DR.

KEN LEISTNER
Training Methodologies of the 1960s

There’s a strong interest in the training There were a few of the fellows in Point Lookout
methodologies and the bodybuilding and lifting and certainly in Long Beach who were muscled,
culture of the 60s. That’s something I can speak on, looked good, were tough and were highly respected.
because with a football-related background and They all served as role models for me.
with very little training information available in the One of the best-built gentlemen in town was an
late 1950s, I embarked on my quest—and it truly older fellow who was a full-time year-round resident
was a quest—to become bigger and stronger. The who, during the warmer months, would stroll or jog
purpose and focus of my training was to become on the beach. He was fit, tanned and looked terrific
bigger and stronger for the express purpose of despite being perhaps in his 60s at that time and
playing football…and surviving on the street. ancient to my young eyes.
Our neighborhood had quite a bit of lifting We always referred to him as Mr. Siciliano. My
activity. The area could best be described as a tough, father insisted I call him that, even though we were
middle-to-lower middle class with pockets of a lot aware his ‘real name’ was Charles Atlas. Yes, I lived
less than that. There were a lot of hardscrabble kids about two blocks from the Charles Atlas, who could
who respected physical strength, power and fighting not have been a nicer guy.
ability, because that was something that was done
on a weekly to daily basis. Once he realized I was one of the young kids in
town who was interested in becoming bigger and
There were gangs in the high school and junior stronger, he always had a good word—a word of
high. We had physical intimidation. Relative to encouragement—and freely gave instructions on
most other areas, we had quite a few lifting-related the proper way to do pushups, handstand pushups,
facilities and guys who lifted. This was very unusual chins and pullups, bodyweight and calisthenic types
for 1958 and 1959, which was approximately the of exercises. These were things we could watch him
time I began to train with weights. doing on the beach in the mornings, especially
I can say from the age of nine, I was interested during the warm weather.
in lifting weights. But I had no knowledge, no role All of these influences, in combination with the
models, no equipment and no facility that I was first high school football game I viewed in 1957,
aware of. I didn’t begin to actually train until I was truly motivated me. I was one of those compulsive
approximately 12. kids who was very much a loner and who realized
My first barbell was a truck axle, with flywheels that weight training, despite the lack of information
from the truck, as well as one or two cars that had and the lack of public acceptance, was something
been abandoned on an empty lot next to our house. that could be a very enjoyable activity.
Our home in Point Lookout, New York, which The repetitive nature of the activity intrigued
at the time was considered to be the ass-end of Long me and didn’t bore me as it did most of the other
Beach at the very end of the Long Beach barrier kids. Once I had my truck axle and flywheels, I
island, was an isolated area that served primarily began to train on a regular basis, augmented with a
as a summer community with perhaps 200 to 400 lot of running and walking both on the beach and
people as full-time winter residents. To do anything, on the streets.
we had to hitchhike into the town of Long Beach, as Now prior to the jogging craze of the mid-60s,
there was no other way to get there unless we had a anytime a young fellow was seen jogging or running
car.

