Nearly seven decades after
he last posed on a dais,
Steve Reeves is still champ.
In fact, as a reaction against
the modern bigger-is-better
ethos, he’s only solidified his
status. Today, the original
Hercules is the archetype
for the classic physique
division. Long ago and
with only simple tools and
food, Reeves constructed
history’s most perfect body.
How did he do it, and what
lessons can be applied to
your workouts today?
THE MOST
CLASSIC PHYSIQUE
He seemed like something
conjured up in an artist’s
workshop. Joe Weider
effused, “Steve Reeves was
the male ideal of physical
perfection.” After witnessing
the 21-year-old Reeves
shortly before he won the
1947 Mr. America, a writer
in Your Physique magazine
(the precursor of FLEX)
raved, “I, personally,
proclaim him to be the finest
specimen of American
manhood I have ever seen
in a kid of his years. He
hasn’t a single weak spot in
his make-up…He seemed
from out of this world, just
as though a super-man
had suddenly appeared
on a pedestal.”
When he won the 1950
Mr. Universe, over future
legend Reg Park, he was
only 24, but the 6'1"
138
FLEX | JANUARY ’18
220-pounder had reached
the pinnacle of bodybuilding,
competitively and
aesthetically. Because
his face was as perfectly
chiseled as his physique,
Hollywood noticed. However,
despite a few small movie
and TV roles, American
producers never figured out
what to do with someone so
distractingly handsome and,
by pre-steroid standards,
colossal. Maybe he could
play only a god. In 1957,
Reeves traveled to Rome
to star in what he thought
would be just some Italian
kid’s movie. But Hercules
was a smash hit in Europe
and, in 1959, in America,
too, launching its star to
international fame.
A successful
sequel quickly
followed, and
so did a deluge
of Italian-made,
sword-and-
sandal flicks,
some starring
Reeves, some
starring other
musclemen. Via
big screens,
Reeves became
bodybuilding’s
worldwide
ambassador,
even if few fans
ever heard his real voice.
A generation of boys,
including a young Arnold
Schwarzenegger, came of
age wanting to be the son
THE EVERYTHING
WORKOUT
1
“When you work your whole
body in each workout, it
forces you to think about
symmetry. Your focus is
always on the whole and
not the parts,” Steve Reeves
said. In the ’40s and ’50s,
when the future Hercules
was expanding, he hit
everything every time, as
was the norm then. It wasn’t
circuit training. Instead, he
usually did three sets of an
exercise before moving to
the next one. Nevertheless,
he went fast, resting only
45 seconds between sets.
In a typical workout, he did,
in this progression, the
following 10 exercises, each
for three sets of eight to 12
reps: upright row, bench
press, one-arm dumbbell
row, dumbbell side lateral,
military press, triceps
pushdown,
barbell curl,
dumbbell
incline curl,
back squat,
barbell
pullover. Then
he performed
one superset
of breathing
squats (20
reps) and
breathing
pullovers
(20 reps)—
deep-breath
exercises
done, erroneously, to expand
the rib cage. He wrapped it
up with deadlifts and then
good mornings, each for two
sets of eight to 12.
“He seemed
from out of
this world,
just as
though a
super-man
had suddenly
appeared on
a pedestal.”
PHOTOS/STRINGER/GET
There can
only be one—
the most
aesthetic
male physique
of all time.
of Zeus, and many of them
spent their allowances on
barbells. In the late ’60s,
Steve Reeves retired with
his wife to their California
ranch. Though he died in
2000, he is still celebrated
for what many regard as
the prototypical muscular
physique.
What follows are the
dozen principles that turned
a skinny teenager into the
world’s best bodybuilder,
a cinematic superstar, and
an enduring legend.