The obvious fan favorite was Connecticut’s P.J. Braun, who brings a mixture of confidence and insanity to the stage. He definitely had his guns loaded and won the heavyweight class. Lithuanian Audrius Jegelevicius, who won the NPC Metropolitan overall in this very same building in April, was named the super heavyweight winner.

A good showing was also made by Paul Sousa, who won the Masters 35+ Heavyweight and Masters Overall. He finished as the runner-up to Braun in the open heavyweight category.

Perhaps the most impressive of all the competitors was Nick Medici, who was named the champion in the Teen B, Teen Overall, Novice Light Heavyweight and Novice Overall divisions. This young man definitely has a future and it would not be a surprise to see him gracing the pages of the muscle magazines very shortly. Definitely the earner of a future pro card.

In women’s bodybuilding, Andrea Giacomi won the overall over Myra Adams and Maria Rita Penteado.Ava Cowan won the overall figure while Sue Dent took the fitness and Monica Eiler the bikini.

Kai Greene, the 2009 Arnold Classic winner, really blew things up with an excellent guest posing appearance. The Brooklyn native possessed an incredible set of wheels and a lat spread that could gather frequent flier miles.

If you ever have the opportunity to purchase one of the vintage muscle magazines, I totally recommend doing so. If you search on eBay, it’s pretty easy to find them, and for the most part, they will be in good condition.

For a complete list of old titles – and even cover scans of the majority of them – you have to check out www.vintagemusclemags.com. There’s everything from Your Physique (the pre-cursor of Muscle & Fitness, and the Weider brothers first publishing endeavor – August 1940 inaugural issue shown), to Strength (the first American publication, which ran from 1914 to 1930), up to the latest titles.

These old books were obviously written long before steroids came on the scene, so the bodies that you see are completely natural. Some look great, others more lean, but not mean. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. There are advertisements included, but for the most part, they are ‘house’ ads for workout equipment, supplements, manuals, etc. put out by the publisher. In the Weider pubs, there is ‘Master Blaster’ everything, and in Strength and Health, the York, PA barbell company has all of their items listed and pictured.

Not knocking any of the magazines today (OK, I’m really knocking them but trying to be unbiased since I am in the industry), but they have become basically catalogs for supplements, masked to make them appear to be editorial. Not exactly the most interesting thing to read, although I realize the need for that. Ad $ make the world go ’round.