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| We lost a great champion today. Dedicate your next workout to his memory. |
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Bruno Sammartino passed away today
at the age of 82 - and that leaves all of
us in the Iron Game with a great big
lump in our throats.
Bruno Sammartino was an honest to
goodness, real life, rags to riches story.
He was born in Abbruzi, Italy back in
1935.
During World War Two, the family had to
hide in the hills to escape the Nazis. They
lived in a cave, and as you might imagine,
there was hardly anything to eat. They
often ate grass for dinner because that
was all they could find.
After the War, the family immigrated to
the United States. They ended up in a
tough neighborhood in Pittsburgh.
For young Bruno, that was better than living
in the cave -- but not much better. He was
terribly thin and painfully weak as a result
of the years of malnutrition during the War.
At age 14, he weighed 95 pounds.
That's not good when you're an immigrant
kid living in a tough part of town.
So Bruno started lifting weights.
Later, as he grew stronger, he began wrestling.
The training program worked.
At age 21, he weighed 265 pounds, with 20
inch arms and a 56 inch chest. He could bench
press 565 pounds -- which was a World record
back then.
He went into professional wrestling, and in
short order he won the WWWF Heavyweight
Championship of the World. He held the title
for many years.
In 1961, Bruno wrote a short course called
"The Bruno Course of Bodybuilding."
I saw an ad for it in a wrestling magazine
when I was 11 years old, and promptly
mailed in my two bucks to buy the little
monster. It was a good little course,
and I still have it.
Bruno recommended short workouts focusing
on the basic exercises: squats, bench presses,
curls, etc. Three or four sets of six reps on
each. Training with weights three times per
week. Doing some simple bodyweight
exercises on two other days.
Nothing earth-shattering -- but it worked.
He even touched on the mental aspect of
training.
"Have confidence in yourself!" he wrote.
"Concentrate on the fact that you are going to
succeed and make the gains in physique and
strength that you want. Again I repeat --
never, never get discouraged."
"The reason I made my sensational gains and
went from 95 pounds at age 14 to 265 pounds
at age 21 . . . was that I concentrated on
making my goal. I stuck it out and actually
that is my secret!"
Many years later, I sent some of my own books
to Bruno. He sent me an autographed photo with
a handwritten note.
It says:
"To Brooks Kubik,
Wishing you the best of health, best wishes
always, and keep pushing that weight.
Yours in strength,
Bruno Sammartino"
Yep. He signed off by saying "Yours in strength."
Just like I do in all of my emails.
Now I guess you know where that comes from.
And now, Bruno has left us -- and the Iron
Game has witnessed the passing of a true
champion.
As always, thanks for reading and have a
great day. If you train today, make it a
good one -- in memory of Bruno.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