~1~
This is the transcript of Dr. Ken Leistner’s Training Methodologies of the 1960s audio lecture.
If you’ve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit movementlectures.com.
For more from Dr. Ken, please see his monthly articles at http://www.titanstrengthandpower.com/powerlifting_articles.html.
on the streets, he’d invariably would be stopped by of various weights that resembled the kettlebells I
the police, pulled to the sidewalk and asked what he had seen in Strength and Health, Young Mr. America
was doing. and Muscle Power magazines, which were all the
In the first few months, I was told running forerunners to Muscle and Fitness and the various
would be the primary exercise necessary to become Weider muscle publications that came much later.
a good football player. The gentleman who told me In retrospect, I had a pretty good variety of
this was Eddie Price, who was a racetrack buddy of resistance that allowed me to progressively become
my father’s, a running back for the New York Giants stronger. This really was the start for me. I actually
and a former All-American running back at Tulane had pretty good results by the time I was around 13.
University. Coming from an authority such as he, I was very small. I was short and I was thin, but
this was something I pursued with great vigor. I ran I was all wire. Actually, in conjunction with working
constantly. in my father’s iron shop and on the back of his truck,
I was often pulled over by the local police and I was exceptionally strong for my size.
asked what I was doing. When I explained, “I’m I received a phone call a number of years ago
running to become a better football player,” “I’m from the grandson of my high school football
running for exercise” or “I’m running for health,” coach, who was entering the fitness business at that
that usually earned me a crack on the back of the time. He had a number of training questions, but
head. Sometimes I got a punch to the stomach or also said he’d found index cards that belonged to his
a wrap with the nightstick across my buttocks or late grandfather listing each player.
across the front or back of my thighs, and a request
to enter the back of the police car at which point I He had a collection of a number of years of
would be driven home. cards. The cards each had a player’s name, home
address, phone number, height, weight and time in
The thought they had, of course, was I had the 100-yard dash.
robbed, stolen something, or was running from a
crime scene and now needed to be brought home to He read to me my card, which clearly stated I
my parents. Anytime the police took us in, a beating was 125 pounds in the 10th grade. I was 135 pounds
would be certainly administered by the parents, in the 11th grade, and 145 pounds for my senior
who would immediately support the police story. football season. At about 5'5 ½", that very much was
in keeping with my recollection. I was never big up
After two or three months of this, it was fully to that point, but I had been very strong.
accepted I was the town nut. I was a health food and
health-crazed individual who was really involved I augmented the limited information I had
in strange activities. I ran or walked everywhere. I regarding training by reading the various muscle
occasionally rode a bike or hitchhiked, but jogging magazines. I had no idea I could subscribe to these
became my primary source of transportation. publications, so I would wait on the date I thought
they would be coming to the candy store or the
I was very dedicated in my lifting activities. I local luncheonette—wait with the owner until the
built a chin and dip station out of pipe my father magazines arrived and asked him to cut open the
welded for me and, of course, my fixed barbell package that might have the muscle magazine in it.
consisting of the axle and flywheels. I had a smaller
axle taken from one of the cars, as well as various Of course, I couldn’t afford to purchase the
gears from gearboxes we had disassembled, and magazine, so I would stand there and read it cover
used these as an adjustable barbell. to cover. If I didn’t have the time to read it cover to
cover, I read and memorized as much as I could. I
I filled various pails with sand from the beach, occasionally took notes in a school notebook and
which was convenient, or with concrete, and then came back the following day to finish the
weighted them. I even had a selection of metal pails

~2~
This is the transcript of Dr. Ken Leistner’s Training Methodologies of the 1960s audio lecture.
If you’ve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit movementlectures.com.
For more from Dr. Ken, please see his monthly articles at http://www.titanstrengthandpower.com/powerlifting_articles.html.
magazine. When I got to the point I could actually However, near the Gowanus Canal, there was
buy them, I saved them and more or less memorized a store owned by a gentleman by the name of Jack
every issue. Meinero, who always advertised in the Weider
Like most young, enthusiastic trainees, this led magazines. I was determined to get over there just
to severe over-training, because month to month I to see what was going on.
tried to incorporate whatever material I gathered in Jack was supposed to be an expert in the Weider
the most recent issue and add—add, not substitute— training methods. He always had ads that included
add it to what I had already been doing. It didn’t take Larry Cianchetta—later known as Larry Powers—
long to realize this method wasn’t going to work, so and Freddy Ortiz and some of the other New York
I began to pick and choose what I thought was the area greats.
best exercises and best approach to training. I picked I was walking toward the address I had, and
those exercises I could actually do on my limited across the street, I saw what turned out to be Larry
amount of equipment and could continuously do. If Powers wearing a T-shirt and thought to myself,
I didn’t get bigger, I certainly got stronger, and I was ’This guy has to be going to Mr. V’s Sport Shop.’ I
very fortunate to be able to do so. literally followed him to the store and probably got
In 1962 while in high school, I traveled to him a little bit nervous because he kept looking over
Manhattan. I started doing that regularly because his shoulder to see who was following him. In that
I was already working on Saturdays on my father’s neighborhood, you had to be aware of whoever was
truck or in the shop located in Manhattan. I would following you.
take time after work to visit Leroy Colbert’s health I went into the shop and asked a ton of questions.
food store on 84th Street and Broadway. Leroy I got to meet Larry. I got to meet Freddy Ortiz. I got
was a tremendous bodybuilder. He was extremely to meet a very young Tommy Aybar and a couple of
knowledgeable and willing, even eager to share the other guys who later established themselves as solid,
knowledge he had. It was at Leroy’s in 1962 where I nationally known bodybuilders from the New York
met Dave Draper. City area.
One of the nice things about the lifting I probably went there five, six, seven or eight
community in the late 50s, and into the late 60s, weekends in a row and I literally sat in a corner. I
was people who trained were more than willing to watched and I observed. I learned what they did.
provide information to whoever asked.
I heard about Mid-City Gym, so I went there
The proviso, of course, was you had to figure out and introduced myself to the owner. The owner,
who had the information, where they were located of course, was Tom Minichiello. I just wanted to
and then get yourself to their locations where you watch and see what was going on. Also at that time
would observe. Then, when they were done training, in approximately 1961 or ’62, I got to see some of
you could ask permission to speak, and ask your the lifters as well as bodybuilders because Mid City
questions. accommodated some of the Olympic lifting guys.
There were many excellent bodybuilders in the Ike Berger, one of the all-time greats, was there. I
New York City and Long Island areas. I remember believe he was splitting his time between California
one day looking for Mr. V’s Sport Shop in the Red and New York. I saw Dave Sheppard and some of
Hook section of Brooklyn. Since you’re probably the other great lifters. That broadened my horizons
unfamiliar with Brooklyn in the 50s and 60s, the and made me realize one could really get very strong
Red Hook section was a very tough area filled with and well built.
gangs of various ethnicities, a tremendous amount
of violence and was considered a poverty-stricken
area.

