

Unfortunately, Fox will be spending the rest of his days in a St. Kitts prison. Read more about that here.

One of my all-time favorite bodybuilders, Lee Haney (8-time Mr Olympia winner), wrote the following article in 2005 about how to build a wide and thick back. Wide Guy In short, his workout is as follows:

• Wide-grip chinups 4 x 6-8
• Barbell rows/T-bar rows* 4 x 8-10
• Seated cable rows 4 x  8-10
• Single-arm dumbbell rows ** 3 x 8-10

* Alternate between the two each workout ** Perform every third workout As you can see, it's a simple routine. But the fact of the matter is, you don't need a complex routine to get outstanding results. As Haney says in the article,

Just remember the three Ps of successful bodybuilding: patience, perseverance and persistence.

Mohamed Makkawy

One of my favorite bodybuilders of all time is Mohamed Makkawy. Fluent in 4 languages, he tore up the IFBB pro scene in 1982 and 1983, winning more than his fair share of Grand Prix titles. Short, at 5’4″, he possessed a ruggedness and chiseled musculature that was far ahead of most of his peers.

He did his contest training with Vince Gironda, who took awesome artwork in the form of a body and turned it into a masterpiece.

For all of that, Mohamed Makkawy is #20 in Muscle-Build.com’s Hall of Fame!