If you think about it, it's pretty amazing that current bodybuilding faves Jay Cutler and Ronnie Coleman were mere toddlers when Bill Pearl and Dave Draper were winning bodybuilding titles and inspiring countless fans to pick up a barbell and start pumping iron. Bill and Dave have to be considered among the ranks of bodybuilding's immortals. I know for a fact that when I was a teenager, back in the 1960s, these guys were big heros to me and my pals. In my gang Bill Pearl was considered a no nonsense straight shooter who was thickly muscled and had great symmetry. He was a guy that not only looked strong, but really was strong. Bill started winning contests in the 1950s, continued into the 1960s, and captured the 1971 NABBA Mr. Universe in London at the age of 40! During his career Bill won the Mr. Universe a total of 5 times. He had about a decade jump on Dave Draper so when Dave needed some advice on posing or contest preparation Bill was the man Dave went to see.

Flash back to 1963. Jan and Dean sang about Surf City with its "two girls for every boy" lyrics. Where the heck was Surf City anyway? Huntington Beach or Santa Cruz? I guess it was really just a state of mind. Anyway, California was the place where every young guy across the nation wanted to be. The muscle mags at this time portrayed The Blond Bomber Dave Draper as the world's best built beach boy. There he was, living the dream we all wanted to be in - the big muscles, the bikini girls, the warm California beaches.

O.K., back to reality - the truth was Dave was originally from New Jersey and was married. The photos of him on the beach frolicking with the bikini girls were posed in order to create the dream and sell magazines. However Dave's big muscles were very real and his devotion to training was very much the real deal too!

Fast forward about 40 years or so and we come to the subject of this review which is the Bill Pearl and Dave Draper DVD video seminar. This seminar was held in July of 2005 as part of the IronOnline Bash where a group of DaveDraper.com Forum members got together for a few days of fun, training, and camaraderie. The video takes the format of a question and answer session where the seminar attendees ask Bill and Dave pertinent questions about training, diet, and the current state of bodybuilding. Bill and Dave form a tag team and they reply with plain spoken answers deeply rooted with a knowledge, wisdom and wit that only two guys with a lifetime of experience like theirs could give.

The subject matter asked by the attendees goes all across the board with both guys tackling intelligent questions concerning their early days, training methods, nutrition, cardio training, aging, and a host of other subjects like goal setting. Bill says he is very goal oriented and once he has established a goal he gives it a time limit. When that goal has been achieved he ups the ante with a new goal. On the subject of aging, Bill's humor shows through when he says, "If there's still movement, there's still hope!" Dave is the gracious host of this DVD and his wife Laree Draper is the technical mastermind who put the whole thing together.

It is interesting to note that these icons don't agree on all subjects. Take for instance Dave's practice of consuming generous amounts of protein with a good amount coming from red meat and tuna. Bill on the other hand is a Lacto-Ova vegetarian (no fish, red meat, or fowl) and has been for thirty-five years. He tends to go lighter in his protein intake than Dave, and the sources are mainly from dairy. Bill also likes to train early in the morning (like 4:00 am! Yes, 4:00 am!) with training partners. Dave on the other hand currently trains in the early afternoon with no training partners. Being different people with different temperaments and with decades of training and diet experience, they have instinctively figured out what works best for them.

Both Bill and Dave have been gym owners at various times over the years and have helped many people with their training and diet problems. Bill states that it is best to teach by example using the techniques that worked for him personally. He tells people, "Here's what I did" instead of using someone else's theories. Dave says that a lot of people have followed their careers over the years and expect that they know a few things. Well the truth is that they know a lot of things and we are lucky to have this seminar with which to pick the brains of these two icons.

As an extra added attraction Ed Corney from Pumping Iron fame shows up and joins in toward the end! If that wasn't enough there is a 32 page booklet of a private conversation between Dave and Bill that takes place at Bill's home where these two champs reflect on bodybuilding and their lives in general. Oh, one more thing - also included are slideshows showing some of the more famous photos of these guys in their classic poses. So there you have it, a comprehensive mix of 75 minutes of insightful viewing plus essential extra reading designed to help you in your bodybuilding quest.

To order this DVD visit DaveDraper.com or BillPearl.com.

Be sure to visit Ed Corney's site at EdCorney.net

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