Dave Draper's World Gym (The Weight Room)

Dave Draper, have you heard of him? Mr. America, Mr. Universe, Mr. Olympia, Mr. World, “The Blond Bomber” has held many titles.


Below is a funny short video of him in a movie with Davy Jones of the Monkee's!

He’s a local boy, lives and owned a gym in Santa Cruz, just over the hill from me. I read his weekly newsletters that come out and last week saw a surprise. They were selling off the contents of his old gym, the place was closed and everything had to go. It would be auctioned off. At the top of my post  is the old sign, over the loading dock in the back of the gym. It was called World Gym when he owned it, then a few years ago he sold it (and still trained there) and the name was changed to The Weight Room, so it was no longer part of the World Gym franchise.


Below is a video of Dave and Bill Pearl speaking a few years ago, in that very gym! He has his hand on a huge black piece of equipment, it was built especially for him, and it was the only piece that didn't sell. It just weighs too much to move, so I'm not sure what they will do with it. What I find interesting about his "discussion" is the fact that he talks about modern day bodybuilders as "freaks", and I agree, the desire to get so freakishly huge, it doesn't even look real.

I browsed through the auction items online and I saw lots of things I would love, but nothing I really needed. Roy, however could certainly use many things. I sent him to email and told him to check out the auction.

Monday night of the week before the auction we met to train and we had both decided what we wanted, he would set up his pre-bids for several pieces of equipment, I would try for the stairmill and a Vita-mix, a commercial Rancilio espresso machine and a commercial coffee grinder.

You can set up pre-bids with maximums then follow along online and even raise your bid or bid on new things.

I was at work so really couldn’t spend much time following the auction, it was live in Santa Cruz, online on the Internet and very exciting. Roy was also working so when one of us had a chance we would check and if we saw one of our lots come up, we would text each other.  “Lot #311, low bench, you win!” I would text.  “Espresso machine next” he texted to me.  It was all so very fun and exciting!

At the end of the day Roy got several large pieces for his gym and I got everything I wanted (except the stairmill that went for over $800.00).

Roy, David and I piled into Moby to go pick up our haul.  We drove over the hill to Santa Cruz nice and early. This picture is taken while I am standing in the entrance, looking through out the back loading dock, this is all that's left of the equipment.

I turn around and here is the front counter where the VitaMix and espresso machine are located. The gym has has pretty much been raped and pillaged, rather sad and an end of an era of great bodybuilding.

Did I mention that I won everything I bid on (but that stairmill)? I suppose I could have bought the sign but really didn't want that in my house.

Here is the espresso machine, a hulk of a thing that is larger than this looks here. It's a Rancilio S27, apparently it has a cult following of people who love classic commercial espresso machines. The owner is unhooking the water supply. Crud- I didn't think about plumbing the darn thing when I bid on it, but like so many other things in my life, it will be an adventure I guess!

Roy is talking with some of the guys who are also picking up their equipment while  David is driving Moby around to the loading dock.

The prize piece - a deadlift platform! Roy and I are both super excited about this piece, now we can do so much more in his gym. And to think about the fact that Dave Draper used this, and probably his buddies, Arnold Schwarzenegger and other bodybuilders of his era.

Roy's benches waiting to be loaded into Moby.

The low bench is nice, its for bench press but it's low to the ground. As we loaded it into Moby a guy came up and said it was his favorite piece of equipment, after almost 20 years of using it everyday he was really going to miss it, I could see a tear well up in his eye, I had to look away or I would cry too. I assured him that it was going to a good home.

This would have been a great picture to have! There were so many available but I didn't think of getting one at the time.

Roy is holding onto my espresso machine that we moved to the roof of Moby as David backs the truck up, he had moved it to allow some other people to get their things out.

All of these pieces will forever carry the history of a great era of Bodybuilders and I feel fortunate that I had the opportunity to be involved in this. I cannot wait to do some deadlifts on the new platform! 

Monday Motivation

Monday, I am starting a new program, I am excited. I change it up to prevent adaptation, sometimes I make slight changes, sometimes drastic. It all depends on my goals and the time of year.

New music, new exercises, more reps , more sets, more cardio. I am feeling really good these days, I look forward to the changes that the future holds for me.

Some things to think about to get you going today:

You miss 100% of the shots you never take.
`Wayne Gretzky

Everyone pities the weak, jealousy you have to earn.
`Arnold Schwarzenegger

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
`Confucius

You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.
`Michael Jordan

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
`Albert Camus

Arnold

I got this book as a Christmas gift last year, I haven't finished reading it yet, there is a lot of information!

I like the way it is laid out, he has many pictures (mostly of himself naturally), talks you through the exercises and then has a section that covers each muscle group, so I can quickly flip through and pick out some things to incorporate into my written plan when I need to write it up every month.

It's important to vary your exercises, not only to keep the body guessing and work all the different muscles, but to keep from getting bored!

Something as simple as hand grip can make a difference, or the number of reps.

Here is my binder, I keep all my training logs here and can go back and see what I was doing (they don't all fit, I have all those on excel). I also record weight here too.

It's big, I carry it everywhere in the gym, but it has my Gymboss, mouthguard, cut up tube socks for kettlebell snatches, lifting straps, and some business cards...

In the last week I have tried two new things out of Arnolds book, and I am feeling both quite a bit.

For biceps, he talks about using an "arm blaster", he says it isolates the biceps and is a great tool, but rare in gyms. Well, guess what we have hanging on the wall at Courtside Club? An arm blaster! Here is Arnold using one:

The other trick for side delts is something called "Burns" after performing each set of lateral raises: Take very heavy dummbells and hold them out with totally straight arms about 10 inches from your thighs for as long as possible- but at least 30 seconds.

