Frank Zane: Mind, Body, Spirit Review
Frank Zane: Mind, Body, Spirit
Frank Zane: Mind, Body, Spirit is a kind of “Zen in the Art of Bodybuilding.” It is both a practical training guide and an inspirational reader by a man who has won all of bodybuilding top titles (even winning over Schwarzenegger) in his 40 plus years of training. Hundreds of exercise programs, nutrition, psychology, dreams, meditation, motivation are distilled into a 365 day-by-day progressive format you can use to guide your training.
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An Ode to Frank Zane,
There once was a bodybuilder named Zane,
Who was not only well muscled but also had a brain,
He studied meditation, Eastern Philosophy,and transformative psychology
But as much as he wanted to
His poetry was about as good as doggie poo…
Yes, folks, in this rather informative book by Frank Zane, you will not only get a glimpse into his soul, you’ll also get a glimpse of what an absolutely horrible poet Frank Zane is.
I like Frank, I do. In fact, when I was really into bodybuilding, he was my hero. I liked him even more than Arnold because he wasn’t just a big glob of muscle. He posessed an intelligence as well as an elegance and in my opinion, really raised the bar of modern bodybuilding. Unfortunately, ever since Zane retired in the mid 80s, the sport has, in my opinion, regressed to where mass is king and everything else, like symmetry, definition, and muscle shape are thrown by the wayside.
I also like Zane because he isn’t afraid to express his intelligence. He is deeply into meditation and visualization. Some bodybuilders will never learn that it’s not the body, but the mind that creates the most lasting gains. I have had to learn to leave my ego outside the gym, because if I’m just pushing huge poundages around, I’m inviting injury and I’ve already had surgery on my knee as well as my back and I kind of would like to stay out of the operating room for the rest of my stint here on this planet.
This book gives a full year of training routines that actually work and do not lead to burnout. Of course, you may like spending two hours a day in the gym, but I don’t. Been there, done that. I’m 42 years old. I have a life. I know that I’m never going to be in the kind of shape I was when I was 23-25, but that’s okay. So, what if my waist is now 34″ instead of 28″? If I’m doing less weight than ever on my lifts? I feel good, I feel strong and I feel happy.
And isn’t that the main thing?
Frank Zane beat Schwarzenegger once and made him cry,
Even though Zane’s body weighed as much as Arnold’s thigh.
He’s now 63 and still looks awesome,
But Frank, please, no more poetry! Your poems are dumb!
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|Great for Holistic- Long Term Bodybuilders,
If you’re the type of bodybuilder who wears clown pants and pirate hats in the gym, then perhaps this book isn’t for you. But as a fellow builder for over 20 years and still going strong and an orthopedic physical therapist, I believe this book is both unique and helpful. I think this book blends nicely with the detailed workout diaries and meals FZ used throughout his career. I also thought it was cool to get insight through poetries and writings on what a leading professional bodybuilder experiences both on and off season. For those (drug free) bodybuilders who want good guidance, I suggest FZ’s quarterly publication. It has great info on training, specific nutrition for specific body weight, and other great material.
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|Inside The Mind and Training Of Frank Zane,
Frank Zane to me exemplifies what Bodybuilding should be. He had the most incredibly symmetrical physique of his era and redefined the whole concept of what a refined physique should look like. He led the way for other great bodybuilders to come like Labrada, Paris and Benfatto. Unfortunately the tides turned and freakish mass replaced physiques with classical proportion.
He even influenced Arnold (no last name necessary) when he beat Arnold in the Mr. Universe. After that Arnold started focusing more on shape and definition rather than pure mass. Arnold speaks to this himself in his autobiography “Education Of A Bodybuilder”.
This book is very interesting because you get to see the type of training Zane did. It’s interesting the way he changes his training throughout the year so that he’s not always doing the same level of intensity. While I know that most bodybuilders change their cycles of training, the dramatic difference in Zane’s training was striking, and quite surprising to me. He obviously really knows how to get the most out of whatever weight he used, because often the poundages aren’t very high (in some of the training cycles, though he goes considerably heavier in others) but obviously his intensity and mind-muscle connection is very refined.
Scattered throughout the book is some of Zane’s poetry. While it’s clear that it’s a very individual, personal style of writing and perhaps not everyone’s idea of what poetry is (or even whether it belongs in a book like this), I respect that he was willing to share that side of himself. Frank Zane apparently has always been cut from a different cloth than what most people think of when they hear the word bodybuilder. He definitely was (and is) definitely not a musclehead and but rather a highly educated and intellectual human being. I’ve also never heard anyone in any interview or article say anything other than what a gentleman Frank Zane is and has always been.
Frank also has a very spiritual approach to life (and bodybuilding) which is expressed throughout the book, no doubt from his practice of Yoga. He reminds me of Yogi/Bodybuilder (one time Mr. America) Walt Baptiste (Father of famous Yoga Teacher Baron Baptiste).
I would have liked some more autobiographical information about Frank, his background, what made him get into bodybuilding etc. But that isn’t the purpose of this book.
If you’re a fan of Frank Zane and would like to get insights into his approach to training then this book can really be an eye opener.
I wish that the IFBB would start to promote physiques like Zanes rather than the freaks that are now reigning bodybuilding.
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