Steve Reeves' Favorite Exercises for Building The Classic Physique

You can see why they say Steve Reeves has the classic physique -- he looked like a Greek statue brought to life. He was also one of the most successful bodybuilders of all time, winning almost every contest he entered including the 1947 AAU Mr. America title. Reeves trained at the York Barbell Club in York, PA for the 1950 NABBA Mr. Universe contest (which he won.) While there, John Grimek, watched him train, and later wrote an article about what he saw in the November, 1964 issue of Muscular Development Magazine.

Steve Reeves

Here are some of Steve Reeves' favorite exercises, as written by Grimek:

Hack Squats

Cable Rowing

Incline Bench Dumbbell Curls

Behind Neck Press

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Ell Darden

Ell Darden

Ell Darden was a champion bodybuilder who graced the cover of several different magazines in the 1970's. He made the cover of Strength and Health Magazine and Muscular Development Magazine several times but he never did make the cover of Iron Man Magazine... He did, however, make the back cover of Iron Man as shown here from the November 1970 issue. He went on to write countless training articles and a few books. You can see his latest book here: The New Bodybuilding for Oldschool Results.

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Strength Author Ellington Darden

Ellington Darden's training, fat loss and fitness books has been read by more people than any other strength author in history.

Here's a look at his bibliography:

Nutrition and Athletic Performance (1976) How to Lose Body Fat (1977) Especially for Women (1977) Strength Training Principles (1977) Olympic Athletes Ask Questions About Exercise and Nutrition (1977) How Your Muscles Work: Featuring Nautilus Training Equipment (1977) Care and Conditioning of the Pitching Arm for Little League Baseball (1978) Soccer Fitness (1978) Nutrition for Athletes (1978) The Super Fitness Handbook (1980) The Week-End Athletes' Guide to Sports Medicine: Upper Body (1980) The Complete Encyclopedia of Weight Loss, Body Shaping, and Slenderizing (1980) Athletes Guide to Sports Medicine (1981) The Nautilus Nutrition Book (1981) Power Racquetball (1981) Your Guide to Physical Fitness (1982) The Darden Technique (1982) The Nautilus Book (1982) The Nautilus Woman (1983) No More Fat! (1983) High-Intensity Bodybuilding (1984) Nautilus Advanced Bodybuilding Book (1984) The Nautilus Handbook for Young Athletes (1984) Conditioning for Football (1984) Super Bodybuilding (1986) Super High-Intensity Bodybuilding: Advanced Routines (1986) Massive Muscles in 10 weeks (1987) The Nautilus Diet: Ten Weeks to a Brand New Body (1988) Big Arms in Six Weeks (1988) Six-Week Fat to Muscle Makeover (1988) 100 High-Intensity Ways to Improve Your Bodybuilding (1989) The Nautilus Bodybuilding Book (1989) Big: Bulkbuilding Instructional Guide (1990) 32 Days to a 32-Inch Waist (1990) New High-Intensity Bodybuilding (1990) Hot Hips and Fabulous Thighs (1991) Two Weeks to a Tighter Tummy (1992) Bigger Muscles in 42 Days (1992) High-Intensity Strength Training (1992) Grow: A 28-Day Crash Course for Getting Huge (1993) Soft Steps to a Hard Body/98 Proven Ways to Reduce and Reshape (1993) High-Intensity Home Training (1993) Living Longer Stronger (1995)

Ellington Darden on the Cover of Muscular Development Magazine, January, 1973 Super High Intensity Bodybuilding (1986) GROW! (1993) The New High Intensity Training (2004)

Body Defining (1996)

A Flat Stomach ASAP (1998)

The Bowflex Body Plan (2003)

The New High Intensity Training (2004)

The New Bodybuilding for Old School Results (2006)

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Classic Muscular Development Magazine

Classic Muscular Development Magazine
Bob Hoffman and the York Barbell Company began Strength and Health Magazine in 1932 to highlight and promote the wonders of proper strength training to the world. These early Strength and Health magazines covered a variety of topics including bodybuilding, Olympic weightlifting, Nutrition, athletic training and more.

In 1964, the York Barbell company started its second magazine entitled "Muscular Development" which was devoted specifically to bodybuilding. The editor of Muscular Development Magazine from 1964 until 1986 was none other than John Grimek (who also graced the first cover.)

The first five issues are featured above (January to May 1964) Covermen from left to right John Grimek,Bill Pearl, Bernie Earnst, Larry Scott and Hugo Labra.

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Ellington Darden

Before he became the most popular strength author of all time, Ellington Darden graced the cover of several top bodybuilding magazines including the July 1970 of Muscular Development pictured here.

As an expert (not the armchair variety) in training, Ell Darden started asking the right questions very early on. He entered and placed very highly in a number of bodybuilding contests. Here's a look at the contests he won: 1969 Mr. Texas - AAU 1970 Mr. South - AAU 1972 Collegiate Mr. America - AAU

Ellington Darden on the July 1970- issue of Muscular Development

Ell Darden went on to author over 50 books on strength training. His latest can be found here: The New Bodybuilding for Old School Results

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