My biceps and shoulders were crying for days!

Arnold Press

The Arnold Press, a great shoulder exercise!

It is named after Arnold Schwarzenegger,  7 time winner of the Olympia. I understand that Arnold came up with this exercise while training for the Olympia to ensure he had round, full deltoids.

In reality, performing the Arnold Press will not guarantee round, full deltoids anymore than any other "magic" exercise will. There is no magic pill to make you slim, there is no magic exercise to make you beautiful, you need to perform a variety of exercises to target all the muscles and keep from getting bored.

The Arnold Press is similar to a dumbbell press, you can perform is standing or seated, your preference, the main difference is that when starting the exercise, the dumbbells are held with your palms facing your chest.

I find that I need to use a slightly lower weight when performing this exercise than I would with a regular press.


Press the weights up to start bringing them above your head, turning the weights as you press up, so that your palms will be facing out, away from your body as you get them about halfway up.

Then continue pressing up

When you get to the top, you  do not lock your arms out, they remain with a very slight bend. Notice the palms are facing away from my body now.

Then back down, with complete control ending with palms facing your upper chest again.

Give these a try, they will change things up for you.

The Mind

We all face many challenges in our lives every single day. Some challenges are small and some are huge.  Some may seem bigger than they really are, because of how we view them.

I have noticed that many individuals involved in bodybuilding or Figure are very religious, I couldn't really figure out why, it always puzzled me, I mean I didn't all of a sudden become "born again" after I started competing....

Eventually I was able to piece it all together, it's really the power of the mind.

Huge sacrifices must be taken when competing in anything. Although Figure and Bodybuilding are sports based on physique and not athletic ability, the sacrifices are just as great.

The athlete must be willing to train at the expense of everything else, they need to view their training as essential to life as breathing, you just don't stop doing it.

They must adhere to the proper diet when they don't want to, there are times I come home and am nauseous as I try to eat, but I have to eat, eating immediately after training is a must, and it is very difficult if you have trained hard.

They must forgo late evenings out partying, when friends and family are all celebrating, it's not something they can always do with everyone else, just because Christmas comes once a year, if there is a completion soon, too bad, no celebration. 

The athlete must believe that they are successful, that they will win, that there is no other obvious choice, they are the one. They must believe in themselves to push themselves every single day.

Some need to believe in something higher than themselves to keep them going.

Do you think an Olympic athlete says to herself "I hope I win this gold medal"?, no, she says "I will win this gold medal!"

Everyday we talk ourselves out of our successes because we don't believe in our own abilities.

I wake up everyday, I tell myself I will have a great session at the gym, I look forward to it. I walk through the gym as though it exists only for me (and funny, some people there even tell me that! ha ha)


I set myself up to be successful.

Being a Figure competitor has not altered my beliefs, I am not religious. I think Arnold Swarzenegger was also one of the best bodybuilders in modern history, but I am not a Republican either.

Below is a video of Arnold talking about the power of the mind. It is long, 9 minutes, but it is worth watching.

If you are an email subscriber you will need to navigate to the blog to view the embedded video.

The Blond Bomber

My latest book. This is an actual picture of my book, I buy a lot of books so I get them used. This particular one came from Lexington Public Library, I wonder how many people checked it out before I bought it?

Dave Draper is an interesting fellow. I subscribe to his newsletter via email and he has an interesting way of writing, I think I would like to meet him someday.

For those who are not familiar with Dave,  I will tell you a bit about him. He was born on April 16, 1942 and began weight training at the age of 10. At 21, he won the Mr. New Jersey title.  Six months later he moved to Santa Monica, California, working for the Weider Barbell Company until 1969. During this period he also worked in motion pictures.

In the early days, Draper says, "There wasn't a whole bunch of encouragement or inspiration from a society which considered you either stupid or egotistical and probably a sissy."

In California, Draper initially trained at a gym many called "The Dungeon", which he described as "a large, awful space dug out of the ground on the corner of 4th and Broadway, and later at the original Gold's Gym.
Training partners included Frank Zane, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbu and Mike Katz.

Here are some other titles  he won:

 1965 IFBB Mr. America Tall Class & Overall, 1st
 1966 IFBB Mr. Universe Tall Class & Overall, 1st
 1967 Mr. Olympia 4th
 1970 AAU Mr. World 3rd
 1970 IFBB Mr. World Tall & Overall, 1st
 1970 NABBA Mr. Universe Tall, 3rd

Until recently,  Dave owned and operated World gym in Santa Cruz, California with his wife Laree, and he continues to lift weights to this day.

In this book, he has lots of interesting facts about bodybuilding "back in the day", and sound advise. He has one interesting trick about eating nothing but tuna and water for several days to quickly drop body fat and get ripped, I may try it some day, but not right now when I am only a few weeks away from a competition. I will definitely post my results for all to hear and see though!

Here is a piece from his book: Brother Iron Sister Steel, just to give you an idea how his writing will make you look inward, to understand yourself and your motivation.

There comes a time, sooner or later, when you must listen to yourself and not those around you. You must become the student and teacher at once. Look directly to yourself and your training as the masters. If you enjoy the magazines and the science and research, sip on them as one does afternoon tea. Enjoy the aroma, swirl the flavorful liquid about the palate, note the heady summaries but don't expect sustenance. This comes from you, the gym and hard work over and over again. Insight and revelation fall like sweet rain from above on the sunniest days.

Pick up the book, and sign up for his newsletter at Iron Online. You can even join the forum and talk with others, and take in some good advise.