Richards won four of those shows and was the first runner-up in the other, and included three in the U.S. (1982 America Cup, 1983 Teen Los Angeles, 1984 California Gold Cup Classic) and two abroad (1989 Mr. Barbados, 1992 Nigerian Championships).

Although a 36-inch waist may seem fairly wide for a bodybuilder, when you have a 67-inch chest and 26-inch arms, your belt line doesn’t sound as large. But Richards, who was profiled frequently in the Weider publications, was always viewed as someone who could not be taken seriously because of his thickness.

One must remember that during the main part of Richards’ career, Lee Haney was the reigning Mr. Olympia and had a muscular build with symmetry, a word that would never be confused with Richards.

The year that Richards stopped competing, Dorian Yates succeeded Haney as Mr. Olympia and began the monstrous era. Thicker bodies, including waists and ultimately abdominals, eventually became commonplace and the next one to be crowned Mr. O, Ron Coleman, took it to a different level.

He is sometimes called the “Natural Uncrowned Mr. Olympia,” but that sounds like pure fantasy no matter if you read into it or not, and in more ways than one.

Richards did possess a physique that was not appreciated then as much as it would have 10 or so years later. The USC graduate may have become a winner of more than one Sandow if he came along later on, but that doesn’t take away what he once was.

It’s not too late to catch the third installment of MuscleSport Radio, the weekly Internet podcast bringing you the best of bodybuilding, pro sports and anabolic steroids. This week’s special guest was none other than Gunter Schlierkamp, who speaks frankly about some of the frustrations he faced in bodybuilding and why he has turned to acting the past two years and not the Olympia stage. Gunter also comments on the passing of the great Ben Weider and what the entire Weider family has meant to his career.

The World Series and the bad weather effecting it is also discussed on this show, as well as the seven NFL players testing positive for the diuretic Bumetanide.

All past broadcasts are archived and can be heard via MuscleSport Mag, Blog Talk Radio (www.blogtalkradio.com) and iTunes.

Please be advised that we have already scheduled our special guest for the Tuesday, November 18 show – legendary bodybuilder Boyer Coe.

Be sure to listen live every Tuesday afternoon from 3 to 4 pm (Eastern time). Our call-in number is (347) 884-8157.

The following article will appear in the November 2008 issue of New York Sportscene magazine.

Heading into the 2009 Mr. Olympia contest, the two names being thrown around were Jay Cutler, the two-time defending champion, and an up and coming Dennis Wolf. Three other names heard often were of the men who were to miss the show due to injury: Victor Martinez (the 2007 runner-up), Branch Warren and Kai Green.

Dexter Jackson kind of stayed under the radar, which was quite all right by him. While Cutler and Wolf trained all year for the show, Jackson was piling up first place trophies at the Arnold Classic, Australian Pro and New Zealand Grand Prix. When asked two days prior to the Olympia if dieting down and all of that preparation and travel would be a detriment to him, Jackson replied, “You just have to know how to pace yourself. It’s not going to affect me in any way. I’ll still be 110 percent on that stage.”

And he certainly was. The rumors were flying on the Internet message boards and in the Orleans Hotel (the Las Vegas venue where the Mr. O show was held) that Jackson was ahead of Cutler in points following the pre-judging. The next 24 hours was one theory after the next.

The finals began with the immortal Weider brothers, Joe and Ben, taking the stage and receiving a much-deserved ovation. The sport of bodybuilding would not be what it is without these two men.

The individual routines were only a warm-up for the pose down, which was a microcosm of the pre-contest banter. Cutler, Wolf and rookie Phil Heath – the eventual third place winner – stole the show as Jackson made himself conspicuous in his own way. As the top six were called out, the names started to fall. A chorus of boos followed Wolf’s name in the fourth slot and when it was just two standing side by side, it was all Jackson.

The critics that have been knocking the blocky look of the last few Mr. Olympia winners have been silenced. Jackson, 38, is a well-proportioned bodybuilder with an aesthetic look, as opposed to the thick-waisted Cutler and eight-time champion Ronnie Coleman before him.

Some blame the judges, others the industry itself. Regardless of how the huge and freaky look became championship qualities, Jackson has seemed to turn back the clock to at least the Lee Haney era. Also winner of eight Sandow trophies, Haney ruled the stage from 1984 until he retired as champion in 1991, weighing 244 pounds at a height of 5’11”. Jackson stands at 5’6” with a contest weight of 233 pounds. In comparison, the 5’9” Cutler weighs in at 265 pounds for a competition.

Jackson has not made his plans public and if he does walk away on top, the man known as ‘the Blade’ has accomplished more than just becoming the twelfth Mr. Olympia in history. His legacy may be that he brought back symmetry to a sport that has strayed from its origination.

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.