The great Soviet weightlifter Yuri Vlasov.

[Frimen1917]

“Once I heard words from a ninety-year-old man (who, incidentally, was married to a woman far from old) that, I believe, partly revealed the essence of longevity.
The old man — though it was difficult to call him old — was lean and upright, with an intelligent, searching gaze. He said:
‘I truly enjoy living…’
I heard this and was stunned. How much meaning there is in those words! For here lies the explanation for the longevity of many people — and, conversely, for the illnesses and premature deaths of others.
If a person lives in surroundings that do not oppress him, if his home and the people around him are dear to him, and if he greets each day with pleasure rather than grumbling and anxiety, he will live a long life. And even if not long, he will still live out his rightful years — he will not collapse on the threshold of true maturity.
A whole world of joys, great and small — without them there is no pulse of life. In his longing for love and joy, Beethoven does not utter words but a cry:
‘O Providence… grant me at least one moment of pure joy!’
One can endure and overcome grief, misfortune, and upheaval if this world of love and joy exists. It is precisely the feeling of love (not the petty scavenging of random, dog-like encounters) that makes both men and women beautiful and indestructible.
The great musician Pablo Casals, upon waking each morning, would hasten to his beloved cello — not out of duty, obligation, or rehearsal routine, but out of joy and delight — and would play for about an hour. Only afterward came the rituals of washing, shaving, breakfast… And there was also love for a woman, right into old age.
This is precisely that harmony of existence. And it is not reserved solely for the famous, the wealthy, or the protected by glory.
Casals lived nearly a century, performing concerts almost until his final days.”*
(Yury Vlasov, “The Price of Life”)

 

[Frimen1917]

“…The foot, crushed into fragments, was held together only by a tendon. The left leg was broken above the knee. The arm was shattered from the elbow to the fingers. Two broken ribs had pierced the lung… And yet, he did not even lose consciousness.
A workplace accident instantly crossed out all of Richards’ plans — both athletic and personal. Now everything was reduced to one thing: the need to endure and submit to his fate.
In 1970, three years before the tragic accident, the Englishman Frank Richards had won one of the highest titles a bodybuilder could ever dream of. He was Mr. Universe.

Six months later he was discharged from the hospital. Richards said:
“I left having lost twenty-six kilograms of weight — more precisely, of pure muscle mass.”
For seven months after his discharge, Richards was confined in plaster and doomed to immobility.
Those seven months were followed by a full seven years of wandering through clinics. One operation hastened another — bone transplants, bones fastened with bolts and metal plates… Anesthesia, injections, medications, insomnia, and far too much time in bed. Weakness, pain, and bed… again and again.
Only in 1981 did Richards part with hospitals and doctors. By then, he recalled, “my leg had turned into skin stretched over bone.” And he himself resembled only the frame of what had once been a powerful man.
The degree of destruction of the body was not merely depressing — from the standpoint of an active future, it was hopeless. One might have been content simply to live without suffering, to be able to care for oneself without assistance. But Richards chose otherwise.
He was an athlete. Behind him were years of severe training. He knew how work restores and educates the body — how to revive oneself through training, to become a powerful, tireless man capable of any physical load: weightlifting, jumping, running — in short, all movement without exception.
This dream was all the more daring because, unnoticed amid misfortunes, he had already passed forty. Age erects serious barriers to absorbing loads, reducing endurance and limiting the ability of muscle tissue to change. But Richards believed in the creative power of physical exercise…
“I began with the lightest exercises for my left leg, with weights that were literally weightless. Even so, at first they nearly killed me. But that was all I could allow myself. Had I not resumed even such training, I would have remained crippled and condemned myself to suffering…”
How could the leg not ache? Skin stretched over barely fused bone fragments — a feeble, unreliable support for movement.
Training revealed the need for additional treatment, and the following year operations resumed again, one after another. As a result — another month and a half in plaster: the same exhausting immobility…
It was precisely during these bitter months that Richards made an irrevocable decision to turn to the most serious professional training. For the time being, he worked with weights suited to a five-year-old child — yet even they tore at his arms, brought breathlessness and pain. The muscles had been reduced to nothing; instead of muscle there were skin, bones, and scars from endless operations.
Undoubtedly, on Richards’ side was the foundation of past training — relentlessly harsh, for otherwise one cannot break through to a world title. The body preserves the memory of former training. And most importantly — a truly heartening fact — the heart itself, also trained by years of near-professional work, responded eagerly.
He trained on a three-day cycle (two days of work, the third — rest). The body responded gratefully: in just three months Richards gained six and a half kilograms of pure muscle mass. Endurance appeared, joints were noticeably developed, and the sites of countless fractures hurt less and less.
After three months, he switched to a four-day cycle (three days of work, the fourth — rest). Gradually, muscles bound the body together — growing stronger day by day. The chest opened. The posture straightened. In this selfless restoration of himself, the years 1983 and 1984 passed…
Richards was already capable of six-day training cycles (five days of work plus one day of rest). The consequences of the accident were eliminated, as if they had never existed at all. He was again a powerful man, capable of any load…
And the daring dream gave him no peace — to return to the sport of the most physically developed, to fight for the title of the best among the best. Work did not frighten him.
“Of course, I could have chosen easier competitions. But precisely that simplicity was what I did not want. So — to compete in New York among elite athletes and make it into the top ten. Sixth place opened the road to the most honorable competition — Mr. Olympia. My tenth place in that most grueling contest must be seen and understood! That feeling cannot be compared to anything. It is as if you were given a second life…”