~3~
This is the transcript of Dr. Ken Leistner’s Training Methodologies of the 1960s audio lecture.
If you’ve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit movementlectures.com.
For more from Dr. Ken, please see his monthly articles at http://www.titanstrengthandpower.com/powerlifting_articles.html.
 Another fellow I met observing there was a I remember sitting in the back of the store.
young Olympic lifter, a bit older than me, who was Leroy and Jackie, his wife at the time, who was
in attendance at New York University. I was told he Rock Stonewall’s sister, would be in front, serving
was one of the best shot putters in the country and the customers, and then came back and were nice
may have held high school records. This was Gary enough to answer our questions.
Gubner who, like me, was seeking information, One or all of us would run out to a local deli
although he already seemed to be stronger than to get these six-foot hero sandwiches and a quart
most of the guys at the gym. of milk. I should say one-foot hero sandwiches,
Again, this was typical. You had to find out who although Dave was capable of eating a six-foot hero.
was doing something, go and watch, and then ask We essentially spent a couple of hours eating
your questions. There was no internet. There wasn’t and drinking milk, which was very standard in
a great deal of communication through the mail. those days, listening to Leroy and whoever else was
You had to go and get the information yourself. there who had a contest-winning experience…and
For me, this extended to traveling down to York, just learn. This provided the basis for my strength
Pennsylvania. I hitchhiked to York Barbell a number training education. Everything I did after that
of times. followed much the same learning procedure.
Later with much hilarity, in a story I’d written When Nautilus became popular—something
about a few times in a number of publications, my new and very mysterious in 1970—there came a
later training partner Jack Lawrence and I traveled time a number of years later, though not too many
to York in a blizzard with no windshield wipers. We years later, when I was considered to be one of
purchased a power rack we literally threw across the the original guys in the second wave of original
hood of the car in a blizzard so we could stay inside Nautilus guys. Not only did I go down to Florida,
to watch the lifting. Only later did we try to secure ask questions and sleep in my van in the parking lot
it to the roof and then drive the five hours back to of the factory, I got a job in the factory.
New York with a more or less secured rack on the
roof. I got a job working for Arthur Jones, doing
demolition in his new home. I got to live in that
There was great value in being motivated enough house as I worked on it and had free access to Arthur.
to seek out information. If you were motivated to I became a tractor-trailer driver for Nautilus, and
travel and get the information from people you wound up working in the prototype shop, and in
didn’t know, nor had been introduced to and who the machine shop for seven years.
were certainly intimidating to watch—although
99% of them couldn’t have been nicer once you After moving back to the New York area, I would
made their acquaintance—then it was information be called upon to do special projects for Arthur. It
you valued. You truly applied it. was a matter of getting firsthand experience, going
to where the information was, learning as much as
If you went to all of that trouble to get the possible and applying what I felt would work for me.
information, you were going to use it. If it didn’t
work for you, you’d find out firsthand. To me, that’s In a sense, that art—that procedure—is
still the best way to get usable, useful and functional something that has been completely lost in the
information. last couple of generations. People now look on the
internet, maybe send an email. They get information.
Going back to Leroy Colbert’s health food store, I don’t think it’s valued as much. I don’t think it’s
there were a number of bodybuilders who just sort applied with patience.
of hung out there on Saturdays. Dave Draper was
one of them. I remember when we owned the Iron Island
Gym. Guys would come in and we gave them

