Welcome to the Duncan Y Muscle website. Here you will find my recollections and memories related to the years I spent working ( as an assistant to the Duncan YMCA Athletic Department Director, Robert Gajda ) and training ( I won a number of Illinois and Midwest bodybuilding titles including Mr. Illinois - 1967 during my training there ) at Duncan YMCA. It was known as the Mecca of Midwest Musclebuilding during the era of bodybuilding that many iron game historians call THE GOLDEN AGE. Duncan Y was also one of the Chicago gyms where the great Sergio Oliva trained in the 60's. In fact, Many of the greatest names in bodybuilding, Olympic weightlifting, and powerlifting made it a point to visit and train at Duncan Y in the sixties when I worked and trained there. From personally observing a 19-year old "Arnold S." visit and get badgered into an impromptu bench press duel with the incomparable Sergio "The Myth" Oliva, to having virtually all of the U.S National Weightlifting Olympians of that era training in our main gym for competition at one time or another, I will write about the things I saw, the things I heard, and the things that I learned during that remarkable window in time at the best gym that I have ever trained in at any point in my life over the past 50 years. I hope you enjoy this little trip down a muscle and strength building memory lane.









DUNCAN Y MUSCLE NEWS - I have decided to write and publish several books and training manuals that reflect many of the concepts, philosophies, and techniques of bodybuilding training that enabled me to grow from 4' 10" /  82 pounds in 1962, to a physique that won all of the Chicago area and Illinois state physique titles (from novice to teen to junior to senior) by the time 1967 rolled around. I reveal how I gained 50 ( yes, fifty! ) pounds of overall bodyweight in my first year of serious training "without lifting free weights! I trained at the Better Boys Foundation on the west side of Chicago for two years before moving on to Duncan Y in 1965. There, my first Iron Guru, Mr. Jim Smith, taught me the correct way to use barbells and structure workouts. He also persuaded me to begin entering physique contests. Without the knowledge and vision that he shared with me I would not have developed to the point where I could put the finishing touches on my still evolving physique at Duncan Y. The transition to training at a incredible gym like Duncan Y was smooth and fluid. I just kept evolving physically, and really continued to do so in measurable ways until the 1990's when I really put bodybuilding and strength training on a backburner in my life. All that progress was made without ever once having to resort to using growth drugs or training more than three days per week, believe it or not.

I recount it all in my books and training manuals as listed on the "Duncan Y Muscle Manuals" page link on this website. I reveal things like how I gained an amazing 2" on "each" calf in only two weeks of calf specialization by following to the letter a routine that Bob Gajda suggested I experiment with. I had placed second in the Mr. Illinois contest in 1966, and Bob told me that I really wanted to win the contest on my next try, I had better do something about my calf development. I used no drugs, no excessive amount of food supplements, and no specialized calf training equipment. My calves grew at an amazing pace. In the manual I explain exactly what I did, how I did it, and why I think the routine worked so well for me despite my not having any special genetic proclivity for acquiring big gastrocnemius muscles. I have always wondered why most of the bodybuilding world never figured out a similar method for rapid and permanent calf muscle improvement like that in the routine Bob Gajda designed for me. The routine was tough, but the results more than made up for the hard work. And, yeah, if I had used a growth drug like the then popular DIANABOL to "supplement" the calf routine, I probably would have gained even more on my calves over that two week period, but then my physique would have been unsymmetrical with enormous calves that would actually have been too big for my physique. My calves got bigger. I didn't take drugs. My symmetry was impeccable at the 1967 Mr. Illinois competition. I took home the title, and I was happy. You'll probably be happy too with the results you'll get from the unbelievably simple ( but outrageously productive ) training methods outlined in my Duncan Y Muscle / Heavy Zen training manuals. The results you achieve from them might even eclipse my results??!!

So, if you would like an in-depth look at how I made virtually continual gains for decades, you can find out exactly how in my publications. I'm sure you can learn a lot of things from my writings that you will never get from the magazines and videos on the market today. And, if you're wondering why I never made the decision to go further on up the ladder in bodybuilding competition, well, the truth is that I never really cared much about bodybuilding competitions in the first place. All I really wanted to do was get a normal physique to replace the 4' 10" / 82 pound little fella' that I was until the end of my second year in high school. Then, when Jim Smith convinced me to give physique contests a try, I set the Mr. Illinois title as a goal I would someday strive to achieve. Every now and then I would daydream about entering the NABBA Mr. Universe over in England because my earliest bodybuilding heroes, John Grimek and Steve Reeves, had won that title. That dream remained a dream only as I simply lost interest in bodybuilding after winning the Mr. Illinois title. I did not stop training, but I gave up the posing scene, and looking back now, I'm glad I did. Ha, ha, ha! You can read all about my 50+ years of training experiences, findings, and insights in related areas of physical culture (such as martial arts and athletic strength conditioning), in my publications. Click the Duncan Y Muscle Manuals link on this page.

My Duncan Y Muscle Physique
Circa 1980
*When Martial Arts, Salsa Dance & Drumming Were My Interests
HEAVY ZEN