And Richards exclaimed with enthusiasm:
“Now, when I am over forty, I am stronger than at any time before!”
(Yury Vlasov, “They Gave Me a Second Life”)

 

[Frimen1917]

Photo from "FiS"("Physical Education and Sports") magazine, issue 10, 1961.
Translation:
At competitions in London marking the 50th anniversary of the British Weightlifting Association, Yury Vlasov once again confirmed his status as the strongest man on the planet. He clean and jerked a barbell weighing 206 kilograms!
Here you see Yury Vlasov in training. There are not enough weight plates to load the barbell with the weight that our mighty hero is capable of conquering.
Photo by E. Davtyan.

 

[Frimen1917]

1988.Yuri Vlasov and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

[Frimen1917]

Yuri Vlasov. Tokyo. 1964.

Photo: S. Ilyin / RIA Novosti

 

[Frimen1917]

Soviet weightlifters Yuri Vlasov, Leonid Zhabotinsky, and American Norbert Shemansky (left to right) during the awards ceremony at the XVIII Olympic Games in Tokyo. 1964. Photo: RIA Novosti/Sergey Ilyin

 

[Frimen1917]

 

[Frimen1917]

1988.Yuri Vlasov and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

[Frimen1917]

In the photo: Yuri Vlasov.

 

[Frimen1917]

Soviet weightlifter, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, and World and European Champion Yuri Vlasov on the platform. 1960. / V. Galaktionov / RIA Novosti

 

[Frimen1917]

“After September 1985, I resumed my regular training. I trained right up until the surgery, missing only January and February of 1986 — eight weeks after the operation. I trained diligently, yet I felt worse and worse. Why? After all, properly structured training has always been — and remains — the most effective means of restoring a body weakened by illness and hardship. Illness can sometimes be suppressed with medication (though not always), but no pills can ever return energy, strength, and endurance to the heart muscle and the body as a whole. Never.
So what was the matter? Bodybuilder Frank Richards rebuilt himself through training, while I, on the contrary, was falling apart from one workout to the next — and this despite my experience, including experience in restoring myself!…
I recovered from the consequences of the surgery in Oberndorf within a matter of weeks, yet the fever began to gain momentum at an ever-increasing pace. It confined me to my home — and at a time of the deepest spiritual decline, when communication, merely being among people, at least slightly dulled the pain, though it could not dispel its darkness.
Of course, I understood the causes of my illness — but not in their full depth. That is a fact.”
(Yury Vlasov, “The Price of Life”)

 

[Frimen1917]

“‘I had the best teacher in the world — Arnold Schwarzenegger,’ Richards recalls of his early athletic years (this was before the tragic fall in 1973). ‘He taught me an enormous amount. It was he who showed me how to squeeze everything out of myself in training and how to reach peak condition in the most effective way.’
Schwarzenegger taught Richards to overcome pain: when there was no strength left to lift, when it seemed you had given everything, when your muscles were nothing but pain — you still lift, lift the dumbbell, the barbell, or keep doing pull-ups on the bar or dips on the parallel bars…
Richards remembers those workouts: ‘In some exercises, Arnold performed repetitions until complete exhaustion, never stopping even when the pain in the muscles became unbearable — and yet the muscles grew month after month…’
Training alongside Arnold, already an accomplished bodybuilder, Richards followed his guidance and gained nearly seven kilograms of pure muscle mass in just three months. Intensive, properly structured nutrition and rest fully restored his strength. Richards eagerly awaited every new training session. ‘I knew that morning would come, the sun would rise — and I rejoiced in the work that awaited me in the gym.’
Arnold never allowed anyone to count repetitions during squats — there were no limits. He constantly urged Richards on: ‘Further! More! More! More!’
They trained together as if harnessed into the same team. Set followed set with minimal rest, continuing until, as Richards recalls, ‘I first turned red, and then blue…’”
(Yury Vlasov, “The Price of Life”)