~4~
This is the transcript of Dr. Ken Leistner’s Training Methodologies of the 1960s audio lecture.
If you’ve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit movementlectures.com.
For more from Dr. Ken, please see his monthly articles at http://www.titanstrengthandpower.com/powerlifting_articles.html.
routines. They’d use it for three weeks and say it he certainly didn’t remember me as well as I
didn’t work, or guys would train for six months remembered him.
and when they didn’t win the New York State He had already won the Mr. America contest
Powerlifting Championship, so they decided to do and a number of other major titles. It had been a
something else. couple of years since we had seen each other, but he
That’s not how it was in the 60s. We got the could not have been nicer and gave us great training
information sometimes through an arduous journey. information. He explained his training had been
We were patient. We applied the knowledge. We at the Dungeon, which was another place that was
really found out if it worked for us. really fascinating.
After meeting Dave and seeing him a number For those of you who have seen Dick Tyler’s 1961
of times at Leroy’s store, I became a fan because film, Project Power, quite a bit of it was filmed in the
he was in the magazines, which gave him instant Dungeon, which was the basement of an old hotel.
credibility. He was big. He was strong. He certainly It was dark, damp, dank and dingy. Guys would
was something I would have aspired to be had I sit on reinforced milk crates while pressing 150 or
been interested in physique contests. I wasn’t, but I 180-pound dumbbells. They had wooden planks set
did aspire to be very big and very strong like Dave. up across cinder blocks, and guys would bench 500
Dave moved to California after working in the lying on that.
Weider warehouse in Union City, New Jersey, and, It was a testament to making do with what you
of course, became the Dave Draper we all know and had, very much like I had with my truck axle and
love. For those who are wondering, yes, he was quiet flywheels, and then progressing to the point of
and shy. He was just as nice, polite and considerate national prominence through motivation and hard
back in 1962 as he was when spoken to last week. work. It didn’t take fancy equipment. It didn’t take
When my training partner Jack and I first very much equipment at all.
traveled to California, it was once again to see what Most of the guys, and this included Olympic
was going on, to see where the information was. We lifters and odd-implement lifters, which later
went to get the information, and then we’d apply the progressed to the sport of powerlifting—Olympic
information. lifters, bodybuilders and powerlifters—everyone
As an aside, we were there to visit Bill Pearl, with trained more or less around a foundation of the
whom Jack had a long-distance mail correspondence same basic exercises. Everybody did overhead
relationship. Bill had invited Jack out, so we just pressing and bench pressing.
picked up and went. Within a 24-hour period, we The Olympic lifters specialized and did more
discussed it and we threw what we owned in the car. low-repetition pressing. The bodybuilders did higher
In 54 hours, we were in Los Angeles, which repetitions. The powerlifters overhead pressed to
in retrospect is rather amazing in an old clunker, augment their bench pressing. Everybody benched,
especially having been arrested on the way out, including the Olympic lifters. No one worried about
which took about three hours. But we banged it out having tight shoulders or anything like that. This
and settled in at Pearl’s gym, where we were told to was just seen as another exercise one needed to do.
go get other information. Everybody benchpressed; bodybuilders perhaps
One of the places we went was Weider’s Store with higher repetitions and more sets. Powerlifters
in Santa Monica. Dave Draper was the one who specialized more on triples and singles. Olympic
was sitting behind the desk in the store that fronted lifters also spent a lot of time doing bench presses.
the warehouse. We rekindled the old relationship,
although I’m not sure he remembered me and

