Joe Weider And The Weider System Legacy!

The legendary Joe Weider created a legacy in the fitness industry that was unparalleled. Aside from being the dominant force in bodybuilding and fitness publications (including Muscle & Fitness, Flex, Muscle Builder/Power, Shape, Muscle & Fitness Her’s, Your Physique, Mr. America, and All-American Athlete) he also had a huge role in popularizing weight training in general. When Weider first advocated the use of weights to build muscle and increase health for physique improvement purposes beyond just getting stronger, popular myths like “muscles turning to fat” and becoming “muscle bound” and therefore stiff, slow, and less athletic, were standard beliefs. Very few athletes other than competitive weight lifters and strength performers saw the value in weight training for its own sake. Fast forward to today and you’d be hard-pressed to find any competitive athlete who is not devoted to a serious resistance training program. Weider’s passion and love for bodybuilding and exercise led him to believe that a fitness lifestyle was something that everyone should pursue.

Through his magazines, Weider also advocated and popularized certain training methods. He published and marketed his Weider System of Training which was a collection of training principles and techniques Joe claimed were being constantly used by, and responsible for, all the best physiques of the day. Joe took no small amount of credit for being the “Trainer of Champions” and used his magazines to promote his athletes, various training and nutrition products, and himself. Along with his brother Ben, Joe founded the IFBB (International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness) in 1946. In 1965, Joe launched the IFBB Mr. Olympia competition to give former Mr. Universe Champions a way to continue to compete and see who was the best of the best. Although Joe never became a top bodybuilding champion himself he didn’t let that deter his marketing efforts. In his signature arms-folded pose that he used for promotions, he even had his face superimposed on an illustration of Mr. America Clancy Ross, and later on a bust of Mr. Universe Robby Robinson, for the best effect.

Joe did state many times that he did not invent all of the highly marketed Weider System principles, but that they were what he observed many of the top people commonly doing. He became the catalyst for their popularity and use by scores of enthusiastic trainers. Weider was able to organize and make some sense of the would-be chaos that training could become by breaking down, defining, and even naming popular approaches and techniques. Soon supersets, forced reps, giant sets, split training, flushing, cheating, super speed reps, and others were common terms heard around most gyms. Many of Joe’s principles are so frequently used today that they’ve become second nature to gymgoers. As a tribute to Joe Weider’s creativity and marketing genius, and to recognize him and the many others who contributed to the in-the-trenches, trial and error, lab-rat approach to training in search of better gains, Bodysport will be highlighting some of the more popular and potentially effective principles and approaches for you to learn about and even field test in your own training.