 

[Frimen1917]

“Schwarzenegger trained with ferocity and ingenuity.
During biceps workouts, Arnold showed Richards how he performed the exercise himself. He took the barbell with a wide grip. ‘We always began the workout with this exercise.’ According to Schwarzenegger, a wide grip meant about five centimeters (or so) wider than shoulder width. ‘And we pulled the bar up to the forehead… That, too, was something new for me.’
In one way or another, Schwarzenegger performed every exercise in his own distinctive manner, always introducing something original. Training with him was extraordinarily productive, and the muscles grew as never before.”
(Yury Vlasov, “The Price of Life”)

 

[Frimen1917]

“Top bodybuilders in the West invariably practice running; it not only further trains the cardiovascular system but also burns excess body fat. And one more thing is worth remembering: running endurance inevitably carries over to all other forms of training, including strength training.
During my years in elite sport, I practiced running specifically to increase special endurance — that is, endurance under the barbell. Training sessions grew both in duration and in load. To cope with them, it was necessary to prepare the cardiovascular system as well. One type of training, so to speak, supported and reinforced another.”
(Yury Vlasov, “The Price of Life”)

 

[Frimen1917]

“In Warsaw I witnessed a competition for the title of ‘Mr. Universe’ — the man with the most perfect muscular expression. The contestants were winners of national championships: ‘Mr. France,’ ‘Mr. Egypt,’ ‘Mr. America,’ and others. The first among the ‘Universes’ was Guy Mierczuk, a Frenchman from Monaco. A true gentleman — pleasant, well-mannered. It was from him that I learned about the difficulties of bodybuilding training.
I met Guy more than once and in different countries. He never changed: always the same shy man with refined manners. Only at times he grew nervous. He was hurt by the subjectivity of judging at competitions. It is not enough to be truly powerful and at the same time elegant. One also needs an influential patron, someone like Hoffman. Guy had no one to rely on. And hard labor demands compensation — victory.
The bodybuilder’s work is painstaking. One must sculpt oneself with perfect precision. Every insignificant muscle requires its own exercise. As many muscles as there are, so many exercises — each to reveal muscle convergence, attachments, shape, every line! And yet — what beauty! And is beauty in itself not a virtue, not one of the aims of society? Is beauty not the convergence of many such virtues — spiritual, intellectual, of will, and finally physical? Is physical beauty not an object of admiration and human affection?…
Victory in Warsaw opened for Guy the opportunity to earn better money. He taught physical education and trained those who aspired, at least physically, to resemble a man. Bodybuilding training provides not only bodily beauty but also strength, since it necessarily involves work with weights…
Second place went to Tommy Kono, third to Abdel Hamed. An interesting crowd had gathered. I sat in the ‘Gvardiya’ hall and barely recognized it: elegant outfits, women… I watched their reactions more than the podium. The ladies were ecstatic…
In my view, Mierczuk was built more perfectly, but Hoffman is Hoffman: Kono was declared the winner.
Several years later in Paris I again witnessed a bodybuilding competition, this time solely for the title of ‘Mr. Universe of Europe.’ I wanted to observe the athletes more closely. By then I was well known enough to enter freely any place where strength was respected. Behind the stage at the Palais de Chaillot I was surrounded by dark-skinned, half-naked young men (competition rules required appearing only in trunks). What muscular development! I admired them, while they touched me through my suit. Then they squatted at my feet: the massive muscles of my thighs fascinated them. We took photos — individually and together — laughed at jokes. I explained my training methods.
Though this sport is often criticized (in the USSR), seeing these men is a pleasure. What chests, head carriage, waists! Add endurance running and flexibility exercises to their methods — and the shortcomings of bodybuilding would be eliminated. And its virtues are evident: strong and beautiful people. After all, by organizing musculature, they inevitably train extensively with weights — and therefore absorb strength.
And in general, why is it acceptable to care about the beauty of inanimate objects — furniture, houses, streets, cakes, dresses, shoes, automobiles, flowerbeds — yet perfection of physique and muscular energy is labeled ‘perversion’ or ‘egoism’? The logic is far from clear.
Bodybuilding concerns itself with the size and harmony of muscles and, on the whole, strengthens health. To build powerful muscles — how much work is required! This cannot but influence metabolism and the cardiovascular system. The body cannot remain indifferent to such loads. ‘When endurance running and flexibility exercises are added to bodybuilding methodology, one obtains a sound system of health.Pictured: Left to right: Abdul El Guindi, Guy Mierczuk, Louis Martin and Tommy Kono.
(Yury Vlasov, “The Justice of Strength”)