~5~
This is the transcript of Dr. Ken Leistner’s Training Methodologies of the 1960s audio lecture.
If you’ve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit movementlectures.com.
For more from Dr. Ken, please see his monthly articles at http://www.titanstrengthandpower.com/powerlifting_articles.html.
 Everyone squatted. Almost everyone did front the assistant exercises they use on a regular basis to
squats. Front squats were not the exclusive province enhance those competitive lifts.
of Olympic lifters then. The powerlifters did them A lot of the bodybuilders, unfortunately, aren’t
to augment regular squats. The bodybuilders did very strong at all. Some certainly are, but many are
them to provide direct work for the quadriceps. not because they don’t train the basic exercises.
Many of the bodybuilders did a ton of front squats They don’t train multi-joint movements that
and minimal back squatting after they’d achieved essentially force the body to become strong if done
a certain minimal amount of muscular size in the in a progressive, consistent manner.
thighs.
In the 60s, most of the powerlifters who were of
Continuing right down the list, everyone did reasonable body weight, meaning under 250, and
rows. Everyone did cleans. Everyone did deadlifts. most of the bodybuilders were quite strong and
There were a number of basic exercises—10 or 12 looked quite good. They looked fit and muscular.
basics—everybody did if they were interested in One look at the pages of the old magazines confirms
being bigger and stronger. that. Again, this is a concept that has been lost.
The bodybuilders would diet, doing more Most of the bodybuilders from the 60s also
repetitions and more sets prior to contests. The looked athletic when you saw them in person. The
powerlifters would focus primarily on the squat, contorted bodybuilding poses do not appeal to
bench press and deadlift. They did lower repetitions the public—male or female—and even in the past
heading toward a contest. The Olympic lifters did very often obscure the fact that when walking on
the Olympic lifts, of course, but continued to squat, the beach, athletic field or on the street, most of
front squat, row, shrug and again do the basics prior the bodybuilders who were either advanced at a
to their contests. competitive level or less than a competitive level
Because of that, most of the fellows who were looked like athletes. They looked like very well-
consistent in their lifting all looked really good as developed individuals with good movement skills
long as their fat percentage wasn’t too high, and all and good gait patterns.
of them had great, basic overall levels of strength. In looking at the modern collection of
Of course, this is another concept that has flown out bodybuilders, one would think they have suffered
the window. from dread diseases over a lengthy period of time
One of the disappointing things in powerlifting, that cause some sort of ongoing muscle spasm or
and I think a lot of the uninitiated don’t realize it, palsy. Of course, the sense of athleticism is a concept
is the top guys are very strong in the three specific that just no longer exists. It isn’t in the consciousness
competitive lifts and in three specific planes of of the bodybuilding public.
motion. But, many of them are not particularly As far as the lifters are concerned, a sense
strong at doing anything else. It might be difficult of athleticism isn’t in their consciousness either.
to comprehend that someone could weigh 181 They’re interested in the numbers. They’re interested
pounds, benchpress over 450, squat over 700 and in having a big squat, a big bench and a big deadlift.
deadlift 700, and not be that strong. But many of Nothing else really matters.
them aren’t, other than within the parameters of the
competitive lifts. Health doesn’t matter either. This is one of
the things from the 60s where we began to see a
A lot of the Olympic lifters, especially with the deterioration of an adherence to practices that
elimination of the overhead press movement, are promoted good health.
tremendously athletic and very strong within the
context of doing snatches, clean and jerks, and all Even with guys who were early steroid users—
and early drug users because the recreational drugs

~6~
This is the transcript of Dr. Ken Leistner’s Training Methodologies of the 1960s audio lecture.
If you’ve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit movementlectures.com.
For more from Dr. Ken, please see his monthly articles at http://www.titanstrengthandpower.com/powerlifting_articles.html.
became a very major part of the bodybuilding This was a key feature, especially in the 50s and at
culture—there was a continuing awareness one least to the mid-60s, of anybody who lifted weights.
needed to follow what was called the physical I can tell you, if you were in the New York City
cultural lifestyle that included proper eating, proper area, on the subway or walking down the street and
rest and proper living or, for lack of a better term, you had any degree of muscularity—and I keep
proper living patterns. saying men because women just weren’t engaged in
One of the things everybody did who was either the activity at that time and weren’t much until the
involved in bodybuilding, powerlifting or Olympic mid-to-late 70s—and you saw or if you were seen
lifting was to eat a diet that was high in protein, by another person who was at all muscular or well
moderate-to-low in carbohydrates and moderate- developed, you would be stopped and asked if you
to-low in fat intake, other than what you got in lifted weights. We recognized a fellow trainee or a
conjunction with your protein intake. fellow lifter and would engage in conversation about
Specifically, if you ate a lot of meat, you had a training.
certain percentage of fat in the diet. Aside from that, It was almost a cult activity that attracted
guys just didn’t eat a lot of junk food for the most relatively few people. This meant a typical Mr.
part. It wasn’t part of the physical cultural lifestyle. Olympia gathering and the Olympia contests
Again, that’s something that has been lost were the epitome of the bodybuilding community
through the decades and generations. Now, if you coming together.
can maintain three drugs through severe diets for If there were 5,000 people at the Brooklyn
the kind of muscularity you’re seeking, you’ll eat Academy of Music, 3,000 of them were locals from
anything. the New York City and Long Island area and we
That includes all of the things that were on the knew 2,000 of them. We knew them personally,
forbidden list in the 60s. The forbidden list included knew them on sight. We knew their training
things that weren’t healthy, like white sugar, white partners, or knew them through others in the lifting
flour products and a lot of processed foods. community.

