Dave Draper is the Man! Wait, let me stand on my soapbox and say it loud so that everybody in the balcony can hear me - DAVE DRAPER IS THE MAN! OK, now that I have your attention, let me calm down and rap a little bit about "Brother Iron, Sister Steel" first published in January 2001 and Dave's newest book, "Your Body Revival, Weight Loss Straight Talk."

When "Brother Iron, Sister Steel" first came out I said to myself - Oh yeah, this should be a good book, after all, Dave covered the bases with the Mr. America, Mr. Universe, and Mr. World titles in the 60's and early 70's; he was the guy upon who Joe Weider bestowed the title "The Blonde Bomber" in the early 60's; he was the guy whose mug was on dozens of Muscle Builder and Mr. America magazine covers in the 60's and early 70's.

Dave was also the dude who played "David the Gladiator" on his own TV show in 1964 on Saturday nights in Los Angeles on station KHJ where he introduced Hercules and Gladiator type flicks. He appeared in the 1967 movie, "Don't Make Waves" with movie stars Tony Curtis, Sharon Tate and Claudia Cardinale and appeared on TV shows such as "The Monkees" and "The Beverly Hillbillies" (I can't remember Granny's exact words but her reaction to Dave's muscles was hilarious!)

Dave Draper was also the guy who I met by chance at Joe Gold's World Gym in Santa Monica about 20 years ago. He was nice enough to take the time and give an average Joe like me some training hints (I think we talked about pullovers!)

OK, so let's get back to "Brother Iron, Sister Steel" (I got a bit carried away as I am prone to do). To make a long story short, I never bought the book when it first came out. You know how it is, you get busy and with good intentions you put things on the back burner. It wasn't until Dave's next book, "Your Body Revival, Weight Loss Straight Talk" came out that I decided to read both books. Man alive, what a dope I was for not reading "Brother Iron, Sister Steel" sooner. If you are a bodybuilder or plan to be one, this book should be required reading. Dave has been a bodybuilder for over 45 years and he can remember when lifting weights was looked down on by almost everybody. Over time, he witnessed the sport become accepted by the masses, yet is alarmed at society for not fully embracing or understanding exercise and fitness. He has been there, done that, and has buried a few demons of his own that have threatened his very existence.

Dave is here not to preach or to be condescending. He is here to tell us what worked for him and with patience and determination will work for you. In his straight forward, poetic and often humorous style, Dave says, "This is what I would do if I were you." He is not trying to threaten or scare us, he is just giving us good common sense advice backed by many years of trial and error experience.

"The secret is there is no secret" says Dave. Exercise must be consistent to be effective. If there is a secret, it's consistency. Other factors that the Blonde Bomber considers important are commitment, confidence (the absence of doubt), persistence, and discipline. These are elements that are discussed in the book and over time must be developed by the successful bodybuilder. And speaking of time, Dave reminds us that time is our companion, not our enemy, and deserves, rather, demands our respect.

The following are some insightful quotes from "The Man" that help us understand his reasons for writing this book. He says, "The words that compose this book are written with a logic that comes only from experience, with passion and excitement that come only from a long-time love of the iron." He further states, " I don't want this to be a text book but a view of life as seen by me, a person who did, does and always will lift weights, as he eats and breathes." To sum things up he says, "I have two objectives as I set out to write this book: to underscore the things you need to know and to encourage you to do them. The learning is in the doing." I couldn't agree more with Dave's logic. You can study, intellectualize and compare training methods till you're blue in the face. You're nowhere until you pick up a barbell, start training and just do it.

I found "Brother Iron, Sister Steel" not only full of great training and diet information, but with Dave's unique writing style, actually fun to read. If you have been around bodybuilding for any length of time, you'll laugh out loud at Dave's memories of some of the sport's greats as he recalls their antics together.
In summation, I highly recommend this book from one of the sport's originals, and if you order from Dave's website, www.DaveDraper.com, he will personally autograph it for you.

"Brother Iron Sister Steel" by Dave Draper should be in every bodybuilder's library.

Click here to order from davedraper.com