 

[Frimen1917]

“I am by no means attracted to the role of a paper cheerleader. And yet, if one sees and remembers only offense, pain, failure, misfortune — and always only this — life soon turns into torture. But if one follows definite goals and believes in them, one comes to understand: everything born of hardship is mere tinsel. What matters is life lived for a cause, movement toward that cause, the creation of a new life.
Circumstances are not always pleasant; at times they are sorrowful, and they are capable of grinding down a character that lacks firmness. A powerful means of resisting this self-destruction is a sense of joyfulness — the ability to find, perceive, and preserve a bright and courageous view of life under any turn of fate. And its most reliable ally is humor.
To be able to transform any blunder or hardship into a joke — that is essential. Life always carries within it this hidden, curious side. The ability to notice it and not to lose it is one of the most worthy protective mechanisms of the intellect. A mistake or someone else’s malice instantly appears in a comic light — and the burden of offense and pain disappears.
The same liberating power belongs to humor and wit in all other oppressive branches of life.”
(Yury Vlasov, “The Formula of Courage”)

 

[Frimen1917]

“I believe in friendship — it is that steady, faithful flame which reliably and devotedly warms us. With the years, feelings within friendship take on a completely different character. They acquire so much tenderness, a flexible gentleness, such careful regard for a woman who is a friend, so much tact and so much joy, that this, one may suppose, is precisely what love is. Perhaps such friendship inevitably grows into love.
But this is no longer the love we commonly know. It is a feeling of a much higher order. One might call it love-friendship, yet the motif of friendship always sounds powerfully and decisively within it. And this is what makes love unfading, indestructible, incapable of decay.
There is something greater than physical closeness and passion — the need for one another, spiritual kinship, the deepest mutual understanding, with its inevitable consequence: tolerance. Where true friendship exists, love never fades.
To me, this love-friendship seems the greatest gift of fate for a man and a woman.” In the photo: Yuri Vlasov with his wife Larisa.
(Yury Vlasov, “The Justice of Strength”)

 

[Frimen1917]

“Courage of conduct, and even more so fidelity to one’s convictions, are not so much innate human qualities as they are shaped through upbringing. To an enormous degree, the moral character of a future individual depends on the family — on the father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother. Upbringing must first of all instill faith in oneself. A young person must believe in the attainability of even the boldest dreams; one must not clip his wings with doubts. The sacred duty of parents is to cultivate faith in the inexhaustible creative power of the will, in the mighty strength of overcoming any obstacles through labor and perseverance.
Parents must set an example of strong-willed endurance of difficulties, including physical suffering, which, regrettably, is often inevitable in life. Any faint-heartedness on the part of parents, as a rule, is reflected in the behavior of their children.
Falsehood in relationships with children destroys everything sacred and pure that binds them. And most often it is precisely the falseness of adults that becomes the starting point of a young person’s concessions to what is worst within himself.
Truthfulness — adherence to truth — is what forms a personality. Remove this element from family relationships, and they collapse, sliding into formalism, vulgarity, and resentment. From truth in relationships spring courage of conduct, self-overcoming, and the ability to surmount countless other obstacles.
Such an attitude on the part of parents does not estrange a young person from life; it tempers him and builds the foundations of resilience. A person raised in love for labor and for a chosen calling is already prepared for struggle. Conviction in one’s righteousness and fidelity to duty provide that moral and vital steadfastness which overcomes any adversity.”
(Yury Vlasov, “The Price of Life”)

 

[Frimen1917]

Photo of Yuri Vlasov on the cover of Olimp magazine. 2000.

 

[Frimen1917]

Photo of Yuri Vlasov on the cover of the Soviet magazine "Physical Culture and Sport." Issue No. 11, 1960.