There was an emphasis on eating natural foods This is another concept—the concept of the
and unprocessed foods, what we then called organic lifting community and bodybuilding community—
foods, even in the period of time when Dannon that’s very much been lost. With the emphasis on
yogurt, which was made in the New York City youth, looking good, and anti-aging so you can
area, where it was a health food and could only be maintain a youthful appearance and performance,
obtained in select health food stores. you don’t have that sense of community where
there weren’t a lot of people involved in what we
Yogurt was not sold in supermarkets and was were doing. There weren’t a lot of people who had
considered foreign and exotic. We understood we the interest we had. We knew a lot of people didn’t
ate yogurt and wheat germ, but didn’t eat cake, pie approve of it and we felt a certain kinship with those
and cookies. It was a different type of mindset—one, we recognized as having a similar value system. That
in retrospect, I think left many of those engaged in sense of community is long gone.
lifting activities a lot healthier than they are today.
It made for an exciting and always interesting
If you talk to any competitive bodybuilder or approach to our training because everything was
powerlifter, for example, a diet is something used to new. Everything was bringing results that we’d have
regulate body weight or something manipulated in to look to recognize. We couldn’t depend on others
order to be as muscular as possible at contest time. to give us the information on the internet.
However, the concept of health, if it exists at all, Again, other people’s information should not
is secondary to the point where it’s hardly on the list. dictate your information, primarily because their

~7~
This is the transcript of Dr. Ken Leistner’s Training Methodologies of the 1960s audio lecture.
If you’ve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit movementlectures.com.
For more from Dr. Ken, please see his monthly articles at http://www.titanstrengthandpower.com/powerlifting_articles.html.
results will not be your results. What they’ve learned We’d have six or seven current, future or former
will not be what you learn from engaging in the Mr. Americas training in one spot, just for an
same activity. These are all things we older guys afternoon of fun and training. This is what they did.
complain about anyway—applied not only to the They exchanged information, talked about training
lifting sports, but life in general. and talked about the things they ate.
Going out and seeking empirical information This is something we just don’t see any longer.
differs greatly now from what it used to be. To me, Guys seem to think it’s a lot easier or better to go to
there’s a real loss—there’s a real sense of loss. The an internet forum where people talk about stuff that
we had to track down information built a sense of isn’t true. It’s made up to glorify them.
community and a sense of sharing we just no longer In the older days, we really got to see what
have. worked and what didn’t.
I can remember meeting guys like Joe Abbenda, If there is any sense of loss for me in the iron
who won the America and the Universe in the early sports, this is probably the greatest one. In my
60s. He’s a guy who became an attorney and still garage, for example, there are always big, strong guys
practices. He’s a great advocate in the defense and training. There are a lot of guys who visit. There are
support of young people and young people in need. professional football players who come over.
Joe built his physique training in the attic of his It’s really unusual when other guys just show up,
mother’s house. Training in the attic, the ceiling was or leave a phone message and ask, “Is there any way
too low for him to do overhead presses, so he had to I can ask a question? Can I come over and watch?”
do them on his knees. He did them with enormous
weights—cleaning on his knees, and pressing on his It’s just not done anymore. I’m not sure why
knees. When you try to tell this to people, of course, not, other than it’s just not the way information is
they’re incredulous and don’t believe it. gathered.

There were guys like Joe, who essentially That entire learning process, which is what I’m
ascended to the heights of the sport. Joe influenced really stressing, is a process that ultimately leads
Dennis Tinerino to train. Tom Sansone was the to the greatest gains, self-discovery, and degree of
guy Joe looked up to. When we first met guys like learning about yourself and what works in this very
this, they were enthusiastic. They all had a tree, sort specific area of weight training. It’s something I’d love
a family of trainees they had influenced. Then the to see return, but in the age of quick information, I
second group would come and have their influence. don’t think it will.
The community literally spread out that way. I hope this little introduction to the 60s and my
I can remember days training at Tony Pandolfo’s introduction to training is helpful to some. I hope
storefront gym in Valley Stream by the Queens it’s useful.
border. Tony’s cousin would come in with Steve
Michalik, and Michalik would come in with Chris
Dickerson. Chris would come in with Boyer Coe,
who was visiting. Bob Galluchi, who lived in
Connecticut, would come down because he wanted
to train with Boyer.

~8~
This is the transcript of Dr. Ken Leistner’s Training Methodologies of the 1960s audio lecture.
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